Customer Reviews

Electric Music for the Mind & Body

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wow! What to say about this highly entertaining and great piece of music. So, the Commie Pinko band can really rock! Everyone (conservative that is) back in the sixties thought of these guys as communists and agitators. Funny thing is they only had a few political songs. The rest make some of the greatest psychedelic music to come out of San Francisco.

I remember seeing this album in the record stores and always wanted to get it but just never did. I ended up getting Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die instead. Now that album is fantastic... but we are talking about this one.

Some 30 odd years later, I finally get a copy of the CD. Wow! The tunes are mostly blues based and Barry and David have incredible guitar chops. I particularly like their minor key runs and the fuzz guitar. This group of guys had some real chemistry and I don't know about the third album, but this one and the Fixin' album are just incredible. Favorites are Death Sound, Flying High, just to name a few. Death Sound is how psychedelic blues should be played! When I think back on it, I can hear a lot of Barry Melton and David Cohen influence in my guitar playing.

Highly recommended.

True to its cleverly pretentious title, "Electric Music for the Mind and Body" ranks up there as one of the most influential debut albums ever released. Remarkable at the time (early 1967) for its innovative use of swirling instrumentation, odd chord sequences, abrupt switches in tempo & strange, image-laden lyrics, and remarkable to this day in that several of its best tracks (in particular the deeply atmospheric "Bass Strings", the wonderfully eerie "Section 43", the bizarrely structured "Masked Marauder" and the even weirder "Grace") remain quite unlike anything heard before or since. And... with only a couple of exceptions, even those that follow a more standard mid 60's format (such as the tightly metered political satire of "Superbird", the rolling jug band blues of "Flying High", the lyrically evocative country-rock of "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" and the awesome, almost frightening, straight blues of "Death Sound") still stand out as highly distinctive examples of their time.

Others, most notably Jefferson Airplane and Pink Floyd, were working on the same plot but Country Joe & the Fish were right in there - at the beginning and already out on the edge - incorporating country, folk, blues, psychedelia, eastern raga and elements of free form jazz into their ingenious musical mix and pushing the previously accepted barriers of popular music onto a very different, much richer plane. Brave and effective it remains an essential record: not only because of its impact on the music scene but, more importantly, because of the enduring power of most of its songs.

One of the better albums from the late 60's, and arguably the best acid-rock album of all time. This one is artful throughout, and having been recorded in Vanguard's Sound Lab, probably the best facility in the world at the time, certainly didn't hurt.

You definitely didn't/don't need to be a druggie to be/get into this music, it is so stimulating mentally, emotionally and even viscerally, so to speak. The lyrics are usually very easy to hear/decipher, and the playing and the blending of instruments is crystal clear [and on the trippy numbers, as smooth as the finest silk]. It also winds deeply into the imaginative realm: each song is a mood and/or story unto itself; some of the songs open up [new?] worlds for the listener to enter into.

On the songs that contain humor (musical &/or in the lyrics), there's way more wit than you can shake a stick at; it's not always blatant, ranging the gamut from double entendre to the subtle and the beautiful. A number of the more satirical moments evidence multiple meanings.

"Flying High" [5+ stars] is a gem of a story tune, in which wit abounds. CJ really shows how to turn a phrase on this one: the lyrics are so good it's baffling. Musically, you can pretty much hear the rain pouring down, without the Fish having had to resort to any imitative sound effects. The drug double-entendres are possibly intentional, but the song really isn't about drugs per se (when these guys used drug references, they were really obvious: see "Bass Strings" and Superbird" below). CJ likely were giving a nod to the Byrds' "Eight Miles High", perceived as a drug song and thus banned from radio airplay as it was rising rapidly up the charts [according to the Byrds it was really about flying on an airplane]. Truthfully speaking, this is primarily a protest song, and includes mention of [Dylan's] Mr. Jones from his "Ballad of a Thin Man" on the 'Highway 61 Revisited' album.

"Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" [5 stars] presents four verses, with chorus and bridges, about a femme fatale figure. I wish I could quote it at length, but there are copyright restrictions, and plus, where would I start and end, it being too organic to slice and dice. Darkly poetic.

"Death Sound Blues" [4½ stars] is straight up acid blues, with a long guitar solo on the intro/chorus that is to die for. I find myself waiting for the instrumental breaks, as the lyrics are a little flat, even though Joe's singing remains superb.

"Happiness is a Porpoise Mouth" [5 stars], is the first love song on the album, a darkly moody paean to the experience of the beloved as symbolizing and being symbolized by all of nature. The imagery and the sound here together are almost chilling, then comes the ending, "the sun burns up the winter sky, and all the earth is love". Definitely not your average hippie teenybopper moment . . .

"Section 43" [5+ stars] is a long instrumental, never lagging in mood, interest, inventiveness, or passion. With its tightly organized formal structure [not your average aimless acid jam here], it varies its textures such that when a section recurs, the altered melody/accompaniment comes back in with a vengeance of a different flavor/attitude. Darkly brooding throughout, except for a short discordant, slightly comical section 2/3 of the way through which is almost conversational, it maps out its long, winding "story" without the benefit of lyrical content.

"Super Bird" [unrated] President LBJ in hilarious juxtaposition with various Marvel Comics superheroes. Very well executed satire, if you can dig it. Fades out with the spoken 'threats': "yeah, gonna make him eat flowers" and "yeah, make him drop some acid", which were expunged from LP re-issues in the early 80's.

"Sad & Lonely Times" [5 stars] a very pretty, mellow country rock love song. Probably ahead of its time [if not outside of time entirely]. Elements of humor abound, but are mostly unspoken. Did CJ meant this straight, or is there was a wee bit of a snicker in here? CJ might not be sure himself, but you can bet he's smiling.

"Love" is raucous sounding and to some extent breaks the mood of the album. [1½ stars]

"Bass Stings" the trip song. The music and lyrics take listeners to the seashore and the desert, presenting a depiction of the drug experience in concert with the power and magic of these places. Fades out with Joe whispering "L . . . S . . . D . . ." three times [also expunged from early 80's LP re-issues]. [5+ stars]

"The Masked Marauder" is a song which uses only the title and the band's usual instruments, plus a couple of vocal interludes without words [only "la la's"] to tell a story, and tell it exceedingly well. This is amazingly poetic and powerful despite the economy of its means. [5+ stars]

"Grace", the final love song, written by Joe for/about Grace Slick, liberally employs guitar distortion plus a wealth of unusual percussive sounds including wind chimes (the sound of which was not that familiar yet early in 1967) at various junctures, to produce a dark trippy mood throughout. But the main things at work here are probably the melody (which includes some unusual interval jumps, and which is quite haunting), the acid-laced lyrics, and the vocals (both sung and spoken, their performance is full of urgency and conviction). This is an amazing way to close a first album, or any album, for that matter. "Your silver wings flash, across the tiny door of my eye."
"I love you . . . I love you . . . I love you . . ."[5+ stars]

One of the most diverse,yet explicit albums of the late
1960s.Along with Pink Floyds first release"Piper at the gates
es of Dawn",The Doors first album,and Laura Nyros "Eli and
the 13th Confession",1967 was a time to live in New York,
London or California,and be in your late teens with your
hormones raging.Each song is uniquely different from the
next.These guys were able to play multiple instruments.
One can wander the multiple pathways of "Section 43" forever
And weve all had a Martha Lorraine in our lives.David Cohen
turned the common Farfisa organ into Bach on mescaline..
Masked Marauder,Porpoise Mouth.One can have no regrets pass
ing a joint with friends and living\listening back then.

I love this album although I can see it doesn't have the range of other great albums of 1967 like Sgt. Pepper, the first Doors or Hendrix, or Love's extraordinary Forever Changes [ the latter perhaps better known on this side of the Atlantic]. But the pellucid clarity of Barry Melton's guitar has never been bettered and the sheer innocent exuberance of the record remains appealing. Has there ever been a more splendid interplay of lead guitars than on Death Sound, or a more sparkling testament to the joys of lysergic nature than Porpoise Mouth? Add it to your collection immediately!