"Joy of Cooking is not just a good band, but an exceptional band." Ellen Willis, the New Yorker, 1971 The Joy of Cooking band is alive and well--on disc. Terry Garthwaite and Toni Brown have just released a lovingly assembled assortment of live and previously unreleased studio recordings from 1968-1972 in a double CD package. The Joy of Cooking was a Berkeley-based band of eclectic musicians who made infectious music in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Their sound is rooted in the voices, the songs, the music of its two women members and driven by a propelling, innovative three-man rhythm section. They paved the way for Heart and Fleetwood Mac, and eventually bands like Concrete Blonde and Hole. The SF Chronicle’s Jon Carroll described the band as “a remarkable rock and roll band, half ballads and half boogie, with a driving rhythm section fronted by two swell women, Toni Brown (a smart, crafty songwriter who could evoke sentiment without sentimentality) and Terry Garthwaite, who sings like an angel with dirty wings.”