THE SOUND
Music and radio: for young listeners
Imagine a nonstop set almost 2 1/2 hours long by a group of musicians as talented as the three members of Cream and twice as big (plus an apprentice organist). The Grateful Dead did just that last Thursday night in the Kinetic Playground, and it was the most impressive music-making the house has seen since opening its doors last March.
And it came as a surprise to many of us who had never seen the group in person - even despite the raves that had filtered here from the west coast.
The albums are good, but not that outstanding. And there are still things wrong: They have no good vocalist; their material itself is not that memorable (you don't go around humming Dead tunes); and it takes them forever to really get warmed up (a friend Thursday remarked that they were the only group he knew that tuned up like a symphony orchestra).
But when they do - and they did - there's nothing quite like it.
Back to the Cream comparison: Instead of just Ginger Baker, the group has two drummers; instead of just Eric Clapton, two guitarists; instead of Jack Bruce, a bass player and a vocalist-organist-harmonica player. Plus someone on organ when the vocalist is singing or playing harp.
In addition, all are superb - as musicians, as performers, as improvisers, what have you. The lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia, and the organist, Ron McKernan, deserve to be listed with the very best.
They play a rather mixed bag: funky blues, psychedelia, country - all with a touch of Mothers of Invention freakiness thrown in.
They closed Thursday with a violent free-form heavily electronic number that gave way to a country-gospel good-by which had the large audience standing, clapping, and stomping throughout.
Due to [the] length of the Dead set, Procol Harum didn't play a second set, so we missed them this time around, and regret it in light of the new album.
Terry Reid was a disappointment (again, in light of a very good new album). His trio (guitar-organ-drums) is a first-rate bunch who likely will go far, but at present Reid himself is trying too hard, coming on too strong.
He's very good looking, an excellent vocalist, and a rather good guitarist - but he's also too conscious of being all these things. Hopefully he'll tone down things a bit in the future. Watch them nonetheless, especially when the organist picks up a violin during the slow numbers - a violin, mind you, not a fiddle or an electric violin; a violin, and it sounds like one.
(by Robb Baker, from the Chicago Tribune, December 2, 1968)
Thanks to jgmf.blogspot.com
