Writer says "ex guitarist , drummer , and others put this band together in 1967. This debut is a testament to their ability to catch fire and keep on burnin'." That do so well -- they appeared at with , , and , and all these groups had some musical connection to each other beyond that pivotal festival. is the "new " described appropriately enough by the late critic , and tunes like and lean more towards the side than the so many radio listeners were attuned to back then. was too much of a purist to ride his on the Top 40 the way gave us so 's eventual replacement in , and this crew pour out on this disc. It's a classy production, intellectual ideas with lots of musical changes, a subdued version of what herself would give us on two years later, with some of that album written by vocalist . Though launched after 's itself influenced bands who would go on to sell more records. In the traditional it is proclaimed "you know Janis Joplin, she'll tell you all about that wine, baby." As good as the album is, though, the material is pretty much composed by , when they're not covering and adding news broadcasts to the mix. More contributions by in the songwriting department would have been welcome here. The extended CD version has four additional tracks, both which appear on the self-titled outing which followed this LP, as well as other material which shows up on , released in 2000. opens like ' the keyboards as well as the sound effects, and a hook of "hey little girl" which would resurface as the title of a tune on the aforementioned follow-up disc, where did pick up the songwriting slack, having wandered off to . Amazing stuff all in all, which could eventually comprise a boxed set of experimental from the mid- to late sixties. Either version of this recording, original vinyl or extended CD, is fun listening and a revelation. ~ Joe Viglione