what the hell is Bob Weir's prolem?

He's supposed to have been straight since around 1966, isn't he? Always thought that was a little strange.

Search: “Estimated Prophet’, “Looks Like Rain” “Other One”/”Spanish Jam”
Destroy: “Victim or the Crime” “Feel like a Stranger” “Picasso Moon”

Though they’ve become part of the Dead canon I’ve never been particularly enthused abt “Playing in the Band” “One More Saturday Night” or “Music Never Stopped” etc. I prefer what could be classed maybe as the second-tier songs like “Cassidy” or “Mexicali Blues” and to a lesser degree “Jack Straw”. I would put my three search picks up in amongst the best Dead songs tho.

Depending on mood I can either find “Sugar Magnolia” just cause for killing the band and other times I’ll happily hippy out. “Sunshine Daydream” is better just ‘coz I haven’t had it shoved down my throat as often.

James Ball – well, in a video I saw of New Year’s Eve Dead show circa ’86 or so Bobby’s pupils look like he’s on about half a sheet of acid. Find it hard to believe he gave up drugs in ’66 or so.

U.S. Blues
China Doll
Unbroken Chain
Loose Lucy
Scarlet Begonias
Pride Of Cucamonga
Money, Money
Ship Of Fools

Weir's worst tendancy is go go falssetto. *Shudder*

Poor Garcia. So talented. He deserved a better band.

friend just offered me a free ticket to the weir/chris robinson show in boulder next week! second row! i'm totally going! i will ask bob weir what the hell his problem is.

No, ask him what his prolem is.

what is your prolem, mannnn

he gives a weird finger. up above. some people throw a weird bird.

that is quite the weird bird.

if you've gone to all the trouble of constructing the pointer, ring, pinky block why leave the thumb all hanging out there like it was broke.

Never knew until now that "Ace" is essentially a Dead album.

Love this thread, even with terrible attribution errors above.

I do Bob Weir air guitar moves to all music, including classical. He can be a total cheeseball obv but I often think he had the best sense of humor and perspective about the band. And Jack Straw is his best song, possibly the greatest GD song of them all.

every time he speaks between songs he sounds irritable & often really condescending, even on early late-sixties shows, to the point where when he gets started I'll find my self saying "shut the fuck up, Bob" to the stereo

I rescreened Festival Express recently, and there's some footage of an informal press conference on the train, which was presumably held to mend fences w/the Canadian underground press who'd been so critical of the motives behind the tour. A very unchill Weir snaps at one of the reporters who'd suggested The Dead play for free with something along the lines of "We're working musicians, man! That's how we make our living! You just can't understand that this doesn't happen for free, and that's really sad...." which I guess was pretty ballsy for July '70, particularly coming from someone in THE GRATEFUL DEAD.

I have also thought that Jack Straw might be the best that the Dead ever got.

hope they play that at the show!
realized the last time i was in bob weir's presence, jerrry garcia was still alive.

yeah, xp, the Dead were always kind of out-of-the-box like that... the ultimate outlaw band, and the 'drug' band - but in a way maybe because of that they'd often defy the more obvious stance. they usually found political radicals hypocritical and simple-minded... "hey, not all cops are bad people, man", and loved disco when a lot of older rockers were hating on it. Jerry was even open to punk.

which I guess was pretty ballsy for July '70, particularly coming from someone in THE GRATEFUL DEAD.

The Who did something similar, refusing to take the stage at Woodstock until they were paid (other bands were told, "Hey, it's a 'free' festival now, no one's getting paid!")

I'm relatively new to the Dead, so I don't really understand the Weir hate (then again, I haven't heard anything post-'73). "Jack Straw" and "Black Throated Wind" are all-time for me.

the Canadian underground press who'd been so critical of the motives behind the tour.

I wanted to kick the shit out of these people.

Re: Weir hate. His songwriting style is probably the most experimental and divergent of all the band-members. There are some strange and jarring chord changes and time signatures. Some songs had notes that he really shouldn't have been trying to reach. Barlow's lyrics were sometimes political or confrontational or pretentious.

He was my favorite member of the Dead when I was younger though, probably for all those reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YCZeNTui4Y&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWscxdleZzI

good lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQh19pokOxk&feature=related

he's got a handful of undeniable classics no doubt (cassidy, estimated, sugar magnolia, etc), but gah does this dude have so much to answer for

(even so i'd totally go to a weir/chris robinson show in boulder for free!)

barlow is no hunter! to put it mildly. and bobby is responsible for the most terrible dead-related solo stuff. everything except ace is pretty non-essential.

the only time I've seen him solo was at the second clinton inauguration. There were only like 50 people in his tent. it wasn't very memorable, and not in a typical i-was-so-stoned-on-acid sense.

poor billy cobham.

I never really liked his band very much and have never found a good reason to change my mind so to me his prolem is just being a member of the Dead in the first place. Although if someone like will likes them maybe I should give them an umpteenth chance.

Although I do enjoy Cherry Garcia ice cream and had one of the related signature line of ties at one point.

Weir's worst tendancy is go go falssetto.

Bob at his worst see 7:49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkcMxI0ty94

"Although if someone like will likes them maybe I should give them an umpteenth chance."

you gotta go the the thread that is all about turning haters into lovers. forget what its called. or maybe don't go to it cuz you might end up loving the dead.

The Who did something similar, refusing to take the stage at Woodstock until they were paid (other bands were told, "Hey, it's a 'free' festival now, no one's getting paid!")

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Saturday, June 2, 2012 3:38 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

One thing tht links the two cited events was that both groups were coming off dire finacial situations at the time of the incidents that I assume hadn't become common knowledge to the press or public at the time. In '69, The Dead were way in the hole w/Warners due to going overbudget on both Anthem... & Aoxomox..., plus most of the money that they did have (touring revenue etc.) had been ripped off by their manager (Mickey Hart's dad). They became solvent again by doing Live/Dead and then going the no-frills route on the studio followups, which became their first hit lps.

The kicker re:Weir's comments was that the band ended up playing a free show or two outside venues on the tour to calm down people protesting the shows.

Bob at his worst see 7:49

Yikes. Well, that's why I haven't gone beyond 1973 Dead.

One thing tht links the two cited events was that both groups were coming off dire finacial situations at the time of the incidents that I assume hadn't become common knowledge to the press or public at the time.

True. wrt the Who, Michael Lang et al told the Who's management, "If you won't play for free, we'll announce it to the whole audience." The Who's management said, "Go ahead, Mike. Piss off half a million people." Bluff called, a local banker had to be rousted out of bed in order to cut the Who a certified check. Once other bands got wind of this, they too demanded to be paid.

Bobby gets a bad rap. Deadheads would have you believe he's the luckiest man in all of rock and roll, but, as evidenced by already-mentioned songs upthread, this is not the case. Sure, Bobby hams it up a bit, and in fifty fucking years onstage, still has yet to figure out how to sing INTO A DAMN MIC, but he's a great rhythm guitarist and, with Barlow, has written some of the best, most adventurous (yes, it's true) Dead tunes. He is nowhere near my favorite member of the band (that'd be Keith for nerdy reasons and Jerry overall for 'no duh' reasons) but I hate hearing people slagging him all the time, Ratdog notwithstanding. Once you think of him as the McCartney to Jerry's Lennon, he'll go down smoother for you.

Also, if you stop at '73, you are missing a ton of killer Dead stuff, dude. Hell, '77 might have been their best year (with '81 and '82 not far behind)!!

great rhythm guitarist

This cannot be emphasized enough.

I wish it was easy for the home listener to isolate instrumental parts -- there have been many times that I wanted to just listen to Weir and figure out what the hell was going on harmonically.

"Bob at his worst see 7:49"

"Yikes. Well, that's why I haven't gone beyond 1973 Dead."

there is goodness post-73. you'll see. for instance, i would totally recommend the dead set/reckoning live stuff. there is all kinds of good 70's stuff.

even worse than weir in that clip is the keyboard solo after his freakout with the keyboard on anemic fart setting.

r.i.p. vince

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfjjzZvYnkE&feature=related

Also, if you stop at '73, you are missing a ton of killer Dead stuff, dude. Hell, '77 might have been their best year (with '81 and '82 not far behind)!!

yeah if you don't listen to '77 tours I don't even know what to say, that is some of the best shit out there. I haven't delved into '81/'82 yet, a friend's sent me several '74 shows and they have great moments but I think the repertoire they're working in '74 is so bloated with weak Wake of the Flood stuff which I just cannot get into. But '77? Pembroke Pines? C'mon, now

Thank you Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro) for solving my Bob Weir problem!

*prolem

The Rocky Road To Unlimited Devotion

Looks Like Rainbow Sherbet

They've had Cherry Garcia for like decades so are they giving the other memb4rs flavours for real or has it only been the 2.

Only the two, with Wavy Gravy as an aside.

I really love Bob Weir.

His songwriting from the '90s on is so odd and so good! I think in the '80s he still expected to make some pop chart impact with his solo work, but eventually he realized it wasn't happening, and started writing Picasso Moon and Hell in a Bucket.

I’d use the word “serviceable” to describe him in terms of complementing Jerry. But his live outro ad-libs are pure full body cringe

As a recent semi-convert to the Dead, Bob is usually my sticking point. “Serviceable” is apt. I actually quite like “Hell in a Bucket.” He’s okay on first set songs like “Minglewood” or “Walkin’ Blues.” His country and Chuck Berry covers are lackluster.

But the lengthy, proggy songs like “Weather Report Suite” or the “Sailor/ Saint” medley, or “Victim or the Crime” which I mentioned recently in another thread, are stuffed full of too many chord changes, and want for a much stronger vocalist.

And I really dislike “Looks Like Rain.”

Oh, but I generally like his Dylan covers, so props there.

Yeah I like all of his songs on Built To Last. I love “feel like a stranger”. I do not love “Mexicali blues”.

No one’s listebing to the dead for Bobby

Gonna be a long long silky crazy night

No one falls in love with the Dead cause of Bobby, but once we're there, I think he can become an additional reason to listen. There are definitely days when the Dead song I want to hear the most is Estimated Prophet, or Passenger, or Cassidy, or Eternity, or Corrina, etc

“I think he can become an additional reason to listen. “

Nope

I’m not a hater. One of my first ways into the Dead was Burning Spear’s cover of “Estimated Prophet” so I like all Dead versions including Bob’s yelly ones. And I just listened to a spacy “Playing” where I could really tune in to what his rhythm guitar was doing.

Estimated is cool, I’ll give him that. But it’s Jerry’s lines that make the song

Calstars and I boogie on opposite sides of the Weir spectrum, but:

his live outro ad-libs are pure full body cringe

Robert Hunter thought that too, it's why he didn't write anything for Bob for decades.

It just occurred to me that I might come better-equipped than most to be patient with Bobby, because the first Dead songs I ever loved, age 10 or so, were the studio versions of New Speedway Boogie and Throwing Stones. So the band was always a two-sided deal for me. And it was always the songwriting that captivated me, along with the blend of the whole band's sound, Jerry's guitar being a taste I still haven't fully acquired. I like it but I don't hear its revolutionary aspects. My favorite lead guitar tends to be jagged and noisy -- Neil Young, Colleen Kinsella, Martin Barre. It's probably why I have so much time for a post-Jerry project like Furthur. I miss Jerry's voice a great deal -- I *love* him as a singer -- and above all I miss his songwriting, but his writing had slowed down so much by the '90s anyway...

Speaking of... would anyone care to put together an annotated, let's say, 10-live-track listening guide that would highlight what it is exactly that puts Jerry's guitar playing out in the cosmic sphere? That's no small task, but I promise to listen carefully.

You're in for a treat. I didn't really get into the Dead until a couple years ago, despite having seen them about 10 times in the 90s, when Garcia was not at his peak to put it mildly.

This 1977 Sugaree is a high point. It's not even about the band playing together, jamming. It's just Jerry going off for 20 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVkcQnyUSp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtUk805_OE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnJmQQ9Kkfg

I just watched a few random moments of the second set and it seemed a little… rough. Maybe you had to be there.