Joyride (Friendsound album)
Joyride is the only album by Friendsound, an alias of the American rock band Brotherhood. Released by RCA Victor in April 1969, the album is an experimental project that originated when the group recorded a spontaneous jam session and "musical free-for-all" with their friends. The record explores an unsettling psychedelic style that features electronic music, musique concrète, spoken word, noisy guitar and other jarring sounds, and incorporates a studio control consol as a musical instrument. One song, "Childsong", features a recording of band member Phil Volk singing as a young child. On release, the album was commercially unsuccessful, although critics praised the music. The album was re-released as part of the 2014 compilation The Complete Recordings. Recording and production Joyride is effectively one of three albums by Brotherhood, a group formed by Phil Volk, Drake Levin and Mike "Smitty" Smith after they left Paul Revere & the Raiders in 1967. As with the group's other albums, it was recorded for RCA Victor, but was released under the nom de plume Friendsound. Described by Volk as a "kind of psychedelic adventure into Never-Never Land", on which the group "did some really bizarre things", Joyride built on the sonic experimentation of Brotherhood's