Ace

Bob Weir | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 4, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Grateful Dead / Wea
• ASIN: B0002SPPQO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,620 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bobby hits one out of the park!, April 19, 2005

By 

Hallstatt Prince (MA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ace (Audio CD)

Bob Weir backed by the Grateful Dead serves up one gul-dern heck of a rock and roll album.

From the beginning ,"The Greatest Story Ever Told" ("you know the one thing we need is a left handed monkey wrench") flies out of the barn to the end "Cassidy" (a ballad for Cowboy Neal) it is a slick rockin' yet somewhat twisted winner. The album is somewhat speedy, macho (as mach as a rat dog could be) and very clever.

"The Greatest Story Ever Told" is slightly manic and among other instruments features an organ that sounds like it was stolen off the set of a game show. There is not much warm up here - the song comes flying at us.

Song 2 is my favorite song on the album - "Black-Throated Wind". It for the most part is a little slower than the rest of the songs on the album and somewhat bluesy. The lyrics are poignant but not maudlin and are clever to the point of sometimes being humorous. It is one of those story telling types of songs.

Song 3 "Walk in the Sunshine" is classic Weir. Weir always seemed like the approachable self-depricating white knight of the band and here he offers "Look out here comes some free advice"(Some of that advice: Walk in the sunshine, "deepsix your wrist watch, be all those things your able to be"). Although he was always a member of these psychedelic cowboys the face he always seemed to put forward was a caring Everyman.

The album includes Weir's version of the Dead standard "Playing in the Band" and ends with a rousing tribute to Neal Cassidy.

I think everyone who loves the Grateful Dead will love this album.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bobby Backed By The Dead, February 20, 2005

By 

strawrider (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ace (Audio CD)

Don't let the title fool you, this is really a Grateful Dead album, not a solo work from Weir although it is all of his material. The Dead were so prolific at this time that they decided to release two albums (this one and Garcia's first 'solo' album) in this manner. Give credit where credit is deserved, I suppose.

Now that the history of this work is covered, what about the music itself? It's a phenominal CD which features many staples the band would include in their shows forever: Mexicali Blues, Playing in the Band, etc. The musicanship is top shelf and I am pleased that it is finally available here at Amazon. The lesser known pieces, such as Walk in the Sunshine and Black Throated Wind, are great but just never permanently made it into the set line-ups of the Dead's shows. If you love Bob Weir or The Grateful Dead, you must own this.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem, December 30, 2006

By 

BeefwellingtonIII "Tea Leaf Green: Buy their ... (SF, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ace (Audio CD)

This is probably the most underappreciated album ever: it is so good and yet, tragically, (I'm not exaggerating) few people know about it. From Greatest story ever told to Cassidy the album is an example of killer songwriting, fantastic singing by Bob, and great production/arrangement. Even if you don't like the dead you'll still like this album. However, if you are a Dead fan, the album is home to some Dead classics: Playing in the Band Mexicali Blues and One More Saturday Night (if you didn't already know, pretty much everyone from the Dead is on this album). Finally, (and most obviously) anyone who professes to like Bob Weir must have this album. It's a travesty that this album isn't more celebrated among Deadheads and music fans in general.