Unreleased Quicksilver: Lost Gold and Silver

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

Notes: Quicksilver Messenger Service includes: Dino Valenti (vocals, guitar); John Cipollina, Gary Duncan (guitar); Nicky Hopkins (keyboards); David Freiberg (bass); Greg Elmore (drums). Includes liner notes by Richie Unterberger. By licensing these previously unreleased live and studio tracks (plus some previously released but rare material) from the Special Markets division of EMI-Capitol Music, the mail-order company Collectors' Choice Music has legitimized Quicksilver Messenger Service recordings that had floated around on bootlegs and quasi-legal discs for many years. The performances all date from 1967-1968, a period during which Quicksilver consisted of lead guitarist John Cipollina, rhythm guitarist and singer Gary Duncan, bassist David Freiberg, and drummer Greg Elmore. As Richie Unterberger points out in his liner notes, "They were not so much singer-songwriters as they were virtuoso players and creative interpreters and stylists. They were not the greatest of vocalists or composers." True, but in Cipollina, with his tremolo-laden leads, they had one of the great San Francisco guitarists of the '60s. The first disc, titled "Studio," finds them struggling to pull together original songs for their debut LP, Quicksilver Messenger Service (May 1968), while the second disc, "Live from 1968," finds them playing some of these same songs in concert. By their second album, Happy Trails (March 1969), they had given up trying to get across in the studio and just recorded live, where they were far more comfortable. They were also more comfortable using blues and rock standards like "Back Door Man," "Smokestack Lightning," and "Who Do You Love" as jumping-off points for extended jams, or extrapolating the jazz standard "Take Five" into "Gold and Silver." Some performances age better than others -- many will find the long drum solo in the concert version of "Gold and Silver" uninspired -- but by and large, Quicksilver's live reputation stands up well. The second disc's studio outtakes are more problematic, but nevertheless interesting, notably a horn-filled arrangement of "Back Door Man." Tacked on at the end are the group's two contributions to the soundtrack to Revolution, their one-off novelty single "Bears" (all previously reissued on the 1991 Rhino compilation Sons of Mercury), and the B-side of "Bears," the pretty acoustic ballad "Stand by Me" (an original penned by erstwhile bandmember Dino Valente, not the Ben E. King song), which has not been reissued since the single was released in 1968. ~ William Ruhlmann

The Wire (3/00, p.56) - "...Captures SF's LSD euphoria far more successfully than their official recordings..."

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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