Customer Reviews

Heaven Help the Fool

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

 

 

I was never really a die-hard Grateful Dead fan, though I appreciated their zest and their better-known tunes. But late one night back when AOR was still alive (circa 1979), this amazing song came on the FM radio. I was floored--it was incredibly well done, great arrangement and musicianship, wonderful musical textures, flavorful, highly melodic. WOW! Here was rock & roll that was highly musical, tasty, lots of depth. The DJ said it was Bob Weir, a guitarist for the Dead. I didn't know BW from Adam, but in any case, bought the album (vinyl LP). This album shows true range, great textures, VERY strong compositionallly (not your standard r&r), and if you like the classic Hammond sound when used in rock correctly (narly one moment, transcendant the next), you will especially love it here. And Bob's soloing is first-rate, strong in quality, musical. Lyrics are pretty good too. I have the original LP and was searching Amazon on a lark to see if this album was even available on CD, doubting, and was stoked to find it is. I'm not a real expert on the Dead, but if you like them, and appreciate their musical range, I would guess you'll like this. BUT THIS I GUARANTEE: If you're well beyond the typical crap on the radio and truly dug the days of real AOR FM--like, back in the early days of KNAC in Long Beach (CA) and the great stuff they played, you will really like this album. (It's a shame the cuts listed above don't have clickable samples to play, or you could hear what I'm talking about!) WELL WORTH THE INVESTMENT!

Bob, though not the face of the Dead, was the heart that gave the Dead it's unique sound. This album is not a reflection of the Dead, but showcases the special flavor that Weir added to Jerry's genius, where 2 identities blend effortlessly. Dead fans may not like Weir alone, but many Dead Heads don't appreciate the Pizza Tapes either.

This has been my favorite Bobby solo album for decades. Yeah, you could say Ace, but that's pretty much a Dead album, and most of those tunes did in fact become show staples. OTOH, none of the tunes on Heaven Help the Fool ever really made it into the Dead's rotation, although they flirted with the title track several times as an acoustic instrumental in 1980, tried out This Time Forever once in 78 acoustically, and did Salt Lake City in SLC some time in the late 80s/early 90s.

This is a very "polished" album, not surprising since Keith Olsen, the producer for the Dead's Terrapin Station, did the chores for this album as well. I think the results are far more successful in Bobby's case because the polish, southern LA studio sound really suits this set of songs. And BTW, he gets some great LA session musicians to back him and the results are pretty impressive. BTW--Billy Cobham just doesn't do "mediocre."

Sure it's a lot of cheesy 70s singer-songwriter "angst." Some of us geezers who were around for the 70s actually like that. Like every Van Morrison album from that era, Blood on the Tracks, early (good) Springsteen--those are all 70s "singer-songwriter" albums. It definitely won't appeal to certain heads who have a pretty set idea of what Bob should sound like, but it's not nearly as bad as the negative reviewer below believes it.

This happens to be John Menepace's favorite Bobby solo album. It brings back the days of the early 1990's sitting in the sun, drinking Lambrusco wine with oysters and clams and thinking about the summer tour. It's so easy to slip...

Sorry guys but I had to bring down the ridiculous 5 stars here. While this album doesn't hurt my ears, I can actually stand playing it unlike many cd's out there...it is FAR from great...song wise, performance, production-you name it. It is a VERY mediocre album which has all the stereotypical characteristics of a singer-songwriter album circa mid-70's. Too self-indulgent (for the musician that is-not us), too long (each song), and doesnt stand the test of time. I LOVE some of Bobby stuff with the Dead...and he was a GREAT rythym guitarist with them--even adding great melodic lines sometimes...was good live on his own to my suprise...but i vote NO on this album--especially if you dont have almost EVERY Dead release, or if it costs more than $.01!

I think this is Bob Weir's finest solo album, the music has a great beat and the songs are great from start to finish.

This is a great work by B Weir. It has been nearly 20 or 25 years since this but it still has its moments.

Some songs became nuggets played by the Dead live, and some that he did w his own live projects. I like this much more than the Kingfish record. I think that one lacks creativity. This is the one to pick up.

Sorry for the strong critic Bobby, but that record just didn t get to too many fans.

J G