Quicksilver Messenger Service was one of San Francisco's original psychedelic bands of the late 1960s. Essentially a jam band, their early albums and live shows contributed to some of the best instrumental jams of the period. They were popular around the Bay Area and achieved international recognition among devotees of psychedelic rock, but they did not reach the broader popularity enjoyed by their San Francisco contemporaries, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and others. Their first album cha