Customer Reviews

Without a Net: Live

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album has it all...it shows the range of the Dead during an interesting time of their lives. Jerry is actually sober and can play the songs the way only he could. They infuse jazz and funk into several of the songs in ways i have not heard on other live recordings, namely "Althea" and "Eyes of the World". This is such a great album for someone who is interested in the Dead, but has no idea where to start collecting. Start hear...here...and then go back to the beginning and listen to the growth and progression...and then you have to start collecting the [...] Picks, and any other live shows you can lay your hands on...Man cannot live by Dead alone...but it is worth a try...peace.

Yes: no Pigpen. But lie back and savour this Garcia/Kreutzman/Lesh/Weir/Hart (and friends) concert. No real Dead fan could be dismayed, although as a Traffic fan, I admit I almost wish they hadn't tried to fool with Dear Mr. Fantasy, which for reasons unkown to this writer, seems to be just outside the range of this magical band. But I can get over that. These were some of the best years the group enjoyed. Their fans were suddenly appreciating them worldwide and they toured a lot. Even though my favourite Dead album remains American Beauty, I love this later stuff, and there is some particularly fine material to be found in the second set, including the medley Help on the Way/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower, which is absolutely classic Dead. And anyway, if Brandford Marsalis can decide to turn out and blow a tune with these guys, it's not because the group itself has anything to be ashamed of. On the contrary...

I HIGHLY recommend Without a Net - it's one of the BEST commercially-produced live GD CDs you can buy (tied with 'Dozin at the Knick' for 1st place, in my opinion!). Definitely pick this one up...

CD1 is a bit more mellow, but the band and music are still soooo tight. Some of my disc-1 favorites are "Feel Like a Stranger", "Cassidy" and "Bird Song", but the entire CD rocks - it's a great warm-up for Disc-2...

CD2 has some of the best Grateful Dead I've ever heard - hard to believe, considering this is NOT '70s GD, it's late '80s / early '90s GD! There's no point in listing a few of my favorites from disc-2, because I'd have to name EVERY track! But if I had to pick just one song, it would be "Eyes of the World" with Branford Marsalis on saxophone. Every time I listen to this disc I'm totally blown away by how tight Jerry and Branford are, how easily they're able to "weave" their improvisations into ONE incredibly cohesive "jam" - it's like they could read each others' minds and knew EXACTLY what direction the other was headed (my words can never do it justice though - you need to hear "Eyes" with your own EARS and you'll see what I mean! :)

DEFINITELY a must-have for ANY GD fan - from beginners on up. A+++!!!

This recently remastered (in HDCD from Rhino) 2-CD set of songs was recorded live between October 1989 and April 1990. It's a completely different sounding Grateful Dead than what I've been listening to lately. Not bad, just different.

For one thing, there are more instruments here than just standard bass, keyboards, drums, guitars, vocals. On Without a Net, there's a whole plethora of instruments, from brass to synthesizer. The overall result is a polished, funky, Las Vegas-y sound. (Brandford Marsalis guests on "Eyes Of the World.")

I prefer the stripped-back sounds of the Grateful Dead circa 1968-1972, personally. (My two favorite live Grateful Dead CDs are Two From the Vault and Hundred Year Hall for that reason.)

However, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Without a Net. On the contrary, there are some great tunes on this live CD set -- among which are "China Cat Sunflower/I Know Your Rider," the opening salvo on the second CD, and "Help On the Way/Franklin's Tower," "Let it Grow," and "One More Saturday Night." Not coincidentally my favorite tracks are the longer, more energetic ones that get jamming and settle into a cool Grateful Dead groove.

Without a Net is a really solid Grateful Dead concert. The sound quality is, as always with Rhino, top notch. But be forewarned. If you buy this CD thinking it'll be like Two From the Vault or The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack, you'll be sorely disappointed. That's not the sound, or the groove, in this CD. Without a Net has a kind of distant feel to it. To me, it doesn't reveal the brilliance of the Grateful Dead's live shows.

But, to each his own.

This might be the most appropriately named album they ever made. Without a Net describes the music they made to a tee... Huge balls, no fear, always pushing the limits, performers on a highwire act with no net below. Though this album title might have been more appropriate for the earlier years, they always played on the tightrope, the borderline of disaster and genius right up to the very last show. Sometimes it all went bad... and sometimes it transcended what I think is possible with a live band.

This album, however, is not a borderline disaster.
This album shows a band that is at it's peak. Very polished, very jazzy, completely confident and focused on what they are trying to achieve. Brent Mydland died after this tour, and it all went downhill for the next 5 years after that. But here you can hear Brent's last call, and see what magic music they were making.

The "first set" of this album contains perfect versions of every song, something that was never achieved in any concert they ever played. Let alone a whole tour. I have listened to almost every concert they have played thanks to the archives, and I can say with quite a bit of confidence that the songs represented here are the best versions they played within 10 years of this album's release (1985-1995).

My favorites are the Walkin Blues, Althea, Birdsong (the midi guitar flute freakin rules) and Cassidy among the perfect renditions of the other songs.

However, the Eyes of the World is beyond the pale and might be the best of the best. Branford Masalis sits in on this song. It will make you think about how he should have been a full time member. It shows his musical genius to just fit right in so perfectly with a maniac band like the Grateful Dead, it is like he had played these songs 5000 times along with Jerry. It really is something to behold. If you enjoy the Eyes of the World as much as I do, be sure to check out the complete show which contains a Dark Star with Branford Marsalis along with the rest of the 2nd set from 3-29-90.

This is the perfect album to give to a friend who is into Jazz, but has never heard the Dead before. It will surely surprise anyone unfamiliar with the Dead, as they have never been a band to meet anyone's preconceptions, or expectations for that matter.

I first heard a few songs from this CD right around New Years, maybe 1991, and fell head over heels for Eyes of the World. There's so many great tunes on this CD, so many great musicians who helped, one of my favorite Dead albums. Once again, played into oblivion, buying another copy for the good stereo.

While I'm a fan of the early GD, rarely listening to anything recorded after 1972, I gave this one a try and was fairly disappointed. Every band evolves with time as do the members, but there is something to be said for the early GD that can't be said for their later work. The sound of the late 70's to the early 90's is vastly different from the blues/folk beginnings of the band. There are more instruments, electronics, and members of the band that I think take away from what the GD were...... a simple band, making complex songs and jams with a certain "feel" to them. The feel is lost behind the synthesizers and electronic sound of this album. Needless to say I will be passing this album on to someone who appreciates this period of the GD sound and will go back to listening to Pigpen, Jerry, and the boys singing and playing about simpler times.

It's 1990, not 1970 or 1980. Things sound a bit different. For tape traders, much of this might seem passe, but for those of us who hadn't really been listening to what Jerry and Brent were doing on studio albums, this album was an eye-opener. The "Franklin's Tower" on this album is one of the most joyful pieces of music I have ever heard -- period. And while the "Eyes of the World" with Branford Marsalis might sound a bit different than some of the gems from the Dick's Picks series, it's still plenty good music. Well worth your money.

This has Look Like Rain on it. Aaahhh. Jerry Garcia. Need I say more?

The best songs here are Bird Song, Let It Grow and Help On The Way/Slipknot->Franklin's Tower. The rest seems forgettable. Part of the problem with this release was that at the time there were still many songs that hadn't been used on live albums but unfortunatly half the songs here had already appeared elsewhere. This was also recorded during the time when the band was bringing back songs that hadn't been played in years and with the exeception of Help/slip none of that appears on here. All this has changed in recent years with the release of vault tapes.