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Unreleased Quicksilver: Lost Gold and Silver

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Unreleased Quicksilver: Lost Gold and Silver Audio CD

A fair review of the Quicksilver Messenger Service "Unreleased Quicksilver: Lost Gold and Silver" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Quicksilver Messenger Service reviews here, or go back to the Quicksilver Messenger Service tabs.

Band: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: Unreleased Quicksilver: Lost Gold and Silver
Rating:

Release Date: 2000-03-14
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Back Door Man 2: Codine 3: Gold and Silver 4: Smokestack Lighting 5: Light Your Windows 6: Dino's Song 7: Fool 8: Who Do You Love? 9: Mona/Maiden of the Cancer Moon/Mona 10: I Don't Want to Spoil Your Party [Dino's Song][*] 11: Acapulco Gold and Silver [*] 12: I Hear You Knockin' (It's Too Late) [*] 13: Back Door Man [*] 14: Your Time Will Come [*] 15: Who Do You Love? [*] 16: Walkin' Blues [*] 17: Calvary [*] 18: Codine [*] 19: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You [*] 20: Stand by Me [*] 21: Bears [*]

are you kidding?
It sounds like a compilation of someone's mediocre bootleg audience tapes haphazardly put together for the sake of selling it to make money. For more than 40 years, I've followed the San Francisco music scene and a huge fan of QMS and Grateful Dead, but this album is a mess. This is not historic material that will ever be listened to more than once. Wish I had my money back. Stick with the Capitol released originals. Happy Trails is still your best choice if just wanting to hear the best from this band. Too bad there are not copies from soundboard tapes of live shows such as the Dead's 'Dick's Picks' series as QMS was truly one of the best SF bands live! But do yourself a favor and pass on this one. Should have stayed 'unreleased and lost'. .

This CD Set Is A Time Machine!!!
He, essentially a multi-instrumentalist who happens to excel in guitar-playing, is truly a one-of-a-kind LEAD guitarist and even way better than some so-called fusion Jazz/Blues players like Robben Ford, Mike Stern, or Bill Frisell, in that he's so much more well versed in taking simple tunes into a kaleidoscope of fluid modal changes and kinetic tonality that come from deep within and not just techniques(although Duncan's the master of all the sound effects as well). While I agree almost a 100% with the reviews by Michael Topper and Josh H on most aspects of this compilation, I must note that labeling Duncan as a rhythm guitarist is a gross understatement. He really moves you with his sound waves.

Even in these early days, his multi-dimensional solos are distinctively different from other tired-old blues riffs repeatedly played by other well-known guitar players. When you listen to "Mona/Maiden of the Cancer Moon" on Disc One, you'd hear that he's essentially composing as he goes. That's how his music actually takes you to the space or place where no one else has taken you (and I'm not talking about the corny psychedelic kind of space). Only a handful of truly great musicians can masterfully do that, and Duncan is one of them. Of course, his twin-lead playing with OTHER guitar player Cippollina made the QMS a stellar JAM band of all.

Duncan, who loves Miles, Coltrane, and Brazilian Jazz, composed many of these early gems like "Gold & Silver", "Calvary" and "Fool", and you can really hear him reveal his talent as a composer in the making of these tunes on Disc Two. What's most amazing is, though, that the whole entire band comes together so well in their live performances of these studio-conceived tunes that are rather complex and unorthodox for a "JAM" band.

As many of the reviewers of this CD have concurred, the Quicksilver Messenger Service was one of the best live performance bands of the time, and I'd add that they were one of the greatest musical units in any genre throughout the neo-Renaissance period of the music.

Despite the marginal audio quality of the recordings, you can really enjoy and appreciate what this incredibly phenomenal, cutting edge group had created back in the late 60s. The timeless music packed in this CD set along with the At the Kabuki Theatre set really transport you back in time and place, and lets you experience that exciting magical moments of musical sensation and ecstasy all over again.
.

Huh wha?

Some bands based themselves in that city
and some were better, more driven, more creative,
and more controversial than others. Once upon a time there was a City called San Francisco
and a decade called the sixties.
This recording is a chronicle of one of those bands that was and wasn't, respectively.
All right,
they were OK on a good night, but this recording hardly qualifies as one of those. Besides,
the fidelity is utterly atrocious:
so bad as to be unworthy of transcription into the CD format.
And then there's the "Gold and Silver" with no Cipollina:
instead some dude's WHISTLING the lead.
Huh wha?
What WAS "Collector's Coice Music" THINKING when they released this scraping from the soft underbelly of 1960s rejects? .

some second thoughts-the more I listen the more I like it
I still believe that. Earlier, I wrote that the live disc was a minor disappointment. But, the more I listen to the live disc, the more I like it. As you listen to it repeatedly, your mind tends to ignore the sound quality problems and tends to blank out during the bad minutes, like the first two tracks. You then focus on the truly great moments. With your computer and good sound editing software, you could create a fairly nice CD of 30 to 40 minutes of great jamming music. You might even be able to correct some of the sound problems.

A minor disappointment-Get Happy Trails instead
78 minutes of Quicksilver live from 1968. On the surface you would think this would be a great album. Unfortunately, it does not live up to expectations. The sound quality is bad and the performance is not great.

This is a two disc set from when Quicksilver was just getting started, recorded in 1967 and 1968. The first disc is a 78 minute concert from 1968. The second disc is studio outtakes from 67 and 68. It is around 50 minutes long. The group was going through radical changes at the time. They were more of a pop/folk psychodelic band until the lead, Dino Valenti went to jail on drug charges. The group became more of a jam band after that.

The live album finds the group just evolving their new sound. It shows in the performance. It is rough and raw. The group trips over each other. The vocals on many of the songs are bad. The harmonies are not harmonious. They even forget the some of the lyrics on Who Do You Love. There are some wonderful moments, but there are very few songs that are good throughout. You can hear how much they will improve if you listen the 1969 live album, Happy Trails.

The sound quality is poor. There is no dynamic range. The high end is way up front. The sound is fuzzy and distorted. That added to the rough performance makes this a difficult CD to listen to. If the sound quality were a little bit better the rough performance may be a little more enjoyable.

The second CD is more interesting. The sound quality is better, but not great, especially considering these are studio tracks. There is a loud hiss through some of the tracks. Almost all tracks contain very good performances. The last two tracks are silly thow-away songs.

I would strongly recommend getting the first album and Happy Trails instead of this one. Happy Trails is a wonderful live album with amazing performances and great sound quality. Lost Silver And Gold is just practice sessions for those 2 albums.

If you like Quicksilver's jamming, then you should check out the Welsh group, Man. Man and John Chipolina from Quicksilver actually collaborated. When Chipolina died, Man wrote Sons of Mercury in his honor. On a live album, Deke Leonard of Man says, why does have to be the good that die, why couldn't it have been Phil Collins instead. Some good Man albums to check out include, Back Into the Future, 1999 Tour Party and Live at the Rainbow.

You can see a complete list of all Quicksilver Messenger Service discography, or go back to the Quicksilver Messenger Service tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.