A left-wing activist before and after a stint in the navy, Joe McDonald arrived in San Francisco as a student but quickly became absorbed into the folk scene and the Instant Action Jug Band (aka Country Joe and the Fish for recording purposes, a name that invoked—to those in the know—Stalin and Mao). It was only in the summer of 1966 that the band started replacing folk instruments with electric guitars, and an EP, the band's second, boosted their profile enough to have them signed to the New York-based folk and classical label Vanguard, which had been watching the transformation of its rival Elektra into a credible rock imprint.
At the time, San Francisco was a hotbed of radical students, fueled by LSD and politics. Musically, psychedelia was in its early stages, with few bands aware of the possibilities 1967 would bring. The Fish's LP opened the doors to everything that would follow in the next two years—even if their label insisted on the absence of the band's most popular live song, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin'To Die Rag".
Laced through with acid wit and acid grooves, Electric Music is one of the most cohesive artifacts of the Summer of Love and the hippie generation; the guitars alternate between soothing and brain-busting; the lyrics contain satirical attacks on Lyndon Johnson ("Superbird'') and uncompromising drug epics ("Bass Strings"); it is either blues, folk, or rock, to suit all tastes. And in its wake, the mood of the country, its young people, and its music all changed. No mean feat.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.