Customer Reviews

Mendocino

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love the fact that Doug's producers wanted to name them the Sir Douglas Quintet so they would sound like an English group (the Beatles were hot then). This is about as far away from 60's pop-rock as you can get! Best Doug album ever and I've heard them all. Finally available on cd,thank you, thank you, my old record is sounding pretty bad from repeated plays over 25 years. Mendocino and She's About a Mover were the hits, but Texas Me, Crossroads, Wanna Be Your Mama (I could go on & on) are the real stars here. Thanks, Doug. We miss you

I remember the single, "Mendocino" when I was a hippie kid in the NY suburbs. I later moved to Austin and lived with this LP, every day. Now I have the CD. It is as soulful and buoyant and introspective and joyful as I recalled. It is not psychedelic - though it could be, I guess. Sir Doug was seminal to the revival and appreciation of Texas music in the 70s and this the precursor to and, maybe the best - certainly, the purest - manifestation of his vast body of work. We will miss him, but we have this recording to carry us through.

A classic. A concept album about liking Northern California but missing Texas. "I Don't Want" is perhaps the most instantly accessible tune Doug Sahm ever did; the title track is certainly one of the best takes on hippiedom ever; and so forth. Relaxed, soulful, all that. I'd rate this as the single best thing Doug Sahm ever did--the one to get if one's all you want. Contains his two best-known songs, "She's About a Mover" and "Mendocino." Originally came out, on Mercury, way back in 1969.

I'm generally a believer that there are enough intelligent people seriously listening to music that the best stuff tends to, over time, become both popular and respected. If you're looking to absorb the greatest late 60s and early 70s rock, then the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stone, Dylan, Hendrix, etc. are all worthy places to start. And while certain songs and even albums rival the quality of individual works by such artists, few if any musicians match them both in terms of quality and consistency. Doug Sahm and his Sir Douglas Quintet is one obscure artist that comes to mind for me as producing a body of work that easily matches that of virtually ANY other comparable artist. And even amongst rock snobs he is relatively unknown (at least in most parts of the county) when compared to other similarly influential artists such as Graham Parsons, the Band, or Townes van Zandt. And Mendocino is his masterpiece that to me ranks among the best albums ever produced by anyone.

Recorded in San Francisco during the hard-drug fueled decline of the "love and peace" counter culture, Mendocino is filled with longing for Texas. (Apparently, the band couldn't return after a pot bust in '66.) All the eclectic elements that Doug Sahm would return to again and again are here - Tex-Mex, country, blues, soul - with perhaps a stronger psychedelic rock influence than anything that came later. Although everything he recorded - at least that I've heard - is worth spending some time with, I don't think he ever reached the passion present in these songs, and it is beyond comprehension that he is not better known. There are no weak songs here, and each works in such a different way that I don't even want to get into the individual tracks. The consistent quality of such eclectic material brings to mind the best Beatles albums.

The only sad part of discovering an album this good is realizing that not only are there so many people out there who would just love this music who will likely never even hear the name Doug Sahm, but that so many of his albums are tragically still not even available on CD.

IMPORTANT NOTE: After I wrote this review I realized that many more earlier Sir Douglas Quintet albums are available on Amazon than I thought. However, they are listed under Douglas Quintet rather than Sir Douglas Quintet. So if you include the Sir in the search they will not come up.

This is probably the best Tex/Mex album ever made. Everyone I have played this for has become an instant fan. There was nothing like the Sir Douglas Quintet in the sixties. They were truly one of a kind. As a person who grew up around Mexican music I think that this was the logical next step. ... this might be the best album ever made period.

Thanks to Acadia Records (England) for reissuing the late 60's/early 70's Sir Douglas Quintet! There had been a distinct CD void. This is probably the best one, though 1+1+1=4 is also a favorite. "Mendocino" is a mixture of pop, blues, jazz, country, and soul, sung beautifully with organ, fiddle, and saxophane accompaniment. It's just lovable stuff, and reaches the sublime with "At the Crossroads". If I were a radio station (seems unlikely) this is what I'd play.

the track listings above are wrong. this cd is a sir douglas quintet compilation. not the first album. i believe it's german in origin. it has both hits and covers. i thought i was buying the quintet's first album. this aint it. beware.

This album is a poorly produced thin live album, poorly mixed at that. If you are looking for the Mercury label original hit versions of Mendocino, Dynamite Woman and She's Abour a Mover look elsewhere. Amazon.com should be ashamed to let this rubbish onto their website mine is off to the trash can, it only arrived today. Another album of counterfeit music. I have been taken for a ride at a cost to me. No indication in the original description as to the validity of the tracks on this album. If I could give a rating of minus 5000 stars I would.

This is one of the great ones. My favorite track is the alternate version of "Texas Me". But every song is a classic. Even if you don't know what the words conjunto/rock'n roll mean buy it anyway! I guarantee you will feel connected if you do.

This 1999 CD on NEON with the included cover art is missing the best songs from the original "Mendocino" album. I bought it, having been too young to know these fellas in their heydey. There are 15 tracks on this imported CD, but missing some key tracks such as "I Don't Want", "If You Really Want Me To I'll Go", "I Wanna Be Your Mama Again", "At the Crossroads", "Lawd, I'm Just a Country Boyin This Great Big Freaky City" and "Oh, Baby, It Just Don't Matter". Which is MOST OF THE ALBUM. This edition collects a boatload of covers that every garage band around performed coming up... My bad for not checkin' I hope I save y'all some of your hard-earned dollars. I gave it two stars only because it's Sir Doug.