Together (Country Joe and the Fish album)

Together
Studio album by Country Joe and the Fish
Released August 1968
Recorded November 1967
Sierra Sound Laboratories, Berkeley, California
and February 1968 Vanguard Studios, 71 West 23rd Street, New York City, NY
Genre Psychedelic rock, folk rock
Length 34:31
Label Vanguard VSD-79277
Producer Samuel Charters
Country Joe and the Fish chronology
I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
(1967)		 Together
(1968)		 Here We Are Again
(1969)

Together is the third album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band, Country Joe and the Fish, released in 1968. Before recording, Country Joe McDonald briefly left, so for developments with the band, they were addressed just as "The Fish". McDonald would return in time for recording sessions so the name change was relatively brief. Although it was not considered their strongest work, especially since McDonald's superior songwriting presence was absent, Together still was the most financially successful output from the band.[1]

Melton and "Chicken" Hirsh take the role as main songwriters, creating variously different tracks in regards to style. The album begins with a tribute to James Brown with the track "Rock and Soul Music". From there, the band continues its development of psychedelic music with the theme of love and life for their songs.[2] Evidently, the band were still against the Vietnam War as the track "Untitled Protest" suggest. The organ played on the song was called "Death Mantra", the name bestowed upon by McDonald. With the success of the album, the band embarked on a national tour that was also dubbed a success thanks, in part, to their light shows.[3]

Country Joe would not be involved in tracks two and five and would be filled in by studio musicians. This is a beginning of the personnel changes involved with the band's next two albums. Barthol would leave in the following month and Cohen and Hirsh would follow out in January 1969.[2]

Track listing

  1. "Rock and Soul Music" (McDonald, Melton, Cohen, Barthol, Hirsh) – 6:51
  2. "Susan" (Hirsh) - 3:28
  3. "Mojo Navigator" (Denson, Melton, McDonald) - 2:23
  4. "Bright Suburban Mr. & Mrs. Clean Machine" (Hirsh, Melton) - 2:19
  5. "Good Guys/Bad Guys Cheer / The Streets of Your Town" (Melton) - 3:43
  6. "The Fish Moan" - 0:27
  7. "The Harlem Song" (McDonald) - 4:19
  8. "Waltzing in the Moonlight" (Hirsh, Melton) - 2:13
  9. "Away Bounce My Bubbles" (Hirsh) - 2:25
  10. "Cetacean" (Barthol) - 3:38
  11. "An Untitled Protest" (McDonald) - 2:45

Personnel

Chart positions

Billboard 200 - No. 23

References

  1. ↑ William Ruhlmamn. "Together - Review". allmusic.com. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Together - Vinyl". acerecords.co.uk.
  3. ↑ "Country Joe". countryjoe.com.
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