Don't Let Go

Jerry Garcia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 23, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Arista
• ASIN: B00004ZEJH
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,318 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Sugaree

2. They Love Each Other

3. That's What Love Will Make You Do

4. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

5. Sitting in Limbo

6. Mission in the Rain

7. Don't Let Go

Disc: 2

1. After Midnight

2. Strange Man

3. Tore up over You

4. I'll Take a Melody

5. The Way You Do the Things You Do

6. My Sisters and Brothers

7. Lonesome and a Long Way from Home

8. Mighty High [*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Air Garcia - Nothing but net, January 25, 2001

By 

Charles Lamson (Charlestown, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Let Go (Audio CD)

Somebody once wrote that there is a crazy kind of comfort found in the Grateful Dead. This disk proves that the statement rolls over into just about anything that Jerry Garcia put his mind to. This first archival release of seventies JGB is a fantastic collection of tasty groves and heartfelt melodies. As with most nights, Garcia starts out almost rudimentary in his approach, finds his groove and then showers the audience with endless musical paragraphs quoting everyone from Charlie Parker to Buddy Holly. Disk one starts out with solid but unremarkable performances of Sugaree and They Love Each Other and eventually turns retrospective with the most pious version of Knockin' on Heaven's Door ever recorded. Keeping the mood close in hand JGB strolls through an equally earnest Sitting in Limbo and Mission In the Rain before finally ramping up with an exceedingly laid back Don't Let Go.

The beauty of the Jerry Garcia Band in 1976 is that they are so fundamentally different from the Dead. While the Dead roar out of the gate and surround you with their incredibly strong personalities, JGB seems happier to settle back and let the music speak for itself. The pace is steadier with Ron Tutt and John Kahn sticking happily to the inescapable pulse on tunes like That's What Love Will Make You Do. This pulse gives Garcia and Keith Godchaux room to stretch out and test their chops in a manner closer to a modern Jazz band than rock and roll. The second disk takes off with fantastic takes on Clapton's version of After Midnight as well as Lonesome And A Long Way From Home. Of particular note on disk two is Donna Jean Godchaux's stunning gospel reading of Strange Man. This is undoubtedly her finest recorded performance and begs the question why the Dead didn't let her bring some of this repertoire to their own shows.

This is a fantastic and welcome addition to the fast growing Garcia / Dead library. Send it to your family, friends and political enemies.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another classic, January 30, 2001

By 

Craig Pinson (Scottsdale Az) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Let Go (Audio CD)

Once again we are fortunate to have wonderful music by Jerry to listen too and enjoy. This set has Jerry backed by different musicians than on his last live CD, and you can feel the sense of joy and excitement of something familiar, yet new. With Dead bandmates Keith and Donna Gochaux providing wonderful keyboards and vocals, Jerry sounds at the top of his form on these selections. While I think at times Donna`s vocal prowess was a little grating, here she is wonderful and complimentary, even doing a great lead herself on Strange Man. While a few of these songs were on JGB`s last live CD the versions here are definetly feeling the energy of this new band. To me the main thing here is, of course, Jerry`s singing and his guitar playing. While well known and loved by Deadheads, his playing never was appreciated much it seems outside the circle of fans. But while he is never "flashy", he always had beautiful tone, and his ability to flow seamlessly from acompianiment to soulful leads is what makes him such an incredible artist.

Even his wonderful take on Knockin`on Heaven`s Door which embodies everything you either loved or hated by him and/or the Dead, he once again demonsrates the ability to take a song and make it his. This CD only whet`s the appetite for his next release, a collection of live cuts covering his solo career. This is another keeper.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, Donna, February 16, 2001

By 

Dave Goldberg (40 miles north of NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Let Go (Audio CD)

The more I listen to the Dead, the more I notice when Donna's not there _ roughly before 1972 and after 1978. Yes, she screeches, yes, she's not Bonnie Raitt, as she demonstrates on her Raitt-like solo on this one. But somehow, she provides a subcontext that's missing in some of the Dead's other work. (Not counting the Pigpen era _ that's a whole other story.)

That's why I like this CD. Jerry is Jerry. Those of us who like him will buy almost anything that's released (more than 30 CDs of some kind since he died 5 1-2 years ago). This is good Garcia, good song selection and some great stuff _ I happen to like his version of "After Midnight'' better than Clapton's because it's more spontaneous. (By the way, Clapton didn't write it, J.J. Cale did). He was at his best from 74-78 and I'd like to hear more of the JGB from that period.

Still, for whatever it's worth, Donna makes this different.