Sons of Mercury (1968-1975)

Quicksilver Messenger Service | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 2, 1991)
• Original Release Date: July 2, 1991
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000032MS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,250 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

2. Codine

3. I Hear You Knockin' (It's Too Late) [#]

4. Pride of Man

5. Light Your Windows

6. Dino's Song

7. The Fool

8. Gold and Silver

9. Bears

10. Who Do You Love? [Single Edit]

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Shady Grove

2. Flute Song

3. Joseph's Coat

4. Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder

5. Fresh Air

6. Cobra

7. Subway

8. What About Me

9. Local Color

10. Hope

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Compilation, November 22, 2003

By 

Josh H. (Toledo, Oh (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sons of Mercury (1968-1975) (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful collection of songs from the greatest American jam band of all time. However, it's not nearly as fascinating as the LOST GOLD AND SILVER compilation. The main reason for that is because this album doesn't have any live material (besides the inevitable selections from HAPPY TRAILS), whereas LOST GOLD AND SILVER had some live performances that were simply out of this world. On the other hand, this album chronichles the entire career of the band from the beginning to the end. But there are some songs that were left out that I feel should've been included.
The post-HAPPY TRAILS albums are all extremely difficult to find, so for me, this album is essential because it contains various tracks from those albums. Disc one opens with three rare tunes, two of which they recorded for the "Revolution" film. First is "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (quite different from the Led Zep song of the same name), an outstanding rocker with a searing, exquisite solo from my main man John Cipollina. Did I mention that he's my favorite guitarist in the world? Well he is, and this here solo that he delivers is simply awesome. "Codine", on the other hand, is an anti-drug tune. I love the one part where it gets really calm and quiet and then, all of a sudden, they tear back into it, with Duncan wailiing out "STAY AWAY...!". Killer song. And also included is a previously unreleased blues song called "I Hear You Knockin' (It's Too Late)". A different version of this song can be heard on the LOST GOLD AND SILVER compilation, with horns added in. This version sounds better, though, with no horns and a lot more of an 'echoey' sound. And a great solo from John. The rest of the songs on disc one are from the debut album and HAPPY TRAILS, which I have already discussed on their respective reviews.
Disc two is actually more intriguing. Four songs from the SHADY GROVE album are included. The title track is a psychedelic remake of an old bluegrass song, with that great piano intro from the one and only Nicky Hopkins. And I can't believe that nobody ever talks about "Flute Song", it's one of the most beautiful songs that I've ever heard. I had no idea that David Freiberg could sing that good. The vocal melody is to die for. "Joseph's Coat" is an eerie number with lyrics that I can't quite figure out, but there's no denying the sheer haunting atmosphere of the vocals. And what we have next might be the finest moment on the whole album: The nine-minute instrumental "Edward, The Mad Shirt Grinder", which features some of the most glorious piano playing ever caught on an album. This is where Hopkins really shows his dexterity, and toward the end, he goes crazy and seems to hit about 1,000 keys per second! One of the most gifted pianists that I've ever heard in my life. "Fresh Air" was the closest the band ever came to a hit-single, and it's not hard to see why. The lyrics are far from brilliant, and in fact they're so simplistic that it's kind of silly, but how can you not love that chorus? "OOOOOOHHHHHHH, HAVE ANOTHER HIT". It's obviously a metaphoric song about the pleasures of marijuana. John's solo is quite wonderful too. And speaking of John, two of his guitar instrumentals are included here, "Cobra" and "Local Color". The former was recorded in Hawaii, where they recorded the JUST FOR LOVE album, and the song actually has a Hawaiian feel to it. The latter is even better, with John throwing in some slide guitar this time. The only problem I have with it is that you can't really tell which guitar is John's and which is Duncan's (or perhaps it's ALL John's playing and he used some overdubs, who knows?). "Subway" is a cool little rocker with a solid riff and more piercing guitar work (John and Gary just never let up), and "What About Me" is Valenti's famous enviornmentalist anthem. The lyrics may sound like pure 'hippie' lyrics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, what's wrong with wanting world peace and caring about our planet?
The post-Cipollina songs are a mixed bag. Most of them are rather lame, but some of 'em are alright.

But if you can lay your hands on a copy of LOST GOLD AND SILVER, you'll definitely want to get that one first. Believe me.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And what about us?, November 30, 2002

By 

Robert Lee, luthier to rock and roll musicians (Martinez, Ca United States, Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sons of Mercury (1968-1975) (Audio CD)

Having grown up in the bay area (there is only one true bay area)we listened to ALL the San Francisco bands. Funny part is, quite a few were lived in Marin County. On a given night you could go to the Filmore or Avalon... to see the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and of course the Quicksilver Messenger Service. We would sit on the floor of the Filmore West and then it happened... Pow! an explosion of liquid projected lights, alternating naked dancing movies, strobe lights and the booming intro to Dino's Song with John Cippolina using his self customized Gibson SG guitar with the tremelo bar to play a finger-picked acid solo as no hip-hop band could ever hope to match. No explosions, no overpriced beer with ID tags, no 500 foot away seats and video screens, no gold Mercede's medalions, no music gang killings. Just real music.
When you fire up these CD's you can almost smell the sweat and P'tooli oil. You can see the light shows and cute groupies. You can see Cippolina and Dino giving 150% performances. But... you can also hear the small mistakes and voices cracking. You can also see years of touring in dives and being forgotten. You can almost cry when you see the tiny obituary for a forgotten Dino Valenti, John Cippolina, and Nicky Hopkins.
Maybe when you listen to this great archive of San Francisco Music you can picture yourself jumping into the band-van 45 minutes before a show to replace a no show band at the Matrix or Ark. Maybe you'll hear that albums could be made with less than 64 tracks of angry ... vocals. Try 8 track recordings. Maybe you should grow your hair long, start a Rock and Roll band, and sing of love, peace, and good times. Maybe you should get this CD and hear where it really started.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very mercurial, very "psychedelic" and ... very, very good, October 27, 2006

By 

jayhikkss - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sons of Mercury (1968-1975) (Audio CD)

This two-CD set first appeared in 1991. Rhino released it, which is very lucky because this label chooses mastering engineers who really know their job : the digital transfers are first rate, even after 15 years. It remains, to this day, the best anthology of the music laid down by one of the finest bands to come out the Bay Area's improvisatory acid rock scene in the '60s band.

The set begins with QMS's earliest released tracks, both of folk origin: "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and a cover of the Buffy Sainte-Marie classic "Codine". Both tracks first appeared on the OST of "Revolution" (1998) when the signature sound of this first incarnation of the band was already fully formed.

"I Hear You Knockin' (It's Too Late)" was not previously released on the original band LP's; it is a lovelorn ballad quite nice to hear but not really outstanding either.

Five of the band's six original tracks released on their debut LP come next. The twin guitars of John Cippolina and Gary Duncan bring out the kind of sonic dreamscapes that marked the finer examples of the genre.
Although Cippolina's highly melodic, twangy, vibrato laden, individualistic lead guitar style dominates the proceedings, Gary Duncan should not be considered a second gun; his interest in Jazz as well as his guitar interplay with Cippolina was crucial to the Quicksilver sound as a whole.
Whilst Duncan favored electrified Gibson L-5 and tube amplification, Cippolina woud go for a solid state amplification for his bridge pick-up and would use tube amps to amplify his neck pick-up. This was used, at will, with lots of effect pedals controlling, among others, a series of Wurlitzer tweeters. Manager Ron Polte's composition "Too Long", the weakest track on the first LP is left off whilst the single "Bears" (10/1968) - something of a rarity - is included. This "rarity" really sucks as far as I am concerned and I think that it would have been better to include Polte's title instead (so delivering the whole content of their first LP).
While some may prefer the mostly live "Happy Trails", this eponymous collection is, IMO, their strongest set of studio material. Despite the guitar pyrotechnics, the band lays the accent firmly on melodic folk-rock.
Highlights include their cover of folksinger Hamilton Camp's "Pride of Man," probably their best studio track; "Light Your Windows" is possibly the group's best original composition; and Dino Valenti's catchy "Dino's Song". "Gold and Silver" is their best instrumental jam, and the 12-minute "The Fool" reflects some of the better aspects of the psychedelic era.

This is followed by a large portion of their highly acclaimed follow-up, "Happy Trails", which combined concert tapes later "sweetened" in the studio. The whole of side two of the LP is included. This suits me fine as I have always like this LP side better. As regards the long and quite patchy "suite" featured on side one, it is represented by the single edit of "Who Do You Love". This is because the full-length live version does take up an entire first side of the LP. This will not please the devotees but this compilation is not released with the completists in mind.

Disc two opens with four tracks from their third LP titled "Shady Grove". Gary Duncan having departed, he was "replaced" by ace British session pianist Nicky Hopkins. I recall being quite surprised to hear this LP in 1970 but it grew on me and I still find it very good to listen to today. It his, however, very different from their previous guitar-dominated LP's.
There are really outstanding songs on this album. I am particularly fond of "Flute Song" and Hopkins' tour de force titled "Edward, The Mad Shirt Grinder". I think this album is really underrated.

One year later, Gary Duncan came back with Dino Valenti in the third incarnation of the band. From this point on, the compilation cherry picks the arguably best tracks from their subsequent LP's, which became increasingly self-indulgent. I can attest that every track chosen by Rhino is of great artistic quality. "Cobra", "Fresh Air", "What About Me", "Fire Brothers", "Hope" and "Don't Cry My Lady Love" are really choice quality stuff.

I wholeheartedly recommend this set.