Scenes:
Rockument's collection of psychedelic masterpieces from San Francisco in the 1960s, by Tony Bove |
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Scenes:
Rockument's collection of psychedelic masterpieces from San Francisco in the 1960s, by Tony Bove |
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San Francisco in the late 1960s was a haven for the new hippies who were seeking the meaning of life, acid, and the counterculture. Allen Cohen, editor of the original San Francisco Oracle underground magazine published from the Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love, provides the context:
The psychedelic experience also inspired a lot of improvisational music, or jamming, that gave rock an entirely new dimension for expression. The lyrics drifted to new subjects beyond boy-meets-girl and fast-car, tending more to absurd descriptions of the inward journey of the mind, or the counterculture lifestyle. Psychedelic experiences suggested more use of feedback and distortion, more sound effects, and in some cases more and in others less orchestration. Some bands were committed to the lifestyle as well as to playing while stoned. All bands were challenged by this new mood of innovation. But any history of experimental or improvisational music on the West Coast would have to include, if not start with, the jazz scene in the Fillmore district of San Francisco in the late 1940s and through the 1950s. The locus of activity was Jimbo's Bob City, on Buchanan and Post. This chicken shack hangout blossomed into one of the greatest jazz joints of all time, stewarded by the "Bill Graham" of Frisco Jazz, Jimbo Edwards. Billie Holliday, Dexter Gordon, and Pony Poindexter were regulars; Charlie Parker stopped for a visit and blew everyone away. Hollywood stars and jazz giants from New York (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong) made Jimbo's a regular stop on their tours of the West Coast. John Coltrane showed up as a young man and learned some chops there. The early beat poets and writers, including Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady, discovered bop and opened the doors of places like Jimbo's to the new white bohemians. They served as a cultural bridge to the next generation, to musicians like the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir; to Big Brother's James Gurley and Janis Joplin; to the Jefferson Airplane's Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady; to Carlos Santana and many others who had grown up with folk, r&b, and blues, and blew their minds with improvisational jazz, moving them into an entirely new direction. PlaylistYou
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The Charlatans were the first truly psychedelic band that actually played while on acid. They were directly inspired by the Mystery Trend. The Charlatans started their career in 1964 at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City near Reno in the high Sierras, drawing audiences from their friends in San Francisco (notably the original Family Dog commune, and Kesey's Merry Pranksters). Later that summer they moved back to S.F. and started playing at the Matrix and other newly opened venues, including the Fillmore. The Charlatans included Richard Olsen on bass, Mike Wilhelm on guitar and vocals, Dan Hicks on drums and vocals, and Mike Ferguson on keyboards, with George Hunter on style (he created that Wild West Victorian hippie look). Dan Hicks went on to form Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. Ferguson was one of the first to open a "head shop" in the Haight-Ashbury, called "The Magic Theatre for Madmen Only" (from Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf). Hunter was one of the first Haight-Ashbury poster artists, along with Family Dog member Alton Kelley. A version of "Alabama Bound" first appeared on "The Amazing Charlatans" album (Big Beat-UK). This version of the Charlatans' signature tune, "Alabama Bound" (based on an old folk song) was recorded later, for an LP that never appeared except as a French import. The Charlatans musical style could be described as early wild-west-Victorian-hippie rock, and was appreciated and even partially copied by many S.F. bands that came later, including the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Country Joe and the Fish. I've heard the Grateful Dead do a version of this song in tribute (the same arrangement), along with David Crosby.
The Sopwith Camel were Terry MacNeil (piano, guitar), Peter Kraemer (vocal, sax, flute), Martin Beard (bass), and Norman Mayell (drums, marimba, harmonica). The second band in S.F. to be signed to a record label, the Camel scored a Top 30 hit with this song. Its members were part of the "intellectual hippie" crowd at San Francisco State Univ. -- MacNeil came from the Art Institute, Mayell was a Merry Prankster, and Kraemer was part of the scene at 1090 Page (Big Brother, the Family Dog, etc.) in the Haight, whose mother was part of an artists' circle in Nevada with visits by Salvadore Dali. The group disbanded after its first album, and recorded a comeback album in the late 1970s but never reformed. Check out this Sopwith Camel fan site with a complete history of the band.
Janis Joplin started singing with country and blues bands in Austin, Texas, after leaving her birthplace of Port Arthur. She joined the Waller Creek Boys and sang Woody Guthrie tunes as well as gritty blues songs. Chet Helms, the San Francisco proto-hippie concert promoter, was in 1963 a beatnik poet, and on one of his travels met Janis in Austin and convinced her to come to the S.F. North Beach scene to make it as a singer. Through 1963 and 1964 She fell in with a folk crowd that included David Crosby, David Freiberg (founder of Quicksilver and future member of Jefferson Starship), Marty Balin (founder of Jefferson Airplane), James Gurley (founder of Big Brother), George Hunter (founder of the Charlatans), and Tim Hardin. She also played in some south-of-S.F. folk venues where she met Jerry Garcia (in a lineup that featured several future Grateful Dead members) and Jorma Kaukonen (as a blues purist before he joined Jefferson Airplane). Many of these stars remember the early Janis as a speed-crazed folk-blues singer. George Hunter tried to recruit her for his new band, the Charlatans, but she split for New York City. She spent the summer of 1964 zonked out on methamphetamine in New York's Lower East Side, and eventually returned to S.F., only to hit bottom with a newly acquired heroin addiction. Eventually she returned to Texas to try to regain her health and get married. Around the time that Dylan was launching his new electric phase, in 1965 and early 1966, Janis returned to Austin to sing again, and she was influenced by the new Texas "psychedelic" band the 13th Floor Elevators, led by Roky Erickson. The LSD-drenched screaming vocal style of Erickson, derived from Little Richard, definitely left an impression on Janis. Eventually Chet Helms would mention Janis to Travis Rivers, who was scouting for talent to join the Big Brother combo just getting started in the Haight-Ashbury. Travis traveled to Austin, and Chet Helms paid her bus ticket back to S.F. just in time to join Big Brother and the Holding Company at the beginning of the Summer of Love. Check out the Big Brother & the Holding Company official site and a very good Janis Joplin fan site.
Country Joe started out as a folksinger, raised by Communist parents (he claimed he was named after Josef Stalin), singing protest songs by himself and with the 13-member Instant Action Jug Band in Berkeley. Barry Melton (lead guitar) joined the Jug Band just as it turned electric, along with Bruce Barthol (bass), David Cohen (organ), and John Francis Gunning (drums) who was later replaced by Chicken Hirsch. The Fish's official debut in August, 1966, was an opening slot for Quicksilver and the Dead at the Fillmore. Country Joe and the Fish alternated songs of political satire with outrageous psychedelia -- the only famous band of that period that was successful in its appeal to both leftists and hippies. This song appeared on the group's first electric album. Considered the most psychedelic album of its day, Electric Music for the Mind and Body demonstrates Country Joe and the Fish in their prime as a psychedelic band. Check out Country Joe's site, the official Country Joe & the Fish site, and Barry Melton's page.
The Grateful Dead (at that time, Jerry Garcia on guitar, Bob Weir on guitar, Phil Lesh on bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan on organ and harmonica) were augmented on the second album, Anthem of the Sun, by drummer/percussionist, Mickey Hart, and Tom Constanten on prepared piano sound effects and keyboards. At the time these were some of the most far-out sounds ever heard, making the Dead the indisputable king of S.F. psychedelia. The band never had an easy time trying to make studio albums, so they put together an album of concert tapes creatively spliced to provide a new kind of listening experience. They augmented these live tapes (mostly from concerts in the Pacific Northwest) with sound effects and studio experiments. This suite was an essential part of my early psychedelic experiences. It prepared me for the inevitable religious experience of "Dark Star" on the fourth album, Live-Dead. The conscious studio effect of mixing these live recordings was as mind-blowing as the recordings themselves. Check out Rockument's History of the Grateful Dead, Rockument's Haight-Ashbury page and the Official Grateful Dead page.
Moby Grape were the most hyped of the S.F. bands by the L.A. music machinery. The Grape were a group of S.F. and L.A. musicians led by Skip Spence, guitarist, songwriter, and former drummer for Jefferson Airplane. Less than six months after being "discovered" by Columbia Records' David Rubinson, the group released its first album, and the record company released no less than six singles at once. To cap the hype overkill, the record company rented out the Avalon Ballroom in S.F. to put on a huge party. All the music heavies were there, Janis Joplin got up to sing with Moby Grape, and radio station KFRC donated 10,000 orchids which littered the floor. But later that night, after the party, three members of the band were busted up on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County for having sex with underage girls. The singles were removed from radio stations around the country (due to the morals charge, which made headlines), and the subsequent tour degenerated into chaos as Moby Grape were thrown out of many cities before they could even play. Then, during recording sessions in New York for the group's second album, Wow, Skip Spence went over the psychdelic line and had to be restrained from chopping up the studio with an axe. He was hospitalized at Bellevue for about six months while Moby Grape finished the album. But Spence, by the time he was released, was also through with Moby Grape. He immediately hopped on a motorcycle and fled NYC to Nashville, where he recorded Oar, a solo album on which he played all the instruments, now an underground classic (it sunk like a stone when first released). Spence was plagued by schizophrenia the rest of his life and never achieved the glory he deserved. He died in April, 1999. "Indifference" is an R&B romp through psychedelia that combines Peter Lewis' country-western influence (on rhythm guitar) with Bob Mosley's rhythm and blues orientation (on bass guitar) and Skip Spence's lunatic playing (rhythm guitar) with Jerry Miller (lead guitar), and Don Stevenson (on drums). Check the Official Moby Grape page for the band's history and current activities.
Quicksilver was the quintessential and much-admired S.F. acid rock band, featuring Nicky Hopkins (piano), John Cipollina (guitar), David Freiberg (guitar and bass), and Greg Elmore (drums). Clearly inspired by the Charlatans, Quicksilver was known for extended blues jams with a honky-tonk edge, courtesy of newcomer Nicky Hopkins, who joined after founder Gary Duncan (guitarist) left the band. Duncan returned later, along with Dino Valenti (a.k.a. Chet Powers), to record some of Quicksilver's hits. The album Shady Grove showcases Hopkins, Freiberg, and of course, founder Cipollina. See the John Cipollina Homepage fan site. See also the Official Quicksilver site.
The Jefferson Airplane were at first the most popular of the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury bands and the first to have a hit record. The original lineup for the Jefferson Airplane was Marty Balin (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar), Jack Casady (bass), and Skip Spence (drums), with Signe Toly Anderson (female vocalist) -- very similar in makeup as the We Five. Skip Spence left in the middle of the second album (after writing "My Best Friend"), to be replaced by Spencer Dryden, and Signe left after the first album, to be replaced by Grace Slick of the Great Society. Check out this Jefferson Airplane fan site, and check out this ring of sites supporting the Jefferson Airplane/Starship. For information about the earlier Grace Slick and the Great Society, see the Great Society fan page. Other Rockument radio shows -- Monterey Pop Songs and Scenes: San Francisco Psychedelic Garage Pop also have Airplane songs.
The first-ever-recorded version of something called "Jefferson Starship" was this album. It featured both Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead members, along with David Crosby and Graham Nash. This particular session included Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, Phil Sawyer, Harvey Brooks, Mickey Hart, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Peter Kaukonen, and David Freiberg. It was recorded at Wally Heider Recording Studios in S.F. as part of David Crosby's "Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra" project, which yielded tracks for Crosby's first solo album, the Sunfighter sequel to this album, and even Mickey Hart's solo album. The extensive liner notes accompanying the original LP included a message from the Starship Foundation, looking for recruits to hijack the first starship built on this planet. The notes include original poetry, outrageous illustrations, and a genuine feeling that these people were serious about leaving, serious about exploring the new world, and serious about their hope for a better live in this universe. "Well?"
Another Scenes show: "San Francisco Psychedelic Garage Pop"
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Jefferson
Airplane Loves You
Jefferson
Starship / Paul Kantner: 
