Just For Love 1970 Album

Quicksilver Messenger Service

The first of two "Hawaii" albums, delineated as such because the band recorded them there, at the whim of Dino Valenti, the mercurial folk singer who finally returned to the group he originally formed. So too, had guitarist Gary Duncan. With these two back in the fold, there seemed to be talent boiling over and time ripe enough for a huge breakthrough. Instead, these two albums, although they have their moments, are high up there on the self-indulgent scale. Of the two, it's Just For Love that still contains the strongest link to the jam-heavy past, featuring a Cipollina-authored piece that's up there with Quicksilver's best instrumentals ("Cobra"), along with "Gone Again", where Valenti's wailing vocal wafts through the hazy musical smoke. "Fresh Air" sounds like a Santana track that has been given some band-centric quirks, with Cipollina and Hopkins solos, and the "have another hit..." refrain. The band attempts the same trick with "The Hat" in a softer, country-blues style which never really develops over the course of its' ten and a half minutes run time. "Freeway Flyer" is an OK garage-rocker, while two-part versions of "Wolf Run" and the title track round out the album, not doing much of anything but adding some atmosphere.