Country Joe And The Fish - Here We Are Again (1969)

Country Joe and the Fish were an American psychedelic rock band.

During the making of their fourth album, Country Joe & The Fish started to break apart as a band, so it was recorded and released during a period of confusing personnel changes. The first of the original members to leave was bassist Bruce Barthol, who was replaced by Mark Ryan. He appeared on a few of the songs, before he too left (he later joined Quicksilver Messenger Service). The rest of the recordings featured guest spots from bassists Jack Casady (of Jefferson Airplane) and Pete Albin (of Big Brother & The Holding Company). David Cohen and Gary Hirsh also left during the recording, to be replaced by Mark Kapner and David Getz (the latter also from Big Brother).

From the recording sessions throughout this turbulent period, the album Here We Are Again was put together, released in the summer of 1969. It actually turned out to be one of the band's better ones, with their distinctive brand of wiry psychedelic rock expanded upon with string and horn arrangements in places, courtesy of Ed Bland.

By the time the album was released, the line-up had actually changed again, leading to the final formation of the band - Joe McDonald (guitar/vocals), Barry Melton (guitar/vocals), Mark Kapner (keyboards), Doug Metzner (bass) and Greg Dewey (drums).

Together (1968) <|> CJ Fish (1970)
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Country Joe And The Fish - Together (1968)

Country Joe and the Fish were an American psychedelic rock band.

After the release of the band's excellent first two albums, Country Joe McDonald himself departed with hopes to begin a solo career. Barry Melton planned to take the reigns (the band briefly becoming just 'The Fish'), but before long McDonald had returned. They began work on their third album, and Together was released in 1968. However it was not as well received, and in reality was a bit patchy and lacked focus.

By 1969 the band had begun to disintegrate, with Bruce Barthol, David Cohen and Gary Hirsh all leaving to pursue other things (Barthol moved to England, Cohen joined a reformed version of The Blues Project, and Hirsh opened an art supplies shop in Oakland). That left just McDonald and Melton, who had to find new bandmates if they were to keep recording...

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die (1967) <|> Here We Are Again (1969)
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Country Joe And The Fish - I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die (1967)

Country Joe and the Fish were an American psychedelic rock band.

Country Joe and the Fish's second album came out in 1967, just seven months after their debut. Like its predecessor, it showcased their distinctively experimental style of psychedelic rock. It has become notorious for its opening song, "The 'Fish' Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin-To-Die Rag". The first part is a cheerleader-style call-and-response, spelling out the word 'fish', whilst the latter is a ragtime number with lyrics in clear oppositon to the Vietnam war. Country Joe McDonald had recorded the song previously back in 1965 on an EP called Songs Of Oppositon. It has endured today as a much-loved Vietnam protest song, helped by McDonald's solo performance of it at the Woodstock festival (where he incited the audience to spell out FUCK rather than FISH). Despite the song's infamy, the album itself didn't actually sell as much as its predecessor.

Electric Music For The Mind And Body (1967) <|> Together (1968)
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Country Joe And The Fish - Electric Music For The Mind And Body (1967)

Country Joe and the Fish were an American psychedelic rock band.

The nucleus of Country Joe & The Fish were 'Country Joe' McDonald and Barry 'The Fish' Melton. The two of them originally got together as a folk duo performing protest music in opposition to the Vietnam war. They often added extra musicians to the lineup, and by the time they recorded their first full-length album in 1967 (having appeared on a few EPs already) they had become an electric rock group, with the lineup of Joe McDonald (lead vocals, guitar), Barry Melton (lead guitar), David Cohen (guitar, organ), Bruce Barthol (bass) and Gary Hirsh (drums).
Electric Music For The Mind And Body was one of the first psychedelic rock albums to come out of San Francisco. When compared to what their contemporaries were doing (Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, etc), the sound of Country Joe & The Fish was much more wide-ranging and experimental, and subsequently much less commercial. An electric stew of influences, with their folk roots occasionally showing through, its a truly hallucinogenic experience, with a loose, improvisational vibe. Melton's bluesy guitar and Cohen's thin, reedy organ gives it a unique, often eerie sound. Though it might have been lacking in hit singles, it more than made up for it with its daring, explorative take on psychedelia. It wasn't exactly a chart success, but it got alot of airplay on early FM radio, and is considered today a truly influential album.

|> I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die (1967)
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