| "A staple of San Franciso's music scene, Quicksilver
was the rootsy, jamming end of the spectrum. Backed by a tight horn section
on this one the music feels comfortable, familiar. The cover art is period
Haight/Ashbury sixties in both nature and color scheme. The cable car, the
Victorian houses and the blend of rock and tradition take us back to the
roots of the whole thing. But, I digresss...just look at the pretty pitcures."
(TralFaz) |
|
Musically, there is little to delineate the fourth long-player from Quicksilver
Messenger Service, What About Me, from their previous effort, Just for
Love. Not surprisingly, material for both was initiated during a prolific
two-month retreat to the Opaelua Lodge in Haleiwa, HI, during May and
June of 1970. The quartet version of Quicksilver Messenger Service --
which had yielded the band's first two LPs -- expanded once again to include
Dino Valenti (aka Chester A. Powers, Chet Powers, and most notably on
this album, Jesse Oris Farrow) as well as British session keyboardist
Nicky Hopkins. The additional talents of Mark Naftalin (keyboards) were
incorporated when Hopkins was unavailable. This began his short stint
with Quicksilver Messenger Service, which lasted through their sixth LP,
Quicksilver (1972). The most apparent change in Quicksilver Messenger
Service's sound can be directly attributed to the return of Valenti. The
group has departed the long, free-flowing improvisations that prevailed
on both their self-titled debut and follow-up, Happy Trails. The songs
are now shorter and more notably structured, with an added emphasis on
Valenti's compositions. The title track, "What About Me," became
an ethical and sociological anthem with challenging and direct lyrical
references to the political and social instability of the early '70s.
Valenti, whose songwriting credits on this disc are both numerous and
attributed to his Farrow persona, also comes up with some passable introspective
love songs, such as "Baby Baby" and "Long Haired Lady,"
as well as a couple of interesting collaborations with Gary Duncan (bass/vocals).
The psychedelic samba "All in My Mind" also highlights the often
overlooked percussive contributions from Jose Reyes. Two of the more distinguished
entries on What About Me are John Cipollina's raunchy blues instrumental
"Local Color" -- replete with a driving backbeat reminiscent
of their take on the Robert Johnson standard "Walkin' Blues"
-- as well as Nicky Hopkins' emotive "Spindrifter." (by Lindsay
Planer, AMG)
|
