Country Joe McDonald & The Bevis Frond: Eat Flowers & Kiss Babies 1999

COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD

                            

Political and ecological issues were set to musical accompaniment by Country Joe McDonald, who co-

founded and led the psychedelic folk-rock band Country Joe & the Fish, the leading left-wing band of the '60s. Since the group's breakup in 1971, McDonald has continued to musically espouse his political views through his original folk-like songs.

A native of Washington, D.C., McDonald grew up in El Monte, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, where his parents, Florence and Worden, had moved to escape political difficulties in the capital city. Music played an important role through McDonald's childhood, and he attended many concerts at El Monte Legion Stadium; after becoming enchanted by Dixieland music, he frequented the Lighthouse Club in Hermosa Beach.

At the age of 17, McDonald enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Following his discharge after three years, he attended City College in Los Angeles for a year. Although he moved to Berkeley to continue his schooling, McDonald was distracted by his love of music and spent most of his time playing in bands like the Berkeley String Quartet and the Instant Action Jug Band, which included future bandmate Barry Melton.

 

THE BEVIS FROND

                      

The Bevis Frond is the banner used by Nick Saloman, a neo-psychedelic Renaissance man and the

sole constant writer, performer, and producer behind the cottage industry bearing the Frond name. The head of his own label (Woronzow) as well as the co-publisher of his own underground magazine (the highly regarded Ptolemaic Terrascope), Saloman is a quintessential English eccentric, a frighteningly prolific talent, and a true anachronism purveying an archaic musical genre while simultaneously pioneering the lo-fi aesthetic.
                   

The Bevis Frond's influences are strongly rooted in the '60s, as Saloman's music blends elements of

psychedelia, pop, early hard rock, and folk, with plenty of epic-scale guitar soloing laid over the top as he sings lyrics that lean toward the pastoral and the engagingly addled. Beginning with homemade projects like 1987's Miasma, Saloman moved up to working in proper studios with 1990's Any Gas Faster, and he was wildly prolific, releasing 19 albums between 1987 and 2004.
                 

Saloman put the group on hiatus after 2004's Hit Squad, but they returned in 2011 with The Leaving of

London and continued releasing albums (like 2018's We're Your Friends, Man and 2021's Little Eden) that left no doubt he hadn't lost his touch during his downtime, either as a songwriter, guitarist, or bandleader.
                        

Country Joe McDonald & The Bevis Frond – Eat Flowers & Kiss Babies
Label: Woronzow – WOO 33
Format:    CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1999
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                        

01. I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag    3:51
02. Here I Go Again    4:46
03. Rock Coast Blues    3:30
04. Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine    4:24
05. The Acid Commercial    0:35
06. Bass Strings    6:38
07. Who Am I?    4:42
08. Flying High    4:04
09. Rock 'N Soul Music    7:03
10. Death Sound Blues    9:09

Recorded At – Queen Elizabeth Hall
Recorded At – His Majesty's Theatre

LINE - UP
             

Bass Guitar – Adrian Shaw
Drums – Andy Ward
Guitar, Vocals – Nick Saloman
Organ, Guitar – Aaron Shaw
Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Kazoo – Joe McDonald

MP3 @ 320 Size: 116 MB
Flac  Size: 275 MB