Grateful Dead

[Kevin Davis]

"Ship of Fools" might be my favorite GD song, the version that closes Dick's Picks 12 is just beautiful.

But I agree that Mars Hotel is an uneven studio album, pretty much their MO in the studio from here on out...

[elliseamos]

"US Blues, Loose Lucy, Scarlet Begonias, and Ship of Fools."

That's 4 songs that make for a great album for any other band, but with the previous catalog they already had, and the way they played/toured, I am surprised they dont get more credit for creating these at this point.

[liebzz]

Well at this point is 8 years in, which by itself isn’t deserving of special credit for half a great album. I think it’s a credit insofar as they were a band almost as allergic to the studio as the Allman Brothers, that they did that despite themselves (they are really a live band where the songs mostly find themselves as they are worked out during the show - and I would say the greatest at that particular thing ever). It’s hard to conceptualize the creation of music through instrumental conversations in that environment.

[liebzz]

Dick’s Picks Vol. 12 - Providence & Boston 6/26 & 6/28/74

This features portions of two different shows, with the audio quality (particularly the quality of the vocals) spotty- especially in the Providence portion of the release. That notwithstanding, there are some clearly great versions of songs throughout, including the China Cat Sunflower/Mind Left Body Jam/I Know You Rider in the first show. Wharf Rat was also great.

The quality jumps up a notch starting with Me and My Uncle and Row Jimmy, then the recording hits absolute fire with Weather Report Suite>Jam (27 mins!)>US Blues, which is one of the best runs I have heard yet, and mostly makes the release but for the closing duo of a 4 minute closing section of Sugar Magnolia into Ship it Fools which is spectacular. Some of the best moments yet, though I would likely reach for others of the Dicks Picks based on the quality of the recording and where some of the shows are phenomenal throughout.

Set:

Providence: Jam > China Cat Sunflower > Mind Left Body Jam > I Know You Rider > Beer Barrel Polka, Truckin’, The Other One > Spanish Jam > Wharf Rat, Sugar Magnolia

Boston: Seastones, Sugar Magnolia, Scarlet Begonias, Big River, To Lay Me Down, Me and My Uncle, Row Jimmy, Weather Report Suite > Jam > US Blues, Promised Land, Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, Sunshine Daydream, Ship of Fools

[i got bugs]

The new garcia live release is great

[liebzz]

Jerry Garcia - Garcia (Compliments)

This album is a wonderful little surprise I wasn’t expecting. In what felt like some level of maybe even stuck in their own sound (despite some real gems) on From the Mars Hotel, I wasn’t sure what level of engagement would follow. In the case of this Jerry solo album, I think this is one of the overall strongest studio efforts. This rivals his first album and the 1970 Dead output. I like the range here, especially since it all holds together through the original release. The absolute winner here is Turn on the Bright Lights, which is a face melting mash of rock, blues, and jazz that is pure Jerry Garcia, especially the closing two minutes.

Annexed are the bonus tracks I am currently listening through, which also surprisingly have no drop off from the album material. I enjoyed this far more than I expected.

Edit: I am going to upgrade this to essential listening, particularly on the strength of these bonus tracks. It’s Too Late, I’ll Forget You, Tragedy, Think, I Know It’s a Sin, and Lonesome Town is an epic run of blues rock that is just amazing. Also, the two instrumental tracks at the end are both fantastic - Cardiac Arrest a nice quick jam and Back Home in Indiana an instrumental Americana clinic. I’ll be keeping this one around in my rotation for a while.

[liebzz]

One From the Vault - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA 8/13/75

This show was played in and around the release of Blues for Allah. And to that end, I believe the entire album was played along with some old favorites, and not particularly in the exact order of the album. And this is a big highlight of the first set, with Help Is on the Way/Slipknot!, Franklin’s Tower, The Music Never Stopped, and King Solomon’s Marbles in with Eyes of the World and It Must Have Been the Roses. All of the first set was on the money and they sounded very tight and focused.

Set 2 jumped around a bit from Blues for Allah tracks and a bit more jamming involved. Sugaree was nice to hear as I don’t think I heard that on the past few shows I listened to. Big River was solid as it always is, as was US Blues. The extended jams here belonged to Crazy Fingers>Drums>The Other One>Sage and Spirit>Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, and Blues for Allah to close the show. The latter is spaced out soundscaping as only they can do it on what felt like a single strain and evoking their Anthem of the Sun days whereas the Crazy Fingers... jam darted around more. This was a really great show to change pace from the shows that I listened to before precisely because it was so different.

Set 1: Help On the Way/Slipknot!, Franklin’s Tower, The Music Never Stopped, It Must Have Been the Roses, Eyes of the World>Drums, King Solomon’s Marbles

Set 2: Around and Around, Sugaree, Big River, Crazy Fingers>Drums>The Other One>Sage and Spirit>Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, US Blues, Blues for Allah

[elliseamos]

Well at this point is 8 years in, which by itself isn’t deserving of special credit for half a great album. I think it’s a credit insofar as they were a band almost as allergic to the studio as the Allman Brothers, that they did that despite themselves (they are really a live band where the songs mostly find themselves as they are worked out during the show - and I would say the greatest at that particular thing ever). It’s hard to conceptualize the creation of music through instrumental conversations in that environment.

I suppose, but to me it's impressive when bands can find something great after having already accomplished something defining and amazing and could be forgiven for just mailing it in. That does come later, imo.

[Kevin Davis]

One From the Vault - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA 8/13/75

This show was played in and around the release of Blues for Allah. And to that end, I believe the entire album was played along with some old favorites, and not particularly in the exact order of the album. And this is a big highlight of the first set, with Help Is on the Way/Slipknot!, Franklin’s Tower, The Music Never Stopped, and King Solomon’s Marbles in with Eyes of the World and It Must Have Been the Roses. All of the first set was on the money and they sounded very tight and focused.

Set 2 jumped around a bit from Blues for Allah tracks and a bit more jamming involved. Sugaree was nice to hear as I don’t think I heard that on the past few shows I listened to. Big River was solid as it always is, as was US Blues. The extended jams here belonged to Crazy Fingers>Drums>The Other One>Sage and Spirit>Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, and Blues for Allah to close the show. The latter is spaced out soundscaping as only they can do it on what felt like a single strain and evoking their Anthem of the Sun days whereas the Crazy Fingers... jam darted around more. This was a really great show to change pace from the shows that I listened to before precisely because it was so different.

Set 1: Help On the Way/Slipknot!, Franklin’s Tower, The Music Never Stopped, It Must Have Been the Roses, Eyes of the World>Drums, King Solomon’s Marbles

Set 2: Around and Around, Sugaree, Big River, Crazy Fingers>Drums>The Other One>Sage and Spirit>Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, US Blues, Blues for Allah

This was the Dead's first archival live album. Really strong release, great sound and performances, during a season of their career when performances were scarce.

I still don't think I've ever heard the Blues for Allah studio album.

[liebzz]

It really does have great sound.

[liebzz]

Blues for Allah

The heart and soul of this album is its near complete turn to jazz. At varying points during this listen, I could almost here pieces where I expected a high end horn of some sort to lead into the next movement. Yet this album isn’t stuck in that form and still delivers plenty of what the Dead are best known for. The genius is in the way these songs seamlessly transition despite changes in genre let alone sound. The transition between Help on the Way/Slipknot into Franklin’s Tower is so smooth. Otherwise notable is Crazy Fingers which sort of varies between slow balls and reggae without either seeming out of step. The only song here that doesn’t instantly grab me is Blues for Allah, which is a bit too meandering and clunky for my tastes. A ton of creativity and inventiveness went into this without it being completely off the rails for what it is. A strange but worthy album that flows way more naturally than it should.

[super nintendo chalmers]

Jerry Garcia - Garcia (Compliments)

This album is a wonderful little surprise I wasn’t expecting. In what felt like some level of maybe even stuck in their own sound (despite some real gems) on From the Mars Hotel, I wasn’t sure what level of engagement would follow. In the case of this Jerry solo album, I think this is one of the overall strongest studio efforts. This rivals his first album and the 1970 Dead output. I like the range here, especially since it all holds together through the original release. The absolute winner here is Turn on the Bright Lights, which is a face melting mash of rock, blues, and jazz that is pure Jerry Garcia, especially the closing two minutes.

Annexed are the bonus tracks I am currently listening through, which also surprisingly have no drop off from the album material. I enjoyed this far more than I expected.

Edit: I am going to upgrade this to essential listening, particularly on the strength of these bonus tracks. It’s Too Late, I’ll Forget You, Tragedy, Think, I Know It’s a Sin, and Lonesome Town is an epic run of blues rock that is just amazing. Also, the two instrumental tracks at the end are both fantastic - Cardiac Arrest a nice quick jam and Back Home in Indiana an instrumental Americana clinic. I’ll be keeping this one around in my rotation for a while.

I was never the biggest Compliments fan, I was always more of a Garcia and Reflections man (dude just wait for that one!), but wow its great hearing Ron Tutt drum all over this f'in record. Thanks for reminding me to give it some more time.

[super nintendo chalmers]

God damn, Tragedy

[liebzz]

I didn’t have any expectations going in and I really loved it.

[liebzz]

God damn, Tragedy

That run of like 5 songs, all bonus tracks, is on another level.

[super nintendo chalmers]

Years and years ago, must of been in high school or early college, I remember seeing this hanging in a poster shop in the east village for sale. It was probably waaay too expensive, but I always regret not getting a price or even just buying the damn thing.

[liebzz]

Jerry Garcia Band - GarciaLive Vol. 5 - Keystone Berkeley 12/31/75

Somewhat in keeping with the indefinite touring hiatus from late 74-mid 76, we get to detour on our journey a bit to enjoy some side projects I intend to return to throughout. Here we have the Jerry Garcia Band playing New Year’s Eve with some help from Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Matthew Kelly. The performance is simultaneously loose and joyous with the jams feeling a bit more focused and rooted in the blues. This was one helluva show, with every song sticking out as a highlight with everyone in top form. They Love Each Other, Pig’s Boogie, Tore Up Over You, C.C. Rider, and Road Runner were absolute favorites, but I just pointed out more than half the show maybe and the rest of the songs were not far behind. This was 2 hours of sustained greatness to check out if you haven’t already.

Set 1: Let It Rock, Mother Nature’s Son, It Ain’t No Use, God Save the Queen, They Love Each Other, Pig’s Boogie

Set 2: New Year’s Countdown, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Catfish John, Mystery Train>Jam>Mystery Train

Encore: Tore Up Over You, Tuning, C.C. Rider, (I’m A) Road Runner

[liebzz]

As an aside and just to ruminate on this a little: 1975 has now come to a close, and the past two years brings From the Mars Hotel, Compliments, Blues for Allah, and this last live preview of what’s to come to some extent on Reflections. To see an individual so intensely focused and living in separate worlds of jazz and rock and blues with each feeling somewhat essential to their moment is an amazing accomplishment. I don’t think I ever appreciated Jerry Garcia properly until this moment, where you can see him tackle so much and do it so well. Pretty incredible.

[liebzz]

Jerry Garcia - Reflections

This third studio solo album finds Jerry Garcia pushing his song lengths and probably coming as close to what he would sound like live than the other releases save for a few choice moments on Compliments. Songs like Might As Well, They Love Each Other, and Catfish John really resemble the more upbeat Grateful Dead sound, but are a bit more buoyant here. Mission in the Rain, I’ll Take a Melody and Comes a Time are all slower tunes but seem to transmit the real heart of the album and elevate what Jerry is doing here. Tore Up Over You has to be my favorite for the obvious reason that it ultimately fits in my wheelhouse of what I enjoy. Another fantastic solo album and I may note pound for pound keeping up quality wise with his day job.

The bonus tracks again here are as good if not stronger than what’s on the album. These have a looser feel here and are aided by it. You Win Again and All By Myself really stuck out, as did Mystery Train. He apparently had a lot of great material sitting around.

[super nintendo chalmers]

Jerry Garcia - Reflections

This third studio solo album finds Jerry Garcia pushing his song lengths and probably coming as close to what he would sound like live than the other releases save for a few choice moments on Compliments. Songs like Might As Well, They Love Each Other, and Catfish John really resemble the more upbeat Grateful Dead sound, but are a bit more buoyant here. Mission in the Rain, I’ll Take a Melody and Comes a Time are all slower tunes but seem to transmit the real heart of the album and elevate what Jerry is doing here. Tore Up Over You has to be my favorite for the obvious reason that it ultimately fits in my wheelhouse of what I enjoy. Another fantastic solo album and I may note pound for pound keeping up quality wise with his day job.

The bonus tracks again here are as good if not stronger than what’s on the album. These have a looser feel here and are aided by it. You Win Again and All By Myself really stuck out, as did Mystery Train. He apparently had a lot of great material sitting around.

I love that record because its pretty much half a GD, half a JGB album.