Country Joe & the Fish, Electric Music for the Mind and Body (side A)

Country Joe may be best remembered for his solo acoustic rendition of "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" at Woodstock.  Compared against this unintended iconic event, Country Joe & the Fish's early band albums surprise with their garage rock qualities.  While the group never veers into the heavier side of 60s garage, much of 1967's Electric Music for the Mind and Body resembles Dylan-esque groups like the Hombres, who are traditionally grouped in the garage genre.  The loud and brittle electric organs, which were obviously recorded direct, may be the loudest thing in the mix, and their timbre gives the music an edge of immediacy.  The drums, on the other hand, fall clumsily behind the beat and are placed low in the mix — this quality pulls the group closer to the experimental folk groups of New York like the Fugs and the Godz.  The crisp electric guitars and tight vocal harmonies, on the other hand, reflect professionalism and talent that's somewhat incongruous with these other elements.  The songwriting is also more complex and skillful than most garage or folk-rock groups of the time employed.  The mixes are surprisingly thin and bright for their era, and the cover design associates the group more closely with a mainstream psychedelic rock idiom than the music contained inside.