Electric Music for the Mind and Body

Updated on Sep 29, 2024

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Released May 11, 1967 Label Vanguard VSD-79244 Release date 11 May 1967		Length 43:30 Artist Country Joe and the Fish Producer Samuel Charters

Recorded February 1967, Sierra Sound LaboratoriesBerkeley, Californiaby Robert DeSouza Electric Music for the Mind and Body(1967) I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die(1967) Genres Rock music, Psychedelic rock, Acid rock, Blues rock Nominations Grammy Award for Best Album Notes Similar Country Joe and the Fish albums, Psychedelic rock albums

Electric Music for the Mind and Body is Country Joe and the Fish's debut album. Released in May 1967 on the Vanguard label, it was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of San Francisco.

Tracks from the LP, especially "Section 43", "Grace", and "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" were played on progressive FM rock stations like KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco, often back-to-back. A version of the song "Love" was performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

"Grace" is a tribute to Jefferson Airplane's lead singer, Grace Slick.

Recording

The album was recorded during the first week of February 1967 at Sierra Sound Laboratories, Berkeley, California, by Robert DeSouza, with production by Samuel Charters. It was released on May 11, 1967, on the Vanguard label. Due to deterioration of the original master tapes, the album was remixed in 1982 and this remix was used for the original CD release in 1990; in 2013 a new two-disc deluxe version appeared which included both the original mono and stereo mixes. The liner notes to the 2013 version state that an outtake from the sessions, "Thought Dream", was later included on the band's follow-up, I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die.

Reception

Bruce Eder in a retrospective review for AllMusic felt that the album is "one of the most important and enduring documents of the psychedelic era". The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

All songs by Country Joe McDonald, except where noted

1. "Flying High" – 2:38
2. "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" – 4:21
3. "Death Sound Blues" – 4:23

Labeled as "Death Sound" on the mono version of the album.

4. "Happiness Is a Porpoise Mouth" – 2:48

Labeled as "Porpoise Mouth" on the mono version of the album.

5. "Section 43" – 7:23
6. "Superbird" – 2:04
7. "Sad and Lonely Times" – 2:23
8. "Love" (McDonald, Melton, Cohen, Barthol, Gunning, Hirsh) – 2:19
9. "Bass Strings" – 4:58
10. "The Masked Marauder" – 3:10
11. "Grace" – 7:03