Oh, the water
Due in part to the recent surge of posts on Van the Man (1, 2).
And the 98% humidity in HK today.
And the way I'm under the pump right now.
And track 10 on my JGB at Shoreline disk, which I'd slipped in at dinnertime today.
The Jerry Garcia Band covers And It Stoned Me (Halloween 1992). Sometimes one just gets a sign, you know.
And while I'm here -- on a drier note, if you will -- here's Garcia and Grisman doing that wonderful tune Arabia (August 25, 1991).
And the 98% humidity in HK today.
And the way I'm under the pump right now.
And track 10 on my JGB at Shoreline disk, which I'd slipped in at dinnertime today.
We just stood there gettin’ wet
With our backs against the fence
Oh, the water
Oh, oh the water
Hope it don’t rain all day
With our backs against the fence
Oh, the water
Oh, oh the water
Hope it don’t rain all day
The Jerry Garcia Band covers And It Stoned Me (Halloween 1992). Sometimes one just gets a sign, you know.
And while I'm here -- on a drier note, if you will -- here's Garcia and Grisman doing that wonderful tune Arabia (August 25, 1991).
posted by Tabula Rasa | 3/23/2006 12:57:00 AM
12 Comments:
have heard the cover before but cant recall when or where. thanks for putting it up - much enjoyed (i posted about it a long time ago :)).
i mean posted about "and it stoned me".
this theme seems to keep coming up in our conversations, eh? ;-)
Beautiful. Need to listen to more latter-day JGB.
apparently :)
It's odd how I've read more about Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead than I've heard their music. Clearly, I've not heard enough of it. A recent post by cosmic elevator did, in a way, reignite the need to get myself acquainted with it with renewed vigour. Let's see where it leads :-)
If you were to recommend the one album you think I should listen to, which would it be? Maybe I'll ask cosmic elevator too...
Tough question! I would say try the live stuff from archive.org http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Grateful%20Dead
You can't really go wrong with shows from 1969, 1971-74, or 1977. I'd say start with one of March 1 1969, August 27 1972, Nov 11 1973, or May 8, 1977. All four of these have very distinct characters. Go with 5/8/77 for starters.
Among studio albums, American Beauty is generally recognized as the best. GD have started releasing many shows officially, and these are usually excellent, but I don't know what's available in Delhi. Next time I visit Delhi (was supposed to be there in April but have had to cancel) I can bring you some.
I remember this time -- I'm sure VB does too -- when I was staying in Bombay and he came to visit me. We went down to rhythm house, and both chanced upon this live album called "Without A Net" (also a great acquisition) right at the same time. Thankfully there were two copies -- in fact, exactly two copies. And VB turned to me with a smile and said, "This could have been the end of a great friendship."
:-D
PS. Whenever you listen to the Dead, make sure to keep one ear trained on the bass.
Ghost,
TR provides an excellent list. I would also add that listening to the Grateful Dead perform live can be a totally different experience from listening to a studio album. Moreover, one studio album can sound very different from another one. For instance, American Beauty is country-rock, while Blues For Allah is much more jazzy.
Also, second the one-ear-to-bass principle.
Often, I will put up Grateful Dead live music over at my blog. For instance, recently, I posted a performance from that November 1973 date that TR mentioned. Here :
http://cosmicelevator.blogspot.com/2006/03/dark-star.html
So check it out to see if it works for you.
TR, I remember that Rhythm House visit. :) I think I also bought another of my favorite live albums on that visit - Airplane's "Live at Fillmore East".
oh yes! how can one forget the first time those first notes of the ballad of you and me and pooneil came scrambling and roaring out through the speakers.
i put on disk 2 of without a net this morning. as good as ever.
In my experience, I've almost always preferred studio albums over the live ones. I do like some of the unplugged versions but, I'm sure, that's not what you and VB mean...even though they're live too. But, since you and VB seem so passionately in favour of the GD live stuff, will definitely try some. If I can't lay my hands on it here, shall try in Bombay next week... going there for a couple of weeks. As you said, if I still can't get it, maybe you can get it whenever you come to Delhi. Thanks for offering...it's very kind of you :-)
And, I'll have you know that, last night, 'smenita' did grace your blog too :-)
VB: Thanks, pal. I did read that post you mentioned :-)
Oh yes I tangled with smenita half the night last night.
Re: live music -- when it comes to improvised music, it just has to be live. I firmly believe that the greatest music is live, since that's where you really get musicians performing to their true peak, in the moment, "without a net". That's the essence of Indian classical music, of jazz, and of the genre that carries the unfortunate tag of "jamband". It's one thing for a band to hammer out an execution of a tune in a studio, one that achieves a certain level of whatever they wanted, and then try to replicate it note for note at every stage performance. It's quite another for the band to play on the spot, in the moment, with each member listening and responding and creating as they go along. Miles Davis said that there's no such thing as a false note -- it all depends on the next note you play. That, to me, is music as it should be. Every performance a voyage of discovery.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
PS. Deadheads are notorious for distributing tapes and disks. It's almost as bad as the scamsters the Mock Turtle wrote about: http://faithfulhound.blogspot.com/2006/03/unique-business-proposition-for-you.html
Be warned!
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