Folk Album Anthology#3: The Youngbloods-Elephant Mountain

[joe]

Best known for the anthem "Get Together", The Youngbloods were one the better folk bands doing the circuit on the U.S. east coast and then moved to San Francisco area in the late '60's led by singer/songwriter Jesse Colin Young the band released two albums as a quartet then guitarist Jerry Corbit left the band to go solo.

Elephant Mountain was released in 1969 and contains psych/folk, a touch of country, and even some jug tinges as well all put together with some very nice pop/rock melodies. The album contains a couple of instrumental tracks as well showcasing keyboardist Lowell "Banana" Levinger adding some jazzy counter balance to the album.

Produced by Charlie Daniels this album reflects the influence of San Francisco psychedelia. Laid back, mellow, organic and earthy. I consider this album to be in the "lost classics" category.

 

[LG]

I saw a copy of that one a while back Joe...I remembered their most popular song but never really followed this band.

I'll see if I can pick this one up...it might still be there.

 

[joe]

Somewhat eclectic LG. I know you are a bit of folkie. I think you would enjoy it. Thier first two albums are very good also but not as massive as Elephant Mountain. 9/10

 

[LG]

I have a decent folk collection, so I'll definitely get a hold of Elephant Mountain.

 

[joe]

Excellent LG.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Joe, I'm of course familiar with "Get Together" and honestly never thought I'd discover another song by them I liked nevertheless listen to another song by them period. I dare say that I already like Darkness Darkness better than Get Together. What a different beast from that song! The vocal is so much richer on that song and the echoey quality is really cool later in the song. In some ways the singer reminds me of Richard Marx which is a positive on my side of things. The rest of the songs were fair as well though Elephant Mountain Won't play for me because of the "Won't play in your country thing due to copyright" thing. Regardless, I've walked away with one more cooler song than I expected to gain from this group!

 

[joe]

"Darkness, Darkness" is my fav tune from the band Soot. Like I said earlier, it's a relatively eclectic album. Here's another track from the album. Hopefully it will be available in your country. What's with that anyway?:mad

 

[LG]

Picked it up yesterday Joe, I'll play it later today or tomorrow.

 

[noodlez]

I agree these guys are hugely underrated. The thing about the Youngbloods is they went all over the map - its one of those bands where just about every single song sounds different, albeit somehow maintaining their laidback vibe. They have jazz, folk, country, blues, psychedelic, and rock influences - probably the most diverse of the "hippie" bands. While they were not consistently great, every album has some good songs with a couple of great ones thrown around.

 

[joe]

Picked it up yesterday Joe, I'll play it later today or tomorrow.

Let me know what you think LG after a couple of spins.

I agree these guys are hugely underrated. The thing about the Youngbloods is they went all over the map - its one of those bands where just about every single song sounds different, albeit somehow maintaining their laidback vibe. They have jazz, folk, country, blues, psychedelic, and rock influences - probably the most diverse of the "hippie" bands. While they were not consistently great, every album has some good songs with a couple of great ones thrown around.

Most of what you stated is reiterated from what I already posted in the introduction of the thread.

Have you heard every one of The Youngbloods albums?