Slightly more interested in talking about the studio recordings here, but let's say anything is fair game. His first solo album is generally regarded as classic and rightfully so-- in another thread a few people mentioned that they liked it better than any Dead studio release. I've liked parts of Cats Under the Stars for a long time (esp. "Rubin & Cherise") and tonight I picked up Reflections, which is way better than I expected.
What else is good? How about his other collabs like w/ Grisman, etc? It seems like song-wise, there's really not much to differentiate Jerry solo from Dead, since so many songs from these solo records eventually made it into the Dead repertoire.
― Mark, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
live stuff w/ merl saunders is some of my favorite garcia with or without the dead.
― tylerw, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
Like which records?
― Mark, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
― tylerw, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
and this bootleg too: http://www.tauthal.com/Weekly%20Broadcasts/Jerry%20Garcia%20and%20Merl%20Saunders/1972_02_06%20-%20Pacific%20High%20Recording%20Studio%20-%20San%20Francisco,%20CA/Archive%20Broadcast.html
― tylerw, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
the record with howard wales is a blast, rendevous with the sun
― blank, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
his pedal steel soundcheck solo jam in last days of the fillmore is so beautiful, he fucking ruled on pedal steel
― blank, Saturday, 4 June 2011 02:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Reflections has the Dead backing him on half of it. It was recorded in 1976, and sounds much better than Terrapin and Shakedown!
― Mark, Saturday, 4 June 2011 02:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
I like the versions of "So What" he did w/ Grisman. From reading the Dark Star oral history, his life sounded pretty miserable the last few years, and it seemed like situations like this where he could play music for fun in a low-key way were the thing that made him happiest. This makes me feel good, anyway.
― Mark, Saturday, 4 June 2011 02:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
I love the stuff with Grisman. The grateful dawg soundtrack is a nice comp of their work together. Live their take on "the thrill is gone".
― blank, Saturday, 4 June 2011 02:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
Live = love
― blank, Saturday, 4 June 2011 02:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
agreed
― Mark, Saturday, 4 June 2011 03:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Didn't I read somewhere that his first solo record is (partly? mostly? all?) electronic/collage/musique concrete?
(I'm brand-new to the Dead, and am treading lightly through their discography...no missteps so far...)
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 4 June 2011 04:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah, most of the 2nd side of his first album is far out abstract.. but the winner on side two is the final track "the wheel", one of my favorite jerry songs.
― blank, Saturday, 4 June 2011 04:39 (1 year ago) Permalink
love:
― scott seward, Saturday, 4 June 2011 04:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
Nice. Rad. I gotta say, my first exposure to solo Garcia was in a record store, where the clerk and I agreed that it was "the album Grandpa released" (as referenced in the Simpsons episode "Homer & Apu"), but this has me intrigued.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 4 June 2011 05:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Search the 1990 live album Jerry Garcia Band. Band as a whole sounds way tighter than GD ever did in the 90s, and Garcia is on-point from start to finish. Nice understated background vocals from Gloria Jones and Jackie LaBranch, too. It's basically all covers, save a really energetic performance of "Deal." Never understood why more people didn't love the hell out of this release.
Highlights for me are "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down":
― CompuPost, Saturday, 4 June 2011 13:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
Don't Let Go bootleg (76) - up there with May 77 and Europe 72 Dead. But I love Keith and Donna (who play on it), so grain of salt. But it's so awesomely mellow in places, and the playing is astounding.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Saturday, 4 June 2011 14:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
CompuPost OTM re: that Jerry Garcia Band live album. By far, one of my favorite Dead related things from the 1990s.
― the fey bloggers are onto the zagat tweets (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 4 June 2011 22:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
Not uncommon for a people in the early 90s to have Without a Net and that Jerry Band release, and agreed that the latter is good.
― Mark, Sunday, 5 June 2011 04:39 (1 year ago) Permalink
Also this is awesome. Nicky Hopkins plays very well w/ Jerry.
― Mark, Sunday, 5 June 2011 04:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
― Mark, Sunday, 5 June 2011 04:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
Esp. the "Sitting in Limbo"
― Mark, Sunday, 5 June 2011 05:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
Thirding Compupost's love for JGB. That record was my gateway into what Dead I do enjoy. Love it tons more than any actual Dead.
― The hoppiest hop hopper now with xtra hops (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 5 June 2011 14:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
Come on, Without A Net isn't that bad! Good "Mississippi Half-Step," if nothing else...
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, 5 June 2011 14:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oh I agree, I listened to it into the ground during that time. The "Eyes of the World" w/ Branford is also awesome.
― Mark, Sunday, 5 June 2011 17:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yes! That's the most 'recent' Dead boot I own, but I like it quite a bit.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, 5 June 2011 17:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Wow, been a while since I listened to Without a Net. Forgot how incredible that second disc was, Chinacat -> Franklin's, especially the last halves of "Looks Like Rain" and "Victim or the Crime."
― CompuPost, Sunday, 5 June 2011 19:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
merl saunders collab OTM
― LL Coolna (absolutely clean glasses), Sunday, 5 June 2011 19:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
Really, really great interview with Jerry Garcia here - the intro makes you figure he's gonna spout a lot of bullshit, because he's at doing-it-in-front-of-strangers level of coke addiction, but when he's talking about his musical ideas, wow: just illuminating, great stuff. Weird to me that he's pretty "eh, whatever, the important thing is the electronics" about his acoustics, but - anyway, if you're into his music, this is a great read
― cosi fan whitford (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 30 May 2012 13:25 (11 months ago) Permalink
Dammit, have to run out, but bookmarking that interview aero mentioned. It took place in '85, the year before he went into that coma and had to kind of relearn how to play guitar, and that was around the time dude was gorging on steak and lobster and his lower legfat would double over his sock, so not surprised that he's already in idgafuck mode :/ Love reading him talk aimlessly about other musicians/songs, though-- dude was a lil encyclopedia.
2nd ¶, yikes: I’ve never been a Deadhead, but friends who are tell me that my meeting with Jerry took place during one of the lowest points of his life. Garcia, unwashed and disheveled, shuffled slowly into the living room, his black T-shirt sprinkled with white powder. His fingertips were blackened in a manner consistent with “chasing the dragon,” as smoking heroin was commonly referred to in the Bay Area. Ten minutes into our interview, Garcia nonchalantly chopped a large rock of cocaine into about twenty lines and consumed all of it during the next hour.
― *:? (CompuPost), Sunday, 17 June 2012 02:17 (11 months ago) Permalink
check this guy's stuff while you can--his graphics can be confusing, but if nothing else, keep scrolling down the right margin, he's got a link for the list of all his Dead/JGB etc links, re-gathered in one (more) re-post, http://smadacounty.blogspot.com
― dow, Sunday, 17 June 2012 03:08 (11 months ago) Permalink
All his sets I've heard are well worth checking, though you may have some
― dow, Sunday, 17 June 2012 03:09 (11 months ago) Permalink
Haven't made my way to the GD/JGB stuff yet-- got side-tracked by some of those fantastic-sounding Lou Reed shows. Thanks, dow.
― *:? (CompuPost), Monday, 18 June 2012 17:51 (11 months ago) Permalink
this thing is out today, streaming it now, good times. not sure how much is actually unreleased or whatever, but cool to have all of these bundled up in one place.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 18:25 (7 months ago) Permalink
it's great there are photos where jerry isn't the most stoned looking person in them
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:05 (7 months ago) Permalink
I thought this had Garcia on it, but no--just Grisman and Doc Watson. In any case, pretty great:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_%26_Dawg
― canonical casual cordouroy (Eazy), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:29 (7 months ago) Permalink
kind of want to listen to thishttp://solarflares.tumblr.com/post/41381746443/nicki-scully-with-roland-barker-jerry-garcia
― tylerw, Thursday, 24 January 2013 21:03 (3 months ago) Permalink