Happy Trails is the second album of the American band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Most of the album was recorded from two performances at the Fillmore East and Fillmore West, although it is not clear which parts were recorded at which Fillmore. The record was released by Capitol Records in 1969
The second side of the album contains "Mona", another Bo Diddley song, and two instrumental compositions by Duncan, "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" and "Calvary", all of which segue. The three songs were originally parts of a single continuous live performance. Both Cipollina and Duncan take guitar solos on "Mona". The live recording of "Calvary" was abridged shortly after the end of "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" and a studio version was recorded and substituted. The ironic comment at the beginning of side two, "This here next one's rock 'n' roll," was also added in the studio.
The lead guitar on "Maiden of the Cancer Moon" is played by Cipollina. This is clearly a scored piece, as opposed to the improvisational guitar playing on "Mona."
"Calvary" was originally called the "F-Sharp Thing". It has been described as "acid-flamenco",
|rev2 = Head Heritage
|rev2score = (very favourable)
|rev3 = Rolling Stone
|rev3score = (positive)
| rev4 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music
| rev4Score =
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While briefly remarking that all four songs on the second side are excellent, Greil Marcus devoted most of his review in Rolling Stone to extensive discussion of the side-long rendition of "Who Do You Love?", which he deemed "one of the best rock and roll recordings to emerge from San Francisco, a performance that captures all the excitement and grandeur of the great days of the scene in a way that is almost too fine to be real." He particularly noted that, "They use the infamous Bo Diddley rhythm not as a crutch, not as something for the rhythm section to play with while the lead takes it; Quicksilver finds dimensions of that 'bump buddy bump bump — bump bump' beat that no one has even suggested before, as they stretch it, bend it, move around it, as a motif or a bridge, as an idea rather than as a pattern." It was voted number 553 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). In 2003, the album was ranked number 189 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, but failing to make the list in its 2023 iteration. It was number 44 in Rolling Stones "50 Coolest Records." "Mona" by Quicksilver was ranked number 88 on the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone.
Track listing
Personnel
Quicksilver Messenger Service
- John Cipollina – guitar, vocals
- Gary Duncan – guitar, vocals
- David Freiberg – bass, vocals, piano
- Greg Elmore – drums, vocals, piano, percussion
Releases
Happy Trails was remastered and rereleased in audiophile versions of June 2012 (a “mini LP” on CD) and January 2013 (HQ vinyl). An English version came out in 2010. Japanese versions surfaced in 2008 and 2009. Capitol Records released a CD version in 1994.
Charts
; Album
Billboard (United States)
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Chart
!Position
|-
|1969
|Pop Albums
|align="center"|27
|}
RPM (Canada)
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Chart
!Position
|-
|1969
|Pop Albums
|align="center"|34
|}
; Singles
Billboard (United States)
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Single
!Chart
!Position
|-
|1969
|"Who Do You Love"
|The Billboard Hot 100
|align="center"|91
|-
|}