Quicksilver Messenger Service

The first studio recording by the San Francisco band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, simply entitled, "Quicksilver Messenger Service", is extraordinary. The album had become one of the best examples of acid-rock that was recorded in the Bay Area during the city's golden age of psychedelia in the late 1960s. The album only included six (6) songs, but each song is a gem, and the album as a whole was well produced. While listening to this album, one must take special note here of the exceptional guitar playing by John Cippolina, one of the band's two lead guitarists. His guitar playing on this particular album was one reason he became a true San Francisco legend. If only the band had had an opportunity, and the time, to record more gems, let alone another entire studio album, with this line-up. Unfortunately, this was not to be.Although the release of the band's first studio album in May of 1968 came late when the release date was compared with the release dates of the first studio albums for their colleagues across town, namely, The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, the album, "Quicksilver Messenger Service", turned out to be a better first-time studio effort than the albums for their counterparts--the album was more polished and refined, and more importantly, the album has stood the test of time well. In this regard, Quicksilver Messenger Service was far ahead of their colleagues at that time in terms of releasing quality studio recordings. The Jefferson Airplane, for instance, released their first studio album, "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off", two years earlier in September of 1966, but The Airplane still had to go through personnel changes before the band found its "winning formula" with Grace Slick, on vocals, Jack Casady, on bass, and Spencer Dryden, on drums.Take a listen to the six(6) songs on this album. It is well worth the time. You will quickly grasp the intensity in the band's playing on each and every song on the album, especially the intense two-lead-guitar interplay between Gary Duncan and John Cippolina, and you will also hear the passion in their singing. Gary Duncan, the guitarist, and David Freiberg, the bassist, take turns on the album singing lead. After listening to these songs, you will probably agree that the quartet at that time was serious about making a long-lasting impression upon San Francisco's music scene. You may even find a song or two on the album that will send a tingle up your spine. Yes, the songs on the group's first studio album are that good, and more importantly, they have stood the test of time.This album was a one-of-a-kind studio recording by the band because the line-up on this album would never reenter a recording studio again! And, that was a significant and a sad fact in the band's history. Nonetheless, I compare with confidence the quality of the music on this album with some of the best music that rock history has had to offer--the album is on par in excellence with the first albums from well-known bands of the era such as The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and King Crimson. This is no overstatement on my part because each one of these albums made a significant mark in rock history.It is worthy to note here that the band contributed two(2) songs to the soundtrack of a film entitled, "Revolution", released in 1968, the same year that the band released its first studio album. The film focused on the counter-culture movement at that time that was being adopted by many of the young of the day, especially following the infamous Summer of Love(1967). The band contributed the following songs to the film's soundtrack (and both of these songs did not appear on band's first studio album): "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" (a wonderful song that appeared, the following year, on Led Zeppelin's first studio album with a very different texture, a monumental album, by the way, that changed the landscape of rock music forever!) and "Codeine", a song written by Buffy Sainte-Marie.Sometime later but before the band reentered a recording studio to work on its follow-up studio album, "Shady Grove", the band saw the temporary departure of Gary Duncan--one can only surmise what may have become of the band had it remained a quartet, especially through the summer of the following year when the mega-festival of Woodstock in New York State changed so much for so many rock groups. As a result, the remaining members of the band recruited Nicky Hopkins, the legendary British keyboardist, to replace him in the line-up. Nicky Hopkins added wonderful texture to the band's songs. However, upon Gary Duncan's subsequent return to the band, not only did Nicky Hopkins remain with the band, but Gary Duncan's friend, Dino Valente, joined the band as well. The band at this point in its history recorded the fine, twin-albums, "Just For Love" and "What About Me", but the good times would soon end. Mr. Valente's presence in the band eventually caused an internal rift and the exit in rapid succession of three (3) key members of the band. These personnel departures had dire consequences for the band, and they led to the demise of a once-stellar San Francisco band.

This review is for the 2012/2013 "Culture Factory USA" miniature LP sleeve remaster on Quicksilver's 1st album (limited release).....One word, ...superb! Grab it while you can! You know the music is great, so I am only commenting on how well they did on the remaster/sound, after all, what more is there? Simply put, this is the best CD version of the 1st Quicksilver album I have ever heard....and I have had every prior version that I thought might be an improvement over whatever else happened to be out there, including the 2005/6 Japanese minature LP sleeve redo and the 2009 Japanese SHM remaster, which until now was the best... this new one from Culture Factory is more dynamic, sound is clearer/cleaner, more ambience, and indeed, I heard some things that were apparently on the tape that I had missed before...there is no tossup, the Culture Factory USA version's difference is immediately obvious, you'll dig it !! ...of course you can still get the original vinyl 1st pressing of the lp at a reasonable price and then you are golden! .....lastly, the packaging , there are no extensive liner notes, or notes at all for that matter, but the notes aren't music and these guys; whomever they are, have put their money where it matters most, the quality of the music reproduced on their disc ....and they have also included a cool miniature lp sleeve to hold the disc.... Five stars

good sound

These comments refer to the "Paper Sleeve - CD Deluxe Vinyl Replica" version of this CD from The Culture Factory USA.Another casualty of the Loudness Wars. I really like the idea of reissuing these great old albums in "mini LP" packaging that's like miniature vinyl album sleeves, but sadly I cannot recommend this product. The sleeve is great, but the sound is horrible. Mastered at maximum possible volume ("brickwalled" if you know what that means) with shrill, ear-piercing treble, scratchy vocals and buzzy, distorted bass, it sounds like bad AM radio. It hurts me to say this, I had great hopes for this repackaging, but the music has had the life squashed out of it. What's the point of a CD that sounds horrible?What's more, this Quicksilver reissue doesn't even get the sleeve right. The original LP cover was printed on silver foil, this "Vinyl Replica" is not.Save your money or buy a different CD. Skip this disappointing, poorly done product.

I have to agree with Mr. Betz that this version sounds like "Digital Goo." During the opening sequence of "Dino's Song", John Cipolina's guitar, in the right channel, has what sounds to me to be intermodulation distortion. It is not evident on the 1991 Rhino compilation release nor on the 1994 Capitol release, but the Capitol version does have some master tape dropouts. This Quicksilver Messenger Service album is my favorite of all of them. It sure would have been nice if Culture Factory had done it right.

Excellent album

QMS was an extraordinary band and this first album is as close to perfect as you get. Great remaster as well.

The remastering engineers used phase alignment in the upper and lower frequencies to increase the sparkle and power of the recording. Well it is powerful but details are lost and it no longer resembles the original recording. I'm not sure what other devices were used to hype this mix but it sounds like buckets of digital goo were poured all over it.

Todas las canciones de este álbum son una obra maestra: merece la pena comprarlo.

Quicksilver Messenger Service-1968. Cela fait quarante ans que j'écoute cet album... Dans cette version vinyl replica, j'y prends un plaisir renouvelé... Ecoutez bien... Sur le canal de droite, c'est Cipollina, sur le canal de gauche, c'est Duncan... On ne va pas pinailler longtemps là-dessus : ces deux guitaristes sont soufflants. Toutefois, j'ai un faible pour Duncan, qui joue sans effet, sans particularité de son... Ici, j'évoque le jeu glissant de Cippolina qui me semble parfois un peu facile; en tout cas, sa manière à lui de se distinguer, c'est par cette sonorité qui lui est propre. Bon, il est vrai que ces musiciens sont puissants, créatifs, excellents... Repassez-vous "Gold and Silver"... C'est magique... J'adore trop, quoi...