Country Joe and The Fish - Love | Le Ramasseur De Mégots

Love

I always remember the false start really shocked me. . . . . bought (or listened to anyway)when it came out round at David Rodigan’s next door neighbour Alan Bateman, thanks Alan! Thanks to you we saw The Doors, Love, Country Joe, Frank Zappa, Clear Light, etc etc

Le Ramasseur De Mégots

A FISH! | Barry Melton - Bright Sun Shining! (1970) | Plain & Fancy

 Barry Melton - Bright Sun Is Shining (1970 )

Bright Sun is Shining - Barry Melton (1970) 

 

Over fifty years ago, during the “Summer of Love” – 1967 -  Barry “The Fish” Melton celebrated his 20th birthday in June 1967.  A few days later, he and his band, “Country Joe and the Fish,” were rocketed onto the world stage at the Monterey Pop Festival with such luminaries as the Jefferson Airplane, the Mamas and Papas, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, Simon and Garfunkel, the Who and a relatively unknown guitarist named Jimi Hendrix. And fifty years ago, in 1969, Barry appeared at the historic festival in Woodstock< New York and also appeared in the movie bearing the same name: “Woodstock.”  During the five years between 1967 and 1971, Barry would tour arenas, concert halls, and stadiums through Europe and North America.  He also launched his first solo effort, a blues/soul album half of which was recorded in New York with members of the Wilson Pickett Band and half of which was recorded in Chicago with a band featuring Donny Hathaway on piano, Morris Jennings on drums and Phillip Upchurch on bass.

Barry began the 1970’s with an album for Columbia Records produced by legendary guitarist Michael Bloomfield, Barry took up part-time residence in the United Kingdom and recorded two albums at Rockfield Studios in Wales; and he toured extensively in the U.K., France and the Netherlands; Barry and ultimately returned home to San Francisco to record his fifth album of the decade.

In the 1980’s, Barry put together San Francisco’s historic supergroup, “Dinosaurs,” featuring Barry and John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service, guitar), Spencer Dryden (Jefferson Airplane, drums), Peter Albin (Big Brother and the Holding Company, bass), and Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead songwriter, guitar).  Other members of the band later included Merl Saunders and Papa John Creech.  “Dinosaurs” recorded its debut album and opened for Tony Bennett at the 50th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge celebration in 1987.

In the 1990’s Barry’s career as a Public Defender mushroomed, beginning with a stint in the Mendocino County Public Defender’s Office, the Office of the (California) State Public Defender, and an appointment as the Public Defender of Yolo County, California, continuing into the early 21st Century.  During this period, Barry played local venues in San Francisco and he toured annually in such diverse locations as England, France, Scotland, Thailand and Wales.  He also recorded three collaborations with other guitarists including “Dual in the Desert,” with Rich Hopkins of Texas, “Can’t Stop to Boogie,” with Tetuzi Akiyama of Japan and Henry Kaiser of California, and “Revolution Down the Road,” with French guitarist Stéphane Missri and their band, “Jamasutra.”

Today, Barry lives in France half the year and spends the other half in the United States.  In the past couple of years, he’s toured in France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States

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Counter-Culture

Tracks

1. Third Degree (Eddie Boyd) - 3:57

2. Something You Got (Chris Kenner) - 2:46

3. I Had A Dream (Isaac Hayes, David Porter) - 2:42

4. How Sweet It Is(To Be Loved By You) (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland) - 3:06

5. Wine, Women, Whiskey (Alexander Lightfoot) - 2:24

6. Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp (Dallas Frazier) - 3:01

7. You've Got What It Takes (Billy Davis, Berry Gordy, Jr.) - 2:30

8. Georgia On My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell) - 2:42

9. I've Been In The Darkness (Barry Melton) - 3:13

10.It's A Mean Old World (Otis Rush) - 2:30

11.You've Really Got A Hold On Me (Smokey Robinson) - 2:49

12.The Sun Is Shining (Elmore James) - 2:56

Musicians

*Barry Melton - Guitar, Vocals

*Donny Hathaway - Piano

*Ed Bland - Orchestra Arranger, Conductor

*Gerald Sims - Rhythm Guitar

*Morris Jennings - Drums

*Phil Upchurch - Bass

A Plain & Fancy special click the purple title (above) to download now . . . . . 

Song of the Day | COUNTRY JOE MACDONALD - ALL MY LOVE IN VAIN

 All My Love in Vain - Country Joe MacDonald

is this post or Pre FISH!?

Never seen this clip before or Joe with such long hair but it is unmistakably him.

my guess is trying to make it more commercially ( aTV slot!? no Fish Cheer here!) this would be post-Fish

Country Joe McDonald "Tonight I'm Singing Just For You" 1970 - TWILIGHTZONE

 

Country Joe McDonald - Tonight I'm Singing Just For You - TWILIGHTZONE

At the time of this release, a lot of Country Joe's audience had the nerve to act surprised and put off when he released an "actual country" record......Fifty plus years on the 21st century listener need not heed those cultural limits of a bygone era. This is a fine record and dovetails perfectly well with its predecessor solo LP, Thinking of Woody Guthrie. - tkdcoach

Well said tkdcoach as this is lovely and surely we can all have a straight day and attempt some American Songbook classics? I have been a life long Country Joe fan from his work with his Fish and to an Art college movie soundtrack we saw that blew me away Quiet Days In Clichy (check it out, its Filth!) from my Henry Miller period (as a lusty student I read everything I could find!)

Quiet Days In Clichy (1970 film) wiki

Country Joe & The Fish - The First Three EPs - Zero G Sounds

 

I have mentioned Country Joe and The Fish and everything from the groundbreaking Electric Music for The Mind and Body and the schoolboy pal (thanks again Alan B if you are out there?!) who originally played me all that West Coast stuff to seeing 'Quiet Days in Clichy' film at college, the Henry Miller that Joe did the soundtrack for so this is a find. . . . . the first three EPs Country Joe demos or extended singles (ask your Granddad!)released

I was somewhat surprised by how much I enjoyed them over at and thanks to ZeroGSounds

Country Joe & The Fish - The First 3 EPs - Zero Sounds

They say:

Before making their leap into the "big time" and signing with the nationally distributed Vanguard Records in 1967, Country Joe McDonald and his group the Fish had already created a pair of self-produced and otherwise low-budget EPs as so-called "talking" issues of McDonald's own Rag Baby publication. The periodical itself was a Bay Area adaptation of the folkie's music intensive magazine Broadside. 

"Collectors Items: The First Three EPs" compiles those highly sought-after 7"s of vinyl onto CD - the contents of which earned Country Joe & the Fish (CJ&F) their initial flashes of national exposure - albeit limited to the underground "head shops" that stocked Rag Baby. 

 

The disc opens with a primordial incarnation of the Fish - consisting of McDonald (vocals/guitar) and his close musical associate Barry Melton (vocals/guitars) - augmented by Carl Shrager (washboard), Bill Steel (bass), and Mike Bearslee (vocals/guitar). Their decidedly D.I.Y. instrumentation and delivery is a clear indicator of the folkie roots that were strikingly similar to that of other burgeoning combos in the Bay Area. The original A-side boasted two CJ&F tunes: "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" and "Superbird." Here, modern listeners are treated to a version of "I Feel Like..." listed as "Take 1" -- replete with the apropos effects of machine guns and round-upon-round of rapid fire mortars - while the alternate "Take 2" contains the infamous "F-U-C-K" Woodstock chant. On the B-side was a folk singer/songwriter named Peter Krug whose contributions were equally as apocalyptic as CJ&F's. Krug's "Fire in the City" was also covered by jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks and a then virtually unknown backup unit who had just changed their name from the Warlocks to the Grateful Dead. The number is coupled with the blatantly anti-combat "Johnny's Gone to War." 

 

The second EP debuts the electric incarnation of CJ&F, solidifying the existence of Rag Baby as well as the combo's amplified psychedelic rock leanings. Side A is composed of "(Thing Called) Love" and "Bass Strings" - two relatively short numbers at under four minutes apiece. Allowing themselves the freedom to stretch out in a style and delivery more akin to their public performances, "Section 43" clocks in at nearly seven minutes. All three of these tunes would be reworked on CJ&F's second long-player "Electric Music for the Mind and Body" (1967). 

 

The final EP was cut by McDonald backed by Groonta and is a mix of the acoustic "Kiss My Ass"/"Tricky Dicky" and electric "Free Some Day." The disc was recorded for the express purpose of being sold for $1.50 at the infamous "Free the Army" political and musical review that included appearances by such notables as Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. The show toured underground coffeehouses in 1971 and McDonald cut this disc in support of - and for sale at - these performances.       

Tracklist:  

1	I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag [Take 1]
2	I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag [Take 2]
3	Superbird
4	(Thing Called) Love
5	Bass Strings
6	Section 43
7	Fire In The City
8	Johnny's Gone In The War
9	Kiss My Ass
10	Tricky Dicky
11	Free Some Day

COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH - SECTION 43 - MONTEREY '67 - AQUARIUM DRUNKARD

 FISH IN THE AQUARIUM!

Start the day with some 

FISH for Breakfast!?

Thanks to Aquarium Drunkard!

Their version of the video didn't play so here t'is from elsewhere and hope its the same pice of film but the dedication is 

COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH - SECTION 43

Barry Melton on his SG

Country Joe and The Fish at Monterey

It’s something about that shriek—the way it piercingly cuts through the otherwise bird-chirping and cawing dewy morning tranquility of what’s on screen. What is on screen is D.A. Pennebaker’s footage of Country Joe & the Fish performing “Section 43” at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival in California. Although it’s one scene in the larger sequence of a concert film that features monumentally historic performances of Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, The Mamas & the Papas, Janis Joplin and so many more—a document that seems to wholly embody the ’60s counter-culture—these five-and-a-half-minutes feel like something, just, a little different.

I think they may have been on something . . . . . . 

 Now I LOVED the Fish and learned The F-I-S-H. Cheer by rote and played it segued into Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag with Johnny Marter (yes that Johnny Marter - drummer per excellence and drummer with various bands including Mr Big - no, the REAL one, the British one!) 'til out fingers bled! I loved the Fish and bought the first two albums and by the time I got to art school was following Country Joe's every move and enjoyed his soundtrack to Henry Miller's Quiet Days In Clichy (check it out - its FILTH!) So this is why I post this from the Aquarium this morning and it takes me right back. Section 43 wasn't my favourite piece but I wholeheartedly agree with the author of the article here by c depasquale

 

comes to us all . . . . . . Joe MacDonald