Original Soundtrack
United Artists UAS 5185
1968
This is the soundtrack to a documentary about the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967. The film follows the flower child depicted on the back cover of the album as she wanders through hippie San Francisco taking in the various scenes. The film covers all the usual stuff: communes, free love, psychedelic ballroom concerts, outdoor festivals, drug trips, the Diggers, runaways, panhandlers etc. It is a curious mixture of a true believer manifesto and an exploitation film. It features earnest statements of purpose along with extended simulations of drug trips and lots of female hippie nudity. I find it fascinating as I've been obsessed with the subject matter since I was a teen growing up in the Bay Area in the aftermath of the hippie era. The film also boasts a killer soundtrack although not all of the music from the film makes it onto the record. It omits live performances by Country Joe and the Fish and Dan Hicks of the Charlatans. Most regrettably it also does not include a wonderful and all too brief clip of the pioneering female rock group Ace Of Cups performing their song "Stones" at an outdoor concert. I originally bought the record because I wanted the two cuts by Quicksilver Messenger Service, neither of which appeared on their debut album. Both cuts were part of the early Quicksilver repertoire and can be heard on several of their archival live releases. I'm a big fan of their cover of Buffy St. Marie's classic anti-drug song "Codine." I find it amusing that my favorite version of this song was performed by arguably the druggiest band in San Francisco. The group pounds out the song's riff with great vigor and David Freiberg delivers the words with gut wrenching anguish. Extraordinary. Nearly as good is the band's cover of Anne Bredon's "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You." There are lots of covers of this song, but this is easily my favorite. It is hard driving with slashing guitar chords and a passionate joint vocal by Freiberg and Gary Duncan. The band is seen performing the song in a ballroom in the film. The record is worth owning for these two songs alone, but the rest of the album has much to offer as well. The Steve Miller Band has three songs none of which appeared on their albums for Capitol. The best is a frenzied cover of the Isley Brothers' "Your Old Lady" that features smoking hot guitar work from Miller and James Cooke supported ably by Jim Peterman on organ. It is one of the most exciting tracks that Miller has ever recorded. The band is seen performing the song in a ballroom in one of my favorite scenes in the film. The Miller Band also perform a cover of K. C. Douglas' "Mercury Blues" which is another jumping track with blistering blues guitar licks. Their third song is the instrumental "Superbyrd" which is pleasant, but forgettable, by far the weakest track on the record. The remaining three songs are by Mother Earth. "Revolution" was co-written by the film's director Jack O'Connell. It is a didactic song that stresses the themes of the film. It doesn't sound much like a typical Mother Earth song, but the band gamely gives it a jazzy interpretation that I find engaging and Tracy Nelson sings the awkward words very convincingly. The band fares better with Danny Small's "Without Love" which was a hit for Clyde McPhatter in 1957. The song's gospel style plays to Tracy Nelson's strengths and she knocks it out of the park. Percy Mayfield's bluesy "Stranger in My Own Home Town" is well suited for the band but suffers from an inadequate vocal by Powell St. John. With only 8 tracks this album is a bit skimpy even by 1960s standards but with five must-have tracks on it, it is well worth seeking out, particularly for fans of the San Francisco Sound. Recommended to fans of "Monterey Pop."
