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Competent, though inordinately cited classic psychedelic rock swings through fun covers, standard jams, and long head trips in a live show that was likely powerful to have witnessed but has retained little of its vitality throughout the decades.
I'm glad to get a chance to say something about this album and band.I lived in the Bay Area when things were really starting to take off.My friends and I were Guitar God Worshippers.I won't bother to list our favorites but, for example, when the Doors came to town, we ignored Morrison and crowded around Robby Krieger's place on the stage.When the first Quicksilver album came out, we wore it out.(As simple as it may seem to be today, it is important to remember that at that time, we had never heard anything like it).When Happy Trails came out, we could not believe what we were hearing.Gary Duncan's playing on the second part of Who Do You Love (When Do You Love) is still 'acid etched' in my mind as some of the best guitar work ever recorded.I mean it.Forty years later, I can still play it in my head.We saw them at the Filmore in San Francisco it was one of the bestshows I ever saw there.Cipollina was the 'showier' player, with effects and tremolo.But it was Duncan who played the "tasty' stuff.He was and still is a Guitar God in my old mind and if you haven't heardhim you are missing out.I agree with the reviewer who said they were best before Valenti joined up.
I have owned more copies of Happy Trails than any other album, and that's saying something. In those days, when surely my hearing was better than now, I was very interested in "sonic quality" (still am) and Happy Trails was one of my favorites to play for visitors to hear what $12,000 worth of LP playback gear sounded like. My dad had an 8-track player in the house to listen to his stuff on, and I bought an 8-track tape of Happy Trails. Today, I own only a few dozen CDs. Maybe that's because everyone had ingested mushrooms and nobody was in any condition to turn the LP over. I was home for the summer from college, where I'd left a cheap turntable, etc. May, 2009: It just occurred to me that I first heard "Happy Trails" 40 years ago, almost to the day. It goes without saying that Happy Trails is one of them.
If I wanted a funeral, which I don't, I'd ask that HT be played. Sadly, I sold my LP collection, more than 2,000 of them, in a personal financial meltdown in 1995, but not before making about 200 good-quality cassette tapes of my favorite LPs to hold me over. Maybe even the Roy Rogers bit. Flash forward to the mid-1980s, when I was seriously into analog vinyl playback and found used record stores in every city I visited. I first heard it in the summer of 1969 at a party, and it seemed like the "Who Do You Love." side of the album was about five hours long. I just bought my first CD copy of Happy Trails and must say it sounds great, faithful to the original, even on my cheapo stereo system.
Then I bought an LP copy for my senior year of college and beyond. I picked up two more regular copies (one sealed) and a heavy, double-weight Capitol copy. At 60, I don't need mushrooms any more but I still need Happy Trails. JC, New Jersey
There is something about this album that captures the essence of sixties psychedelic music. The inspired vocals, raw guitars laced with feedback and the wonderful songs combine to make Happy Trails more than the sum of its parts. If you lived through the sixties and tripped to these groovy sounds you will know why it deserves the accolade of 'All time classic acid rMind Bombock.'
This year marks the 40th anniversary of this CD (album) and it still sounds great; one of the best musical things to come out of the "psychedelic era." Every time I look at that beautiful cover, the western painting, I smile and think of this group's fantastic 25-minute "Who Do You Love" medley. To me, it's still unique - even for that era - and still is enjoyable to hear. For that "song," alone, I'll always have QMS ranked among my top (and under-rated) rock groups of all time."Mona," another long song that follows the medley, also is a great effort. If you need a "demo" to show "kids" some of the good music of the late '60s/early '70s, this would be one to play for them.
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