Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Ace of Cups were both managed by Ambrose Hollingsworth with Ron Polte taking over after a car crash turned Hollingsworth paraplegic. The five-woman band played amongst the giants of the San Francisco acid scene but never got to expand their reputation outside of it. The record labels and their manager could never swing the Cups a worthwhile record deal and touring outside of the Bay area was a non-starter for young women with filial obligations.
So, the Ace of Cups never released an album or even a single (in their first incarnation, anyway) and all the testament of their sixties sound can be found in the compilation album It's Bad for You But Buy It! released by Big Beat Records (with 1968 being the year the last recording on the record was set.) The album is a grab bag of potential never refined. At their best, they find a mix of genres (R&B girl groups, gospel, acid rock,...) that suit their skills and voices, but the surviving evidence on the albums has them repeating winning formulas too often and not quite finding other signs of sleeping hits or dizzying jams. With the compilation album alone not enough to make their case for lost gems, the Ace of Cups's sixties reputations remains with those who witnessed them... like Jimi Hendrix who touted their guitarist (Mary Ellen Simpson) as "hell, really great."
Noted: Included in the discography is a recording by future-Cup Denise Kaufman with her high school band.
Here is the discography surrounding Ace of Cups's debut compilation album:
Boy, What'll You Do Then (1966 single by Denise and Co.)
Girls in the Garage (compilation song by Denise and Co.)
Girls in the Garage Volume 3 (compilation song)
It's Bad for You But Buy It!
"Gospel Song" by Ace of Cups
"Simplicity" by Ace of Cups
"Stones" by Ace of Cups
"Boy, What'll You Do Then" by Denise and Co.
Pass the Headphones!!
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