BETTER DEAD THAN EVER
Win, lose, or draw, rock bands change rapidly; and their longevity is not a keynote to success. For wonder and amazement, the Grateful Dead have survived among the towers of rock. To some people, they never existed. Other persons, those who have not seen them in ages, may consider their survival a resurrection. I consider it a triumph!
THE GRATEFUL DEAD -
The Dead are still very much the same as three years ago; back to the same old drive. They have added another drummer plus a new organist to replace "Pigpen," whose departure will further impoverish their vocal range. Having redoubled their enthusiasm for instrumentation, the Dead now resort less to song and more to the use of spoken imagery. On Sunday, the best singing was done by Jerry Garcia on "Death Has No Mercy." His guitar excellence far outdoes his voice and has definitely improved. The whole group works better, both as musicians and as a "family." The time spent together has especially proved fruitful in yielding some exciting double drumming.
For two or three hours, the band played with but one intermission. Their reputation was gained after performing such long, "psychedelic" sets. To them, music is all one song, like a vision of the universe; it grows deeper into itself. "Pigpen" was "at home" to sing a nostalgic "Turn On Your Lovelight," that had everyone up and moving long before he finished. Children were on stage dancing. Insistent applause brought a warm response from the Dead, who finally put the evening to rest with an incredible "Good Night." For unexcelled rock entertainment, they proved again "Enjoy!" Enjoy the Grateful Dead!
BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS -
Since Al Kooper decided to quit "his group," Blood, Sweat and Tears has succeeded without him. Perhaps, he was his own victim. The new singer, his replacement, comes on more strong and vigorous than the sickly-sounding Kooper. Both organ and piano fit more easily into the total sound. As a unit, the band performs old numbers with increased eagerness. Their former hit ("I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know") came off awkwardly; but "I Can't Quit Her" was super perfect in performance and arrangement. Their attempt at "God Bless the Child" was weak. However, they made up for their failure with an excellent adaptation of Traffic's "Smiling Phases." I sometimes resented the intrusion of a horn section; that was too loud and blatant. Otherwise, the band was in fine shape and good spirits.
SPIRIT -
As for these five, do not expect them to sound better than their records. Their music unfortunately lacks substance and thought. They produced a bit of theatre and plenty of electric gadgetry, including an echo machine. Yet, Spirit plays a la Hendrix and as a poor imitation at that. The guitarist was much too loud; singing was all right, though; and the drummer was very much in control.
(by Christian Mueller, from the Daily Californian, January 13, 1969)
Alas, no tape!
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BONUS REVIEW:
Fillmore West 1/12/69
MIND-BLOWING GUITARS AT FILLMORE WEST (excerpt)
[ . . . ] In its steadily ballooning influence over the past five years, the San Francisco musical environment has produced a truly imposing assortment of individual musicians. Exceptional lead guitarists seem to be especially bountiful. . . One wishes only that, somehow, these separate abilities could be occasionally pooled in collective presentation. Such a situation would be intensely stimulating in at least two general categories musically, so the listener might observe new relationships among performers who have played rarely, if ever, with each others' technique, and nostalgically, to view simultaneously a large contingent of those artists who have forged so much history here.
Sunday night's performance at Fillmore West was as representative a celebration as has ever been witnessed in San Francisco - and certainly one of the most exciting and unexpected. Led Zeppelin, a new, electric British rock-blues outfit featuring ex-Yardbird Jimmy Paige as guitarist, and Taj Mahal, the blues singer working out of LA, both played enjoyable sets. Both should ideally be commented on at length, but the third band . . . was so exceptional as to warrant near-exclusive focus.
That band was, essentially, Country Joe and the Fish, playing what will likely prove to have been their last set. The personnel composing the "Fish" was a stellar collection of San Francisco musicians, the likes of whom no city could provide better. They were: Chicken Hirsch of Country Joe and the Fish, and Mick Hart, of the Grateful Dead, playing drums; Jack Casady of the Airplane on bass; Joe himself, vocal and rhythm guitar; Jorma Kaubonen, Gerry Garcia, Steve Miller, and Barry Melton, none of whom require any introduction, playing alternate lead guitars.
The set began at two o'clock in the morning (the normal closing time), and under direct orders from the state, no dancing. This may yet qualify as one of man's mortal prohibitions. For the music rendered Sunday night was violently physical and emerging. The band traveled as through an overwhelmingly dense, yet fast-paced set of blues, a set that lasted an hour and one-half. While one guitarist, say Gerry, would make fully constructed lead statements, the others would fling sidelong, interspersed accompaniments, the sum effect of which was ideal rhythm and blues, utilizing with remarkable smoothness the various approaches peculiar to each guitarist. Not enough can be said about the performance, save to say thank you to the musicians and to Graham. A finer farewell the Fish couldn't have had if only there had been dancing allowed.
(by Raymond Lang, from the Daily Californian, January 16, 1969)
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Another review from the early January '69 Fillmore West run, which unfortunately seems to be completely lost.
ReplyDeleteI posted another review earlier from the Stanford Daily; this one is from the Daily Californian, the paper at UC Berkeley. (As usual, the university papers come through when the regular local papers ignore the goings-on at the Fillmore West.)
It used to be uncertain whether the Dead had played a show on Jan 5 since the original poster was only for Jan 2-4, but an extra Sunday show was added, and this reviewer even adds a partial setlist: Death Don't, Lovelight & Good Night. He mentions that the Dead are now jamming more with fewer songs and more "spoken imagery" (which could refer to the Eleven? or maybe a Pigpen rap).
He's also surprised to still see Pigpen on stage, having heard that Pigpen was leaving the band. This was reported far and wide in late '68, but no one ever really announced that Pigpen hadn't actually left, so reporters in early '69 continued to expect that the band might break up at any time. (More comments on that in the other review.)
Both reviewers consider the Dead awesome. The Stanford reviewer says they're "a sprawling, joyous family" still "giving off Trips Festival vibrations" and compelling the audience to dance again - they're "San Francisco's down-home sound." The Berkeley reviewer also sees them as a family, with children dancing onstage. Both reviewers agree that they're playing better now but "the Dead are still very much the same as three years ago" (this aspect doesn't really come across on tape).
It's said that the Dead played 2 to 3 hours "with but one intermission" - though this may sound normal, the regular routine at the Fillmore West at the time was for the bands to rotate in two shorter sets (which the Dead would do in February). It sounds like on this Sunday at least, the Dead took the opportunity to play a long set instead.
I also added an extra review of the Fillmore West show the following Sunday, with various SF luminaries jamming with Country Joe. Although Lang was a pretentious reviewer, he was blown away by the jam, and wished that the various musicians could play in combinations more often. (Also note that the cops were enforcing "no dancing," I presume since it was after 2am.)