Customer Reviews

Side Trips 1

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

 

 

This, my friends, is some very cool s**t. Loose, languid, spacy, jazzy, Dead-fusionish...cool. Very, very cool. If you're like me and you just cannot hear too many 30-minute versions of "Dark Star," then track down a copy of this somewhere. Others can attack Jerry for not being a bonafide jazz musician all they want. I don't think that was really the point here, and even if it was these guys still managed to miss the target in a fascinating way. Put it on, tune out (in a psychological or chemically enhanced way, whatever you like), and enjoy. Slowly walking down the hall...faster than a cannonball...

Oh yeah.

The least you expect, the greater your chances of being rewarded with some exceptionally beautiful music. This is improvisational jamming at it's purest form, with Jerry having some of his finest minute moments- free to pick- free to move- free to leave the realm of the ever-changing musical landscape at will. Venutian Blues is a true gem with the other 3 idyllic songs running a close behind. This is cosmic jamming folks- this is Jerry at liberty with what he loves to do best- plugging away at the guitar. He was truly a beautiful man.

I have been a Grateful Dead and Garcia Fan since the 70s. I have been to plenty of shows and heard a wide variety of Garcia's guitar playing and I have also been playing guitar for 21 years. This CD has to be the best "impromtu out of the box" guitar and keyboard work I have ever listened to. Side Trips is Jerry's outlet from the day to day job of playing with the Dead. His guitar playing here has no boundries or presets because the songs are pure improvisational jams that offer a fresh new outlet for Jerry's knack for music. For Jerry, it's like a vacation from his day job. (Which for him was not a bad job to have!). I would put away any pre-existing expectations (no Eyes of the World or Franklins Tower jams here) and enjoy the exciting and new guitar offerings that Jerry provides along with a first rate keyboard partner and support band. Get this CD! You won't stop listening to it especially while driving in your car.

Shortly before this album's release, a bunch of reels were found and returned to the GD's vault of Howard, Jerry, John Kahn and Bill Vitt playing at the Matrix in San Francisco in December of 1970.

First, the bad: The artwork and the liner notes could be much better. This is packaged like a close out release or a release on some off beat label that you'd find in the back of a rack at a car wash or a Ross store. The other major disappointment is that this is listed as Part 1. As you may have noticed, Part 2 never happened. It would've been better to release this as a two cd set with improved liner notes and artwork.

Now, the good: Before this release, only one show with Howard and Jerry made the rounds and that was with a different line up. Most of the playing on here is very good. It's very jazz-rock inspired and there are no vocals on this release. The disc starts up with Free Flight and the title should give you an idea about the music to come. The song starts out sounding like a speeded up Careful With That Axe, Eugene before turning into a nice upbeat jam with everyone taking turns showing off their chops. Space Funk is a bit more mellow and I love the way Howard's Fender Rhodes sounds with Jerry's guitar. All For Life is the longest song on here clocking in at nearly 25 minutes while Venutian Blues features what sounds like heavy hints of The Other One in it's last few minutes. If you like long, somewhat laid back, fairly jazz-rock inspired songs, then you might like this. If not, then don't waste your time because you won't like it.

Absolutely fantastic DEAD-jazz while always uptempo and purposeful. Long jams which ooze virtuosity, spontenaity, and unpredictability. Improv at its finest. As good as any Dead improv, better than most Jerry band stuff as far as improv jams. Wales is great and sounds more like Merl's Hammond than his stuff I recall from Hooterall? I'm awaiting volume 2 anxiously!

I like this album because it takes me back to that period of time--I can feel it. Jerry gets a call from Howard and they jam. There are some real good moments in the music, but don't expect too much because its unrehearsed. Like it for what it is, four excellent musicians jamming. Its also nice to hear Garcia playing Jazz. So what if its not perfect, I'm just glad its there. If you have a Garcia/Dead collection, Side Trips is a great addition.

If you have the Howard Wales/Garcia CD "Hooteroll," then skip this. It's more of the same jazzy jamming that really doesn't go anywhere. A couple of years earlier Jerry, Mickey, Jack Casady, etc. had gotten together, also at the Matrix where this is recorded, and done some jams as Mickey and the Hartbeats. The October and December '68 shows are out there on import CD and are jazzy like this, but a lot more interesting. This CD is $9.99 at Silo or Best Buy, so get it there if you really have to have it for your collection. It's nice music to sleep to, by nothing that pushes the envelopes. I think its relative comtemporary, Seastones, is worth searching out instead. This is OK. Just OK. Oh yeah, the cover says "liner notes by Howard Wales." The liner notes amount two a couple of sentences. This is just another post-Garciaa ripoff. Avoid unless you are a Garcia fanatic and don't have (like I do) a thousand or so shows on tape...

It sounded as if the previous reviewer did not like this cd at all, yet they still gave it four stars. I am not as generous with stars.

Most of the harmonic ideas Wales lays down here just sail over Jerry's head and he continues on with some rather directionless noodling. Yes, there are several minutes worth of mediocre moments on this cd, but generally speaking, it's playing like this that makes people think that Jerry was not a very good musician.

For as incredible as Garcia was in the Grateful Dead in 1970, he's the exact opposite of that here. Go elsewhere if you want to hear Jerry play great. Buy this if you just want to hear Jerry play something you can make fun of.