CD Review: Copperhead Live at Pacific High Studios 1972

 

(review by Rev. Keith A. Gordon)

COPPERHEAD (FEATURING JOHN CIPOLLINA)

Live At Pacific High Studios San Francisco 1972

(Air Cuts)

VENUE: Pacific High Studios, San Francisco CA, 01/23/72

SOUND QUALITY: Not as good as you might think for a FM radio broadcast. Aired live by Bay Area radio powerhouse KSAN-FM, this eleven-song performance sounds like it was recorded in a deep well. Air Cuts is a Cypress-based label that specializes in releasing unofficial recordings of vintage radio shows, i.e. “copyright gap” recordings. In the CD liner notes, they state that “although the sound may not (despite extensive professional remastering) always be of the highest quality, we are sure that you will enjoy the musical experiences of these wonderful performances.” OK…

COVER: I haven’t had any previous experience with any Air Cuts’ CD releases, but I’ll give credit where credit is due – the packaging of this Copperhead performance is top-notch. No skimpy jewel case insert and tray card, nosirree, Live At Pacific High Studios is afforded an attractive eight-page, sepia-toned booklet with a bunch of B&W photos of guitarist John Cipollina and the band accompanied by uncredited liner notes that wrap up the too-short Copperhead story with a bow on top.  

TRACKLIST: Introduction /Kibitzer /Highway #9 /Spin-Spin /I’m Not the Man I Used To Be /Sidewinder /Drunken Irish Setter /Dancing Shoes /Good Time Boogie /Keeper of the Flame /DJ > Ads /Bigelow 6-9000 /Roller Derby Star > DJ Outro

COMMENTS: If Quicksilver Messenger Service were the psychedelic siblings of better-known (and more successful bands) like the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, guitarist John Cipollina was the heartbeat of QMS. Cipollina’s distinctive lead guitar and creative solos fueled albums like 1969’s Happy Trails and Shady Grove and, when combined with fellow guitarist Gary Duncan’s jazz-flecked rhythm playing, made for a joyous noise, indeed! With the return of original QMS singer/guitarist Dino Valenti in 1970, the band’s sound changed from the blues-and-jazz-tinged, psych-drenched improvisations of their early albums towards a more commercial hard rock direction. Cipollina left QMS in 1970 after the release of the band’s What About Me album, although he’d later reunite with the gang for an underrated 1975 effort, Solid Silver.

The guitarist subsequently formed the short-lived Copperhead around veteran San Francisco musicians Gary Philippet (vocals and guitar), Pete Sears (bass), Jim McPherson (keyboards), and David Weber (drums), which is the line-up that performed Live At Pacific High Studios. The band had been rehearsing material for months and had only gigged a few times locally when legendary San Francisco DJ Tom Donahue asked them to do a live broadcast for KSAN. The band’s eleven-song performance is fairly standard, early ‘70s meat-and-potatoes rock ‘n’ roll with a touch of blues and boogie stirred into the pot alongside Cipollina’s imaginative guitar-playing. 

The McPherson-penned “Kibitzer” includes a mesmerizing guitar riff beneath its propulsive rhythms while “Highway #9” is a rollicking, twangy number with deep roots. In the ‘coulda-would-shoulda-been’ FM radio hit department, “Spin-Spin” offers a strong vocal performance, scorched earth guitar, and an overall underground rock vibe that was hot stuff in the early ‘70s. The booger-rock of “I’m Not the Man I Used To Be” was a precursor to bands like Jo Jo Gunne and Humble Pie, the song’s roller-coaster rhythms balanced by Cipollina’s reckless fretwork. The bluesy “Drunken Irish Setter” reminds of Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher with similar guitar style, blues roots, and overall song structure which is to say that it burns like an out-of-control wildfire. 

The ballsy but unremarkable “Dancing Shoes” is a faded carbon copy of every single tale of rock star excess that the decade would produce; much better is “Good Time Boogie,” which spices up the familiar gumbo with truly manic guitar playing and scattergun vocals. “Keeper of the Flame,” which was reportedly recorded for a second (unreleased) Copperhead album, is a soulful, mid-tempo rocker with a bit of Southern gospel flavor that could have been another FM radio hit during the era. The show-closing “Roller Derby Star” is a spry performance with unusual time signatures, rowdy vocals, and bruising guitarplay.     

Columbia Records’ Clive Davis was an early supporter of the band, and clearly saw Copperhead as a potential commercial blockbuster like the Airplane or the Dead. By the time that the label released the band’s self-titled debut in 1973, Sears had been replaced by Bonnie Raitt’s bassist John “Hutch” Hutchinson, but otherwise the line-up was the same. It’s indicative of Copperhead’s ever-evolving sound that only three songs from Live At Pacific High Studios – “Kibitzer,” which is more rambunctious on the studio LP; the aforementioned potential radio hit “Spin Spin;” and “Roller Derby Star” – made their way onto the subsequent debut album. A shortened version of Roller Derby Star was released as a single but in spite of the band’s efforts, touring heavily in support of the album, a lack of label enthusiasm (Davis, the band’s champion, had since been fired) caused Columbia to shelve a possible second album and cut the band loose. Philippet (as “Gary Phillips”) would go on to play with Earthquake and the Greg Kihn Band while Sears landed a cushy position with ‘80s-era hitmakers Jefferson Starship.     

Cipollina is widely-considered to be one of the major architects of the 1960s-era “San Francisco sound” but, after Copperhead’s short-lived run, he mostly wandered around the Bay Area until his death in 1989 at the too-young age of 45 years. He played with Welsh rockers Man for a while during the mid-70s, and throughout the ‘80s he performed with regional groups like the Dinosaurs (alongside Country Joe & the Fish’s Barry Melton), Thunder & Lightning (with bluesman Nick Gravenites), Terry & the Pirates and, at the time of his death, with the unrecorded band Zero. He never got the recognition or accolades he deserved save in hindsight, critics looking favorably upon his contributions to rock music in retrospect. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine placed Cipollina at #32 on their list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”     

There’s precious little Copperhead music to be found in the wild, beginning with self-titled major label album which, as of this writing, is only available as an import CD. According to a 1975 interview with Cipollina in the British music rag Zig Zag, the band recorded 15 songs for Columbia at the time. They used eight songs for the debut LP and planned on using the other seven as the bulk of their second LP. To the best of my knowledge, none of those songs have been released legitimately. Aside from Live At Pacific High Studios, there’s also a “copyright gap” CD released in 2014 by Keyhole Records. Live At Winterland, September 1st, 1973 documents an engaging ten-song performance that offers fairly good sound and includes six songs from the debut album along with four songs presumably from what would have been their sophomore effort. It’s well worth looking for if you’re a Cipollina fanboy. Grade: B-

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