Sunday Afternoon Bay Area Psychedelic Concert Celebrating the 2022 Birthday of Guitar Wizard John Cipollina

by Robert Wilkinson

Today's show features awesome guitar playing by the founder and screaming lead player for Quicksilver Messenger Service!

John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was considered one of the first and best of the Bay Area musicians in the psychedelic 60s. From Wikipedia:

Cipollina had a unique guitar sound, mixing solid state and valve amplifiers as early as 1965. He is considered one of the fathers of the San Francisco psychedelic rock sound.

"I like the rapid punch of solid-state for the bottom, and the rodent-gnawing distortion of the tubes on top.”

To create his distinctive guitar sound, Cipollina developed a one-of-a-kind amplifier stack. His Gibson SG guitars had two pickups, one for bass and one for treble. The bass pickup fed into two Standel bass amps on the bottom of the stack, each equipped with two 15-inch speakers. The treble pickups fed two Fender amps: a Fender Twin Reverb and a Fender Dual Showman that drove six Wurlitzer horns.

Cipollina used a custom foot switch setup to select reverb, tremolo, Maestro Echoplex (the unit mounted on the right of the Twin Reverb), and Standel Modulux (on the left of the twin reverb). 12 volt automotive running lights indicated which effect was being used.

He died way too young of emphysema at age 45, and we read his one-of-a-kind stack was donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For your dancing pleasure, the extraordinary rocking guitar of Mister John Cipollina and Quicksilver Messenger Service! Some of the stuff from the 70s is after he left, but since we're celebrating Quicksilver, I figure it's all good.

For our opening number, an awesome video of Quicksilver at the Monterey Pop Festival in the legendary 1967 Summer of Love! Despite the sound problems at the beginning, the song sounds better and better as it moves on, so enjoy early QMS performing “Dino's Song (All I Ever Wanted To Do)”

I found some great b/w live video performances from Winterland in 1975 at their reunion tour! We’ll begin with Quicksilver Messenger Service cranking out “Fresh Air” and move to “Gypsy Lights”

From the same gig, “Heebie Jeebies” and “They Don’t Know”

We’ll head down the backstretch with “What About Me” and “Freeway Flyer,” and close with a great boogie tune that became Quicksilver’s signature stomping song! If you are inclined, get up and move your hips to this rocking performance of another Bo Diddley classic, “Who Do You Love?”

If you want to take in the entire 1 hour 34 show, here it is! Quicksilver Messenger Service Reunion Live at Winterland 1975

Early days! Here’s an audio only track from San Jose in 1966, giving us the Mose Allison blues standard “If You Live (Your Time Will Come)”

Here’s the whole San Jose show! Quicksilver Messenger Service Live at San Jose 1966

I found it again! Said to be the earliest live recording of QMS, here’s their entire hour and 10 show at the Matrix on August 9, 1966! Quicksilver Messenger Service Live at the Matrix October 1966

Another from the early days! Here’s the soundboard recordings of QMS live in 1966 at the Fillmore! The music begins about 4 minutes and 30 into the clip. For your enjoyment, 30 minutes of Quicksilver Messenger Service Live at the Fillmore 1966

This is an entire 15 song show from November 1966! Quicksilver Messenger Service Live at the Fillmore November 1966

This one’s a gem! It’s the soundboard recordings from the Fillmore in 1967. We have a solid hour and 15 of “Quicksilver Messenger Service Live at the Fillmore February 1967

From March 19, 1967, we go back to the Matrix for this hour and 31 show! Good quality sound. This one has “Pride of Man,” “Mona,” and “Who do you Love,” and a bunch more!Quicksilver Messenger Service Live at the Matrix October 1966

Their debut album in 1968 blew everybody’s minds! Here’s how Quicksilver introduced themselves to the world with an ominous bone chilling leadoff tune! “Pride of Man”

From the KSAN radio studio in 1968, a live performance of “Pride of Man” which we’ll follow with a 13 minute version of the closer on their first album, “The Fool”

If you want to hear the whole album, check it out! Quicksilver Messenger Service (31 minutes)

Another early live clip! Here’s another 1 hour 18 set off the soundboard at the Fillmore from 1968! Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Fillmore Summer 1968

I assume this is from the same gig, but they played there a lot in those days. From June 1968 at the Fillmore, here’s the great instrumental from the first album “Gold and Silver” and “The Fool”

From Winterland in 1968, QMS playing to a clip from The Wild Angels! “Blues Jam,” “Babe I’m Gonna Leave” and “Mona”

From 1969, a 40 minute jam featuring John, Jerry Garcia, Nicky Hopkins, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, David Freiberg, Papa John Creach, and more! Live at the Matrix – Quicksilver, the Airplane, and Jerry Garcia

Here's their groundbreaking second album that rocks hard from the first note! From 1969, this played from thousands of dorm rooms around the nation! Won't you please check out the rocking sounds of Happy Trails. (6 tracks)

From their next album, a great live audio-only performance by Quicksilver in 1970 featuring the incredible piano work of Nicky Hopkins! Welcome to the very danceable “Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder”

And if you love the sound, here’s the entire 1969 album! Shady Grove (43 minutes)

From March 1970, 40 minutes of QMS jamming with blues legend James Cotton in Mill Valley! Quicksilver Messenger Service with James Cotton

Live on New Year’s Eve 1970, here’s “Freeway Flyer”

Here’s the entire 40 minute 1970 album Just for Love

From 1973, live at Winterland, a great 20 minute video of QMS! This was a fluke, since John was in another band and Freiberg had gone a while before. They were both at Winterland that night, and both took the stage, with David on keyboards. This is a peak experience of the best incarnation of this band at their peak cranking out the driving “Who Do You Love?”

I found it again! It’s the full 18 minute clip of John with the legendary Link Wray cranking it out in Nov 1974 at Winterland! John Cipollina and Link Wray at Winterland 1974

Here are the individual clips of that legendary collaboration! "Mystery Train" and "Be What You Want To"

From the 1975 reunion album Solid Silver, here’s three! We’ll lead with “Cowboy on the Run” and “Flames” and close with “Gypsy Lights”

From January 1980 in Oakland, a great 15 minute audio-only clip of John Cipollina, Carlos Santana, and the Grateful Dead cranking out the Buddy Holly classic, “Not Fade Away” – The Grateful Dead with John Cipollina”

Here’s a great 80 minute complete show! “Once – John Cippolina and Friends"

I found it again! This is a GREAT 6+ minute video performance in 1969 for the Ralph J Gleason KQED “Go Ride the Music” series! Let your hips sway to Bo Diddley’s “Mona”

I love this live video! It’s John playing lead with the Nick Gravenites Band in Germany in Nov 1980 cranking out Quicksilver tunes! “Pride of Man.” From the same gig, 10+ minutes of “Who Do You Love,” “Cobra,” and “Mona”

Since “Mona” was one of the tunes that defined QMS, we’ll close with two live versions by the man who wrote it! First, Tom Petty and the legendary Bo Diddley! “Bo Diddley and Tom Petty Live at the Fillmore performing “Mona,” and second, a great reverb-drenched studio version of Bo Diddley performing “Mona”

Last year I had 58 minutes of video footage of several of their live shows between 1967 and 1973 with footage of Monterey, Sonoma State, and others. These were obviously home movies shot by someone close to the band, but this year they’ve disappeared.

For our closer, here’s the full show with color video of Quicksilver Messenger Service live on the Sonoma State campus in August 1969. Because the song’s so cool, here’s “Mona,” and here’s the entire 23 minute show! Quicksilver Messenger Service live on the Sonoma State campus - August 1969 (“Warm Red Wine,” “Baby, Baby,” “Subway,” and “Mona.”)

Happy Birthday, John. Sorry you checked out so young, but your guitar work will ring chimes in the subtle planes forever!

© Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson

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