Mad River - Mad River

By far the most ominous-sounding of the Bay Area's 1960s psychedelic bands, the music of Berkeley's Mad River comes across like a spiraling, acid-spiked descent into hell. With a raw, garage style marked by Lawrence Hammond's quavering vocals and the interlocking exchanges of guitarists David Robinson and Rick Bockner, Mad River's sound conjures a darker, more menacing version of Quicksilver Messenger Service or early Country Joe and The Fish. No wonder the quartet's self-titled 1968 debut has long been at the top of many collector's want lists. Mad River's tabs of tortured soul – cuts like the lysergic opening rush of "Merciful Monks," the lengthy, labyrinthine "The War Goes On" and the truly demented "Amphetamine Gazelle" – add up to one cathartic ride, a ride that psych-heads will be tripping all over themselves to take again and again. Sundazed's exact reproduction of this lost classic is sourced directly from the original Capitol Records stereo masters.