Customer Reviews

Reflections

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This CD, remastered by Rhino with 5 extra cuts sounds incredible. It is almost 80 minutes long. The original album only had 8 songs, but there were some long ones. This title "Reflections" is good. The Dead had taken a year off from touring "1975" and had recorded "Blues For Allah" earlier in the year.
What is neat, is that half of the songs are recorded with the "Dead" and the other half with "The Jerry Garcia Band".
Garcia uses his custom guitar "The Wolf" on this album, some really nice pics and liner notes come with the remastered version. Some standout tracks are "They Love Each Other" which the Dead played for years to come, a reggae type rhytmn with great backup vocals with Bob Weir and Donna. "I'll Take a Melody" is a real slow paced retrospective song with lots of great guitar. Another great ballad is "It Must Have Been The Roses" which ended up in the Dead's set list too.
"Catfish John" is another great reggae type melody with the Dead backing him up. Great lead guitar break, Jerry really puts emotion in his leads and creative tones thru his custom made "Wolf". More tight backup vocals with Bob and Donna.
"Comes A Time" is an emotive hearttaker, incredible guitar tones,(especially on this Rhino version).
"Mystery Train" is a great loosely jammed bonus track. Great version of Hank William's "You Win Again"(where's the guitar break?)
The last track is a blowaway, the first version of "Orpheus" which became a Dead jam staple. This is an incredible Miles Davis type jam. Jerry is incredible, the band is so in synch with each other."Wow" (almost 18 minutes"
If you are a Garcia fan, you have to get this!!!

While Jerry's debut solo album "Garcia" features more of my favorite Grateful Dead songs, I prefer "Reflections" for it's consistent excellence. Among the Garcia/ Hunter originals on here I was most impressed by the rockin' version of "Might As Well", a great party tune commemorating the Dead's time with Janis Joplin, The Band and others as they travelled by train to a series of concerts in Canada circa 1970. I also highly recommend "Festival Express", a movie capturing this wild ride. Among the covers "Catfish John" has always been a favorite of mine. But I think that here it is even surpassed by Jerry's emotional singing and playing on Allen Touissaint's "I'll Take A Melody".

The original 1976 album had only 8 songs. But the CD contains 5 bonus tracks, including a rollicking Elvis Presley number,"Mystery Train", and Hank William's "You Win Again". But most Deadheads will likely gravitate towards "Orpheus" an epic 18 minute jam session, the sort that made the Dead's live performances so legendary. This is my personal favorite among Garcia's solo albums and certainly one worth owning.

This is my favorite Jerry solo album! All the songs have a nice flow and more of a jam-style than the heavy production as in some of the other CDs (e.g., Cats).

Jerry gets a great sound from his guitar on "Catfish John"--it sounds like a steel drum. And I love the final lead of "I'll Take a Melody."

You also get some Dead staples: "They Love Each Other", "It Must Have Been the Roses", & "Comes a Time". Not surprising considering the entire band played on many of the songs.

AND PLAYS GUITAR! I don't know, but maybe it was the roses...or the many other transcendant musical fragrances on this recording that inspires this review...But this (half by the whole GD band) hits all the right notes. Jerry leads the way for all contributing members like the Pied Piper, tranferring all the right footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn (Catfish John). Other songbirds, like Donna, add to the wonderful warble of harmony on the way...this is one inspired piece of mid-70's Americana!

The part I like to absorb is the feel of the era - this Blues for Allah/Reflections "post-retirement" period is the BEST in my mind, they were ridin' high it appears to me! I bought this around that time in LP form as a teenager, it always was a favorite (Blues for Allah is one of my fav albums). In this excellent remastered package (by Rhino with extensive liner notes), it is nearly perfect (with 5 generous bonus tracks).

Mystery Train and All by Myself (newly released) studio bonus Jams are very fun, with Jerry seeming playful and pleasantly free-spirited. The rootsy Oh Babe, It Ain't no Lie is like Jerry channelling Blind Lemon Jefferson or something - sweet! What a great human he was...I am humbled by his spirit and pure love of music - THANK YOU JERRY FOR YOUR VISION AND SHARING NATURE! You Win Again (by Hank Williams, believe it or not) is a charming version, more traditional than Europe 72 (never heard before like this - Jerry says "Hell yes, we got that one!") that could still charm the pie from a country casserole queen, despite its city edge). Oh, and ORPHEUS - here is the biggest gold nugget to mine here - 17 minutes or so of SUBLIME, LOST BLUES FOR ALLAH MATERIAL that could be sitting between Soloman's Marbles and The Music Never Stopped.

If this album was only middle of the road for you then or perhaps you missed it, forget that and get it now if you feel like re-exploring some more obscure DEAD material. Come into the Mission in the Rain, YOU MIGHT AS WELL! 78 minutes and 22 seconds of prime Jerry & Co. goodies - ENJOY OFTEN!

I prefer this to Garcia 1972 as those songs are plentiful and better on Live Dead recordings. I dont even have the 2005 re-master--but others have better sound quality and the Bonus tracks are superb...so I will buy this soon even though I have the original on cd already. The 18 minute Orpheus is what Im after.

As much fun as the first time I heard the Vinyl so long ago, and a bunch of neat new out takes etc.