A box like Love Is The Song We Sing San Francisco Nuggets 1965–1970 tends to live on the shelf for a while before revealing what it actually is. Four discs, a thick booklet, and a title that suggests a scene rather than a style. It was issued in 2007 by Rhino Records, and at first glance it reads like a regional companion to earlier Nuggets collections. Spend time with it, though, and it settles into something more specific.
The set does not move like a straight chronology. Instead, it circles around a handful of San Francisco groups and lets their recordings overlap. Tracks by Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and Quicksilver Messenger Service appear alongside lesser-known names, not separated by status but placed as part of the same environment. The effect is less about chart history and more about proximity, who was recording, performing, and shaping the sound at the same time.
Across the discs, the atmosphere shifts gradually. Early tracks carry traces of folk and garage, tighter in structure, still rooted in earlier forms. As the sequence continues, the arrangements open up. Guitars stretch out, rhythms loosen, and the sense of space becomes more noticeable. Nothing changes suddenly, it happens in small increments, track by track.
What holds the set together is not a single sound but a shared approach. Even at their most expansive, the recordings retain a certain directness, voices forward, instruments allowed room but not excess. By the final disc, the music feels less contained, but it still belongs to the same circle.
The box works as a gradual unfolding rather than a statement. The scene it documents is not defined outright, it emerges through repetition, overlap, and the quiet accumulation of voices. (Butterboy)
Track lists
CD1
01 Dino Valenti - Let's Get Together 3:01
02 Country Joe & the Fish - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag 2:43
03 We Five - You Were on My Mind 2:36
04 Charlatans - Number One 4:06
05 Warlocks - Can't Come Down 3:01
06 Beau Brummels - Don't Talk to Strangers 2:20
07 Vejtables - Anything 1:58
08 Jefferson Airplane - It's No Secret 2:30
09 Mystery Trend - Johnny Was a Good Boy 2:37
10 Great Society - Free Advice 2:06
11 Grass Roots - Mr Jones (A Ballad of a Thin Man) 2:55
12 Blackburn & Snow - Stranger in a Strange Land 2:30
13 Quicksilver Messenger Service - Who Do You Love (Demo Version) 5:56
14 Mojo Men - She's My Baby 3:01
15 Wildflower - Coffee Cup 2:18
16 Family Tree - Live Your Own Life 2:54
17 Sons of Champlin - Fat City 3:04
18 Frantics - Human Monkey 2:09
19 Tikis - Bye Bye Bye (Warner Bros. single version) 2:46
20 Country Joe & the Fish - Section 43 (EP Version) 6:44
21 Sopwith Camel - Hello Hello 2:25
CD2
01 Count Five - Psychotic Reaction 3:07
02 Front Line - Got Love 1:44
03 Mourning Reign - Satisfaction Guaranteed 2:18
04 Oxford Circle - Foolish Woman 2:32
05 Stained Glass - My Buddy Sin 2:53
06 Otherside - Streetcar 2:23
07 Teddy & His Patches - Suzy Creamcheese 3:14
08 Immediate Family - Rubiyat 2:34
09 Syndicate of Sound - Rumors 2:07
10 Harbinger Complex - Sometimes I Wonder 2:17
11 New Breed - Want Ad Reader 2:31
12 Generation - I'm a Good Woman 4:18
13 Chocolate Watchband - No Way Out 2:22
14 Butch Engle - Hey I'm Lost 2:30
15 People - I Love You 4:31
16 Public Nuisance - America 3:23
17 Country Weather - Fly to New York 6:17
18 Savage Resurrection - Thing in "E" 3:08
19 Frumious Bandersnatch - Hearts to Cry 5:05
CD3
01 Charlatans - Alabama Bound 6:26
02 Mystery Trend - Carl Street 2:49
03 Great Society - Somebody to Love 4:20
04 Country Joe & the Fish - Superbird 2:04
05 Beau Brummels - Two Days 'Til Tomorrow 3:50
06 Moby Grape - Omaha 2:24
07 Serpent Power - Up and Down 3:37
08 Grateful Dead - The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) 2:11
09 Quicksilver Messenger Service - Codine 5:20
10 Big Brother & the Holding Company - Down on Me (Live) 2:49
11 Salvation - Think Twice 7:11
12 Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit 2:31
13 Steve Miller Band - Roll with It 2:27
14 Notes from the Underground - Why Did You Put Me On 2:43
15 Sly & the Family Stone - Underdog 3:58
16 Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues 3:46
17 Ace of Cups - Glue 4:38
18 Santana - Soul Sacrifice 6:41
19 Loading Zone - The Bells 4:00
CD4
01 Santana - Evil Ways 3:58
02 Fifty Foot Hose - Red the Sign Post 2:59
03 Kak - Lemonaide Kid 5:52
04 Sons of Champlin - 1982-A 3:54
05 Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks - How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away 2:38
06 Mad River - Amphetamine Gazelle 2:55
07 Steve Miller Band - Quicksilver Girl 2:47
08 Mother Earth - Revolution 3:04
09 Moby Grape - Murder in My Heart for the Judge 2:58
10 Quicksilver Messenger Service - Light Your Windows 2:36
11 Flamin' Groovies - I'm Drowning 2:10
12 Seatrain - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Lady 3:51
13 It's a Beautiful Day - White Bird 6:11
14 Grateful Dead - Dark Star (Single Version) 2:45
15 Blue Cheer - Fool (Single Version) 2:55
16 Jefferson Airplane - Mexico 2:13
17 Janis Joplin - Mercedes Benz 1:48
18 Youngbloods - Get Together 4:36
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