Customer Reviews

Garcia

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album contains several classics of underground radio ("The Wheel," "Sugaree," "Deal") but I wonder how many people have ever heard the whole thing? It belongs right next to the Grateful Dead's turn to folk/blues on "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty," as well as "Europe '72," which contains several great Garcia/Hunter songs from the same period never recorded in the studio (much to Robert Hunter's regret). In addition to the 3 mentioned already, "Garcia" contains "Bird Song," "Loser," and "To Lay Me Down," 6 of the best songs Garcia and Hunter ever wrote! But the album is more than just a collection of great songs, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. After the first side's conventional bluesy songs (with the exception of "Bird Song," which is haunting and bittersweet), the second side gets DEEP. "Late for Supper" is the ominous opening of some sort of bad trip. "Spidergawd" features the recorded voices of newscasters talking about real-life apocalyptic events related to the potential for nuclear war... "EEP Hour" is a strange and beautiful instrumental number, which leads into the sad and nearly terminal "To Lay Me Down," a memory of lost love. I believe this song offers as clear a glimpse into Garcia's troubled soul as any he ever recorded, though the feelings are universal. Finally, "An Odd Little Place" represents a turnabout, back toward the light. And then, with a bang, comes "The Wheel," redemption through grace! (The lyric reads "Big wheel turn by the grace of God," which of course is from Isaiah.) The song is powerful and euphoric enough on its own, but only by listening to it at the end of this album do you realize its full implication. 1972 was the last year of the 1960s. Garcia and the Dead, of course kept on truckin' for many years, but they could not totally defy the shift in the times. This album is one of the last transmissions from that utopian moment, the counterculture dream, filled with the recognition that it was passing...

Like Aoxomoxa, Jerry spent a great deal of time on this album as well. And like that work, this is equally psychedelic. Jerry played all instruments on this album (excluding drums), and I find his singing to be inspired, as well as the entire production (eg. guitars and piano). Excluding an early studio version of "space" (essentially) which is wonderfully psychedelic if in an errie sort of way, I find Birdsong and To Lay Me Down to be the true highlights. The enigmatic lyrics for these two songs in particular, it seems, are what attract so many to the Dead. Finally, if you're familiar with Jerry's other solo work, don't expect this to resemble them. Although released in 1972, this album recalls the work that Jerry produced with the Dead in the late '60s and early '70s, before the 'turn' announced by Compliments and Mars Hotel (yet it does resemble Wake of the Flood ('73) in tone). Enjoy.

Contrary to Amazon's inaccurate posted information, this album is still in print and can be found at the Grateful Dead store at gdstore.com.

I have been listening to this album since it was released in '72 and I have decided recently that this album is one of the very best albums ever made, all genres included. Jerry's musical ideas on this album are inspired, to put it VERY mildly. His juxtaposition of eeriness with warmth is amazing. Many listeners don't care for the scary stuff and it makes me nervous to listen to it too, but the full effect of "the Wheel" (about as close to a perfect song as I've ever heard) is lost without it. There is no filler on this album. It's all there by design. A lot of people don't care for or even listen to song lyrics, preferring to judge a song by its music alone, but for me understanding where the lyrics are coming from brings a whole new level of understanding and emotion to the tune. If you ever hear a song whose lyrics you are not too familiar with but you wonder why did the musicians choose to use that particular hook or play a certain way, try to understand the lyrics (often not an easy thing to do). It is because I only recently realized that "Bird Song" was written about Janis Joplin not long after she died that I would now rank it against ANY song (with the possible exception of "Like a Rolling Stone") on an at least equal basis. Before I used to like the song a lot but now when I hear the line "Sleep in the stars, don't you cry, dry your eyes on the wind" I have a hard time keeping MY eyes dry. One can only imagine how Hunter was feeling when he wrote this. And, of course Jerry came up with that BEAUTIFUL hook to go with it. The reason I call "The Wheel" damn near perfect (and not "Bird Song") is because the lyrics as well as the music are damn near perfect in the sense that it's such a simple, beautiful message that a child could understand yet stated so succintly and eloquently. The man wastes very few words! His poker playing imagery ("Deal" and "Loser") is marvelous and different from what I'm used to hearing (non-Dead music, I mean) as well. Hunter and Garcia wrote some truly incredible songs together and this album has without question some of their very best.

This album is the kind of music he could/should have been making all along. Side 1 has 4 perfect songs with laid back melodies and lyrics, driven by Crazy Horse style rythyms.
Side 2 has a short psychedelic intro to an absolutely soaring set of music.

For a number of devoted music fans, Jerry Garcia is a pinacle of talent. In this solo CD, Jerry takes the opportunity of being away from his Grateful Dead band members to play every instrument on the CD (excpet drums, which is handled by the Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzman). What you wind up with is an incredible CD that contains the original studio cut of Grateful Dead live staples such as Loser, Deal, the Wheel and Sugaree. An incredible album.

Jerry Garcia's first solo album is magnificient. I still get a tears in my eyes and chills up and down my spine when I listen to this beauty. This is one of the few albums that when you put it on you will want to hear the whole album from Deal to The Wheel. This is a must have for any serious Dead Head.

Jerry went into the studio following the success of "Workingman's Dead" and produced this wonderful gem that can (and has been in various set lists) be included as a "Dead" album, as well as being able to stand alone as perhaps one of the greatest albums ever produced. Great blues/country/folk tunes throughout, along with the TRUE definition of psychedelic music. This was the one I fell in love with the Dead. Even the people I know who coount themselves as Dead detrractors will step right up to defend this album and its songwriting and musicianship. If you buy only one album associated with the Grateful Dead, it should be this one. It truly shows the representative focal point of the band as Jerry Garcia was so reluctant to admit to being.

This album came out at the time when the Grateful Dead was at their pennicle commercially. The album isn't much different than a Dead album from this period. A relaxing feel, above average vocals, and instrumental dexterity. Garcia is a master of many string instruments. He shows it here. It also contains many songs that popped up at Dead concerts at the time and in later years. If you are a Dead fan, this album will fit right in. If you have a mild interest, you might want to pick this up. It will surprise you and may lead you to dig a little deeper.

Yep, this is a document of musical grace and ... gasp I'm about to use the big "G" ... genius. It's got the definitive "Sugaree." Period. Contrary to several reviews written here, Jerry didn't play *all* the instruments. Musical contributors included Larry Carlton, Robert Hunter and Amos Garrett on guitars, Michael Omartian on keys, plus Maria Muldaur and Clydie King on vocals. For drummers, Billy Kreutzmann's perfoamce is like a master class in musical percussion. Perhaps it is his best recorded performance. But it's Jerry's album through and through. Plus, it was released nearly at the same time as Bob Weir's "Ace" and Mickey Hart's "Rolling Thunder" solo albums, which were released in '72 as well. Listen to all contemporaneous Dead/Solo releases and you'll hear the musical development of this band of merry pranksters in action. I've heard the Dead needed to drop about five records to fulfill its WB contract : Garcia, Ace and 3-disc Europe 72 equals five. And in '73 you get Wake Of The Flood. Hmmm. Makes sense. Look for a recent Rhino re-issue with 8 alternate tracks of previously unreleased material.