Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Making of Happy Trails [A Prof Stoned Comp 2025]
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01. Smokestack Lightnin' [v.1]
02. Susie-Q
03. Who Do You Love
04. Jam (a.k.a. Cowboys & Indians)
05. Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You
06. Smokestack Lightnin' [v.2]*
07. Mona
08. Maiden of the Cancer Moon
09. Calvary
10. Smokestack Lightnin' [v.3]~
11. Happy Trails
(* tape runs out near the end, then resumes)
(~tape cuts off at the very end)
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Total time: 1h45m
All tracks Stereo
Recorded live at Fillmore East, New York, NY, Nov 1-2 1968 & Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, Nov. 7-10, 1968 except Tr. 11 'unknown date/studio' (possibly Golden State Recorders, San Francisco CA, Nov. 19, 1968)
Demix Rebalancing/Mastering: Prof Stoned
Thanks: Mike
v1.0: 01:08-2025
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Note:
I'm usually not a fan of these kinds of releases where a perfect album is being dissected. But since the bulk of this album was recorded live and has some interesting outtakes, I'll make an exception here. If anything, this set proves all the right the decisions were made in the production of the original album. Track selection, editing, overdubbing and sound: it was all done to maximum effect.
Here are some interesting (chopped up) quotes by David Freiberg from a 1997 interview about the making of Happy Trails: "... that [album] was recorded at The Fillmore East and The Fillmore West. Before we did the Fillmore West tour Gary said "Well I’ve been shooting methadone, and man I can’t do this anymore. I’m gonna have to leave...and me and Dino are gonna form a band and go back to New York." … But he did one last studio thing. We were playing what turned out being "Calvary", but we’d been kinda playing it at the end of "Mona." …. Chopped up a bunch of Acid... Then all together we played the basic... Couple of takes. And the last take ended up being "the one". And [then] Duncan went to New York and left us there with this kinda "thing"…. this piece that couldn’t be released just as it was because it wasn’t really finished…. and we had to come up with an album for Capitol. So, we had all this stuff we had recorded live, and so we just started listening to it...and figuring out what to do. ... I overdubbed piano and 12-string rhythm guitar on "Calvary". I think that’s all and while we were mixing…just before we mixed it at Capitol down in LA... we did some sound effects with whips and chains [laughs]…RRRRRRRR! …. There’s a little choral thing that happens in there too, which was just everybody getting in there and kinda moaning in tune. … we had to edit a little bit out of "Who Do You Love", because...I think it was like thirty-five minutes long. We used the center part from a San Francisco gig cause the rest was from a New York gig. So, the weird part in the middle though was when everybody was stoned on acid...and the audience was just as much a part of it with the clapping. … Just happened. There was not a thing overdubbed on that record other than on "Calvary", everything else was in..."Happy Trails"! … Yeah. Greg’s singing that…. So anyway, while we did that...while we were recording that "Calvary"...George Hunter came in with this album cover..."The Cowboy". He said "Well this should be your album cover." George heard Gary was leaving after this and he said, "Well, looks like happy trails to me". Or something like that! [laughs] … So, I said "Well, we’d better record Happy Trails!""
Regarding the original concert recordings, he said the following: "I was looking like crazy for the rest of the stuff, from when we did the Happy Trails album. Because they recorded everything we did, for like five sets in New York and 6 sets… All live stuff. And it’s all gone, and Capitol can’t find it. There is some bootleg stuff that was done at those various places but they are all terrible." That "terrible stuff" is what you'll find in here, though at the time of the interview most of it circulated only in lesser sound quality. Past bootlegs have put specific dates on the tracks but these are likely just assumptions for the most part. We only know for sure that Tr 7-9 are from the 8th and Tr 10 is from the 10th. These rough mixes of Tr 3, 7-10 were made by Leo De Gar Kulka, owner of Golden State Recording, from the 16-track multitapes. The recordings with the highest fidelity appear to be of lossy ancestry but only circulate that way (they are from Wolfgang's Vault, lesser quality sources of the same material exists lossless on various bootlegs). As far as I know, this comp includes every recording from the November fillmore shows that remains.
A quick look at the material: three versions of 'Smokestack Lightnin'' are present here. The band may have wanted to include Tr. 10 on the album at some point. "Who Do You Love' is the full 27-minute version of the album recording. As mentioned above, this is a composite of versions recorded both East and West. This mix reveals a lot about what was done in post-production. Some of the guitar playing seems to have been 'fixed' later on. And despite Freiberg's insistence that the Fillmore audience participation was actually live and fully spontaneous, this version raises some doubts about the validity of that statement. The most suspicious moment is when the band starts playing loud again and you hear one or two persons hollering and sounding as if recorded in a different room. But to be fair, that could also be the result of a cross fade between the different recordings. 'Babe, I'm gonna leave' was probably not meant for the album but is a lovely version nonetheless. The 'Mona'/'Cancer Moon' section is also the same version as on the album and a lot closer to the final result than WDYL but then 'Calvary' is the original live performance that followed, rather than the studio version that made it to the album. Last and least, 'Happy Trails' is a lofi alternate mix of the album version.
So here it is. Happy Trails was the soundtrack of my druggy years. To me, it is the ultimate psychedelic trip. My teetotalling current-self still holds a strong fondness for it (I will always be a stoner at heart). Hope you enjoy this compilation.
Source: http://www.penncen.com/quicksilver/freiberg/interview.html
P.S.: David Freiberg is still very much alive and well and turning 87 this month (bless him). Check out the Strange Brew Podcast for a 30min interview from last April.
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A note about mastering with demix technology:
You may have heard some of my recent offerings where I have used demix pro for spectral extraction. I believe it is the most revolutionary audio processing tool since ages. It enables us to break a mono signal down into 4 dedicated elements: vocals, drums/percussion, bass guitar and whatever remains after. These extractions are of such precision they allow for a realistic reconstruction of a mix.
Why is this useful? Well... the original mix may have flaws that affect the quality of the sound. By nature, the process of mastering is designed to improve upon such flaws by applying equalization and/or processing of dynamic range. But what if one element within a recording needs more treble, while another element is already bright enough? At that point, EQ is not sufficient anymore because your choices will affect both. Of course, mastering does not begin and end with just EQ; there are always other ways of emphasizing or hiding elements in a recording. But spectral extraction allows you to improve upon the sound of one element without 'harming' the sound of all the others and also to re-balance those elements if necessary.
I have used demix on nearly all the recordings with decent fidelity. Being able to correct balancing mistakes; having the flexibility to mesh the bass guitar and kick drum together nicely and putting the vocals precisely in the mix where they need to be is a great luxury. Especially when it doesn't have to be achieved with buss EQ and/or compression. I believe these new masters have a more dynamic, open sound than the source material. The goal has been to stay true to the original feel but with added clarity and depth.
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I have used the following digital studio gear and monitoring in the making of this:
- DeMix Pro 3.0.1 & Spectralayers Pro 10
- Cubase 13
- Universal Audio UAD-2 Satellite Quad-Core (incl. various extra plugins I purchased over the years)
- Neumann KH150 & iLoud Micro monitors
- Adobe Audition
- Izotope RX9
