tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5823924606195118195..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: April 1967: Album ReviewLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-49721995834617072852013-06-27T20:26:53.154-07:002013-06-27T20:26:53.154-07:00A favorable review. Where some early reviewers com...A favorable review. Where some early reviewers complained that the Dead's first album did not capture their live sound, Goldstein compliments them for not indulging in studio trickery, and for their "subtle restraint" and "concise improvisation." He's even pleased that they're not noisy & psychedelic, just "straight, decent rhythm & blues."<br />My guess is he did not react to Anthem so favorably!<br /><br />When he writes that "it feels spontaneous, it sounds honest," and it's played just like a live show, that's exactly what Garcia said of the album when it was released. Only, for the Dead, that was a disappointment, and they wanted to indulge more in studio trickery and "electronic havoc"!<br /><br />It's funny that he says Morning Dew lifts guitar lines from Jefferson Airplane's song Today - not knowing that Garcia actually played the lead guitar on Today... <br /><br />Goldstein reviewed the Velvet Underground's first album in the same issue, same column. I can't resist: <br /><br />"The Velvet Underground is not an easy group to like. Some of the cuts on their album are blatant copies: I refer specifically to the progression lifted from the Rolling Stones "Hitchhike" to "There She Goes Again." The lead vocal on other songs sounds distressingly like early Dylan. Some of the material is dull and repetitive. And the last two cuts, "Black Angel's Death Song" and "European Son" are pretentious to the point of misery. <br />But the Velvets are an important group, and this album has some major work behind that erect banana on the cover. "I'm Waiting for the Man" is an impressively understated vignette about scoring in Harlem. "Venus In Furs" is fine electronic mood-manifesting. "Femme Fatale" is an unearthly ballad, subtly fuzzed-up to drive you mad fiddling with bass and treble switches. Nico's voice is harrowing in its pallor, but chic, very chic. <br />Most important is the recorded version of "Heroin," which is more compressed, more restrained than live performances I have seen. But it's also more a realized work. The tempo fluctuates wildly and finally breaks into a series of utterly terrifying squeals, like the death rattle of a suffocating violin. "Heroin" is seven minutes of genuine 12-tone rock 'n' roll."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com