Just about the crispest of the San Fran heavy bands, Quicksilver Messenger Service were hippies with guns and drugs. Spinning off a song-based axis with the capacity to rock out, they featured the duelling Gibsons of John Cipollina and Gary Duncan, an airtight rhythm section and a rather feeble singer called Dino Valente. At their best the Quicks rampaged over Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love (Part I)”, culled here to single length from the classic Happy Trails album, and presaged the dark side of the era. A handy, well mastered introduction.
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