The Final Solution was among the more intriguing of the legions of bands populating the mid-1960s San Francisco rock scene. Though they rarely recorded, Just Like Gold: Live At The Matrix showcases a legendary Bay Area folk-punk quartet that never even got to release a record, yet whose cutting-edge sound and style brims with the heady air of early psychedelia.
The Solution was formed in 1965 by bassist Bob Knickerbocker and guitarist Ernie Fosselius, friends at San Francisco State, then a melting pot of personalities which would fuel San Francisco’s young-adult bohemian scene. Rounding out the band were John Chance on drums and John Yager on guitar and vocals. The group began by playing Haight-Ashbury dives like Haight Levels, but their constant rehearsals and growing notoriety soon bagged the Solution a month-long residency at the famed Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, NV.
In July of 1966, The Final Solution stepped in to perform when The Great! Society were forced to cancel a gig at San Francisco’s famed club, The Matrix, in some ways the epicenter of the city’s incipient rock explosion. Peter Abram was running his tape deck that night and captured a dynamic set that clearly shows the band’s diversity and musical chops. From the opening raga “Tell Me Again” to the propulsive folk-rock of “Time Is Here And Now” and the Dylan-esque “Bleeding Roses,” these original songs leave unequivocal proof of The Final Solution’s untapped potential.
After Chance left the group in the fall of 1966 to return to his studies and was replaced by The Great! Society’s Jerry Slick on drums, The Final Solution moved into a more musically experimental phase. But when a hopeful recording contract remained unconsummated, the band’s members began to lose interest and eventually drifted apart. While they rose high enough to share a bill with Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Fillmore Auditorium, The Final Solution was over before the Summer of Love had even begun.
The Final Solution—Just Like Gold: Live At the Matrix 1966 marks the first in a planned series from High Moon Records of authentic location recordings from The Matrix. From 1965 to 1971, this tiny club hosted not only the top movers and shakers of San Francisco rock such as Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Grateful Dead, but also a host of lesser-known yet no less worthy acts in the rock, blues, jazz, and folk fields.
High-Noon Recs
Tracks
1. Tell Me Again (Ernie Fosselius, Bob Knickerbocker, John Yager) - 6:17
2. Bleeding Roses - 3:45
3. If You Want (John Chance, John Yager) - 4:41
4. Time Is Here And Now - 4:24
5. Just Like Gold (John Yager) - 4:04
6. You Say That You Love Me/Got My Mojo Workin' (John Chance, Ernie Fosselius, Bob Knickerbocker, John Yager / Preston Foster) - 3:27
7. Misty Mind - 7:27
8. So Long, Goodbye - 3:37
9. America The Beautiful (Traditional) - 6:11
10.Truck Driving Son-Of-A-Gun (Dixie Deen, Ray King) - 1:37
11.Nothing To Fear - 4:02
12.Misty Mind - 4:51
13.If You Want (John Chance, John Yager) - 3:49
14.Just Like Gold (John Yager) - 4:33
15.Blacklash - 5:17
16.Bleeding Roses - 2:55
All songs by Ernie Fosselius. Bob Knickerbocker unless otherwise noted
Tracks 1-10 recorded by Peter Abram at The Matrix, July 1966
Tracks 11-16 recorded at Pine Street, San Francisco November 1966
The Final Solution
*Ernie Fosselius - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
*Bob Knickerbocker - Bass, Backing Vocals
*John Yager - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*John Chance - Drums, Backing Vocals
*Jerry Slick - Drums (Tracks 11-16)
