Quicksilver Messenger Service profile picture

Quicksilver Messenger Service

Have another hit of sweet California sunshine

About Me

This is an unofficial site.
In the late 1960s, Quicksilver Messenger Service occupied an unusual position in the pantheon of major San Francisco Bay Area psychedelic bands. Not that most of those acts weren't unusual, even in relation to each other. Part of what set Quicksilver apart from their peers, though, was that they were not so much singer-songwriters as they were virtuoso players and creative interpreters and stylists. They were not the greatest of vocalists or composers, although they did pen some sturdy folk-rock tunes. Their strengths lay in the ziplocked tightness of their playing and arrangements; their ability to whip up a psychedelic brew from a diverse pool of sources encompassing folk, blues, improvisational jazz, and even Spanish and classical guitar; and their inventive rearrangements of unexpected, even left-field, blues, R&B, folk, and jazz classics.
Quicksilver Messenger Service - 1968
Happy Trails - 1969
Shady Grove - 1969
Just For Love - 1970
What About Me - 1970

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/3/2007
Band Website: quicksilvermessengerservice.com/
Band Members: Original Members:
John Cipollina - Guitar
Gary Duncan - Guitar, Vocals
David Freiberg - Bass Guitar, Vocals and Viola
Greg Elmore - Drums

Jim Murray - Guitar, Vocals (1965-1967)
Dino Valente - Guitar, Vocals
Nicky Hopkins - Piano (1969-1974)
Influences: Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Dave Brubeck, Bo Diddley, Smiley Lewis, Ray Charles, Mose Allison, Ennio Morricone.
Sounds Like: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Blue Cheer, The Grateful Dead.

Folk, Blues, Improvisational Jazz, and even Spanish and Classical guitar. One of those 60's San Francisco Acid Rock bands.

Monterey Pop Festival 1967
Record Label: Capitol Records
Type of Label: Major