Country Joe & The Fish - I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die (1967) [Original Mono Mix]

Country Joe & The Fish - I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die

Original 1967 Dedicated Mono Mix

USA White-Label Promo – Vanguard VRS 9266

~ThePoodleBites rip in 96 kHz / 24 bit FLAC + full high-res scans!~

Back in 2018, I ripped the stereo version of this classic psych album, but I've also wanted to add the mono version to this blog, as it is certainly a dedicated alternate mix which some people are going to prefer. I guess mono heads will rave about its superior instrument balance, smoother song transitions, and "punchy" mono sound; for me, I find it hard to choose between this and the stereo. In the past whenever I've wanted to listen to this album I've always reached for the stereo LP, but now after forcing myself to listen to this mono version for awhile, the stereo does sound a bit wonky. Who knows; probably my mind will change again tomorrow. 

I've purchased four clean original mono copies of this album over the last few years, all pressed with different stampers and having slightly different sound. I postponed working on this album until I could find a copy which was to be definitive, and I think I've found one in this white label promotional copy. This was pressed with the earliest stampers and was probably the only variant approved by the band, if in fact it was band-approved at all. At any rate the sound is phenomenal and will undoubtedly stand as the definitive mono version for many years to come.

Original mono front cover showing the full band's unusual getup 

David Cohen shared verbally some years ago how the photo used on this cover came about. As I recall, the band was taken to a studio where there were various costumes laying around, which the band selected to wear individually. David was a wizard; Joe was a (Vietnamese?) soldier; Barry Melton chose a Nazi uniform, which Vanguard carefully edited so that the swastika was replaced by an American flag. 

By July of 1967, with the San Francisco "Summer of Love" in full-swing, the band had relocated from their chilled-out hippie Berkeley roots into the hustle and bustle of busy New York City. While living in the (now-famous) Chelsea Hotel, they began work on their second album at Vanguard Studios next door, only 4 months after the release of Electric Music. Through the summer and into the fall the band played gigs on the east coast, which went with high reviews, but inevitable infighting had begun behind the scenes; it could've been the pressure from the record company, the hot summer city heat, or just diverging artistic interests, but the internal tension steadily grew more palpable.

A preliminary tape recorded at Sierra Sound Lab with engineer Bob de Souza (who worked on the first album) was already extant, but all the songs were reworked in the New York studio, some quite vastly so. Record producer / A&R man Samuel Charters shares much interesting information about the recording during this period:

"Some of the songs were new, Joe's beautiful ballad for Janis Joplin, JANIS, and PAT'S SONG, written for Pat Sullivan; MAGOO, named for a local Hell's Angels leader, and the instrumental piece COLORS FOR SUSAN, named for Susan Grabart [sic: Susan Graubard], the flutist with Pat Kilroy's group, The New Age. COLORS FOR SUSAN had grown out of a long talk with Joe, and describing to him the emotions I'd felt hearing Erik Satie's "Les Sonneries de la Rose-Croix" in a still New York garden at sunset. It was one of the most original of the Fish pieces, even if audiences—and sometimes the band themselves—had a little trouble understanding it. When they performed it in Berkeley they sat in a line across the stage, while Chicken stood at the drums, and they ended the set with its slow modal chordings."

No time was spared in perfecting the band's artistic studio masterpiece. Songs went through several different arrangements and styles before their final versions were solidified. Overdubs were added where the band felt it was necessary, including harpsichord and calliope to touch off the scathingly sarcastic title track. Joe was the primary songwriter and artistic visionary, but he had trouble getting the band as close to the expression as he imagined. Throughout the sessions he became so exhausted that at one point the band proceeded to record "Janis" without him, letting him catch up on sleep then come in later for overdubs. Even as the album reached completion, a last all-night session featured Joe playing through old songs, trying to find another piece to stick in the cracks. 

In September 1967, the album was declared finished, but the heat had finally caused tensions to boil over. Whether it was from the stress of recording, the exhaustion from performing, the constant pressure of the press, or the ever-growing internal disagreements: the band just, broke up. 

Original album release ad in the Los Angeles Free Press, 24 November 1967 (art by Tom Weller)

Nonetheless, the album's release proceeded with due haste. It was issued sometime between 11 November (when a Billboard article says it was "soon-to-be-released"; Cash Box similar) and 24 November (when a full-page ad appeared in the Los Angeles Free Press, pictured above), and approximately simultaneously with The Serpent Power and Erik's Look Where I Am. A single with "Janis" (backed with a lame "instrumental" / orchestral version) was rushed out to precede the album release by at least a week or two, with a Billboard reviewer calling the song an "unusual folk oriented easy beat ballad... Exceptional material, well performed." 

Cash Box review, 2 Dec 1967

Billboard review, 2 Dec 1967

The record appeared in Billboard's New Album Releases that December, simultaneously with a harsh review. This was probably much to the dismay of Vanguard, who had invested no small expense in producing the band's latest LP. Luckily, the Cash Box review was much more positive. The album emerged on the Billboard charts at #134 on 23 December, and steadily began to climb. A second single, "Who Am I" b/w "Thursday," was released in January 1968, which probably helped with the album's promotion. The band's heightened politicism influenced several pointed articles around this time, primarily denouncing Joe's "slew of insults hurled at President Johnson" during live performances. While the album hit #41 in Cash Box Top 100 Albums on 3 February, the album only peaked at #69 in Billboard two weeks later, then steadily began to fall in both lists. This was much below the highs that Electric Music had produced, though from no clear lack of trying on behalf of the record company, or the band. 

Yes, "The Electric Fish" (as the Joe-less band was called) did not stay devoid of its Country leader for long. Much promotion was put into the band headlining shows on both coasts in the months following the album release. The band would reunite again for their next album, appropriately titled Together, but things had changed. Other members of the group started to take on more artistic control, and the sound of the group swayed further and further away from the folk/blues-worn psychedelia on which they had laid their foundation and more towards pop/soul-oriented music: surely a welcome change for some, but equally alienation for others.

Concert advertisement in Los Angeles Free Press, 22 Dec 1967

TV advertisement in the Berkeley Barb, 15 Dec 1967

This mono mix has only been issued twice. The first time was on vinyl, upon original issue back in 1967. These days the mono variant of this album is somewhat more rare than the stereo, but both are fairly common; the trick is in finding a clean pressing with the earliest stampers. The only reissue was done on CD back in 2013 concurrently with the stereo mix, similar to the "deluxe" treatment given Electric Music. While it was nice hearing the mono mix from tapes, the mastering unfortunately suffered a similar fate as the former; lots of gain, dynamic range compression, and seemingly a treble boost to top it all off. So for those that prefer a natural, "unremastered" sound, the original pressings remain superior. I've applied the usual amount of manual restoration work here resulting in a sound which I think is, for now at least, quite definitive. 

Scans of all the ads pictured here are included in high-res lossless files. By the way, I've also scanned a bunch of old ads / photos and added them to my last two County Joe & The Fish posts. Now is a great time to go back and grab them! And I look forward to reading your thoughts about the stereo vs. mono mix -- please feel free to leave a comment about which one you prefer on the respective post!

Lineup:
"Country" Joe McDonald – vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar
Barry "The Fish" Melton – lead & rhythm guitar, 12-string guitar, backing vocals, kazoo
David Bennett Cohen – calliope, harpsichord, bells, organ, lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Bruce Barthol – bass guitar, barking (tr. 1)
Gary "Chicken" Hirsh – drums, conga, bells, wine bottle

Track listing:

1) "The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" -- 3:45

2) "Who Am I" -- 4:04

3) "Pat's Song" -- 5:25

4) "Rock Coast Blues" -- 3:55

5) "Magoo" -- 4:47

6) "Janis" -- 2:35

7) "The Bomb Song" -- 1:06

8) "Thought Dream" -- 4:53

9) "The Bomb Song (Reprise)" -- 0:26

10) "The Acid Commercial" -- 0:38

11) "Thursday" -- 2:41

12) "Eastern Jam" -- 4:39

13) "Colors For Susan" -- 5:58

Equipment Lineage:

– Audio-Technica VMN40ML stylus on AT150MLx dual moving-magnet cartridge

– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB direct drive professional turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)

– Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra preamp with dedicated Zero Zone linear power supply

– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)

– Adobe Audition CC 2020 (recording)

– iZotope RX 7 audio editor (manual declicking, EQ subtraction, additional adjustments)

– Audacity 2.3.3 (fades between tracks, split tracks)

– Foobar2000 v1.5.1 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

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MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/nNFC1JwZ#YbWqrFCn9yN08n8wZiBBYw

Thank you for reading, enjoy!  :)

"Nothing else has been able to stop the war... Maybe the Fish can!"
Album advertisement in New York newspaper The Village Voice, 30 November 1967