Country Joe & The Fish / The Byrds / Moby Grape It Crawled Out Of The Vaults Of KSAN 1966-1968 - Volume 3: Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1967 & 68

This series of live albums comes from the KSAN radio station vaults and features material recorded and broadcasted at several occasions at either the Filmore Auditorium or the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco during the years 1966 to 1968. Some of the hottest rock bands of the era got captured there on tape. Now we move straight to “Vol. 3” of this series and it begins with a set of three songs by none less than Country Joe & The Fish fronted by legendary singer / songwriter and former G.I. Country Joe McDonald who created the probably most notorious Anti Vietnam War tune ever, “I feel like I'm fixin to die” which is unfortunately not included here. Three songs build the first half of the A Side of which the first two can be located on the studio versions on the 1967 albums “Electric music for the mind and body” and “I-feel-like-I-m-fixin-to-die”. The “H – Bomb – Song” is a cool acid-gospel tune with a pure jam around the actual song. Next come The Byrds with another three tunes from their “Younger than yesterday”, “The Notoriouos Byrd Brothers” and “Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde”, some very stoned announcements and a little discussion if they might play another song which in the end happens to the excitement of the audience. MOBY GRAPE whose founding formation featured Alexander “Skip” Spence, former drummer of Jefferson Airplane rage through a set of kicking power rock, psychedelic blues and jam tunes. The last track features their friends Big Brother & The Holding Company. This whole album perfectly aligns the spirit of the day when the world stood at the edge of the third world war which partly got fought in South East Asia already and thousands of young Americans died in the jungle while on the other side of the ocean a whole generation of youngsters stood up to free themselves and generations to move away from the strict traditions. So this album does not only guarantee musical joy in abundance but also takes you back to a time when the young minded were more determined to go new and better ways and everything seemed possible for everything was free to be tried. The music here is a proof how songs can work as a vehicle that carries your spirit everywhere. The sound once again is rough but clear, the performances of all three bands are way more loose as those on their studio tracks but this precisely is the final ingredient to make this album a memorable and well loved experience.