Copperhead - Copperhead 2 (1973)

Following the recording and release of Quicksilver Messenger Service's 'Just For Love' and 'What About Me' albums in 1970, both of which had been recorded in a studio in Hawaii with no electricity, John Cipollina left the band, as he thought that their music had become a little rudimentary, and he also wanted to play more sessions, which didn't sit too well with the other QMS members. He started looking around for a new group to play with, and soon teamed up with Mark Unobsky on guitars & vocals, Jim Murray on guitars, tablas & harmonica, Jim McPherson on piano & vocals, David Weber on drums, and Cyrus on bass, and this ensemble recorded a number of tracks in his home studio, for a proposed album by the newly-christened Copperhead. A second attempt was made in late 1970 and early 1971, with over twenty recordings being laid down in a professional studio, and they also starting gigging around California in 1971 and 1972, building up a reputation as a promising new band. The group's only album, a self-titled effort, was not released until mid 1973, which drummer Dave Weber recalls as being something of a mistake, as by the time it was recorded they were growing tired of playing the songs chosen for it. They also suffered other problems, mostly in that the two main songwriters didn't always see eye to eye, and some of their recorded work didn't reflect the spontaneity of their live shows. Unfortunately the band got caught up in the whole drug scandal episode that surrounded CBS's Clive Davis just after the album came out, and when he was removed from CBS a lot of groups were also dropped from the label, including Copperhead. They had already started recording a second album, but with no label backing it, the band folded, and Cipollina went on to form Raven, and then Terry And The Pirates. In January 1973 they had recorded a number of tracks at Roy Chen's Studio, and a couple of months later they laid down some more at KSAN Record Plant, and these can be added to the four completed songs from their second album sessions to start a reconstruction of that second record. Before they were dropped by Columbia, Copperhead had released a one-off single titled 'Chameleon', and so by adding that we now have 45 minutes of studio recordings, which make up a very creditable follow-up to the 'Copperhead' album. The opening track is a slithering untitled instrumental, which I've named 'Sidewinder', in keeping with the snake theme of the band's name, and had they stayed together and not been dropped by Columbia, then the 'Copperhead 2' album could well have been released in late 1973.  

Track listing 

01 Sidewinder 
02 Chameleon
03 My Own Twisted Way 
04 Read Between The Lines 
05 Drunken Irish Setter
06 Local Color 
07 Puttin' It To You
08 California Blues
09 Heebies Jeebies 

10 Bigelow 6-9000
11 Keeper Of The Flame

Once - Once And Once Only (1988)

John Cipollina was a guitarist who was best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. He created a distinctive guitar sound by using a one-of-a-kind amplifier stack, while his Gibson SG guitars had two pickups, one for bass and one for treble, giving a sound which was instantly identifiable as his own. After leaving Quicksilver in 1971, Cipollina formed the band Copperhead with early Quicksilver member Jim Murray, former Stained Glass member Jim McPherson, drummer David Weber, Gary Phillipet (a.k.a. Gary Phillips) on keyboards, and Pete Sears on bass. Copperhead disbanded in mid 1974 after becoming a staple in the SF Bay Area, and Cipollina teamed up with Link Wray to perform a series of shows together along the West Coast, with the Copperhead rhythm section of Hutchinson & Weber, and keyboardist David Bloom. During the 1980's, Cipollina performed with a number of bands, including Fish & Chips, Thunder and Lightning, the Dinosaurs and Problem Child, and he was a founding member of Zero, and its rhythm guitarist until his death in 1989. On 20 February 1988 he put together a band which consisted of his brother Mario Cipollina on bass, former bandmate Pete Sears on keyboards, Tony Johnson on drums, and Alex Ligertwood on vocals, and they performed one gig at SF Musicworks in San Francisco, California. It was one show, one time, so the band was named Once, and they played an hour and half set of classic covers from the 60's and 70's, which enabled Cipollina to adapt his great guitar style to a variety of genres, including rock, blues and reggae. I think the second set was marginally the better, with Cipollina's guitar playing being outstanding on some tracks, while a couple of them didn't work quite as well, so I've taken what I consider to be the best recordings from the night and edited them down into one six-track, 46-minute album of superb music from a true guitar legend, recorded just one year before his untimely death. 

Track listing

01 My Babe
02 Who Do You Love
03 Baby Watcha Wanna Do
04 You Gotta Help Me
05 Stormy Monday
06 Mona / Tequila / Mona