Love Is The Song We Sing

Alec Palao has spent the better part of 20 years digging deep into San Francisco's musical past, particularly the period in the mid- and late-60s when the Bay Area was the place to be for simultaneous experimentation with drugs and music.

Love Is The Song We Sing - San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 consists of a lavishly produced book full of history, photos, posters and handbills, and four CDs of the music of the period. It is a fascinating and revealing audio-visual experience.

The basic premise of Palao's exploration of the San Francisco Sound is that there really wasn't one. What was common both to the bands who became famous (like Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane) and not-so (Charlatans, Ace of Cups, The Vejtables, Chocolate Watchband to name a few) wasn't a sound so much as an atmosphere -- one of experimentation, improvisation, and ambivalence about (if not outright disdain for) the notion of commercial success.

This concept is well represented by the 77 tracks Palao selected for this package, most of them recorded in basements, garages, and in small concert venues by bands who failed to establish much of presence beyond the San Francisco area's live performance circuit and local radio stations.

The real charm of Love Is The Song We Sing - San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 is its introduction (to whose of us who weren't in the Bay Area in the late '60s) to the sights and sounds of the San Francisco rock scene that we've never seen or heard before.

Among the more interesting discoveries for me: "Red The Sign Post" by Fifty Foot Hose, an avant-garde electronic band; "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, who specialized in Zappa-like biting humor in their music; "Amphetamine Gazelle" by Mad River, who, as the song title implies, played a unique brand of acid rock; "Glue" by The Ace Of Cups, the self-described "original all-girls band of the San Francisco rock scene" whose unique harmony and smart lyrics made them a hot property on the local live scene.

Before Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick, her husband Jerry and brother-in-law Darby performed as The Great! Society. Their version of Darby's "Somebody To Love" is strikingly different than the one later done by Jeff Airplane. A live performance of "Down On Me" by Janis Joplin when she was still with Big Brother and the Holding Company is riveting. "Dark Star" is vintage Grateful Dead from the period before they became known outside Haight-Ashbury.

I won't pretend that there aren't some stinkers in this collection, but I attribute those to the fact that some of these bands never saw the inside of a real recording studio, and were much more adept at live performance.

There were a few bands whose names were catchier that their music, to wit: Chocolate Watchband, Frumious Bandersnatch, The Mojo Men (whose lead singer was a woman.)

The mixture of styles, sounds, and levels of technical and musical quality make the trip through the CDs a pleasant adventure, especially when you follow along with the track-by-track historical notes and photos in the book.

Alex Palao has done a masterful job both with this package and with the exhaustive research he has done over the past two decades. It is clear that this was a labor or love.

From the group photo of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane and The Charlatans on the inside front cover to the four CDs artfully packaged inside the back cover, Love Is The Song We Sing - San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 is one of the most enjoyable musical/historical journeys I've ever taken.

This collection is a "must" for anybody who lived it, and highly recommended for anyone who enjoys more than just a casual exploration of the history of classic rock.