Customer Reviews

Shady Grove

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

 

 

The piano work on this album is absolutely phenomenal. This album is a musician's dream. The intense instrumental lines, especially in Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder and Shady Grove, really make this collection into a must have.

The first two Quicksilver albums are among the classics of the era. No doubt about it. They had a great talent for long, exploratory jams that really took you on that acid trip. When Gary Duncan left after 1968, it looked like the end. He was such an integral part of the band, how could they continue without him. Well, only the addition of a world class musician could save the band and that's what happened when Nicky Hopkins, who had been living in San Francisco and recording with Steve Miller and Jefferson Airplane, decided to actually join a band. What an honor for Quicksilver that he chose them.
OK, look, there's no way this album could sound the same. But, that's what's great about bands...people come, people go, the music changes, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. This album has none of the feel of the first two but it stands on its own as a fine recording. From the opening Hopkins blast on Shady Grove, to the achingly beautiful drawing room/salon type solo on Flute Song, to the countrified leanings of David Freiberg on Words Can't Say, right up to the grandiloquent opening to the ultimate Hopkins opus, Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder, this album has a lot going on musically. Many Quicksilver enthusiasts dismiss this album because Hopkins so thoroughly dominates the proceedings as to make the band almost secondary. That may be true, but the results are still extraordinary.

Quicksilver Messenger Service, in the sixties, was my favorite band so when they came out with Shady Grove I was very interested. Here was a familiar band but without someone very necessary, Gary Duncan, although now with my all time favorite piano player, Nicky Hopkins. Certainly, this was going to be a different sounding band and the lack of that second guitar would be a missing, intrinsic flavor but this addition was very intriguing.
I saw them live at the Filmore East when they released the album, and to me it was a great; great concert and I felt at the time it promised great things to come from the band. I did realize then that this was a transitional album at best, but with the addition of Nicky it was good enough. Certainly, the material was not as good as it had been nor were the performances as fiery BUT this was such a different sound I was prepared to give it more than a chance.
Quicksilver was never the writing machine that The Dead or The Airplane was, but there had always been something in their performances that more than made up for the lack of writing talent and now that they had Hopkins all that remained for them to blast off was the return of Duncan, which would happen soon enough. (Unfortunately with the eventual return of Duncan came the return/addition of Dino Valenti, let's just say not my favorite singer and leave it at that.)
So I was happy enough with Shady Grove and knowing what might be in the future I was even happier.
Unfortunately, those things never did come to pass and the band sort of faded into obscurity while releasing several mediocre albums.

In the 60's, the SF Bay group Quicksilver Mess Serv was the best in concert. Edward the organ grinder took many young hearts away from faint breasts. Listen to a calssic and pretend that the newer groups can try to do better. (Nah, you won't believe it either.)

I'm old. I'm a professional musician, too. And I remember QMS from waaay back.

This is a band that was uniformly inconsistent in some ways. The production quality of all their music was always very good. The writing suffered from various degrees of a lack of focus on what kind of band they wanted to be.

But that doesn't mean they were bad. Quite the contrary. QMS was a great band live. Less inconsistencies at their shows. But that said...

Shady Grove has some great music on it. In between are a few so-so tunes. But the highlights far exceed the "filler", which makes this album worth owning for fans of the whole San Francisco sound of the late 1960s. QMS was in the thick of it.

Favourite cuts: Joseph's Coat, Shady Grove and Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder, wherein Nicky Hopkins (who's played with just about everyone) gets to really stretch out. And the rest of the band is in fine form.

The musicianship of the collective members is without question. The production values are well represented. But, to be honest, QMS isn't for everyone and, since they were constantly searching for new things, the inconsistencies may put people off.

At the end of the day, QMS managed to create something for everyone, from Country tinged to the more progressive, with just a touch of classical influence.

For years, decades actually, I could not name another song by Quicksilver Messenger Service other than the title track from this 1969 album, which was the group's third release. I really like the song, or I should say that I really liked the introduction to the song, with the pounding piano and the guitar of John Cipollina slowly winding up to the basic theme of the song. The song itself is okay (if it was a bit better I might have decided to have picked up the album before the decade ran out), but the introduction is absolutely great. Now that I have checked out the album I am slapping my head over not recognizing the keyboard stylings of Nicky Hopkins on the piano. But then you say the name Nicky Hopkins and you think of him playing sessions with the Rolling Stones for albums like "Their Satanic Majesties Request" and "Let It Bleed." But he also worked with the Beatles on "The White Album," as well as the Kinks, the Who, and the Jefferson Airplane. That last one probably explains why he ended up with a psychedelic group out of San Francisco.

The other thing I was surprised to learn several years back was that "Shady Grove" is not an original composition but an Appalachian folk song. The Kingston Trio did a really nice medley of it with "Lonesome Traveler," and if you want something more authentic you can go track down Doc Watson doing the purest bluegrass version I have come across to date. Despite the frenzied piano playing that sets up the song, when Quicksilver Messenger Service does it they sure sound to me like they are channeling Bo Diddley more than Doc Watson. Still, when I was putting together my own set of folk music CDs and I started putting together one devoted to folk rock, this had to be the opening track (followed by Led Zeppelin's "Gallows Pole"). On balance this is still just a near-great song, and the bad news is that the rest of the album is as inconsistent as the opening track.

From what I have heard of the first two QMS albums, and as I can see just by looking at their play lists, the group was more into jamming than anything else (each album has a track in double-digits in length, "The Fool" and "Calvary" respectively). Adding Hopkins into the mix certainly changed the group's direction and sound, although the subtraction of guitarist Gary Duncan probably played a key role as well. Ironically the longest track on the album comes courtesy of Hopkins. "Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder," which slows down the album to almost a dead stop at one point on the last track after offering some decent instrumental moments. "The Flute Song" quickly reminds you that is a psychedelic group and if you play this album for somebody who has never heard it they will probably ask you what group is doing the second song in this collection of forgotten late Sixties music.

Time and time again Hopkins's piano playing stands out despite the best efforts of the rest of the band to drown him out at times. It is the best part of the rollicking' "Three or Four Feet From Home," the pretentious sounding "Too Far," and "Word's Can't Say," the last one being a reminder that QMS was not only hung up on western cowboy images for the covers of their albums, but tried to move musically in that direction without noticeably success. "Joseph's Coat" is a blue song that badly needs to be remixed (and a rewrite of the lyrics would be in order as well), and "Flashing Lonesome" is another forgettable trippy little tune. Then there is "Holy Moly," which should have been the last track on the album, because there is nothing to say after that one. If you are an absolute hard core devote of psychedelic music then you might find another track of interest besides "Shady Grove," but now that I have actually heard this album I am right back where I started.

this cd has Nicky Hoppkins on it he is one of the best key board players around and has John Cipollina on it too

I've owned this lp since it has been released in France in 1969 or 70 and I think this lp is very complete except the long track which I don't like much. In this Lp Quicksilver who announced a little Little Feat, whise first lp is very close but less "baroque" and the Capitol reedition imported from Japan is excellent and the remastering is perfect !

For years (decades actually) I could not name another song by Quicksilver Messenger Service other than the title track from this 1969 album, which was the group's third release. I really like the song, or I should say that I really liked the introduction to the song, with the pounding piano and the guitar of John Cipollina slowly winding up to the basic theme of the song. The song itself is okay (if it was a bit better I might have decided to have picked up the album before the decade ran out), but the introduction is absolutely great. Now that I have checked out the album I am slapping my head over not recognizing the keyboard stylings of Nicky Hopkins on the piano. But then you say the name Nicky Hopkins and you think of him playing sessions with the Rolling Stones for albums like "Their Satanic Majesties Request" and "Let It Bleed." But he also worked with the Beatles on "The White Album," as well as the Kinks, the Who, and the Jefferson Airplane. That last one probably explains why he ended up with a psychedelic group out of San Francisco.

The other thing I was surprised to learn several years back was that "Shady Grove" is not an original composition but an Appalachian folk song. The Kingston Trio did a really nice medley of it with "Lonesome Traveler," and if you want something more authentic you can go track down Doc Watson doing the purest bluegrass version I have come across to date. Despite the frenzied piano playing that sets up the song, when Quicksilver Messenger Service does it they sure sound to me like they are channeling Bo Diddley more than Doc Watson. Still, when I was putting together my own set of folk music CDs and I started putting together one devoted to folk rock, this had to be the opening track (followed by Led Zeppelin's "Gallows Pole"). On balance this is still just a near-great song, and the bad news is that the rest of the album is as inconsistent as the opening track.

From what I have heard of the first two QMS albums, and as I can see just by looking at their play lists, the group was more into jamming than anything else (each album has a track in double-digits in length, "The Fool" and "Calvary" respectively). Adding Hopkins into the mix certainly changed the group's direction and sound, although the subtraction of guitarist Gary Duncan probably played a key role as well. Ironically the longest track on the album comes courtesy of Hopkins. "Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder," which slows down the album to almost a dead stop at one point on the last track after offering some decent instrumental moments. "The Flute Song" quickly reminds you that is a psychedelic group and if you play this album for somebody who has never heard it they will probably ask you what group is doing the second song in this collection of forgotten late Sixties music.

Time and time again Hopkins's piano playing stands out despite the best efforts of the rest of the band to drown him out at times. It is the best part of the rollicking' "Three or Four Feet From Home," the pretentious sounding "Too Far," and "Word's Can't Say," the last one being a reminder that QMS was not only hung up on western cowboy images for the covers of their albums, but tried to move musically in that direction without noticeably success. "Joseph's Coat" is a blue song that badly needs to be remixed (and a rewrite of the lyrics would be in order as well), and "Flashing Lonesome" is another forgettable trippy little tune. Then there is "Holy Moly," which should have been the last track on the album, because there is nothing to say after that one. If you are an absolute hard core devote of psychedelic music then you might find another track of interest besides "Shady Grove," but now that I have actually heard this album I am right back where I started.