The Third Mind, a wonderfully anachronistic band whose music recalls the best of 1960s psychedelia, got off to a terrific start with their eponymous 2020 debut. The album features singer, songwriter and Grammy-winning guitarist Dave Alvin, best known for his co-leadership of the Blasters; singer and songwriter Jesse Sykes; bassist Victor Krummenacher, a former member of the rock bands Camper Van Beethoven and Eyelids; drummer Michael Jerome, a longtime player in Richard Thompson’s group; and Counting Crows guitarist David Immergluck. Ostensibly without rehearsing or arranging, they simply turned on the recorders and improvised with stellar results on such numbers as “The Dolphins,” from the late, great singer/songwriter Fred Neil; Bonnie Dobson’s classic “Morning Dew,” in an arrangement drawing on the Grateful Dead’s; and three versions of “East/West,” which, like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s original, are loaded with guitar pyrotechnics.
A second album from the group—whose moniker comes from the title of a book co-written by William S. Burroughs—proved that the first one was no fluke. Once again committed to improvisation, the band delivered stretched-out, reimagined renditions of such tunes as “Sally Go ’Round the Roses,” the 1963 “girl group” hit from the Jaynetts, with an arrangement similar to that of the early Grace Slick vehicle the Great!! Society!!; “Groovin Is Easy,” from the Electric Flag’s 1968 debut; “Why Not Your Baby,” from the Byrds’ Gene Clark; and “A Little Bit of Rain,” from Neil.
Related: We named the group’s sophomore release one of the best albums of 2023
For anyone who doubted whether the group’s freshman and sophomore releases were created live in the studio, we now have an album from the The Third Mind that shows they can deliver the goods in front of audiences. Called Live Mind, the February 14, 2025, release from Yep Rock Records was recorded in Dallas and at two Southern California venues in February and March of last year. The lineup changed slightly for these gigs, with Immergluck replaced on guitar by Mark Karan, whose credits include many years of playing with Grateful Dead alumni. In addition, session player Jack Rudy, who performed on the debut LP, guests on harmonica, and L.A. multi-instrumentalist Willie Aron, who appeared on the sophomore album, guests on keyboards.
Owners of the first two albums may be disappointed by the extent to which the hour-long program here overlaps with the earlier ones. The only newcomers in this seven-song set are Sykes’ “Doralee,” which she previously recorded with her group the Sweet Hereafter, and the Dead’s iconic “Dark Star.” Versions of the other numbers all appeared on the first two albums. They include “Sally Go ’Round the Roses,” “Groovin’ Is Easy,” “Morning Dew,” “A Little Bit of Rain” and—in its fourth version by the Third Mind—“East/West.”
Especially because the earlier recordings were apparently made live in the studio, the new ones are arguably a tad redundant. As such, listeners might have been a bit better served by something fresh—particularly since you can’t help wondering what the Third Mind could do with material from other groups from the era that they frequently mine, such as the Blues Project, Spirit and Jefferson Airplane.
That said, the music on Live Mind is consistently thrilling and lives up to Karan’s claim that “We reinterpret the songs nightly, never playing anything exactly the same way twice.” If you’re a fan of expansive, guitar-driven, psychedelia-influenced 1960s rock, all three of this adventurous group’s albums constitute must-hear material.
The album is available to order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
A top editor at leading consumer and trade magazines for more than 40 years, Jeff has interviewed dozens of musical luminaries, including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tommy James, Tom Waits, the Righteous Brothers, and the members of Steely Dan.
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