MAD RIVER Paradise Bar Grill; 1969, Antioch psychedelic

$

32

LP record album —
rock:

Mad River
Paradise Bar and Grill

Artist: Mad River
Title: Paradise Bar and Grill
Year: 1969
Label identification: Capitol: ST-185

Album (vinyl disk) condition: Fine; played only a few times
Jacket condition: Fine, with faint wear to the front cover and a bit of yellowing to the back.

Mad River was one of the 1960s most hard-edged psychedelic bands. Formed in 1966 as the Mad River Blues Band by four students and one townie, at radical Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, it was named for the nearby Mad River. The band relocated to Berkeley, Cal., the following year. This was the second of their only two albums, put out in 1969, the same year the band broke up.

Both albums were later reissued as a two-disk set, and the liner notes for that production said:

"In the onslaught of innovative San Francisco Bay Area psychedelic bands that recorded in the late 1960s, it was inevitable that some would get unfairly overlooked. Foremost among them were Mad River....one of the hardest psychedelic bands to get a handle on, their eclecticism, oblique lyrics, and tortuous multi-segmented songs defying quick summarization....often venturing into distraught visions in stark opposition to the feel-good stereotype of the San Francisco Sound. . . . In some ways they were a natural fit for the Bay Area rock community, with their affinity for winding, Eastern-influenced minor-key melodies, somewhat in the manner of Country Joe & the Fish (with whom Mad River often shared bills).

"Their knack for glistening, wavering interlocking guitars -- particularly those of lead axeman David Robinson and second lead guitarist Rick Bockner -- was somewhat reminiscent of those heard in Quicksilver Messenger Service, though Mad River played with more frenetic angularity. What set them aside most, however, was lead singer and primary songwriter Lawrence Hammond's nervous quaver of a voice....Mad River drew strong grass-roots support in the Bay Area, partly through playing events associated with San Francisco radicals the Diggers. They also had a renowned fan in author and poet Richard Brautigan, who gave the band food to tide them over in rough times. . . . among the most durable and intriguing San Francisco bands of their era."

Tracks:

Harfy Magnum
Paradise Bar and Grill
Love's Not the Way to Treat a Friend
Leave Me Stay
Copper Plates
Equinox

They Brought Sadness
Revolution's in My Pockets
Academy Cemetery
Cherokee Queen

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NOTE: I currently have various other LP records up on eBay. If interested, click on the link above to “see other items.”

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BACKGROUND INFO: This album comes from my own personal collection. I began buying records while in the high school in the mid 1960s, when I regularly scoured bargain bins for LPs in the rock/folk/blues/soul/jazz categories. In the early 1970s I transferred the bulk of this music onto cassettes, and put the disks away. When buying albums after this, I generally only played them briefly on the phonograph in the process of recording their contents to cassette tape.

After moving entirely to tape, I put all the LPs into storage (packing them upright, in sturdy boxes). So the record I’m offering here has not been played at all for over 30 years. I don’t even have a turntable now, so it is graded from a visual inspection for scratches or other obvious wear. (While some of my records got heavy usage long ago, many are still nearly pristine.)

All items are returnable for a full refund if the buyer is dissatisfied for any reason.

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SHIPPING / HANDLING TERMS: Add a flat $ 3.95 for delivery by Media Mail anywhere in the United States. Pennsylvania residents, add 6% tax.

International shipping is $6.95 to Canada, or $13.95 to all other foreign countries.