Category: songs-L

  • Risky Reconstruction

    **massively updated 11/24/2014 11 PM mountain time** I just tipped my hat to the idea of meso level musical risk in Garcia’s side trips. This is the pedantic-even-by-my-high-standards phrasing of the notion that that different bands, qua bands (combinations of players and repertoires), could and did musically challenge Garcia to different degrees. The challenge-comfort continuum…

  • Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders at the Keystone Korner, May 20, 1971 (LN jg1971-05-20.jgms.80mins.sbd-boswell-smith.126365.flac2496)

    Corry heard a lot of this keyboard work as Howard Wales. So did I. I also heard Jerry’s guitar tone as 1968, and the recording as the Matrix. I parsed the tape, which seems correctly identified, we talked it over, and I think we agree that this is some very interesting tape. Speaking for myself,…

  • We’re Having a Reasonably Good Time Here

    LN jg1989-01-28.jgb.all.sbd-goetz-retracked.28352.shn2flac Love this show. Two snaps up. A few bullets. First, I had a cryptic note-to-self in the 1/27/89 listening notes to elaborate on the “a year too late” thesis. In a nutshell, it’s my argument that when JGB recorded itself in 1990 at the Warfield for what would become the eponymous 1991 double-live…

  • Mahalo, Jer: JGB, January 27, 1989 at the Orpheum

     LN jg1989-01-27.jgb.all.sbd-moses.84866.flac1644 Can’t believe I haven’t annotated any 1989 Garcia Band. For my money, 1988-1989 is one of the great JGB periods, which a fresh and healthy Jerry (that’s what starts to break down, for me, 1990-1991), solid band, some fresh material, rehearsed arrangements, and lots of classic American songs. Nothing too crazy, lots of…

  • A Motley Crew Down at the Nunnery (LN jg1984-08-11.jgb.all.aud-weez.111743.flac1644)

    Ticket stub for JGB 8/11/84 show at Caldwell College, contributed by Ed. Photo of JGB 8/11/84 at Caldwell College, courtesy of Jck007. What a weird show. Reviewer Bill Breen (1984) sets the stage. The August 11 Robert Hunter/ Jerry Garcia Band gig at Caldwell College, New Jersey had to be one of their stranger forays.…

  • Finders Keepers: JGMS with Jim Nelson on Drums, Keystone, October 5, 1974

    LN jg1974-10-05.jgms.all.aud-falanga.8665.shn2flac I have no idea who Jim Nelson, the drummer, might be. There are some tempo issues all night long. I really like this period for JGMS. “La-La” and “Freedom Jazz Dance” are standouts to me. “Finders Keepers” is also pretty good. When these tapes came into the light, back before 9/11, they were…

  • Checking Donna Out While Jamming With Her Husband: JGB, April 2, 1976

    VN jg1976-04-02.jgb.late.video-youtube-Deadvids I’ll tag this “VN” in the title, for viewing notes. B&W Monarch Entertainment video from the Cap in Passaic. Not even a crusty aud in circulation, and low-gen video of the complete show drops from the sky, 38 years later. Wow. Viewing notes below. One of the most interesting things for me is…

  • “Bloody Hell”

    A while back I posted some listening notes from the Jim Cooper audience tape of the Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) show at Colden Auditorium, Queens College, Queens, NY on Thursday, October 30, 1975. When called to summarize the show in a headline for my etree list, which is a date index for the site, I…

  • JGB at Queens College, October 30, 1975

    LN jg1975-10-30.jgb.all.aud-cooper.124251.flac2496 Have barely had time to write a word about the Hopkins-era JGB these last 4+ years of blogging and hiatuses. That remains true, so the writeup will be short. Bottom line is that I think Nicky sounds really good (i.e., reasonably sober). I sort of figure that the day off the day before…

  • The Group In and Around the Sarah Era: Boarding House, 1/24/73

    LN jg1973-01-24.jgms.early-late.sbd-nfagdtrfb.100216.flac1644 update: this post has so  many old links to the evil db.etree – please never use that URL. Substitute etreedb wherever you see db.etree. Thank you. (Man oh man does Blogger’s formatting suck. One can’t compose online, because stuff can get lost [viz my long beautiful post on Wales-Garcia 1/26/72]. One can’t compose…