Customer Reviews

C.J. Fish

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Everyone who love the end of the 60s soul and rock sound should have this album, especially for the Silver and gold-Rock around the world-The love machine trilogy which is a great moment of rock music. Amazing drum solo, classic lead guitar chorus and Country Joe Mc Donald in great form. Forget the often very peace-and-love lyrics and enjoy the music!

Country Joe & The Fish's first two albums - "Electric Music For The Mind And Body" & "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die" - are packed full of numbers such as "Section 43", "Magoo", "Janis", "Thursday", "Pat's Song", "Bass Strings", "Grace" and "Colors For Susan" that capture the swirling, ethereal essence of Bay area psychedelia. Their third album "Together" failed to deliver any more, with only "Susan" coming near to recreating the "feel" of these early tracks.

By the time of CJ Fish (released in 1970) most of the band had gone, but Country Joe McDonald and lead guitarist Barry Melton manage to rekindle their original, quite unique sound on "She's A Bird", "Mara" and the superb "Return Of Sweet Lorraine" (psychedelia at its best) - intermingled with some enjoyable rock & roll and folk numbers, in particular, "Sing, Sing, Sing"

If you're looking to repeat the experience of their psychedelic masterpieces then here's a couple more.

Like the Doors' 'LA Woman,' this album has that kind of congealed, bittersweet feel that makes it feel like a band's final recording with or without retrospect. The sound quality to me is fresh, clear and resounding all throughout even though I'm not sure if it's been remastered or not. Not completely well-versed with the band, I sort of had trouble with the cliches on here ('Rockin' Round The World' is the kind of thing that has been done to death up to and beyond 1970.) I've heard the original Sweet Lorraine from their early years and the sequel (while musically intense and genuinely atmospheric) is kind of comical while it tries to be haunting. And honestly, even things as well-recorded and perfectly mellow as 'Hang On' and 'Hand of Man' don't stand out as classics to me. They're good-better with every listen, but more like filler compared to the euphoric 'Silver And Gold,' the studio country rock masterpiece 'She's A Bird' (my favorite), the strikingly intense 'Mara' with a chilling trail-off at the end, and even the happy-go-lucky live for tomorrow 'Sing, Sing, Sing' (seemingly cliched or not). 'The Baby Song' is genuinely striking too, but I can't seem to appreciate it as much as the others. 'Hey Bobby' has heartfelt lyrics and 'The Love Machine' is an original whimsical jam but I can't think of them as stand-outs (I can't picture them jamming like the Grateful Dead). A good portion of this CD seems to have songs that seem end-to-end with the one before and after. That's not that bad. I consistently enjoy the whole listen despit everything I've said and I think it's a unique CD with the material done well enough to provide pleasure. I seriously wish the best of this band's catalog could receive some radio play on classic rock stations, espescially 'She's A Bird' and 'Silver And Gold.' The fact that the band sequalizes earlier songs in 'The Return of Sweet Lorraine' and 'Mara' (maybe a corruption of their earlier 'Maria' and 'Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine') shows this was their recorded finale. I like this CD.

C J Fish is an excellent album and probably the best Country Joe and The Fish ever recorded. I recommend it highly to anybody who enjoys 60's Rock And Roll. Very Good Listening!!!

I'd forgotten how bad this one was. Joe is with a new band and it just doesn't work. Maybe one or two songs worth listening to.
Forget it.