50th Anniversary: 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival: Performance-By-Performance

"Freeberg!!!" Sorry, always like to get that in. QMS was still a bit of a secret at that time. The earlier Bay area garage group The Brogues sort of morphed into Quicksilver... Greg Elmore was in it for their two singles and Gary Grubb/Duncan joined after that...


This is a truly great garage rocker!

 

Quicksilver Messenger Service is a joy. This is definitely one of the highlights of the extras DVD.

Interestingly, this is the early line-up with Jim Murray and Gary Duncan is on lead vocals and not even trying to play guitar. So apparently that exceptional dual guitar sound of Cipollina and Duncan only came to be when Murray left later in 1967.

This group had tremendous potential and my opinion is that they did not really care for commercial success. They really needed a composer and a vocalist but Dino just couldn't have been the one. Maybe Nick Gravenites?

However, they were a stellar band for a few months in 1968/9 with their lengthy guitar duels such as Calvary and The fool. Maybe those songs would not have happened if they had found a vocalist bringing his own songs.

A very interesting story, partially told in Duncan's wife book.

 

STEVE MILLER BAND

1 Living in the USA
2 Mercury Blues (B-)

Steve Miller: vocals, guitar
James Cooke: guitar
Lonnie Turner: bass
Tim Davis: drums
Jim Petersen: Hammond B3 organ
Boz Scaggs: guitar

Steve Miller Band was another group like Quicksilver without any official release. “Living in the USA” wasn’t released 1968 but was played here along with “Mercury Blues”. The rest of the setlist is unknown. Originally Steve Miller Blues Band, their blues rock mixed with a bit of psych became well known in San Fran but weren’t widely popular until a long time later. This performance did not make any headlines and from the sound of “Mercury Blues”, they were still growing into their identity. The blues song is just standard fare that’s well performed but derivative with no outstanding moments or instruments. It is somewhat catchy though and sticks in your head some after. I would have preferred “Living in the USA”. I’m not sure why so many setlists are incomplete-it doesn’t seem to hard to write down a 30 min setlist but I guess the info has been lost in time. By 1968, Steve Miller had a clearer vision with the band’s sound hearing their debut Children of the Future. Of course, eventually they made the R&R HOF.

Steve Miller Band- Mercury Blues

 

Steve Miller...interesting. Every time I hear of him, I can't fail to remember his alleged statement about how musically inferior were the SF acts when he joined the scene. This doesn't hold at all...

I like the Children of the future album but obviously it cannot match the best of SF such as Surrealistic pillow or The first 2 CJ&F albums or Happy Trails or Moby Grape, etc.

I like Mercury Blues very much though I concur with William Wes's comment fully.

 

Is their blu Ray edition a big improvement over their DVD one?

 

Coming back to QMS, I am a big fan of Nick Gravenites who was very much involved in their first album. He was at Monterey with the Electric Flag, anlther extraordinary group.

I do not think, however, that if Nick had joined QMS, there would have been space for Duncan and Cipollina to excel as they did in Happy Trails. Bot most probably there would have been great moments because Nick's compositions continued to be outstanding as shown in the albums by post-Janis Big Brother show.

 

Interesting to find out if David Lindley of Kaleidoscope (U.S.) heard Steve Miller doing Mercury Blues at Monterey at all as he later recorded it with El Rayo X. Faster Tempo and dirty slide, but the same song. I loved the album at the time!

 

The U.S. Kaleidoscope was such a great band. Specifically their firat 2 albums were grwat. Eclectic, they shine in every style they attempt. Rock, folk, blues, psychedelia...

 

The Association doesn't get the respect it deserves. Really a great band, certainly NOT a one-hit wonder as they had two great chart-toppers and Never My Love a #2 hit and they had numerous other songs in the Top Ten/Top 40. And like you said, their arrangements were very pleasing. The lyrics seem a bit dated, but it is still great love music and very well-played.

 

The Association were a great band. Their singles are way better than the deeper album cuts because, although equally well performed, the melodies are more memorable.
Never my love is one of the absolute great songs ever. I had the pleasure to meet Dick Addrisi a couple of times, what a character!

 

THE ELECTRIC FLAG
(Introduced by David Crosby)

1 Groovin' Is Easy (B)
2 Over-Lovin' You (B)
3 The Night Time Is the Right Time (B-)
4 Drinkin’ Wine (C)

Mike Bloomfield — lead guitars, vocals
Barry Goldberg — keyboards
Harvey Brooks — bass
Stemzie Hunter - saxophone
Buddy Miles — drums, vocals
Nick Gravenites — rhythm guitars, vocals

Mike Bloomfield left The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1966 eventually founded The Electric Flag, a group meant to concentrate on more soulful rock. With a sax in the mix, there R&B, blues and rock would have a different feel than some of the music just heard by the previous bands. While there is a soulful feel to the tracks, the musicianship seems to take priority over the actual compositions. “Over-Lovin’ You” is just a copy of “Twenty Flight Rock”, but it does rock because of its arrangement. In fact, the arrangements and musicianship is solid, at times creative, like on “Groovin’ Is Easy”, the best moment here, a catchy, radio ready song that may have been a minor hit in the right circumstance. Bloomfield is pretty impressive but the songs here sound weaker than their work on The Trip soundtrack that was a testament to their colorful more psychedelic capabilities. A fun performance overall, mostly upbeat with stuff like “The Night Time Is the Right Time”, they still were eventually overshadowed by some of the other rock groups here. They’d breakup pretty relatively quickly afterwards, with Mike Bloomfield continuing to feel restless concerning his musical projects and the band falling apart. They had potential if Bloomfield stayed.

The Electric Flag- Over Lovin' You

 

And a second...

The Electric Flag- Drinkin' Wine

 

The Electric Flag was truly great. The album A long time comin' is superb. Gravenites compositions are excellent and the arrangements too. And the musicianship...

It was too much, too good to last!

 

I believe the horn section at Monterey was Marcus Doubleday on trumpet and Peter Strazza on tenor sax. Nick G. just sang at the festival...no rhythm guitar.

 

Harvey Brooks is a name I look to for top bass playing.

 

If you read Miles Davis' autobiography, he was not complementary of Miller at all, he claims he purposely showed up late to the Fillmore East so he wouldn't have to open.:

“I remember one time - it might have been a couple times - at the Fillmore East in 1970, I was opening for this sorry-ass cat named Steve Miller. Steve
Miller didn't have his **** going for him, so I'm pissed because I got to open for this non-playing mother****er just because he had one or two sorry-ass records out. So I would come late and he would have to go on first and then we got there we smoked the mother****ing place, everybody dug it.”

On the other hand, Bloomfield backed up Miller on his opinion of San Fransisco musicianship in Rolling Stone :
"I think San Francisco music isn't good music, not good bands. They're amateur cats... I don't dig Good Morning Little Schoolgirl by the Grateful Dead. I don't Pigpen trying to sing blues; it don't sound like blues. It sounds like some white kid trying to sing blues. It drags me; they're not funky. They don't have a good beat....it's not the real **** and it's not even a good imitation. It's not even like the Stones. I don't dig the Airplane - I think they're a third-rate rock & roll band. I don't dig Country Joe & the Fish - I find them an abomination, a fraud perpetuated on people. I don't dig Big Brother - I dig Janis, but I think Big Brother is just a wretched, lame group of cats who she carries for no reason at all."

 

MOBY GRAPE
(Introduced by Tommy Smothers)

1 Indifference (B+)
2 Mr. Blues (B)
3 Sitting By the Window (B+)
4 Omaha (A)
5 Fall On You

• Peter Lewis – rhythm guitars, vocals
• Jerry Miller – lead guitars, vocals
• Bob Mosley – bass, vocals
• Skip Spence – rhythm guitars, vocals
• Don Stevenson – drums, vocals

Moby Grape, the great San Francisco band that suffered some personal set of crummy circumstances that resulted in the rep of the band that never lived up to its full superstardom potential. But they still retain fame to this day so in that way, things could have been worse. Despite the problems, Moby Grape were a fantastic up and coming band ready to rule the roost at Monterey. But problems occurred with their manager before they even got on stage…

Lewis: Moby Grape were backstage with our manager, Matthew Katz, and Lou Adler. Lou talked about putting us on Saturday night, and filming it. That story is absolutely true: Matthew said, “I own the band’s name, and you have to pay me $1 million or you can’t film my band.” Adler was pissed off, and said, “Fine, you’ll play in the afternoon.” [Moby Grape singer] Skip Spence went crazy and fired Matthew right then. If we had been in the movie, like Janis, it would’ve made us huge stars.

Moby Grape became a casualty of the music business in that way and without a presence in the film, only word of mouth and reviews would promote Moby Grape’s solid performance. Still, it was a huge month for the band with 5 singles being released simultaneously that month along with their debut album, it was probably the peak of their career. Though their other albums were alright, the debut is known in rock circles to this day and their setlist here all stems from Moby Grape. The band toss as much energy into the selections as they do on the album with “Omaha” in particular feeling like a fine moment amongst the friendly audience. “Listen my friends” takes on more meaning when sung to this type of crowd. The atmosphere was very peaceful and friendly overall. I think the songs hold up well though I wish they jammed some on the songs considering their trio of guitarists.

Moby Grape- Indifference, Sittin' By the Window, Omaha

 

I have that autobio of Miles but I forgot about that story. In the Monterey DVD box's booklet, there's a mention of Miles liking "Over-Loving You" by The Electric Flag. I guess he was asked about them at some point during their short active timespan. Tough critic he is.

 

Bloomfield, extraordinary player. But I do not share his opinion at all. He might be right that some of the S.F. cats sound technically amateurish but he misses the point that, in spite of it, they are truly great. Actually, that adds to their greatness. He talks as a blues purist but even Mike's own music is much better when he is joined by people who help him expand his boundaries (Dylan, Gravenites).

 

Moby Grape was a great band with several good composers and musicians. The energy was phenomenal. Their second album also contains a few masterpieces such as Bitter wind, He and Motorcycle Irene, all originals and each by different composer! Later, Skip composed the extraordinary Seeing (aka Skip's song) which the group included in Moby Grape '69.

I would also like to point out also that Peter Lewis (the son of legendary actor Loretta Young) is a very fine man and helped both Skip Spence and Bob Mosley with their mental illness consequences.

 

One of the things I most looked forward to at Monterey was the appearance of Mike Bloomfields'a new band. which in the end was a bit of an anti-climax. Drinkin' Wine was the kind of song any bar band would have played in those days. But when their album, A Long Time Comin', was released it hit me with almost physical force. Almost every song seemed to have been written for me personally. Examples: Killing Floor (I was about to go to Vietnam); Texas (I had jsut come back from radio school in Texas and ran into the love of my life whom I thought was in Germany). These songs sent goose bumps up and down my spine.

 

HUGH MASEKELA

1 Here, There And Everywhere
2 Society's Child
3 Bajabula Bonke (Healing Song) (A-)

Note: Hugh Masekela set list is incomplete.

Some international flavor for Saturday night and South African Hugh Masekela challenged the audience with experimental and psychedelic jazz on “Bajabula Bonke” featured in the film and added a couple of recent popular songs that he released on his album Hugh Maskela’s Latest. He had been playing trumpet since the 50’s and his talent was honed by the time he reached Monterey. Pennebaker moved up the exotic song to near the beginning of the film. It’s nothing like the rest of the music here, jazz and world music together and surprisingly commercial in feel. The psychedelic sax is excellent and Hugh’s vocals are obscure but the melody is good. The horn buildup that repeats until it dissipates into some great smoother melodic jazz. I haven’t heard his album to hear the other 2 songs unfortunately. He also appeared for The Byrds’ “So You Want To Be a Rock n’ Roll Star” later that night.

Hugh Masekela - Bajabula Bonke

 

Being a Bloomfield fan(atic) this Wine movie clip is the most important part of the festival since it constitutes the only known moving picture of Mike at his prime demonstrating his unbelievable technique and speed.

Moreover he plays his famous legendary Les Paul that along with the Beano one of EC made the Les Paul revival and myth. Both lost (the Beano never surfaced, the Bloomfield exists after some rambling probably at Santana's posession).

 

Miles said that during those Down Beat blind listening sessions. Really surprising.

Bloomfield later in the seventies did a big band jazz LP with none other than Woody Herman.

 

I agree. What a soulful album, full of great compositions, arrangements and total dedication. Unfortunately Grossman had a deal with Columbia and not with Atlantic that wanted also to sign them. And sadly Mike learnt the heroin from one of the horns player.