Thinking about how Franklin's starts, I guess it could be weird standing alone, but I've never listened to any Franklin's that I found weird at the beginning. And is the weirdness structural or the result of expectation? edit: @warewolf95 what do you think of Jet Airliner without Threshold? Jet Airliner clearly, to my ear, can stand alone. Threshold obviously can't. But discerning Millerheads may disagree. But those people, man, they're just weird. I think they all live in Marin in the same house.
For me I guess its out of expectation. The song, to me, feels like its meant to follow something else rather than be the start itself.
Actually, I should amend what I said before... Honestly, as much 'Homework' as you guys have kindly given me, I have found that truly NONE of their songs 'Suck' There are styles, especially when for example I was checking out Road Trips 3 No. 2 I think from 1971, where there are huge amounts of 'Americana' or Countryish songs that aren't really my thing. BUT... I acknowledge that they are GOOD songs, fun songs, well done songs. Just not ones that I would go to the trouble of saving, cataloging, and playing regularly. I DID save some versions from that set of songs that I normally don't. Theses were the songs I saved from that set:
That's still very much in the running for best post-hiatus Playin in the Band. One of the longest for sure. That Dylan vs. Hunter mythos quote was another passage I had marked (but didn't bother to copy down,) and he also had that one about Stella Blue in the book. I'm not surprised he would recycle some interviews and suchlike. The mythos thing is a great quote, I just had already done like 5 of them when I got to that one. Yes, I mean when they do Half Step>Franklin's, it's not like some intricate segue, 'rio grandio' just kind of flows to stop and then they start it. It could be anything.
Oh yeah, and FWIW, for some reason I rather liked this rendition of Jack Straw, a song that I normally skip...
One of the weaker Garcia-Hunter tunes that was in regular rotation, as far as I am concerned. I like the lyrics, it's the repetitiveness of the music that gets to me. FOTM of course has even fewer changes, but that has never bothered me.
I was listening to some JRAD in the car today and they scored this particular show with Franklin’s. They start it with the outro/transition from Slipknot (the A to C, followed by a run from C# down to A, you all know the one), do that about 4 times and then get to the Tower. A great way to start a stand-alone Franklin’s, IMO. Also, if you’re familiar with the original Jet Airliner, you won’t think twice about Threshold. That Paul Pena record is one of my all time favorites. I wish he’d have put out more material.
Garcia plays pedal steel on ‘Venutian Lady’ on the New Train record - an all timer as far as I’m concerned.
I swear I've heard the GD do that; it's pretty sensible, like ending fire on the mountain with the scarlet begonias riff.
I play that as | A // C | ///ege | (8va) e d | [a/c#/e] | (the final chord being an A Maj triad in second inversion). Phil and/or Bob probably play the c# b a line.
I have no problem grooving to reggae tracks that I think some find monotonous, so maybe that’s the difference. But I really think of Fire and Franklin’s as crowd pleasers, and I’m part of the crowd. The guitar line in Franklin’s and the bass part in Fire are sounds I could listen to for a half-hour almost.
I felt that way once, I definitely soured on Franklin's Tower for a while. I since de-soured and finally sweetened, I feel they usually do a good job with the dynamics, which takes away from the fact that its like 15 minutes+ of the same thing. I also really like the words. But I can definitely be out of the mood for it. (In that regard it makes me think of the Allman Bros.)
I've been listening and enjoying this one a lot this week . . . Not sure how well received it is (was) or where it fits in the pantheon of live recordings?
