COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH-Electric Music For The Mind & Body, fish game

Country Joe and The Fish
Electric Music For The Mind And Body/Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die/C.J. Fish



Unique music then and beyond. Hard for me to choose a favorite. My first album that I bought was "Fixin' To Die" in 1968. A friend and I pulled out the Fish Game, cut up the game pieces, folded the game pieces, found some dice, and played and played, while listening to the new sound of Country Joe. It was a trip (without any psychedelic aids) then and the music is a trip today. I recently found a mint Fish game, unsullied to restore to my mint LP.

That first LP I bought (actually the second in the Fish canon) is still my favorite, for sentimental reasons mostly. "Music For The Mind and Body" is my treasue--I have the MONO lLP and it is a wonder!

...wonderful and really not a weak track within. C.J Fish was a later listen... decades actually--but a fine LP for sure.

I love Country Joe & The Fish.

I recently got Country Joe's wonderful 2011 2 CD release, "Time Flies By" (for sure!). Signed by the man himself. An acoustic set of songs recorded from 1964 through 2011. Sweet acoustic versions of "Section 43" with Joe on acoustic guitar and harmonica, and "Who Am I" are special treats. But all within is a wonder to hear.

So share you favorite music and Live Fish stories!

 

They're a band I've only recently started to get into, primarily, I think, because I never heard anything by them on the radio in c.1969-72. They slipped under my radar.

I have the first two LPs and the Live! Fillmore West 1969 cd - brilliant albums all. Very much of their time, quite different to the other Bay Area bands, and still enjoyable to listen to.

I was lucky enough to see Joe live in San Francisco 10 years ago. Long may he enjoy his retirement.

 

I got the first two albums but was disappointed with their third one Together and sadly didn't feel motivated to get their later 2 albums Here We Are Again and C J Fish until years later. I was pleasantly surprised how nice they were even given a weaker track here and there. The heart of the group were Joe and Barry. Joe had a very good voice and Barry was an inventive guitarist.

 

I have them in Quad
like Electric Music the most, but have never seen the Game before, all copies I've ever seen, that was missing.

 

Electric Music for the Mind and Body is a classic. I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die has its high points, but for me the debut is a killer record. Mono has somewhat of an edge on this.

 

The first CJ & the Fish album I ever heard was "I feel like I'm fixin' to die" which I bought new in the mid-80s (still in print!). I eventually found an intact fish game from an older LP - still want to put it up in a frame someday. My first exposure to the group was the Woodstock movie (like many of my age group). In the early 90s I attended a lecture in New York City hosted by John Platt (Yardbirds and Beefheart historian) and he happened to have David Cohen with him sitting near the podium. Oddly, the crowd didn't seem to know who he was, but I was psyched to meet one of "The Fish" in person and told him as much. Had a nice chat. I only saw Country Joe as a solo act once, though he's played a few times in my neck of the woods. Somewhere along the line I ended up with Barry Melton as a "facebook friend" as well.
I have at least one quadraphonic CJ & The Fish album along with all the others. I recently was playing this - picked it up last time I was at the Princeton Record Exchange. Very cool to hear early versions of some of the classic tunes........highly recommended:

 

UNTITLED PROTEST from the "Together" album -- one of my favorite Country Joe & The Fish tracks, and one of the best antiwar songs from the 60s (imho). It's one of those pieces of music that when it's played, you just drop everything and....listen. Never fails to floor me.

 

I grew up in SF with this band. These first two albums are essential in my collection and as a kid we actually played the Fish Game.

 

Agree. Even thought I Owed these other albums from the beginning I only really got into them over the past decade I love Here We Come Again now.

 

Does anyone remember this one from Woodstock?

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure if it's true (but you could try it if you wanna and tell me whether it worked), a friend of mine once told me, when it was still brand new, he licked the board a few times and he was flying high....

 

HA! I heard that...a 60's myth...maybe. I can't see the [Vanguard] printers adding LSD to the ink (or can I? Some pretty stoned freaks had jobs just like anyone else....)...but in any event, all ink in those days WAS pretty fragrant. I remember when the teachers handed out the old mimeograph printed announcements and tests in class...every kid down the line would automatically raise the paper to their noses for a euphoric whiff, it made us happy for the rest of the class...so... maybe.

 

Try explaining that to kids today, or even young adults. They can't even get their heads around wtf you're talking about. My mother was a teacher, so I could inhale pretty often (she called them 'dittos'.)

 

Yeah I remember the mimeograph machine (stencil duplicator) in the principal's/administration office ...no new fangled copiers. Ahh that smell... also used to print the school paper...

 

Bought a sealed copy of Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die (Mono) at a show about 30 years ago...I like the prizes in the game....still intact it is. Paid $7 those were the daze!

sean

 

So what is the consensus on Electric Music mix wise: stereo or mono? How different are they? Does it make sense to get the Hoffman/Grey stereo reissue from a few years back or seek out an original mono?

 

Also weren't these reissued in stereo/mono 2fers by Ace? Anyone know how they sound?

 

What Hoffman/Gray reissue? I must have missed this.

 

I love 'em.

 

This one: Country Joe And The Fish - Electric Music For The Mind And Body

It is the stereo mix. I'm curious if this is vastly different/more desirable than the mono mix, which hasn't been reissued.

 

I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die was the first record I bought on moving to London from Liverpool in 1969.It is still in great condition and has been my goto for every piece of Hi-Fi I have bought since.
Vanguard did some great recordings at this time, but did not push their Rock like they did their Folk and Classical.
I have all their records plus most of what Joe McDonald did solo.

 

Psychedelic music to me sounds better in stereo than mono. That being said, some of the tracks work better in mono and some in stereo. . As for the reissue it was done very well and sounds fine except for the last song Grace. Something must have happened to the tapes because some of the sound effects on the reissue are quite distorted compared with the original.

 

Lovin this. So many trippy long tracks on the first two LPs. Can't get enough.