By far the most ominous-sounding of the Bay Area's 1960s psychedelic bands, the music of Berkeley's Mad River comes across like a spiraling, acid-spiked descent into hell. With a raw, garagey style marked by Lawrence Hammond's quavering vocals and the interlocking exchanges of guitarists David Robinson and Rick Bockner, Mad River's sound conjures a darker, more menacing version of Quicksilver Messenger Service or early Country Joe and The Fish. No wonder the quintet's self-titled 1968 debut has long been at the top of many collector's want lists.Mad River's tabs of tortured soul?cuts like the lysergic opening rush of "Merciful Monks," the lengthy, labyrinthine "The War Goes On," and the truly demented "Amphetamine Gazelle"--add up to one cathartic ride, a ride that psych-heads will be tripping all over themselves to take again and again.
