Couldn’t agree more. Wish they had recorded multi tracks of that March 78 tour! I don’t think I’ve encountered Betty tapes from that tour, or am I misremembering? (He asks, hopefully.)
There were some really hot shows on the east coast tour that fall. Pretty much only audience recordings, AFAIK, but there are some real gems to be found, e.g.
Nicky was amazing, indeed. Cutting his teeth at the right time in the right place with Lord Sutch and Cyril Davies, he encased himself firmly in the bedrock of British Blues Panjandrumonia (I may have just invented a new derivative there). For anyone building a comprehensive music library of the pioneers of Rock music it is impossible to adequately represent the significant luminaries without collecting the important session work of Hopkins.
I think it is. The 12/31 show is kind of a dud. I hope I’m wrong and there is more amazing stuff to hear. Nicky’s piano solo on Sitting In Limbo from Let It Rock is perfect.
First time hearing this. I'm generally not a fan of 'tribute' records, but this one is a lot of fun and listenable all the way through. Some really nice performances by a wide range of artists - Jorma with a cool Sugaree, a couple by Jimmy Cliff, YMSB with a terrific Shakedown, a wonderful Brown Eyed Woman by Trampled By Turtles, and a scorching Scarlet>Rider by The Disco Biscuits.
Yes, they did a nice job with the BR but not getting Bruce Hornsby on stage due to "time restraints" was inexcusable. Allowing schlockers like O.A.R. to butcher St Stephen but no Hornsby......
Greensky was bounced too. That was a bummer. They opened their next show with their original song, Don’t Lie and followed with Eyes, which was supposed to be their song at the tribute.
This has to be the most polarizing JGB release, right? I'm glad they documented it, but there are a couple of tunes where the band sounds like they are entering CTI- or ECM-ville with Fiero's flute or tenor. Thing is, Jerry plays on those unlike I've heard anywhere else, which is pretty cool. Otherwise, Fiero fits right in with bluesy, soulful solos, although a horn on The Harder They Come is kind of odd.
Much as I love Garcia’s tone and playing in 74 (my god, what perfection!), I just can’t deal with Fierro on this release. I had to give this one away, with a warning and an apology.
Outside of those two songs that veer off course into CTI territory, (Jerry's playing is amazing on them), Fierro is pretty much right there with the bluesy/R&B vibe. It's not one I would return to often, but it's worth having IMO.
I've always thought 9-6-73 deserves a release. Everything clicks musically and the version I have sounds excellent.
I don't mind Fierro's playing at all. Then again, my favorite CCR album is Pendulum, due in large part to the Stax soul influence with the horns and Hammond - so take that into account.
Saw the Dead the next night on 9/7/73. I believe it was the Wolf's debut with the band. It was my first Dead show in my old hometown of Long Island (Nassau Coliseum). General admission on the floor. Certainly has a sweet spot in my mind! I remember Donna coming out to sing being very pregnant. First of many shows. Played a lot of Jerry's first solo and a bit from the soon to be released wake of the Flood album. Unfortunately, this night and the next were ruined by the local authority arresting many from the floor. The reason the Dead did not come back to Nassau for six years.
I didn't realize there was so much history behind this show. It certainly is a smoker, with Kreutzmann on drums. As I recall, this show and a few other G/S shows were "released" on Etree right around the time that the 1973 GarciaLive release came out, which sort of took the wind out of the official release's sails. As far as Fierro goes, is his playing on GarciaLive 9 notably different from his playing on any other G/S/Legion shows? I've always found that a little of his playing goes a long way, and as an improvisor, he's not really in the same league as Jerry and Merl, which tends to eat up set time with sub-par playing (IMO). Ironically (maybe it's his background) his soloing is a lot more appealing to me on the full-blown jazz numbers (e.g. "Freedom Jazz Dance") than it is on the basic R&B/bar-band tunes that this band usually specialized in. That said, there is some amazing playing by this band in 1974 and 1975. Having played together for a few years, the Garcia/Saunders/Kahn core of the band was moving things to another level that can be heard on some of the more extended numbers, so if you dig it, it's worth sitting through some mediocre Fierro soloing. That said, I still haven't picked up this release because I listened to a couple of tracks online and wasn't blown away.
Considering Billy on the drums and "Aint No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" in the setlist, this one is absolutely essential for me. As far as Jerry's sidemen are concerned, I find Fierro far less distracting than Ozzie Ahlers.
Well, I love Ozzie - GL1 is among my favorite solo Jerry releases. The beauty of Ozzie and Fierro, as well as Wales and Nicky Hopkins, is they forced Jerry out of his comfort zone (if he even had one) and challenged him to try different things, which he seemed to thrive on his whole career. At least that's how I see it.
Good point. Regardless of what people think of his playing, Fierro deserves credit for getting Jerry to play stuff like this:
Fierro comes into his own on the more "jazzy" stuff, and is very workmanlike otherwise. He's far more effective on the Wales records.
