Happy Trails (album)

Last updated
Happy Trails
Quicksilver Messenger Service-Happy Trails (album cover).jpg
Live album by
Quicksilver Messenger Service
ReleasedMarch 1969
RecordedNovember 1968
Venue Fillmore West, San Francisco; Fillmore East, New York City
StudioGolden State Recorders, San Francisco
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock
Length48:41
Label Capitol
Quicksilver Messenger Service chronology
Quicksilver Messenger Service
(1968)		Happy Trails
(1969)		 Shady Grove
(1969)

Happy Trails is the second album of the American band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Most of the album was recorded from two performances at the Fillmore East and Fillmore West, although it is not clear which parts were recorded at which Fillmore. The record was released by Capitol Records in 1969 [1] in stereo.

Contents

Album content

The first side of the album consists entirely of a live performance of Bo Diddley's song, "Who Do You Love?". In a self-deprecating poke at the rendition's extended length, it is listed as the "Who Do You Love Suite", with individually titled "movements" which give writing credits to the soloist on each segment. The performance of Bo Diddley's composition breaks down into a guitar solo by Gary Duncan in a style somewhere between jazz and rock (described as "Bloomfield-like" [2] ) with a walking bass line by Freiberg. It then mellows down into some apparently improvised guitar and bass plucking and sliding, with feedback, handclapping and audience participation 'almost like a "found object" out of Dada.' [2] Solos by Cipollina and then Freiberg follow. Then comes a slower, quieter reprise of one verse of the Bo Diddley song, leading to a pianissimo ensemble vocal, followed by a finale in which Elmore changes to a back-beat, while Duncan and Freiberg still play the Bo Diddley beat. Duncan's vocals and Cipollina's lead guitar use call-and-response, and the result is a polyrhythmic rock sound.

The recorded live performance of the "Who Do You Love Suite" was almost 27 minutes long, and some of Gary Duncan's solo ("When You Love") was excised,[ citation needed ] perhaps due to the space constraints of LPs. At the end, Bill Graham announces, "Quicksilver Messenger Service." According to Mick Skidmore, Cipollina found the critical laud for "Who Do You Love?" baffling, saying "it was just a two-chord jam." (April 2001, Notes to Acadia CD "Copperhead") [3]

The second side of the album contains "Mona", another Bo Diddley song, and two instrumental compositions by Duncan, "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" and "Calvary", all of which segue. The three songs were originally parts of a single continuous live performance. Both Cipollina and Duncan take guitar solos on "Mona". The live recording of "Calvary" was abridged shortly after the end of "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" and a studio version was recorded and substituted. The ironic comment at the beginning of side two, "This here next one's rock 'n' roll," was also added in the studio.[ citation needed ]

The lead guitar on "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" is played by Cipollina. This is clearly a scored piece, as opposed to the improvisational guitar playing on "Mona."

"Calvary" was originally called the "F-Sharp Thing". It has been described as "acid-flamenco", [2] but it is definitely not flamenco music. It does resemble orchestral or symphonic music, and it is not readily classifiable as rock, jazz or blues. In the studio, Quicksilver took the themes of Duncan's piece and redid them with an extended introduction, a different cadenza by Duncan, guitar and bass feedback, a brief interlude that rises out of the feedback, and a closing melody, played staccato, that fades out. There are a variety of percussion instruments used besides the standard drum kit: tympani, a tam-tam, a whip, tubular bells, bar chimes (or perhaps the newly invented mark tree), a triangle or a bell, and güiro. In addition, Duncan lays down his electric guitar to play an acoustic guitar during the brief interlude, and then takes up the electric once again. The band also sings wordless vocals in harmony. Duncan shouts, "Call it anything you want!", while the track begins and fades out with "shhh" vocals. The album sleeve says that "Calvary" was recorded "live" at Golden State Recorders, meaning that nothing was overdubbed. There was also substantial editing and additional overdubbing done at Golden State Recorders to both sides of the record.[ citation needed ]

As a coda, the band performs the theme tune from Roy Rogers' western television show, which lends its title to the album. "Happy Trails" has "clip-clop percussion, piano and drawling vocals by Elmore[.]" [1] There is no bass on this track; Freiberg plays a honky-tonk piano part.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [4]
Head Heritage (very favourable) [1]
Rolling Stone (positive) [2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [5]

While briefly remarking that all four songs on the second side are excellent, Greil Marcus devoted most of his review in Rolling Stone to extensive discussion of the side-long rendition of "Who Do You Love?", which he deemed "one of the best rock and roll recordings to emerge from San Francisco, a performance that captures all the excitement and grandeur of the great days of the scene in a way that is almost too fine to be real." He particularly noted that, "They use the infamous Bo Diddley rhythm not as a crutch, not as something for the rhythm section to play with while the lead takes it; Quicksilver finds dimensions of that 'bump buddy bump bump — bump bump' beat that no one has even suggested before, as they stretch it, bend it, move around it, as a motif or a bridge, as an idea rather than as a pattern." [2]

Retrospective reviews have also been highly positive. Head Heritage 's Julian Cope strongly approved of the decision to have most of the album devoted to Bo Diddley covers, saying Diddley's "amplified cigar box and ever-shifting shuffle beat lent itself easily to interpretations of extended electric guitar-based improvisations". He found all the tracks to be effective, especially praising the interplay of Duncan and Cipolina's guitars, and insisted that "The entire album was recorded live at The Fillmore East and West" despite the sleeve clearly indicating that much of the album was recorded in the studio. [1] Lindsay Planer of AllMusic, while not questioning the partially studio setting for the recording, likewise found Happy Trails to be by far the most accurate recorded recreation of Quicksilver Messenger Service's "critically and enthusiastically acclaimed live performances." He lauded both the atmospheric and technical accomplishments of the jamming, and said the band has "the uncanny ability to perform with a psychedelic looseness of spirit, without becoming boring or in the least bit pretentious." [4]

Awards and accolades

The album was a surprise commercial success, hitting #27 on Billboard and eventually certified gold (over 500,000 copies sold in the US) in 1992 by the Recording Industry Association of America. [6] It was voted number 553 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). In 2003, the album was ranked number 189 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, [7] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. [8] It was number 44 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records." [9] "Mona" by Quicksilver was ranked number 88 on the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone. [10]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Who Do You Love Suite" 25:22
  • 3:32
  • 5:15
  • 6:07
  • 2:28
  • 1:49
  • 5:51
Total length:25:22
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
2."Mona"McDaniel6:53
3."Maiden of the Cancer Moon"Duncan2:54
4."Calvary"Duncan13:31
5."Happy Trails" Dale Evans 1:29
Total length:24:47

Personnel

Quicksilver Messenger Service

Releases

Happy Trails was remastered and rereleased in audiophile versions of June 2012 (a “mini LP” on CD) and January 2013 (HQ vinyl). An English version came out in 2010. Japanese versions surfaced in 2008 and 2009. Capitol Records released a CD version in 1994. [11]

Charts

Album

Billboard (United States)

YearChartPosition
1969Pop Albums27
Singles

Billboard (United States)

YearSingleChartPosition
1969"Who Do You Love"The Billboard Hot 10091 [12]

Notes

  1. ↑ The album cover credits "Quicksilver & Fillmore Audience" as the writers of this segment, apparently in acknowledgement of the audience participation portion, but the label on the original album instead credits Greg Elmore. BMI records (see BMI Work #1658037) confirm that the official writing credit belongs to Elmore alone, though it is not clear why, since Elmore was not a songwriter and does not perform a solo of any sort during the segment.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Airplane</span> American rock band

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quicksilver Messenger Service</span> American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965

Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, and several of their albums ranked in the Top 30 of the Billboard Pop charts. They were part of the new wave of album-oriented bands, achieving renown and popularity despite a lack of success with their singles. Though not as commercially successful as contemporaries Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver was integral to the beginnings of their genre. With their jazz and classical influences and a strong folk background, the band attempted to create an individual, innovative sound. Music historian Colin Larkin wrote: "Of all the bands that came out of the San Francisco area during the late '60s, Quicksilver typified most of the style, attitude and sound of that era."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chet Powers</span> American songwriter

Chester William Powers, Jr. was an American singer-songwriter, and under the stage names Dino Valenti or Dino Valente, one of the lead singers of the rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service. As a songwriter, he was known as Jesse Oris Farrow. He is best known for having written the quintessential 1960s love-and-peace anthem "Get Together", and for writing and singing on Quicksilver Messenger Service's two best-known songs, "Fresh Air" and "What About Me?"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cipollina</span> American guitarist

John Cipollina was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band Copperhead, was a member of the San Francisco All Stars and later played with numerous other bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Duncan</span> American guitarist, singer, and songwriter (1946–2019)

Gary Duncan was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was guitarist with The Brogues, then most notably with Quicksilver Messenger Service, where the complex interplay between himself and fellow-guitarist John Cipollina did much to define the unique sound of that San Francisco based band.

<i>Quicksilver Messenger Service</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Quicksilver Messenger Service is the debut studio album of Quicksilver Messenger Service, released in 1968.

Jim Murray was a guitarist and harmonica player for the psychedelic blues rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. He also handled lead and background vocals on some songs. He left the band in late 1967 shortly before they recorded their first album.

<i>Shady Grove</i> (Quicksilver Messenger Service album) 1969 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Shady Grove is a 1969 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Michael Ray Wilhelm was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the influential Bay Area band the Charlatans, who have been widely credited as starting the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic scene during the 1960s. He later played with the bands Loose Gravel and the Flamin' Groovies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley song)</span> 1956 song by Bo Diddley

"Who Do You Love?" is a song written by American rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. Recorded in 1956, it is one of his most popular and enduring works. The song represents one of Bo Diddley's strongest lyrical efforts and uses a combination of hoodoo-type imagery and boasting. It is an upbeat rocker, but the original did not use the signature Bo Diddley beat rhythm.

<i>Just for Love</i> 1970 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Just for Love is the fourth album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Released in August 1970, it marks the culmination of a transition from the extended, blues- and jazz-inspired improvisations of their first two albums to a more traditional rock sound. Founding member Dino Valenti, who returned to the band after a stint in prison on drug charges, was largely responsible for the new sound. Valenti's influence is readily apparent throughout; he composed eight of the album's nine tracks under the pen name Jesse Oris Farrow. Despite the marked change in the band's sound, it was their third straight album to reach the Top 30 on the Billboard charts, peaking at number 27. The only single culled from the album, "Fresh Air", became the band's biggest hit, reaching number 49.

<i>What About Me</i> (Quicksilver Messenger Service album) 1970 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

What About Me is the fifth album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Released in December 1970 and recorded partly at the same sessions that produced Just for Love, the album is the last to feature pianist Nicky Hopkins and the last pre-reunion effort to feature founding members David Freiberg and John Cipollina. Several tracks, including "Baby Baby", "Subway" and "Long Haired Lady" had been played regularly at shows through 1970, previewing the album.

<i>Quicksilver</i> (album) 1971 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Quicksilver is the sixth album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service.

<i>Solid Silver</i> 1975 studio album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Solid Silver is the eighth album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service and their mid-1970s comeback album, reuniting the band's entire core lineup.

<i>At the Kabuki Theatre</i> 2007 live album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

At The Kabuki Theatre is a live album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. The last four tracks are taken from studio rehearsal tapes, probably made in 1970 and not in 1969 which is stated on the album cover.

<i>Unreleased Quicksilver Messenger Service – Lost Gold and Silver</i> 1999 compilation album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Unreleased Quicksilver Messenger Service — Lost Gold and Silver is a compilation album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. The album is made up of the European 2-LP release Maiden of the Cancer Moon from 1983, two tracks from the 1967 soundtrack album Revolution, both sides from a non-LP single released in late 1968 and some studio outtakes from the late 1960s.

<i>Maiden of the Cancer Moon</i> 1983 live album by Quicksilver Messenger Service

Maiden of the Cancer Moon is a live album by American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Freiberg</span> American musician (born 1938)

David Freiberg is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson Starship. Among other tracks, he co-wrote "Jane", a hit for Jefferson Starship.

"Mona " is a song written by Ellas McDaniel that appeared as the B-side to his 1957 single "Hey! Bo Diddley". According to Diddley's obituary in The New York Times, "Mona" was a song of praise he wrote for a 45-year-old exotic dancer who worked at the Flame Show Bar in Detroit. The song also became the template for the Crickets's "Not Fade Away".

"Fresh Air" is a 1970 song written by Gary Duncan, lyrics by Jesse Oris Farrow, the pen name of Chester William "Chet" Powers, Jr., who also used the stage name of Dino Valenti. It was first recorded by the San Francisco-based band Quicksilver Messenger Service, which Valenti had recently rejoined. "Fresh Air" was the only single released from the album Just for Love. The single peaked on November 7, 1970 at No. 49 during a nine-week stay on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's most successful single.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 The Seth Man (May 2002). "Quicksilver Messenger Service — Happy Trails". Head Heritage. Retrieved March 12, 2020– via headheritage.co.uk.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Greil, Marcus (3 May 1969). "Happy Trails | Album Reviews | Rolling Stone". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "John Cipollina Discography - Copperhead". mjckeh.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  4. 1 2 Planer, Lindsay. Happy Trails at AllMusic
  5. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0857125958.
  6. ↑ "Gold & Platinum". RIAA.com. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on January 1, 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  8. ↑ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Rolling Stone's 50 Coolest Records". Rolling Stone. 2002-04-11. p. 108 – via rateyourmusic.com.
  10. ↑ "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time". stereogum.com. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  11. ↑ Psychedelic Sight - 'Happy Trails’ finally feels the love 1/8/13)
  12. ↑ "Quicksilver Messenger Service chart history". Billboard.com . Retrieved 25 August 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.