Those born too late to experience first-hand what made late ’60s and early ’70s San Francisco so musically — and culturally — significant will finally get the opportunity to understand what drew even Beatle George Harrison to the city’s Haight-Ashbury district to see what all the fuss was about with a brand-new home video collection.
Announced this week, and set for release by Mercury Records May 12, is a trio of hippie brilliance on film in “A Night at the Family Dog,” “Go Ride the Music” and “West Pole” across two DVDs.
The three psychedelic trips down memory lane, complete with new artwork and ’60s-styled poster, were originally produced and created as groundbreaking television documentaries by Ralph J. Gleason, who arguably did more than any other journalist to hip the world to what was in the (bong) water in San Francisco circa the late ’60s.
It was a time of wild experimentation in poetry, film, journalism, sex, drugs and political activism with a wide variety of music providing the daily soundtrack.
The San Francisco sound, as it came to be known, was a montage of shrieking guitars and bold, now-classic acid rock.
Held on Feb. 4, 1970, at the Family Dog concert hall, “A Night at the Family Dog” featured the brightest three lights of the Bay Area in Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Santana.
Those bands would define a scene that had the whole world wondering what exactly was going on in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco.
The original mono recording has been remixed and remastered on “A Night at the Family Dog,” which starts with two iconic Santana performances before the Dead covers Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle.”
Jefferson Airplane then splits the club wide open with their incendiary and provocative performance style.
Then all hell breaks loose when Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and Paul Kantner kick out the jams to end it all.
The 1969 documentary “Go Ride the Music” is a stunning record of Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service, the latter a band destined for stardom who short-circuited their own success. The film also sees cameo appearances from David Crosby and Jerry Garcia.
Filmed the same year, “West Pole” captures the magnetic attraction of musicians who provoked the establishment enough to create national news.
It’s a firsthand witnessing to the birth of a culture with the Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the all-female act Ace of Cups and others.
Though “A Night at the Family Dog” has been released on home video previously, having it packaged together with “Go Ride the Music” and “West Pole” is essential viewing for anyone looking for a representation of what shaped such an important part of American music history.
Vinyl of the week
Keep an eye on this spot as each week we’ll be looking at new or soon-to-be-released vinyl from a variety of artists.
It might be a re-pressing of a landmark recording, special edition or new collection from a legendary act. This week, it’s another chance for an album that should’ve been huge, but suffered from a case of seriously poor production.
• Hanoi Rocks: “Oriental Beat (The 40th Anniversary Re(al)mix)”
The second album from Finland glam punkers Hanoi Rocks, 1982’s “Oriental Beat,” was supposed to be the band’s big breakthrough in the States.
Recorded in London for 200 pounds a day, the album was made during the height of the British punk and new wave movements, when the band was hanging out with everyone from Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott to the Damned.
It seemed like a cocktail for success on paper, but due to some truly awful production, “Oriental Beat” was either ignored or downright panned by critics.
Released before it could be remixed or re-recorded, as their then label had run out of money, the group has always considered the original mix of “Oriental Beat” to be a disaster.
Come the late ’80s, when Guns N’ Roses purchased the rights to the Hanoi Rocks catalog to re-release on their vanity label, Uzi Suicide, the master tapes for the LP went missing in transit and were thought to be lost forever.
Incredibly, the tapes mysteriously showed up in the Universal Records vault in 2020, and the band was finally able to mix and re-sequence the album the way they wanted it to sound.
Dubbed the “Re(al)mix”, the 40th anniversary edition was mixed by Petri Majuri at E-Studios in Finland in collaboration with the band.
Frontman Michael Monroe said in a statement the release is, “the longest and slowest album recording project ever” and that, “40 years in the making, it’s not just a remix, but the REAL MIX supervised and approved by Hanoi Rocks.”
The vinyl edition is available in three configurations: standard black vinyl and blood red vinyl limited to 1,500 copies each or a cyan blue vinyl limited to just 500 copies. All three include a poster of the band.
Looking at it through a new lens, it’s clear “Oriental Beat” is a defining masterpiece made when Hanoi Rocks was about to explode onto the world’s music scene.
It was also written at the absolute peak of lead guitarist Andy McCoy’s creativity as a songwriter.
Look for “Oriental Beat (The 40th Anniversary Re(al)mix)” online and from all respectable retailers who carry vinyl.
To contact music columnist Michael Christopher, send an email to rockmusicmenu@gmail.com. Also, check out his website at thechroniclesofmc.com.
