Country Joe Mcdonald Fish - Electric Music for the Mind Body (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

The "Rosetta Stone" of Psychedelic Music.

Dan Swan | Lincoln City, Oregon United States | 02/26/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Whenever one sees a movie from the 60's; the music almost always seems like a cheap imitation of the music that was actually being heard in those days. This record is the "Rosetta Stone" for psychedelic music. If you want to hear the real deal; this is it. Nothing has ever been it's equal in this genera. The music, blends blues, folk, and rock, in ways only dreamed of. Not even the Jefferson Airplane could match it's complex mix of old and "Never Heard of Before". "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" stands as a testement to where a love song can actually go, without really being a love song at all. The dense yet rich "Death Sound" is just plain creepy. "Super Bird" slaps "then" President Johnson right square in the jaw with some biting satire. And, "Grace" is a "TRIP" in every sence of the word. The sounds and words played hear are like a time capsule of it's time. Truly one of the GREAT albums from an entire decade of truly great music. Enter the "Electric Music for the Mind and Body" and be prepared to be forever changed.....for the better."

Classic psychedelic rock

FairiesWearBoots8272 | USA | 07/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 1967 debut by Country Joe and the Fish is truly one of the most important albums to come out of the psychedelic era. It's a bit dated in spots, but overall, still, it's a great piece of 60's rock and probably the best example of the San Francisco sound at that time. The album's single, "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" is one of the strongest racks, a biting anti-romantic love song. Other highlights include the opener, "Flying High", the bluesy "Death Sound", the psychedelic instrumental, "Section 43", the rocking "Love", and the very trippy "Bass Strings", and "Grace". Instrumentally, the album is tight. Barry Melton's lead guitar is great, and the organ gives the album a mellow, trippy vibe. I would recommend Electric Music for the Mind and Body to anyone who is interested in 60's psychedelic rock, or anyone looking for something good to listen to while stoned. No one else need apply."

Psychedelia at its finest

Dan Swan | 08/02/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Electric Music is perhaps the greatest psychedelic album of all time. Different aspects of the psychedelic experience(except those of the brown acid variety) are represented here from the crazed caotic energy of "Superbird", the deeply meditative( or stoned) "Bass Strings", the soulfully flowing "Section 43", to the sheer fun of this album. During a psychedelic experience, one is often able to percieve or rather hear colors in music. Electric music is replete with them and examples can be found on the organ solo of "Love" to Barry Melton's guitar solo on "The Masked Marauder". The mix of different tones on this album has been seldom paralled especially in the digital ninties. Chicken Hirsh's resonant tom tom drums, Bruce Barthol's rich bass, David Cohen milky organ and Barry Melton's guitar provide a nice rich timbre palete throughout the album particular evident on the instrumentals "Section 43" and "The! Masked Marauder". Barry Melton's vocals on "Love" sound like Satchmo on acid and add to the fun of this masterpiece. Country Joe once told me that the songs were arranged so that you would forget the tune you just hear before the one you were hearing. He also said that the band "tested" the album out themselves. Now if that's not quality control I don't know what is. An analog masterpiece for those curious to know what music sounded like before the digital age. A high recommend."

Great album that still needs a remastering job

Michael Topper | Pacific Palisades, California United States | 11/23/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"By far their finest effort, Country Joe & The Fish's debut album
has somewhat fallen out of fame compared to contemporaneous efforts by The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd etc.
but at the time was just as essential. Some reviewers may complain about its "dated" lyrical content and/or "cheezy" electric organ, although at least the latter may be explained by the somewhat thin and poor sound quality of the CD (the organ really does sound much louder and richer on the original vinyl,
and in live footage from the time). And while the lyrics may reference specific 60s political figures like LBJ ("Superbird") and the joys of pot and LSD ("Bass Strings", "Porpoise Mouth"), the overall leftist political slant and blissful atmosphere still holds resonance even today (if anything, it makes anyone still sympathetic to the counterculture pine for those days).In spite of the group's reputation for outrageous political commentary (which was more pronounced on their second album),
the highlights of "Electric Music" remain its two instrumentals,
both shifting mood pieces that evoke a purely acid-soaked mentality (their performance of "Section 43" in "Monterey Pop" remains one of the highlights of the film). "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" is another oft-cited gem, with clever lyrics that pychedelicize ordinary romantic platitudes, while "Superbird"'s comical commentary could be applied to just about every president in the last 50 years. Sonically, the fuzzed-out raga guitar and jazzy electric organ
solos remain classic signatures of the 66-67 period; although the technical profiency of the playing was still formative, as a pioneering effort its unique "feel" takes supreme precedence.
By the closing track--the calm, exquisite, reverb-laden "Grace"--the album leaves an overall impression of brave new worlds being opened, innocent joys experienced, and the mind and body cleansed in a wash of prismatic color, poetic imagery and damning political critique."

Great music, poor sound

Steven Moore | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 05/30/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought the CD to replace my vinyl copy but was shocked at how dry and tinny the CD sounded; I got rid of it and held onto the vinyl, and am waiting for a remastering. But if you don't have access to a vinyl copy, by all means pick this up: this is THE soundtrack to the Summer of Love as I remember it."

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