Quicksilver Messenger Service

Performer: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Quicksilver Messenger Service: Gary Duncan, John Cipollina (guitar); David Freiberg (bass); Greg Filmore (drums). Producers: Nick Gravanites, Harvey Brooks, Pete Welding. Personnel: Gary Duncan (vocals, guitar); David Freiberg (vocals, viola, bass guitar); John Cipollina (guitar); Greg Elmore (drums). Audio Remasterer: Andrew Thompson . It may have lacked the longevity of peers like the Grateful Dead and Santana, but Quicksilver Messenger Service was one of the finest bands to come out the Bay Area's improvisatory acid rock scene in the '60s. The twin guitars of John Cippolina and Gary Duncan made for the kind of spontaneous sonic dreamscapes that marked the finer examples of the genre. Like that of its San Francisco brethren, the band's early repertoire consisted largely of long pieces with extended instrumental passages, allowing for plenty of interplay between the musicians. The 12-minute jamfest "The Fool" is a good example of this seminal group's dynamic energy as captured on this debut album.

Q (6/00, p.132) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Airtight harmonies, proper choruses, smartly constructed songs and snatches of Take Five on 'Gold & Silver'..." Mojo (Publisher) (9/00, p.111) - "...The most underrated of the '60s Bay Area bands....Listening to them 30 years on, they sound like a terrific cross between the Dead and Television..."

Along with the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service were one of the first and best of the San Francisco '60s psychedelic bands. Though they shared with their peers an improvisational bent and eclectic roots in blues, jazz, folk, and rock, what helped set them apart was the distinctive twin-guitar work of John Cipollina and Gary Duncan, two virtuosic players. When New York singer-songwriter Dino Valenti became their frontman, their sound became more accessible and they scored a couple of minor hits before disbanding in the mid-'70s.

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