154. Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails

It doesn’t take much to win me over, and a side-long psychedelic trip through Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?” will do nicely, ta.

Now, granted, on this album there’s not much left of the original track, but for the 26 raucous minutes this one belts out on Side A, you’re left not too bothered anyway, because for all the psychedelic distortion and throbbing guitar, there is still something at the heart of this album that beats pure Bo.

Quicksilver Messenger Service keep that raw bluesy groove going through the thrillingly epic “Mona”, these days made most famous by the Craig McLachlan cover (that isn’t actually all that bad). The “Mona” that features here is a remarkably different beast though, a fitting follow-up to the excesses of Side A, with a long and winding guitar solo at around the five minute mark that’s just right when you want to punish your speakers a bit.

(you know you love it)

It keeps up with the epic on the far-too-short “Maiden of the Cancer Moon”, but that soon segues into the 13-minute long “Calvary”, which mixes acoustic and Spanish guitar, psychedelic wails and a whole lot more into a haunting and quite stunning mash-up of magnificent jazz-infused glory with a mesmerising conclusion. By the time it throws in a visit to Roy Rogers sign-off “Happy Trails” at the end, you’re left breathless.

Marvellous.