Quicksilver Messenger Service "Happy Trails" 1969****

I owe my discovery of "Happy Trails" (and psychedelic rock, in general) to the older brother of a former girlfriend, waaay back in the late 80's in Athens. That was the time before youtube, before MP3's and music downloads, when listening to such outré music was really difficult. State radio was indifferent to rock (with the exception of legendary dj Yannis Petridis). Pirate stations would play some rock, though you'd be much more likely to hear stuff like Deep Purple rather than Quicksilver. Record store employees were one source of information, friends another. Girlfriends with older siblings sometimes came in handy. So one afternoon I armed myself with a few C-90 cassettes and secretely recorded a bunch of said sibling's records, carefully putting everything back exactly the way I found it, since we had been in a restricted area. Valuable finds from this excursion included Country Joe & The Fish, the Chocolate Watch Band, Mad River, Sopwith Camel and some others you could probably spend a lifetime listening to the radio and never come across. "Happy Trails" was another find, and it is one of those records that music critics feel obliged to vote for at polls (yes, it's one of the albums you must hear before you die) but I'll bet they very rarely listen to. Because, let's face it, a 26-minute jam around a Bo Diddley beat isn't everybody's cup of tea. It was, of course, very revolutionary and psychedelic at the time (only 4 years before, any song longer than 3 minutes would have been rejected for being too long for the radio). Most of the album was recorded live in front of the hippy-friendly audience of The Fillmore in San Francisco. Side 1 of the LP was the band's version of "Who Do You Love", divided in sections that allowed every member a place in the spotlight. The introductory killer rendition of "Who Do You Love" is followed by "When You Love", essentially an extended jazzy guitar solo by Gary Duncan. "Where You Love" is a loose improvisation with audience participating and "How You Love" a shorter, hard rocking, solo by John Cipollina. "Which Do You Love" is bassist David Freiberg's turn to shine before going full circle with "Who Do You Love? (Part 2)". Side 2 contained another long Bo Diddley cover ("Mona") with excellent fretwork by the two guitarists (Always Duncan on the left channel, Cipollina on the right) and two instrumentals, "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" and "Calvary", a 13-minute improvisation with Morricone flourishes. The album closes with "Happy Trails" a short simple cowboy song which is in complete contrast to everything that went before. Generally the record is rather experimental and too much of its time, but you have to admire the inventive guitar playing and intuitive collaboration between the musicians. I don't listen to it very often, but I couldn't possibly give it less than 4 stars...

**** for "Who Do You Love? - Part 1, When You Love, Mona, Calvary

*** for How You Love, Which Do You Love, Who Do You Love - Part 2, Maiden of the Cancer Moon, Happy Trails

** for Where You Love