he Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid,

Two CD compilation featuring the complete Capital Records recordings from this Bay Area band. Recorded between 1970-72, this set includes their three albums Joy Of Cooking, Closer To The Ground and Castles. Joy Of Cooking were formed in Berkeley (San Francisco Bay Area) during the hippie era (1967). Their fusion sound, incorporating folk, rock, jazz, gospel and blues, had little in common with acid-rock: it heralded a new era of "creativity" and of stylistic re-evalutation. One of the first bands led by female musicians, and one of the earliest to deal with feminist issues within popular music, the Joy Of Cooking were led by pianist Toni Brown (who had graduated in creative writing) and guitarist Terry Garthwaite (a folk-singer and an aspiring sociologist). The three-unit rhythm section, on the other hand, was entirely male.