...studio cats who helped out on bobs blonde on blonde 'n discovered dope, later in th'six ohs became area code 615'n put out a coupla platters'n then some o' 'em took up as barefoot jerry'n knocked out a bunch o' stuff thru the 70s...this slab dropped in 74'n is some funky southern country rock with some cool tunes extollin th'green, a bit o' jazzy country'n a coupla ballads that could be sappy in lesser hands, but here they sound pretty ok...also dig that cover with its fake underground comic style, my-tee fine'n dandy...

...bein brought up in a house where his R&B disk jockey father entertained jazz cats'n played th'record machine constantly its no surprise pigpen got heavily immersed in not only th'blooz music but also th'culture, reefer'n wine were makin themselves known to ron from a very early age...this is some downbeat country blooz from th'mid 60s beatnik landscape taped at th'dead house basement in 66'n th'quality is mighty fair(dead heads will not be disappointed)...garcia more than once commented that pigpen was th'soul o' th'dead, th'anchor that kept them from driftin too far in any direction, th'oil in th'engine that kept them rollin along th'hippy hi-way...here he's laid back(not too far back)'n funky with th'ripple flowin'n th'reefer burnin slowly givin off th'mellow vibes...plays well next to mother mccrees'n as a historical document o' th'end o' beatnik times its essential, a very cool addition to th'birth o' th'dead...tacked on th'end is a coupla numbers from pigs last tape session'n th'last is from 64 with jorma kaukonen sittin in...

...this is some mad mental gubbins from th'exploito cover inwards, an hours worth o'helter skelterin in its various states, tho not all different its a goodly earful that plays well in circumstances that allow for mind stretchin...theres about 3 different takes with different mixes'n a 9minit runthru thats kinda like krautrock noise meets th'FUNHOUSE stooges, well outta control sound that towards th'end is startin to go into some tranced-out black metal spew from th'deepest psychodelic dungeon imaginable...when gettin into chattin with beatle bores it may be good to mention they invented th'future o' rock music'n this would o'course sit well with said bores, then drop in this helter skelter jam that prefigured euronymous/death mayhem by 20 years, travelin space-heads from th'mersey sow together kraut/stooges/church burnin in EMI(home o' squares) in summer 68(th'riot days)...not on this coaster but in maccas collection is a half hour helter jam where they lock into a dirty rockin groove that moves back to 50s rocknroll along th'way(hotcha)...if this was knockin about as a boot back in charlies spahn ranch daze it would be required death valley list'nin from mornin to mornin 24/7, they'd blown their minds to mush, beyond th'requirements o' family life...an experimental listen to say th'least'n just right on a bong'd afternoon with th'sun blazin'n temporal concerns suspended due to inactivity...

...STEREO version, again courtesy o' th'good dr.ebbetts who's seen fit to make available th'toppermost o'th'poppermost edition o' th'fabs double waxin...taken from th'mobile fidelity sound labs vinyl releases o' th'80s this is way better than th'released 'official' version which th'beancounters deigned good enough for 'joe public', th'presence is upfront, a much phatter sound reflectin th'urgency'n vibrancy o' th'times'n toons...this release shows off th'nuances o' th'stereo production to full effect, like diggin it for th'first time, all previous list'nins may become redundant or at least secondary...take this brother'n may it serve you well...

...th'MONO version is a trip'n thats th'final word, a solid wig flipper'n theres one reason,probably th'most important'n thats it makes a cat see(hear) th'elpee in new light, to see what really went down n th'final hours o' makin this double 'back to th'egg'biskit...put side one on 'n straight away somethang awry is goin down, somethangs missin, not all is as it should be...'n so it goes on, thangs that dont get heard(that should) suddenly make their present felt more than if they were there...its that ol'mono/stereo battle, which ones best in this late age? its sometimes very hard to say cos both bring possibities that now're matter o' choice...back in th'day every layabout with a reefer burnin would tell th'known 'truth' stereo was where its at cos th'music moves around'n when used in conjunction with headphones -POW, instant wig liftin'n that had no contenders, it was a must-have-BUZZ that aint no cat gonna miss...o'course also theres stuff happenin that weren't noticeable in stereo now come into focus(brought up in th'mix)givin th'whole shebang a different perspective...it makes it a much heavier sound which is total whats called for with toons such as helter skelter, th'thang gets a poundin readin(dig th'mighty throb o'th'drums/bass, all mushed up into th'thickest glollop o' thuddin rockroll noise)its an outta-control killdozer ploughin thru th'charlie desert in magnificent creepy crawl style, th'furniture o' th'toons gets rearranged in true 'gettin th'fear'style, cats not gonna know whats happ'nin....all this comes about due to th'efforts o' one dr.ebbetts whose main goal seems to be is to offer th'best soundin fab4 wax there could be, takin as th'source 'mobile fidelity sound labs'vinyl editions from th'early 80s(acknowledged as th'toppest soundin o' all fab releases)'n digitizin with above 'industry standards' equipment'n attention...these're not faked up with tweakin'n fanagelin like normal record co.reissues, addin bass to give extra oomph'n other devious plots to sell substandard ol' gubbins to th'gullibles, these're th'straight up real deal, what is heard is what it is, nothin untoward happ'nin, just th'gauze removed from th'sound openin th'door a little wider, sinkin deeper into th'vibration o' universal fabness...