101 DISTRIBUTION
2009
Castles In The Sand
About This Album
On December 31, 1969, Quicksilver Messenger Service appeared at a New Year's Eve show in San Francisco with their fourth different lineup since their formation in 1965. Originally, the band had been a quintet consisting of guitarist John Cipollina, singer Jim Murray, bassist David Freiberg, guitarist Gary Duncan, and drummer Greg Elmore. Murray dropped out before the recording and release of the group's self-titled debut album in May 1968. After the appearance of the second album, Happy Trails, in March 1969, Duncan departed and was replaced by keyboardist Nicky Hopkins for the third album, Shady Grove, released in December 1969. But at that New Year's Eve show, Duncan returned, and he brought with him singer/songwriter/guitarist Dino Valente, who actually had been the original instigator of QMS, even though a prison term had prevented him from performing with the band at its inception, and after being paroled he had returned to his solo career. That might help explain how it could have been that Valente so thoroughly took charge of the group upon his belated arrival. Castles in the Sand brings into legitimate release a rehearsal tape of the newly reconfigured QMS, recorded either in late 1969 or early 1970, that has circulated among collectors and been bootlegged.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.