MAD RIVER - SELF-TITLED (original Capitol label)

$

26

Mad River

Self-Titled

VG++/VG++

US 1968

Capitol Records - ST-2985

This band formed in Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, about 20 miles east of Dayton. They started as a covers band called The Mad River Blues Band, named after a river, that flowed nearby. A lot of their music was based off of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and they began writing their own tunes. The music got very weird as they were experimenting and writing things that were stranger than normal.
One of the members took three months off to study Oceanography and the others left for Washington DC thinking they would take the town by storm but all the music there was top 40 stuff and not The Blues. So, they practiced and got into a raga vibe. Their sound got very inventive and when they returned to Antioch, the music got very serious and intense. They decided to go out to San Francisco, California to participate in the music scene that was happening.
Once there they began playing at The Diggers Free Events. They were not a dance band at all because they were always changing direction in their songs. Different from most of the bands, they played The Avalon, The Straight Theatre and festivals. They also played The Fillmore once or twice but Bill Graham didn't like them as a band. They were managed by Sam Silver, who was a big in your face guy. 
A record thing happened in the form of an EP. Three songs were recorded but they had to be shortened. Most of their songs went on for over 10 minutes. The band themselves glued the EP package together and they sold them at shows or gave them away to friends. Surprisingly, the music made it to the radio airwaves promoting Capitol records to come calling. They were signed as an afterthought with Quicksilver and The Steve Miller Band and were advanced $10,000. With that they bought equipment and purchased a van to carry their stuff in.
Golden State Recorders is where they completed the first album, but the band was fighting with Nik Venet and Leo De Gar Kulka trying to get this perfect sound. Nik and Leo just wanted to get the album done and out the door. It took three weeks to complete. Capitol records promised them complete artistic control, but in the end, the promises were unkept. The songs were long and the masters were purposely sped up to fit the tracks on the album; and the vocals were akin to the Chipmunks at times. The critics annihilated them in the press.
A second album was completed at Sierra Sound Labs in Berkeley that went much better but the album was more acoustic. The critics loved this version of the band but Capitol didn't know what to do with them. Expecting more of the same experimental madness, they decided to cancel their contract. The band broke apart before the album was put on the market.
Musically heavy psych guitar, weird time signatures, strange voice. People couldn't dance to their music but couldn't leave the venue because they were so intriguing.
This was their first LP. An original Capitol label issue.
Cover has some slight shelf, edge and corner wear. Record has some age marks that DNAP. Record plays pretty clean, maybe one or two noticeable ticks. Generic inner sleeve.






I was Ina-Gadda-Da-Records.

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