Here is some delicious, jazzy work by mid-'70s Grateful Dead. When the jam gets deep into the paisley pudding, right at the heart of "Scarlet" beautiful Donna Jean executes a most acute wail from beyond the grave, a cry that insist that the ghosts must come back to The Dance. The jam into "Fire" and beyond is to weep for… deft.
A Prophet & Scarlet on Fire
Listen now, as it will only be up for a week!
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Oh, and then there's that "Good Lovin'"! Keith tears it up, Naw'lenz-style on the pianer. The eight-limbed drummer pounds so precise, if he were a carpenter you'd have your mansion hammered together in six minutes. All good, but you would have to put up with dumb ol' Garcia in the jaccuzzi when the job was done. Meanwhile, that Bobby kid would strum pool side, oblivious to the fact that his partner was frying himself with an electric guitar in the tub.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the music would be fine, and Donna Jean has some talent and great beauty.
Oh… thence into a gently titanic "Uncle John's Band" that rolls into perfectly delicious noise in Space. There's a conversation. Messages transmitted across the vastness of sonic possibilities… then an old man, a drunk of the hopeless variety emerges from down by the wharf. He sings to Heaven, humbled, but not yet quite beaten down enough to surrender. He's still got his pride, and his grudges. His prayers cannot be answered while he holds such freight. But, he does pray.
ReplyDeleteAnd, then… the proud walking jig dissolves into Chuck Berry territory. It's cool and slow to start, but like all the stuff that scares the grown ups, there's something that comes up. Things get fast and loose. The beat gets fat. The pianer makes the girls shake in a dangerous way. Donna Jean makes the boys yearn for the unobtainable. Might this be the sound of sex? Well, certainly, nice kids sure don't dance like that!
ReplyDelete"Jeez, officer, my daughter left the house a nice girl, and when we came to get her out of the police station, she'd turned in a negro. Who do we blame!?!"
Blame rock n' roll.
Too close the show, the mighty Grateful Dead dig down deep into the gospel of The Church of What IT Is. They actually pull off singing on tune. This tune is one of the reasons that I almost always felt that I was walking into church when entering an arena, a school gym, or walking into a muddy field. "Broke-Down Palace". A quiet monster.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thank you, Hunter!