Customer Reviews

Garcia

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With the release of Jerry Garcia's first solo album on CD for the first time in many years -- complete with a wonderful remastering and a generous supply of alternate takes (really more like demos, but they are well performed) -- it is now possible to hear all the best of the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter collaboration. For about three years, these two turned out some of the most beautiful, evocative songs about America ever written. From "Workingman's Dead" in 1970 through "Wake of the Flood" in 1973, Jerry and Bob filled the album tracks with portaits of working men, gamblers, gunfighters, visionaries, lovers and losers, and crafted a mythical vision of the American soul that is only rivalled in artistry by The Band, and that would make Mark Twain smile. All of this set to the most gorgeous melodies and inventive musicianship that reflected the fullness of the American folk, country and blues traditions, while maintaining an experimental edge.

Long unavailable, "Garcia" features some of the best songs and richest performances from this fertile period. Garcia plays all the instruments except for drums, and takes full advantage of the freedom the solo format gave him. Some of the tunes sound much like the Dead--"Sugaree" and "Deal" could have fit easily on "American Beauty"--but he becomes a musical painter on other cuts like "The Wheel," "To Lay Me Down," and "Loser," which feature layers of guitars and piano. The album also has a few instrumentals, some of which seem like stoned noodling, but at least one of which is a fine song, "Eep Hour."

The demos are thoroughly enjoyable, but they are similar performances to the official versions, with the layers of instruments stripped away. It's not why you'd spend money on this disc.

If you are a fan of "Workingman's Dead," "American Beauty," or "Europe '72," then you will be thrilled to hear "Garcia."

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 WORKINGMAN'S DEAD and AMERICAN BEAUTY, their turn to folk/blues, 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 three mentioned already, GARCIA contains Bird Song, Loser and To Lay Me Down, so the album includes SIX of the best songs Garcia and Hunter ever wrote! But GARCIA 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 the haunting, bittersweet Bird Song), 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 with Garcia on piano, organ and pedal steel, 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 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 includes the line "big wheel turn by the grace of God," which of course is from Ezekiel.) 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 turned out to be the last year of the 1960s. Garcia and the Dead kept 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...

This Rhino reissue disc is nicely done. The only thing missing from the old 1988 CD release is the lyrics. But on the plus side, the booklet notes are by none other than Robert Hunter, and he describes how he came to write those lyrics. Also, there are six photos of Jerry in the booklet in addition to the one with his eyes closed that was included with the original vinyl release -- that original photo is in the inset under the disc. One of the best of the added photos shows Jerry playing pedal steel in the studio. Another nice touch is restoring the "computer" font from the original vinyl to the spine of the jewel-box. As for the bonus musical material, unfortunately there isn't anything really fantastic. None of the alternative takes are very good. The best are tracks 17 & 18, a studio jam with Jerry and Bill, and something called "Study for 'The Wheel'."

See my complete lists of Dead recordings on this site for 1968>1969 (PRANKSTERS & OTHER ONES), 1970>1972 (COSMIC COWBOYS), 1973>1974 (EYES OF THE WORLD), and 1975>1977 (ESTIMATED PROPHETS). I'm gradually reviewing my picks of the Dick's Picks, so look for those as well.

"Garcia" offers an interesting counterpoint to Bob Weir's "Ace". Where "Ace" offers mostly straight-laced tunes, "Garcia" offered more experimental arrangements. It would be hard to imagine a song with such celestial soundscapes like "Bird Song" or "The Wheel" on "Ace".

This album features 6 songs that were assimilated into the Dead's Live Reportoire.

"Deal" and "Loser" are songs very relative to those on "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead", which deals with people living the hard life, in this case, gamblers.

"Bird Song", a tribute to Janis Joplin, is filled with a smattering with guitars and organ that just echo a certain pain that Garcia must've felt.

"Sugaree" is somewhat based on an old folk tune with similar titles. This song probably has the sparsest arrangement on the album, with only acoustic guitar, bass, drums, and electric guitar fed into a Leslie Speaker.

"To Lay Me Down" is subliminal in it's subject matter. It could be about lost love, or the death of the 60's dream, choose your own interpretation.

"The Wheel" however feels like a solution to the pain and suffering presented throughout the other songs. But the solution could be different for everybody.

The other songs on the album are little snippets of electronic sound experiments that bridge between the 2 sides of the album.

"Late For Supper" and "Spidergawd" work well as an introduction to "Eep Hour". "Eep Hour" being an instrumental "song" on the album, it works well as transition back to Earth for "To Lay Me Down", but for some strange reason, there's no bass in the song. The only bottom end one hears is Kruetzmann's bass drum, but it's just not enough? How come there isn't any bass, did Garcia ever get asked about it and have a good answer for it? 'Cause I'd Like To Know.

"An Odd Little Place" also works well as an intro to "The Wheel", but there isn't much besides that.

I've been a fan of the Grateful Dead studio output for maybe about ten years. I've recently joined the real deadheads somewhat and have started to appreciate the live jams. I'm coming along on the jam side of the Dead, which I think is the side that most deadheads love, but I absolutely love the great stuff from the "studio dead." I guess the studio dead is Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. This album should be bought by fans of those two abums. I think this is from the same era, and Jerry Garcia really seems to be at some sort of creative high. It provides a window into the "jam dead" in easily digestible 3-6 minute songs on some of the tracks, and further proof that Jerry Garcia could write great concise songs as well. There are a few spacy instrumentals that lead up to "Eep hour" that aren't all that great, but, as stated in the liner notes, these can work as an intro to Eep hour. If you're on the fence about this one, there are 7 incredible songs on this album, buy it!

1972 was a fruitful period for Garcia/Hunter as songwriters. So, looking for a creative outlet outside the Grateful Dead, Jerry entered the studio for this solo debut.

The first side includes traditionally crafted songs, like "Deal" and "Bird Song", that went on to become live classics when played by the Dead. Side two opens with three instrumentals that, while admirable in their experimentation, are only partially successful as music. From here the album goes into "Lay Me Down", a song I always felt has been underappreciated. It's warm melodies wrap around you like a blanket and it's lyrics recall Robert Hunter's beautiful day with a lost love in England. "An Odd Little Place" is my favorite of the instrumental tracks and merges nicely into "The Wheel".

Among the bonus material I especially enjoyed the alternate takes for "Sugaree" and "Loser". They both feature just Jerry on guitar and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. I'm a fan of sparse arrangements and really appreciated these simple but moving reneditions of two great songs.

"If I had a gun for every ace i've drawn-I could arm a town the size of abilene" and "everybody's praying and drinking that wine-I can tell the queen of the diamonds by the way she shines" are the types of lyrics you will be hearing throughout the songs in the album , mix them with Jerry Garcia's inspirational music and soulful honest voice and you will get one of the absolute greatest albums ever to be produced.
I must admit at first listen I didnt really enjoy The Grateful Dead's "American Beauty", but after "Garcia" my whole view of the Dead has completely changed. This terrific gem of an album is only one member's attempt, put them together and you get a tight band who knows which notes to pick.
I can even see now how the Dead have paved the way for many of the southern rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd and so on with their song themes and style.I learnt all these things from my listen to "Garcia" by the late great Jerry Garcia and I learning more.
Get this now if you like great music!

What can I say its Capt. Trips at his best. Lyricaly the tunes go straight to your soul and the music just grabs something deep inside you and makes you twirl or sway. The psychedelic electric stuff is fun too. The Wheel is one of the best feeling tunes ever.period. I will have it played at my funeral kinda great! Its got that I wish it was twenty minutes long feel to it.Like most DEAD tunes as do most other great tunes.a quality that lends itself to long jams in the same goove.

I had this recording as a vinyl LP (licorice pizza) in 1973 and I loved it. Played the hell out of it, wore it out, wore my friends out with it. Garcia & Hunter unleashed to produce a masterpiece. There are the in the groove tunes that follow convention and the collaborations that push sonic boundaries. I know they were listening to Pink Floyd and were influenced by their symphonic landscapes. Thanks to Rhino & The Garcia estate for letting this music flow again!! Although it's lookin' like it's out of print again, since I had to buy from a private on-line seller.

GARCIA, the debut solo album by Grateful Dead lead guitarist-singer Jerry Garcia, is the equal of the Dead's classic AMERICAN BEAUTY. The songs "Deal" and "Sugaree" are still played on classic rock radio quite often today, and there's other great stuff here, too. This CD has been given a thick, warm remastering job, with numerous bonus cuts added. If you love the Grateful Dead, or even if you're just a casual fan, you'll want this album.

This recording shows how much Jerry Garcia meant to the Grateful Dead. He is definitely missed!