First trip was late summer '69 just before entering high school; the legendary Orange Sunshine.
Also "purple microdot" and "green mescaline" during freshman year supposedly from the same syndicate, the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.
(Although at the time I was unaware of its existence)
Then there was a "drought" for a couple of years during which peyote buttons and morning glory seeds were sampled.
Then some of the first "Windowpane" LSD in '73.
All told from '69 -'75 probably 40 trips of all types, and then, like Kesey, realized it was just going back and forth through the same door and I'd probably had about all the insights I was ever going to get.
Also the quality was getting pretty bad.
I never had a truly "BAD" trip but it can actually get a bit tiresome and make one hyper-aware of the "grosser" aspects of life, like "what goes into your food supply?".
I think it's no coincidence a lot of the early organic food proselytizers were experienced psychonauts.
Tripped a few more times later in life bringing total to maybe 50, the very last time was morning glory seeds at the turn of the millennium.
If I want to go out like
Aldous Huxley that'll be my sacrament.
How many times have you tripped?
IF my guess is right, being a few years younger than me, your most likely age of experimentation would have coincided with a drought in the SF Bay area corresponding with the mid '70's.
It wouldn't surprise me if you've never tripped at all, and I'm sure many members here never have either, so some of my comments are simply intended to help give some insight.
And there is a bit of humor associated with "surviving the psychedelic wars" as anybody who's finally wished they could "get some sleep tonight" will attest.
("Friend of the Devil" 's one of my favorite Dead tunes for that lyric.)
And Cassidy (the same one in Crimson's "Neal and Jack and Me" and the driver of the Kesey's bus as noted in "the Other One" ("There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of the bus to never ever land") discovered the 30th second synaptic gap that separates us from actual real time by seeing those trails while on acid.
Indeed the Dead themselves acknowledge the became what they became
because of the LSD.
Every post has LSD in it.
Hyperbole noted, but one of
your earliest posts was about your favorite Beatles period being their "drug years" which is normally seen as the self-acknowledged LSD-using period that yielded
Sergeant Pepper's, and
Magical Mystery Tour and the "White Album" (And
Rubber Soul and
Revolver before the cat was let out of the bag)
LSD use was an inseparable element of the "San Francisco Sound" I grew up loving so my reply posts about what I considered truly psychedelic music necessarily included references to the drug.
Any historic examination of how the scene evolved that didn't mention it would be incomplete and even inaccurate,
especially where the Dead are concerned.
So, just coincidence that so many of my posts seem to have LSD refs, it's a limited sample you're seeing, responding to a subject it's directly connected to.
I grew up in the SF Bay Area (that is not what I called it) and I never really got into QMS.
Technically I came to the "South bay" at age 4 in 1960. (Of course I bought my parents with me. :glee
Being a couple of years younger than me you probably missed Quicksilver's heyday, in fact the most radio play they ever got was for those 2 top 40 hits of the Valente era, and the rest of those albums don't quite live up to the legacy.
I loved JA and some early JS.
Airplane was my absolute favorite band at least half way through high school after discovering
Baxter's in late '68 I think it was.
(Jeff Beck was in the number 2 spot or even number one as favorite guitarist for
Truth and
Beckola)
I also loved
Blows Against the Empire ("Let's Go Together" was another one of those tunes I got to hear new for the first time on AM radio) and
Sunfighter.
"Ride the Tiger" on
Dragonfly was pretty god but the rest of the album rendered it in-buyable for me.
Was already exploring the European continental bands by then, anyway.
Gong and Aphrodite's Child in particular were carrying on the sound traditions I loved.
Santana also one of my favorites in '69-'71, Journey, not so much: Schon was OK but preferred the latin beats and melodies in Carlos' band.
Funny thing I actually prefer
Wow to Grape's debut, especially for the tune "He"; similar vibe to "the Fool".
At this time I wasn't a big fan of horns but you mention Tower of Power, and in fact the opening tune on
Quicksilver Messenger Service features the horn section from Bloomfield's
Electric Flag, courtesy of producers Nick Garvenites and Harvey Brooks, both members of the Flag.
(From their Wiki page):"Though the Electric Flag was together in its original configuration less than a year, the band made a strong impression on critics and musicians, primarily in the San Francisco area where they were based. One of the first rock groups to include horns, the Electric Flag preceded the earliest edition of Blood, Sweat and Tears with Al Kooper."
"Pride of Man", horns worthy of any ToP cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LPPE-k4IDM
I did really like a couple of Power cuts that made the charts; "Diamonds in the Sand" and "Back on the Streets Again" as my tastes broadened.
Their bassist from '77-'79, Victor Conte, was also associated with another Bay Area cult legend, Harvey Mandel, who followed Gravenites out from Chicago.
His debut album was
Christo Redentor whose title tune written by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd foreshadowed the feel of It's a Beatiful Day's "White Bird" by a couple of years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_IGj-dTDW8
Lot of great horn work on Harvey's earliest albums, but all instrumental, which may be why he got so little radio play.
I like instrumentals.
There are many I am forgetting. Help me out.
So you got your It's a Beautiful Day and Electric Flag reminder, Gravenites also brought us Mother Earth.
Blue Cheer was brought to us by the same guy who brought Mandel to Phillips records.
How about Cold Blood with Lydia Pense, "You Got Me Hummin" for the ToP fan in you?
San Jose in the south bay where I grew up brought us "Little Girl" by Syndicate of Sound and the immortal "Psychotic Reaction" by the Count Five.
Back to Gary Duncan:
It occurs to me it might not be too far off the mark to say the Quicksilver's dual guitar and compositional style on the first 2 albums was the SF version of the Allman Brothers lineup through
Eat a Peach.
2 years ahead of 'em.
:friendly_wink: