Electric Music for the Mind and Body

Studio album by Country Joe and the Fish

Released

May 11, 1967

Recorded

February 1967, Sierra Sound Laboratories
Berkeley, California
by Robert DeSouza

Genre

Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock

Length

43:30

Label

Vanguard VSD-79244

Producer

Samuel Charters

Country Joe and the Fish chronology

Electric Music for the Mind and Body
(1967)

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
(1967)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic

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 .

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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Wikipedia