was recorded on June 13, 2004 at the South Parade Pier, Southsea UK by Country Joe McDonald and The Original Country Joe Band which is effectively the latest incarnation of Country Joe and the Fish. Country Joe and the Fish were founded in the San Francisco area in 1965-66 as a political device; partially of necessity, and partially for entertainment when the Free Speech Movement was organizing a series of demonstrations on the Berkeley campus against the war in Vietnam. Joe McDonald had been editing a magazine called and supposedly ran out of material.
He decided to do a talking issue of the magazine and had an EP pressed with four songs, two of which were I-Feel-Like-I m-Fixin -to-Die Rag and a satire of President Lyndon Johnson called Superbird . The political aspect of Country Joe has not changed in the last forty years and with four of the five original members of the band back together they seem as though they haven t been apart. The music it self is tight with poetic lyrics and protests.
Let me make one note here: I think that protest songs are an art form that most artists cannot do, and especially cannot do well. This is because they turn into nothing but name calling. Superbird is one of those that falls into the camp of nothing but name calling.
Cakewalk to Baghdad could have been great; yes, it starts out using David Perle s name, but only in reference to who coined the term Cakewalk to Baghdad , but falls from grace by being reduced to name calling. On the other hand, An Untitled Protest is good, but probably the best protest song ever written has to be I-Feel-Like-I m-Fixin -to-Die Rag. Now that is what a protest song should be in this case, a satire that at once makes your feelings known as well as infecting your head with a tune that won t go away and those kazoos!
Overall the quality of the DVD is good and the band is tight. There are some delays between songs where the band just stands around waiting for others to get ready; it almost seems too long, but it also gives the feeling of being an unedited live show. The songs are true to form, from the loving Janis , the love song to Grace Slick called Grace, the wonderfully eerie Section 43, the weird structure of Masked Marauder, to the country-rock of Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine.
was recorded on June 13, 2004 at the South Parade Pier, Southsea UK by Country Joe McDonald and The Original Country Joe Band which is effectively the latest incarnation of Country Joe and the Fish.
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