Given their origins, both geographically (San Francisco) and stylistically (founder Joe McDonald and lead guitarist Barry Melton first hooked up in a jug band), it wasn't surprising that the ragtag Fish sounded like an acid-soaked, plugged-in folk band when they debuted in '67. Simultaneously the most political and funniest of all the Northern California bands, the Fish's yippie-hippie philosophy was reflected in songs like "Superbird" (about Lyndon Johnson), "Flying High" (about getting you-know-what), and the bluesy free love saga, "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine." That they could periodically wax serious as well (the wide-angled instrumental "Section Forty Three" and the moody "Bass Strings") only added more bite to their satiric pungency. --Billy Altman