Unfocused Time Capsule
Mark Roland | 11/29/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I was both excited and skeptical about the group of new Quicksilver live cds. My primary concern was that the recording quality would be very bad. I can't comment on the other releases in the series, but the sound quality is generally good here, considering, the real problem is in the performance and the mix.
All of the great bands have off nights. I wouldn't say this is a good or a terrible performance, and there are some very good moments. The guitars are out of tune, Gary Duncan's vocals and guitar are way too prominent in the mix, and overwhelm John Cippolina's guitar. Quicksilver was never known for great vocals, and left to Duncan and Frieberg, they can be quite distracting from the overall experience, and unfortunately, at times downright painful. When they are playing their classic "Who Do You Love" and sections of "The Fool" there are glimpses of their greatness, although who wants to hear Duncan's rhythm guitar overpower Cippolina's lead sections in the mix, no one I think. We have a guest flute player on "Light Your Windows" which gives it a different feel, the "Who Do You Love" is a more laid back take than usual, and in fact there is a jazzy quality to much of the guitar jamming, that is enjoyable. This is only the second live version of "The Fool" to see release. It is perhaps their "Dark Star", a truly unique and great song, if you can forgive the vocals in search of unreachable (for Duncan) notes.
The second disc is a 41 minute jam. Those of us old enough to have attended shows from this era remember the tradition. After all the bands have finished their sets, a number of musicians from all the groups get up on stage, and like this example, they riff at great length on a blues progression. These jams are usually best left in your memory, fun at the time, and not really ever intended for posterity. Again, there are some good moments amidst much vamping and enthusiastic but generally mediocre solos from the guest flautist, violinist, and a harmonica player.
So what we have is a document of a classic band, not particularly focused, playing to a hometown audience. If you are a complete fanatic, and can navigate the rawness, you might enjoy this. Otherwise, the first 2 albums, "Quicksilver Messenger Service" and "Happy Trails", are the way you want to remember this band. The next best collection is "Unreleased Quicksilver-Lost Gold and Silver", which is a more generous offering of live and studio material than this release, for a much better price. I give this set 3 stars, (2 and half is probably closer) because it does preserve the performance of a historic band, and give you a window to the San Francisco ballroom experience, warts and all."
A great San Francisco night
M. Pearson- Smith | Melbourne,Australia | 03/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I've been a huge QMS fan since the '60's and have quite a few live recordings by the band of varying quality. I'd read a couple of singularly unenthusiastic reviews of this particular offering, but I'd also read the opinions of tape traders, among whom this set has been circulating for a long time, and they told a different story. It was the tape traders who had it right. This is a wonderful document of a typical late 'sixties San Franciscan night.
The sound is absolutely excellent throughout, especially for a concert in '68 not being specifically taped for a commercial release. On my equipment the balance of the mix seems about right. I note that another reviewer complains that Cipollina is overpowered by the rest of the band but I don't find that a problem. I can hear him fine. I particularly like the fact that you can also pick up Freiburg's bass very well throughout, which is often not the case in recordings from that period, and David's bass lines are well worth paying attention to. I also reckon the vocals from Duncan and Freiburg are fairly decent for the most part. Let's face it, they are about as good as you were ever going to get on just a regular night like this. Freiburg struggles a bit with the "heaven's above" highpoint on 'The Fool" but by and large makes a pretty good fist of those high vocal parts which most male singers of the rock genre would find challenging anyway.
Their aforementioned opus "The Fool" closes disc 1 and is certainly the highlight. I rate this a better live version than the one on "Lost Gold and Silver" or the Psycho release "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" (same take on both those albums). Gary Duncan's fretwork here, on the song he co-wrote with Freiburg, is superb and worth the price of this cd alone. The version of "Who do You Love" is less intense than the one on "Lost Gold and Silver" and less ambitious and significantly shorter than on "Happy Trails', but there are some fine moments with Gary's solo the standout (sorry JC fans). This is definitely a work in transition. It has certainly moved on from the more straight ahead r'n'b treatment that prevailed when Jim Murray was in the band, but it hasn't yet become the 25 minute epic that it would develop into by the end of that summer: still great to have though.
There's a storming version of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (Led Zep listen to this and weep) and although Gary again puts in a good solo he is totally blown away this time by JC. And don't anyone try to tell me he's too low in the mix here - that number's playing right now and he's currently shattering the glass not only in my house but all the neighbours' as well!
The renditions of two live QMS staples from this era - "Back Door Man" and "Walking Blues" are solid without being exactly incendiary but both have their moments. I was again impressed with the vocals, but maybe I'm easy to please. Last but not least I should mention the quite unique arrangement of "Light Your Windows". The other live versions I have are simply slightly less polished copies of the one on the first album but this one is a revelation. The addition of Steve Schuster's flute completely transforms the piece, while the relatively understated guitar fills are sublime. Again, the vocal is a good effort for my money.
So that's disc 1 taken care of; time we set the record straight regarding "The Jam" that takes up the whole of disc 2. The bill that night at the Carousel, according to my sources, consisted of the Sons of Champlin, QMS and Eric Burdon & the Animals. I think it's safe to say that the flute is played by Steve Schuster, who guests on disc 1, the violin by John Weider from the Animals, the organ by Bill Champlin and/or George Bruno of the Animals, together with some additional electric guitar from Terry Haggerty (Sons) and Vic Briggs from the Animals. the guy who comes in with some crazy drunken scat "singing" after half an hour may be Eric Burdon himself, but probably it's just Duncan pretending he's Eric.
This is a typical period piece jam in the wee small hours of the morning. Take a standard blues theme, let everyone have a blow and just see where it goes. It's a bit of fun for the participants and a bonus for the audience. Everyone's wrecked and having a good time. Those who put this in their cd player and expect a re-creation of the "Happy Trails" album or something like it are, of course, being totally unrealistic. But if you can pretend you're back there at a classic old SF venue in those halcyon days and take this at face value for what it is then you might even enjoy it.
There are certainly some sections that aren't great, but there are also a few nice runs from JC, a lovely jazzy break from Gary around the 20 minute mark, and some pretty good violin from John Weider. I don't mind some of the flute passages either, that other reviewers found unimpressive. Maybe it's just me getting into the spirit of the happening. There are also a few tasty licks around 25 minutes and 35 minutes in from a guitarist who sounds uncannily like Jorma Kaukonen but could be Vic Briggs, or even JC, doing an impersonation. Let's be honest, this jam isn't going to change your life but it does perfectly capture the essence of a particular time and place in the history of contemporary music.
So all in all, this was a very pleasant surprise after having read those poor reviews. If you've never heard any QMS before maybe this isn't the place to start, although disc 1 is definitely a first class representation of where they were at in the spring of '68, but if you are at all a fan of this legendary band, or interested in the late 'sixties San Francisco scene in general, then this is an essential purchase. With Eric Burdon and the Animals headlining it must truly have been a great San Franciscan night.
"
Worthwhile for hardcore Quicksilver aficianados
Stewart Hickey | Detroit | 11/28/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This double CD set is part of an apparently quasi-legitimate "bootleg series" of live recordings by Quicksilver Messenger Service. It's very doubtful that any of the band members sanctioned the release of this material. This particular release, assuming the company that produced it has the date and venue correct, captures a performance of the band at the Carousel Ballrom in San Francisco on April 4th 1968, about two or three months before promoter Bill Graham reopened it as the Fillmore West. The band lineup is the much-favored quartet of Gary Duncan, John Cipollina, David Freiberg, and Greg Elmore. The source would appear to be a soundboard tape of relatively clear and listenable quality. Unfortunately, considering that Quicksilver is most admired as a psychedelic guitar band, the vocals are mixed way out front and the guitars a bit too far back. As such, it works best during the band's legendary intrumental jam segements.
The performance is quite good, though a bit laid back, particularly during "Who Do You Love", compared to other recordings of this lineup. The band is also joined onstage by a flautist during "Light Your Windows". Though not identified from the stage, it could be jazz icon Charles Lloyd, who played the Fillmore, and was known to jam onstage with the Grateful Dead. Disc one features good run-throughs of "Who Do You Love", "The Fool", and Quicksilver's underappreciated arrangement of "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You", soon to be made famous by Led Zepplin.
The entire second disc is given over to a 41 minute jam. Nothing more than an extended blues shuffle, it's not quite as imaginative or exciting as the band's other jam forays. However, it is of historical interest, and also features playing from the previously mentioned flautist and an unidentified violin player. I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point for the uninitiated, which is why I gave it three stars. For the ardent fan, I would upgrade the rating to four stars because of the listenable sound quality and historical value of the performance."
