Country Joe & The Fish
1970-xx-xx (*probably March/April) ::: unknown city, USA ::: (regional?) TV studio
"Chicago 7 Special" TV Show ::: M2-TV (48kHz/24bit files)

~*~ Mk2 version, carefully remastered fixing various issues, with EQ & lite NR ~*~

01. The "Fish" Cheer (->)
02. I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
03. ==applause//brief interim humor"You Don't Say"&laughter==
04. The Love Machine

Total Time ::: 11:59

::: VG++ miked TV speaker. Check samples for denial, awakening, ecstasy.
::: Warts: Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed a few.
::: CONTRAST CLAUSE: This is the better sounding Mk2 remaster with EQ+lite NR. The Mk1 NO EQorNR remaster may be found elsewhere.
::: Recorded in a TV studio before a small audience. Anyone know more?
::: Joe sounds like he has a bit of cold but it could be slight mike overload.
::: Tape began w/program incidental music&Phil Ochs"I Ain't Marching Anymore"10sec LP excerpt (NOT included!).
::: "CJ Fish"LP was recorded in Jan'70 but wasn't released 'til May'70.
::: DATE: Detailed guesses below but maybe March or April 1970, after Chicago 7 trial verdict announced.
::: This is NOT 1969-12-xx "David Frost"TV Show as "Fixin'-To-Die Rag"a different version.
::: This is NOT 1970-04-16BD "Playboy After Dark"TV show (Sing Sing Sing/Fixin'-To-Die Rag x2).
::: "Love Machine"(on"CJ Fish"LP recorded Jan'70) was played live by Jul.'69 (& maybe before).

*SOURCE/DATE ::: TV studio/studio audience for sure. Decided the show definitely USA & not UK TV special as instead of a single 60Hz spike, there were extensive spikes at multiples of 60. Tape was undated. No further info has appeared on this program or appearance after extensive searches. Neither Barry nor Joe seems to remember it & the chickenonaunicycle gents apparently don't know more. Seems it must have been a regional TV program on the trial (which began 1969-09-24), or more info would have come to light by now. On Nov.5, after several days of Bobby Seale appearing in court " bound&gagged before the jury" after calling the judge a "rotten racist pig, fascist liar", (among other things) the judge declared a mistrial for Seale & the Chicago 8 became the Chicago 7 & on 1970-02-18 the jury returned its verdict. SInce the tape was labeled "Chicago 7 Special", it was no earlier than Dec.69 & my feeling is the program was likely filmed in early '70 & possibly after the verdict came in (maybe March/April). The fact there is a Phil Ochs anti-war song album fragment at the start of the tape, given his involvement in the Chicago demonstrations does lend itself to the "Chicago 7 Special" as being correct. All this is supposition & mostly based on the timeline for "The Love Machine" song performances, the "Chicago 7 Special" attribution which wouldn't have come before late Nov.'69 at the earliest. I wrote out all of Barry's (talk/call&response) endings of "The Love Machine" from 9 different versions (most of what we have from July'69-April'70) & there was NO clearcut comparison to the TV show, but the most likely ones were Jan-Mar'70. On 1970-01-19, Joe gave testimony at the Chicago 7 Conspiracy trial in Chicago. Given the trial was supercharged in Chicago at the time, it seems unlikely the Fish did a local TV program. My feeling is it was apt to have taken place only in the Bay Area, L.A. or NYC, but is quite surprising, especially after all the Chicago Trial books, films, documentaries, etc, that no more info has come to light about the program as of 2021. Do YOU know more or have educated guesses?

Recording Information ::: "Chicago 7 Special" TV Show -> master tape (off-air miked mono TV speaker recording) -> 1st generation mono tape (probably reel) -> 2nd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassette, Dolby B on.

Playback 2021-02-xx ::: 2nd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassette on Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck, Dolby B on, azimuth adjusted for individual tape, heads cleaned & demagnetized -> Sony Linear PCM Recorder PCM-M10 (48kHz/24bit wav file) -> computer -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, clap, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, +8.2%(!) pitch (speed) fix with single pass after frequency analysis & with album pitch verification, lite equalisation to make sound more natural & two 60/61Hz notches to reduce cyclical hum, lite noise reduction to reduce hum&hiss] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> 48kHz/24bit flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. Freed 2021-05-xx. (NOTE: 2 channel mono tape w/weird wandering offset but fixed thruout every 20secs or so, then did cross channel repairs & at end only used R channel w/MUCH better frequency reponse.

Line-up ::: Country Joe McDonald - electric guitar (#04?) kazoo (#02), vocals // Barry Melton - electric guitar, vocals // Mark Kapner - keyboards // Doug Metzner - electric bass // Greg Dewey - drums, percussion.

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

DimeTravel 793 ::: Thanks to the original taper & traders! My copy came from The Man In The Palace - he whose halls are lined with magnetic recording tape. Sincere thanks to whomever uploads this for me. ::: Corrections welcome ::: Felt like I worked on this 12 minute tape for days - and it was extreme - the audio needed a lot of experimentation to get it right, then more than a dozen emails went out to try to track down more informaiton on the program... But signing off on this one today, finally. An extremely(!) fine version of "The Love Machine". Barry plays some incredible & heavy guitar. With a different organ sound, parts of "The Love Machine" would sound a lot like The Byrds jamming on "8 Miles High". I realised the reason this had never spent much time in my ears was that it was majorly off-speed (as are many of the circulating Country Joe&The Fish live tapes) - once corrected it sounded cool & the EQ/NR Mk2 version is EXCELLENT. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

Unrelated FishFactoid #1: In 1970 "Rolling Stone" interviewed Ed Denson (Fish manager) who said they, "plan to record an album of Songs of Man&Faith from a Unitarian songbook. 'I don’t know if you could say it’s because of the more current events we’re doing that,' Denson stated. 'It’s partly because performing as a rock band is getting less and less pleasant, and part of a longer, continuing commitment. And it is difficult to keep a rock band organized when the country is going to chaos.'" Guess that was supposed to be the album after "CJ Fish"!

Unrelated FishFactoid #2: Country Joe&The Fish "The David Frost Show"TV Dec.'69 (NOT this recording!). ChickenOnAUnicycle & Joe's timeline pages date it Dec04 which must be date of recording (the band played The Troubadour Dec02-04, so was in L.A.). IMBD listings have Joe Cocker&Henry Mancini as guests Dec04. Dec10 show is missing guest info. Chicken site says CJ&F show re-aired Dec12 which makes more sense with the initial air date of Dec10 (Episode #2.73). I suspect some of Joe's letters dated Dec04+05 actually refer to Cocker's appearance, then the "bearded slob"&"hairy unwashed creature" comments fit (even Joe notes they were essentially clean shaven then - tho' he did have a moustache). This assumes the letter dated Dec06 was misread. Then all other dates&comments fit the idea that correct CJ&F broadcast date was Dec10 (and possibly the show was taped earlier in the day). Does anyone know if CJ&F played anothersong on the "David Frost" Show besides "Fixin'-To-Die Rag"? The letters are wonderful if you haven't read them, even if talking about BOTH shows & some may be seen at www.countryjoe.com/frost.htm

Unrelated FishFactoid #3: "Acid Commercial"2CD bootleg traded by collectors as S.F. Fillmore 1967-04-16 (Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine/I Like Marijuana) is just an off-speed DUPE of commercially released Nov.'68 Fillmore East "The Life&Time Of Country Joe&The Fish From Haight-Ashbury To Woodstock"album trax that nurtured many of us as children.

Unrelated FishFactoid #4: Did you know your Country Joe & The Fish collection isn't complete until you have the 1968 John Cage & Country Joe & The Fish 10" vinyl LP? News to me, but I don't have $600-800 to fork out for it! Odd the Fish trax are from 2 different LPs. I'm assuming they the regualr album versions but couldn't even find a write-up on it. Titled"Sounds" on"Communicating The Gospel Today"label: A) John Cage&David Tudor – Variations IV __ B) Country Joe & The Fish – Section 43/Who Am I/Magoo. Can someone offer more info?

Support the artists and/or their familes! http://www.countryjoe.com -- http://www.counterculture.net/thefish (Melton) -- http://www.markkapner.com

Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!