Two LPs on one CDR. Both are European LPs from the mid '80s.
Tracks 1-6 are from "First Album Demos," supposedly limited to 150 copies. There are many variations of first LP outtakes circulating but I think these are unique and not circulating at the moment. These are from an acetate and are different versions to the tape sources. The vocals are different and overall these sound wimpier to my ears. I believe this was recorded Jan. 1968 or thereabouts. I've included a portion of an interview with David Freiberg where he appears to be discussing this recording. He says it's the first version, which they rejected and redid. The acetate source is pretty crackly and several generations removed by the time it got pressed into this LP. The LP also contains two live songs from Quicksilver's 1976 reunion tour which I've omitted.
Tracks 7-13 are from the LP "Live in San Jose California 1966." September seems to be added to the title as an afterthought. There doesn't seem to be any record of Quicksilver playing in San Jose in 1966, so I'm not sure of the exact date. It could be earlier than September, because they don't perform "Pride of Man" and other common songs, but the recording is incomplete so who knows. Jim Murray sings on more songs than usual too. Track 10 is specifically indicated as being October 1966, without Jim Murray, though he was still in the band at that time. These tracks are primitive soundboard recordings; the September tracks have the vocals too loud and the October track has them too quiet. This recording has been circulated over the years but I think the source has always been the LP. This is my attempt at a good transfer. Note that portions of this material circulate as a torrent dated 10/28/66 which I believe is incorrect; that torrent also includes material from other show(s).
Lineage for all tracks is ? -> LP -> Music Hall MMF-7/Ortofon OM-20 -> Adcom GFP-565 -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496 -> Adobe Audition 1.5 -> CD Wave -> you. I was able to remove some surface noise from tracks 7-13; couldn't do much with 1-6. Presented in FLAC 1.2.1. Cue sheet included for listening and burning. Sorry, no art.
01. Pride of Man
02. Light Your Windows
03. I Hear You Knocking
04. Back Door Man
05. Dino's Song
06. The Fool
07. All Night Worker
08. Walkin' Blues
09. I Hear You Knocking
10. Mona
11. Your Time Will Come
12. Smokestack Lightning
13. Who Do You Love
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David Freiberg Interview
By John Barthel
Wednesday… September 4, 1997 (excerpt)
JB: ...I know that there are apparently, at least two versions of the first Quicksilver album. One that was recorded down in LA…
DF: Yeah, we did one with Harvey Brooks. We wanted Nick because we knew Nick Gravenites, but he didn’t feel confident enough. And he was playing with the Electric Flag, and Harvey was an experienced producer. So we went down…we did it with Harvey, and I think "The Fool" was lined out. Gary played 12 string first and we overdubbed everything else. I think we actually ended up using a "little bit" of that in the actual "Fool."
JB: There were some horns on some of the recordings.
DF: "Pride of Man". Well it WAS the Electric flag horns that were recorded up here. I think it was just "Pride of Man".
JB: Up here… being in San Francisco?
DF: Yeah, we overdubbed that up here. That was from the first recording, so we DID use that and there were some horns on one other song...but it didn’t make it unto the album...I don’t think. But it’s on the unreleased album. I think there’s something...but I can’t recall. Duh! [laughs]
JB: I have copies of it myself and I don’t remember which ones have horns in them...
DF: And then Harvey mixed it and said "This is it." Everybody listened to it and said "Not it, Harvey!" [laughing] "Uh, I think we’d better re-do some stuff." So we came back up and played all the things live for a few months, and practiced like we wanted to. Then went back in with Nick and Pete Welding and re-did what we needed to re-do, and that’s how it went… pretty well. Actually...I "still" think it was pretty good.
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David Freiberg Interview
By John Barthel
Wednesday… September 4, 1997 (excerpt)
JB: ...I know that there are apparently, at least two versions of the first Quicksilver album. One that was recorded down in LA…
DF: Yeah, we did one with Harvey Brooks. We wanted Nick because we knew Nick Gravenites, but he didn’t feel confident enough. And he was playing with the Electric Flag, and Harvey was an experienced producer. So we went down…we did it with Harvey, and I think "The Fool" was lined out. Gary played 12 string first and we overdubbed everything else. I think we actually ended up using a "little bit" of that in the actual "Fool."
JB: There were some horns on some of the recordings.
DF: "Pride of Man". Well it WAS the Electric flag horns that were recorded up here. I think it was just "Pride of Man".
JB: Up here… being in San Francisco?
DF: Yeah, we overdubbed that up here. That was from the first recording, so we DID use that and there were some horns on one other song...but it didn’t make it unto the album...I don’t think. But it’s on the unreleased album. I think there’s something...but I can’t recall. Duh! [laughs]
JB: I have copies of it myself and I don’t remember which ones have horns in them...
DF: And then Harvey mixed it and said "This is it." Everybody listened to it and said "Not it, Harvey!" [laughing] "Uh, I think we’d better re-do some stuff." So we came back up and played all the things live for a few months, and practiced like we wanted to. Then went back in with Nick and Pete Welding and re-did what we needed to re-do, and that’s how it went… pretty well. Actually...I "still" think it was pretty good.