QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE
''HAPPY TRAILS''
MARCH 29 1969
50:02
1 Who Do You Love - Part 1 (Ellas McDaniel) 03:32
2 When You Love (Gary Duncan) 05:14
3 Where You Love (John Cipollina, Garu Duncan, Greg Elmore, David Freiberg) 06:06
4 How You Love (John Cipollina) 02:45
5 Which Do You Love (David Freiberg) 01:49
6 Who Do You Love - Part 2 (Ellas McDaniel) 05:48
7 Mona (Ellas McDaniel) 07:00
8 Maiden Of The Cancer Moon (Gary Duncan) 02:51
9 Calvary (Gary Duncan) 13:25
10 Happy Trails (Dale Evans) 01:26
John Cipollina - guitar, vocals
Gary Duncan - guitar, vocals
David Freiberg - bass, vocals, piano
Greg Elmore - drums, vocals, percussion
REVIEW/AMG
by Lindsay Planer
Without question, this follow-up to Quicksilver Messenger Service's self-titled debut release is the most accurate in portraying the band on vinyl in the same light as the group's critically and enthusiastically acclaimed live performances. The album is essentially centered around the extended reworkings of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" and "Mona," as well as the lesser lauded -- yet no less intense -- contribution of Gary Duncan's (guitar/vocals) "Calvary." This album is the last to feature the original quartet incarnation of QMS. The collective efforts of John Cipollina (guitar/vocals), Greg Elmore (percussion), David Freiberg (bass/vocals), and the aforementioned Duncan retain the uncanny ability to perform with a psychedelic looseness of spirit, without becoming boring or in the least bit pretentious. The side-long epic "Who Do You Love?" suite is split into an ensemble introduction and coda as well as four distinct sections for the respective bandmembers. The perpetually inventive chops of QMS are what is truly on display here. The musicians' unmitigated instrumental prowess and practically psychic interaction allow them to seamlessly weave into and back out of the main theme. Yet all the while, each player takes center stage for uncompromising solos. "Mona" and its companion, "Calvary," continue in much the same fashion. Here the members of QMS play off each other to form a cohesive unit. This track also contains some of Cipollina's finest and most memorable fretwork. He is able to summon sonic spirits from his guitar in a way that is unlike any of his Bay Area contemporaries. A prime example of his individuality is the frenetic "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" -- ascending from the remnants of "Mona." The angst and energy in Cipollina's guitar work and line upon line of technical phrasing could easily be considered the equal of a Frank Zappa guitar solo. The brief title track, a cover of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans' "Happy Trails," seems almost insignificant in the wake of such virtuoso playing. It clears the sonic palette and also bids adieu to this particular fab foursome of psychedelia.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
BY WIKIPEDIA
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 stereo.
The first side of the album is the "Who Do You Love Suite", a recorded live performance of the band's extended version of Bo Diddley's song, "Who Do You Love?." The movements of the suite are given separate titles and writing credits. This performance has received high praise:
"The perpetually inventive chops of QMS are what is truly on display here. The musicians' unmitigated instrumental prowess and practically psychic interaction allow them to seamlessly weave into and back out of the main theme." (Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide)
"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." (Greil Marcus, in Rolling Stone.)
Other reviewers have been less enthusiastic:
"In reality it's an excuse for an extended solo from (mostly) guitarist John Cipollina which ranges from bluesy licks to...almost nothing else. [...] In addition to serving mainly as a vehicle for Cipollina's technically-proficient but unimaginative guitar work (he'll play the kind of repeating arpeggios or repeating string bend licks so incessantly it's easy to understand why punk rock by-and-large eschewed and abhorred the guitar solo), the song's head features unimaginably dull vocals; the arrangement pretty much stinks of white imposter blues[.]" (Elliot Knapp)
"Trying to sit through these jams and pay attention to them is, however, a totally useless idea - and it only makes matters worse. If you have, for some unexplainable reason, purchased this album, never make the mistake of paying attention to it. [...] [T]his album manages to, indeed, epitomize all the worst excesses of American hippie music, and never concentrate on the best." (Odds and Sods)
Who Do You Love Suite
1. Who Do You Love? (Ellas McDaniel) (a.k.a. Bo Diddley) This is a straightforward rendering of the song in Quicksilver's rock/blues style.
2. When You Love (Gary Duncan) A guitar solo by Duncan in a style somewhere between jazz and rock (described as "Bloomfield-like" with a walking bass line by Freiberg.
3. Where You Love (Quicksilver and Fillmore audience) Some apparently improvised guitar and bass plucking and sliding, with feedback, handclapping and audience participation 'almost like a "found object" out of Dada.'
4. How You Love (John Cipollina) A rock guitar solo by Cippollina.
5. Which Do You Love (David Freiberg) A bass solo by Freiberg.
6. Who Do You Love? (Part 2) (Ellas McDaniel) A slower, quieter reprise of one verse of the Bo Diddley song, leading to a pianissimo ensemble vocal, and a finale in which "they hit it all at once, guitars harder and harder. Elmore pounding, voices screaming; everything working." For this finale, Elmore changes to a back-beat, while Duncan and Freiberg still play the Bo Diddley beat and Cippolina plays a lead against the melody, resulting in 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, perhaps because a side of an LP can contain approximately only 25 minutes of music. At the end, Bill Graham announces, "Quicksilver Messenger Service."
Side 2
Greil Marcus, writing for Rolling Stone, noted that the record has another side but "it took me two hours to even get to the other side."
The second side of the album contains "Mona", another Bo Diddley song, and two 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 Cippollina and Duncan take a guitar solo on Mona. Following them is a version of "Happy Trails", the theme of Roy Rogers's television show, written by Dale Evans. 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.
"Maiden of the Cancer Moon" is an instrumental written by Duncan. The lead guitar is played by Cipollina. This is clearly a scored piece, as opposed to the improvisational guitar playing on "Mona." One description of it says "attitude filled hard rock with that tough guy, slick style of guitar playing that makes you stomp your feet in the middle of class."
Duncan's instrumental composition "Calvary" was called the "F-Sharp Thing" by the band.[8] This music has been described as "acid-flamenco", but it is definitely not flamenco music. It's also been called an "Ennio Morricone-flavored Spanish instrumental[.]" 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: piano (apparently played by pressing all its keys simultaneously with a piece of wood or something), 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 one again. The band also sings wordless vocals in harmony, Duncan shouts, "Call it anything you want!", and the track begins and fades out with "shhh" vocals. The album sleeve says that "Calvary" was recorded "live" at Golden State Recorders, presumably meaning that none of this was overdubbed and it was played by the four members of the band only.
As a coda, the band sing the theme tune from Roy Rogers' western television show, which lends its title to the album. "Happy Trails" is also different from the other songs on the album. It has "clip-clop percussion, piano and drawling vocals by Elmore[.] " It's "a sweet, slightly corny way to end things." "It clears the sonic palette and also bids adieu to this particular fab foursome of psychedelia." There is no bass played on this track; Freiberg plays a honky-tonk piano part.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by William Ruhlmann
TO THE TOP
''HAPPY TRAILS''
MARCH 29 1969
50:02
1 Who Do You Love - Part 1 (Ellas McDaniel) 03:32
2 When You Love (Gary Duncan) 05:14
3 Where You Love (John Cipollina, Garu Duncan, Greg Elmore, David Freiberg) 06:06
4 How You Love (John Cipollina) 02:45
5 Which Do You Love (David Freiberg) 01:49
6 Who Do You Love - Part 2 (Ellas McDaniel) 05:48
7 Mona (Ellas McDaniel) 07:00
8 Maiden Of The Cancer Moon (Gary Duncan) 02:51
9 Calvary (Gary Duncan) 13:25
10 Happy Trails (Dale Evans) 01:26
John Cipollina - guitar, vocals
Gary Duncan - guitar, vocals
David Freiberg - bass, vocals, piano
Greg Elmore - drums, vocals, percussion
REVIEW/AMG
by Lindsay Planer
Without question, this follow-up to Quicksilver Messenger Service's self-titled debut release is the most accurate in portraying the band on vinyl in the same light as the group's critically and enthusiastically acclaimed live performances. The album is essentially centered around the extended reworkings of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" and "Mona," as well as the lesser lauded -- yet no less intense -- contribution of Gary Duncan's (guitar/vocals) "Calvary." This album is the last to feature the original quartet incarnation of QMS. The collective efforts of John Cipollina (guitar/vocals), Greg Elmore (percussion), David Freiberg (bass/vocals), and the aforementioned Duncan retain the uncanny ability to perform with a psychedelic looseness of spirit, without becoming boring or in the least bit pretentious. The side-long epic "Who Do You Love?" suite is split into an ensemble introduction and coda as well as four distinct sections for the respective bandmembers. The perpetually inventive chops of QMS are what is truly on display here. The musicians' unmitigated instrumental prowess and practically psychic interaction allow them to seamlessly weave into and back out of the main theme. Yet all the while, each player takes center stage for uncompromising solos. "Mona" and its companion, "Calvary," continue in much the same fashion. Here the members of QMS play off each other to form a cohesive unit. This track also contains some of Cipollina's finest and most memorable fretwork. He is able to summon sonic spirits from his guitar in a way that is unlike any of his Bay Area contemporaries. A prime example of his individuality is the frenetic "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" -- ascending from the remnants of "Mona." The angst and energy in Cipollina's guitar work and line upon line of technical phrasing could easily be considered the equal of a Frank Zappa guitar solo. The brief title track, a cover of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans' "Happy Trails," seems almost insignificant in the wake of such virtuoso playing. It clears the sonic palette and also bids adieu to this particular fab foursome of psychedelia.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
BY WIKIPEDIA
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 stereo.
The first side of the album is the "Who Do You Love Suite", a recorded live performance of the band's extended version of Bo Diddley's song, "Who Do You Love?." The movements of the suite are given separate titles and writing credits. This performance has received high praise:
"The perpetually inventive chops of QMS are what is truly on display here. The musicians' unmitigated instrumental prowess and practically psychic interaction allow them to seamlessly weave into and back out of the main theme." (Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide)
"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." (Greil Marcus, in Rolling Stone.)
Other reviewers have been less enthusiastic:
"In reality it's an excuse for an extended solo from (mostly) guitarist John Cipollina which ranges from bluesy licks to...almost nothing else. [...] In addition to serving mainly as a vehicle for Cipollina's technically-proficient but unimaginative guitar work (he'll play the kind of repeating arpeggios or repeating string bend licks so incessantly it's easy to understand why punk rock by-and-large eschewed and abhorred the guitar solo), the song's head features unimaginably dull vocals; the arrangement pretty much stinks of white imposter blues[.]" (Elliot Knapp)
"Trying to sit through these jams and pay attention to them is, however, a totally useless idea - and it only makes matters worse. If you have, for some unexplainable reason, purchased this album, never make the mistake of paying attention to it. [...] [T]his album manages to, indeed, epitomize all the worst excesses of American hippie music, and never concentrate on the best." (Odds and Sods)
Who Do You Love Suite
1. Who Do You Love? (Ellas McDaniel) (a.k.a. Bo Diddley) This is a straightforward rendering of the song in Quicksilver's rock/blues style.
2. When You Love (Gary Duncan) A guitar solo by Duncan in a style somewhere between jazz and rock (described as "Bloomfield-like" with a walking bass line by Freiberg.
3. Where You Love (Quicksilver and Fillmore audience) Some apparently improvised guitar and bass plucking and sliding, with feedback, handclapping and audience participation 'almost like a "found object" out of Dada.'
4. How You Love (John Cipollina) A rock guitar solo by Cippollina.
5. Which Do You Love (David Freiberg) A bass solo by Freiberg.
6. Who Do You Love? (Part 2) (Ellas McDaniel) A slower, quieter reprise of one verse of the Bo Diddley song, leading to a pianissimo ensemble vocal, and a finale in which "they hit it all at once, guitars harder and harder. Elmore pounding, voices screaming; everything working." For this finale, Elmore changes to a back-beat, while Duncan and Freiberg still play the Bo Diddley beat and Cippolina plays a lead against the melody, resulting in 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, perhaps because a side of an LP can contain approximately only 25 minutes of music. At the end, Bill Graham announces, "Quicksilver Messenger Service."
Side 2
Greil Marcus, writing for Rolling Stone, noted that the record has another side but "it took me two hours to even get to the other side."
The second side of the album contains "Mona", another Bo Diddley song, and two 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 Cippollina and Duncan take a guitar solo on Mona. Following them is a version of "Happy Trails", the theme of Roy Rogers's television show, written by Dale Evans. 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.
"Maiden of the Cancer Moon" is an instrumental written by Duncan. The lead guitar is played by Cipollina. This is clearly a scored piece, as opposed to the improvisational guitar playing on "Mona." One description of it says "attitude filled hard rock with that tough guy, slick style of guitar playing that makes you stomp your feet in the middle of class."
Duncan's instrumental composition "Calvary" was called the "F-Sharp Thing" by the band.[8] This music has been described as "acid-flamenco", but it is definitely not flamenco music. It's also been called an "Ennio Morricone-flavored Spanish instrumental[.]" 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: piano (apparently played by pressing all its keys simultaneously with a piece of wood or something), 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 one again. The band also sings wordless vocals in harmony, Duncan shouts, "Call it anything you want!", and the track begins and fades out with "shhh" vocals. The album sleeve says that "Calvary" was recorded "live" at Golden State Recorders, presumably meaning that none of this was overdubbed and it was played by the four members of the band only.
As a coda, the band sing the theme tune from Roy Rogers' western television show, which lends its title to the album. "Happy Trails" is also different from the other songs on the album. It has "clip-clop percussion, piano and drawling vocals by Elmore[.] " It's "a sweet, slightly corny way to end things." "It clears the sonic palette and also bids adieu to this particular fab foursome of psychedelia." There is no bass played on this track; Freiberg plays a honky-tonk piano part.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by William Ruhlmann
The band that became Quicksilver Messenger Service originally was conceived as a rock vehicle for folk singer/songwriter Dino Valente (b. Nov. 7, 1943, d. Nov 16, 1994), author of "Get Together." Living in San Francisco, Valente had found guitarist John Cipollina (b. Aug. 24, 1943, d. May 29, 1989) and singer Jim Murray. Valente's friend David Freiberg (b. Aug. 24, 1938) joined on bass, and the group was completed by the addition of drummer Greg Elmore (b. Sep. 4, 1946) and guitarist Gary Duncan (b. Sep 4, 1946). As the band was being put together, Valente was imprisoned on a drug charge and he didn't rejoin Quicksilver until later.
They debuted at the end of 1965 and played around the Bay Area and then the West Coast for the next two years, building up a large following but resisting offers to record that had been taken up by such San Francisco acid rock colleagues as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Quicksilver finally signed to Capitol toward the end of 1967 and recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968 (by this time, Murray had left). Happy Trails, the 1969 follow-up, was recorded live. After its release, Duncan left the band and was replaced for Shady Grove (1970) by British session pianist Nicky Hopkins. By the time of its release, however, Duncan had returned, along with Valente, making the group a sextet.
This version of Quicksilver, prominently featuring Valente's songs and lead vocals, lasted only a year, during which two albums, Just for Love and What About Me, were recorded. Cipollina, Freiberg, and Hopkins then left, and the remaining trio of Valente, Duncan, and Elmore hired replacements and cut another couple of albums before disbanding. There was a reunion in 1975, resulting in a new album and a tour, and in 1986 Duncan revived the Quicksilver name for an album that also featured Freiberg on background vocals.
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