F. J. McMahon – Spirit Of The Golden Juice

Looking for a review on this repress vs 2017 and 2012. 2017 seems to have some issues

Anyone else got one for sale pls I've been looking for this for a little while

Sounds amazing. One of the best folk albums ever, timeless and familiar

Excellent mix. This is what a folk record should sound like!

Please contact me if you have an empty sleeve for this release. I found a fairly beat copy of the album and it was missing its sleeve.

This resounding obscure and nearly forgotten album was laid down in 1969, with McMahon, freshly back from his tours of service in both Viet Nam and Thailand.  During those late heady nights at the end of the psychedelic 60’s, returning vet McMahon took a polaroid snapshot of that stoned technicolor generation who were riding a headlong wave into oblivion. The album also engages in a ode to the perils of war, along with the heavy emotional tax that comes with that, a tax that will continually unfold for countless years into the future, while attempting to bring to light the dissociative aspects of feeling that one exists in two worlds at once.

The music rides with lo-fi sensibilities, though more in the spirit of acoustic folk rock. McMahon cut this twenty-seven minute record and then nearly disappeared from the face of the earth, though not before heading down California’s Pacific Coast Highway with a box full of these records in the back of his pickup, never caring if he ever made another album again, passing out copies along the way to anyone who was at all kind to him. There’s a slowness to this record, nearly melodic, hazed and road weary, one that rolls on and on effortlessly. In fact, for the most part, he did disappear, joining the Navy at the end of the ’70’s for nearly twenty-five years.

In 2017, Quit covered the entire album, washing it in their wondrous psych waters, presenting an entirely romantic and often hunted versions of McMahon’s songs.

It’s a shame F.J. never wrapped a formal band around these songs, giving them a Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow feel. Regardless, Spirit Of The Golden Juice is a warm adventure that’s not to be missed.

*** The Fun Facts:  If you were in country (Viet Nam) during the 60’s and 70’s, you’ll remember that ‘Golden Juice’ was I.W. Harper Bourbon, the fuel of the times, where when held to the light, it was elegantly golden in colour … I know, I remember.

The album art features an image of McMahon posing nearly stoically in a room at the infamous Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood, the same hotel that perpetually held a room for Jim Morrison. The album’s reverse features an image taken in Big Sur, California, near McMahon’s home in Santa Barbara.

Review by Jenell Kesler

First of all, I am extremely thankful this was reissued again, as I missed out on it the first time. The mastering sounds good to my ears, nice stereo separation too--considerably better than listening to it on a streaming service.
However, when playing the record, I've noticed that the tone arm has some yaw to it--especially when closer to the end of the record--creating distortion. This is too bad because McMahon's Spirit Of The Golden Juice is deserving so much more.

I would have gladly paid a few bucks more for a carefully crafted and manufactured lp since it is an art to press vinyl.

Any comments on sound quality of this one? Notice it's being sold through Mexican Summer. Has it been done at GZ like a lot of their pressings?

repress now on preorder from Anthology Recordings, here you are my friends: http://shop.mexicansummer.com/product/f-j-mcmahon-spirit-golden-juice/

A vinyl repress would be awesome! Love this one!!! I with what the other reviewers have said about this lp. Sheer beauty.