Periodically, I’m going to take a look at new releases from Grateful Dead family and friends. I’ll try to keep up so you don’t have to!
The Wheel: A Musical Celebration of Jerry Garcia — Jesse McReynolds, David Nelson and Friends
I’ve already raved extensively on Dead.net about the December 4, 2010 Rex Foundation benefit concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco that brought together bluegrass legend Jesse McReynolds and some of his group (out promoting McReynolds’ fine album Songs of the Grateful Dead: A Tribute to Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter), David Nelson and his band, and Peter Rowan’s exquisite quartet. It was one of my favorite nights of music in a long time, and now close to 80 minutes of it is available on CD or by download, again benefitting the Rex Foundation!
Featured are 12 songs written by Hunter-Garcia or associated with Garcia, played by an ever-shifting cast of amazing musicians from all three groups. McReynolds is best on two big ballads — “Black Muddy River” and “Standing on the Moon” — which are perfect for his plaintive vocal style. The former is an acoustic number with McReynolds and his main vocal and instrumental foil, Steve Thomas, joined by Rowan’s excellent band. The latter has some electric textures, with Nelson, Barry Sless providing sweet steel guitar accompaniment, and electric bassist Robin Sylvester. I loved it at the time, and I love it here, too! McReynolds is also strong on “Deep Elem Blues.” Nelson shines on many of the other songs, including a heartfelt “Peggy-O” (again, nice work from Sless on steel, plus tasteful accordion work by Mookie Siegel), “Friend of the Devil,” “The Ballad of Casey Jones,” a dynamic reading of “The Wheel,” and the scorching closer, “Cumberland Blues.” Though song-oriented, the set still has plenty of jamming, and the arrangements are pleasingly uncluttered considering the number and variety of folks involved. It’s a great listen from top to bottom and definitely something a little different.
For more background, the song list, who plays on what, and how to order, go here.
Bride of the Noisemakers — Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers (429 records)
Bruce will always be family. I give him major props for helping get the Dead through the uneasy period after Brent’s death and for adding such a lively spark to the Dead’s sets from the fall of 1990 through March of ’92, then answering the call again from The Other Ones after Jerry died. Aside from being a thoroughly inventive and original pianist, he’s one of just a handful of singers who does great justice to Garcia’s songs when he sings them—and he has tackled a bunch through the years at his always-compelling live shows. Additionally, bits of Dead have creeped into riffs and songs of his along the way, and his approach to performing loosened up tremendously—there’s no question that his time in Deadland influenced him a lot, and for the better, I’d say.
Bride of the Noisemakers is Bruce’s second live two-disc set with the Noisemakers. Here Comes the Noisemakers came out 11 years ago and included many of his late ’80s hits as well as nods to his Dead years, such as “Lady With a Fan” and “Black Muddy River.” Bride might be even stronger. Playing together for about a decade (the tracks were drawn from shows spanning 2007-2009) has made the group unbelievably tight and reflexive, yet that chemistry also allows them to relax and feel free to experiment. You can hear them having a good time, stretching out, playfully messing with each other (and the crowd’s expectations), yet in the next second the whole group might turn on a dime and explode into some magnificently executed and startling complex musical figure that practically takes your breath away.
Nearly all the original tunes on the album are post-Bruce Hornsby & The Range (from Harbor Lights in ’93 on), with an emphasis on his last few albums — Spirit Trail, Big Swing Face, Halcyon Days and Levitate. I’ll admit I sort of lost track of Hornsby a bit in recent years (after Spirit Trail, which I love), so a lot of these songs are revelations to me: “Cyclone” (co-written with Robert Hunter), “Halcyon Days,” “Circus on the Moon,” “This Too Shall Pass” are up there with some of his best songs, and the way they’re presented here, recorded so clearly and interspersed with faves like “Talk of the Town.” “Tango King,” “Country Doctor” and “White-Wheeled Limousine,” showcases them beautifully. And leave it to the always eclectic Hornsby to draw on the likes of Elliot Carter, Keith Jarrett, George Jones and Roger Waters for cover material.
Those of you looking for a little Dead content should be happy, too. Aside from the affectionate “Estimated Prophet” appropriation at the heart of “Tango King” and the brief “Dark Star” quotation in “Talk of the Town” (the main riff of which has a “Bird Song” quality to it), there’s a truly stunning version of “Standing on the Moon” that is sung so beautifully and builds to a cathartic climax with the band before it drops down to the album-ending “Halcyon Days.” What a ride! Hornsby closes the first disc with a nod to Garcia, as well—a version of the traditional “Little Sadie” that is straight-up Jerry’s arrangement and weaves in and out of “White Wheeled Limousine” before arriving at George Jones’ “Just One More.”
The two-CD set is being sold first exclusively through Amazon.com beginning May 2, then in stores and through other online outlets beginning June 7. BJ says: “Give Bruce a Chance!”
Let’s talk about Bruce. What did you think of his tenure with the Grateful Dead? The Other Ones? Have you seen him in recent years? Here are five of my favorite unreleased Dead shows of the Bruce era (tough to pick!), all available for your listening pleasure over at Archive.org:
12/31/90, Oakland Coliseum: Branford Marsalis joins the Dead for a great “Bird Song” in the first set, and then the entire second set, which includes powerful versions of “Eyes,” “Dark Star,” “The Other One” and more. Bruce also played during the set by Branford’s own band, and sang the then-new “White-Wheeled Limousine.”
4/7/91, Orlando: “Black-Throated Wind” and one of just four GD takes on “Reuben and Cherise” light up the first set; the second rides on a sequence of “Crazy Fingers” > “Playing in the Band” > “Uncle John’s Band” pre-“drums,” and “Box of Rain” out of “space.”
6/17/91, Giants Stadium: Besides “Dark Star” teases galore (courtesy of Bruce), this concert opens with “Eyes of the World” and his big, bold second set that includes “New Speedway” > “Uncle John’s Band,” a true “Dark Star” jam and “China Doll” into the “Playing” reprise out of “space.” This and the superb previous night are both in the GD vault as multicamera video and multitrack audio. Release them! Now!
6/22/91, Soldier Field: More flirtations with “Dark Star,” plus excellent versions of “Shakedown Street” and “Let It Grow in the first set, “Foolish Heart” opening the second set, and a terrific “Crazy Fingers” > “Playing” > “Terrapin” before “drums.”
10/31/91, Oakland Coliseum: There are definitely “better” shows from the era, but this one, concluding a series right after the death of Bill Graham, is required listening for the second-set jam that begins with former Quicksilver guitarist Gary Duncan helping out on “Spoonful,” then goes into a gnarly jam that becomes “Dark Star,” which finds Ken Kesey strolling out onto the stage and reading e.e. cummings’ short but intense death-poem, “Buffalo Bill.” Wow, I get chills just thinkin’ about it! Add to that, “Scarlet” > “Fire,” “Help” > “Slip” > “Frank,” “Standing on the Moon” and a “Werewolves of London” encore, and you’ve got quite a groovy gig.