LIFE OF CONTRADICTION
Joe Higgs
Pressure Sounds PSCD 58
With the re-issue of this 1975 masterpiece, the Pressure Sounds label has given a new lease on life to an almost-forgotten reggae classic. The only previous CD release – on the notorious pirate label Lagoon – was noted by fans for its poor sound quality, re-ordered tracklist and the addition of several unrelated tracks (and their dubs) as filler. Prior to that, the album was only available as a long out-of-print LP on the obscure Micron (Jamaica) and Grounation (UK) labels.
The liner notes for this new release explain the circumstances behind its original release, and how it slipped through the cracks to languish in obscurity ever since. The album was originally commissioned by Chris Blackwell for Island Records, at around the time of Bob Marley & the Wailers’ first releases for that label. But Higgs –- a seminal figure in Jamaican music, who had taught singing to the youth of Trench Town (including a young Bob Marley) and had hits in the ska era -- lacked the exotic, dreadlocked, ganja-smoking image of the Wailers. Blackwell thought of him as a "Jamaican folksinger", and at a time when reggae, as a genre, hadn’t yet established itself among rock fans, Blackwell didn’t feel that he had a “hook” to market this thoughtful, subtle album. By the time Higgs got it released himself – three years later – the musical trends in reggae had changed to such a degree that Life of Contradiction sounded positively archaic, lacking any trace of the “rockers” or “flying cymbals” styles that were all the rage in 1975.
Today, ironically, the album has aged much better than most of its contemporaries. In a musical genre which has always valued trends over originality, Life of Contradiction stands out as one of the most distinctive and original reggae albums ever made. From the opening seconds of the album – a series of eerie, descending triplets that resolve into an obscure Horace Silver song (“Come on Home”) – it’s obvious that this is not your typical reggae release. By 1975, the practice of “versioning” popular rhythms –- i.e., recording multiple vocal numbers over each hot rhythm track -– had become widespread, but Higgs’ harmonically-sophisticated compositions and subtle arrangements are more reminiscent of the rocksteady era of the mid-60s, when most of the musicians in Jamaica still had a working knowledge of jazz and show tunes.
Higgs never allows himself to slide into the easy two- and three-chord vamps that most reggae artists favor. The songs are fully-composed, with distinct intros, verses and choruses, and meticulously arranged, with the embellishments of jazz guitarist Eric Gale as the final, distinctive touch. The most impressive songs are "Come on Home", "There's a Reward", "Song My Enemy Sings" and the title track, but the truth is, there isn't a weak song in the bunch. Like many reggae singers, Higgs sings of love and social justice, but like his music, his lyrics are subtle and complex in a way that's all too rare.
In short, this is an album that belongs in the collection of any reggae fan. For serious fans, this is a no-brainer, but even casual reggae fans should give this timeless wonder a spin.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
COMICS: Fables, Volume Ten
Fables: The Good Prince
By Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Aaron Alexovich & Andrew Pepoy
Color, 238pp (Softcover)
Published by Vertigo, $17.99
Simply put, this volume (the tenth in this ongoing series), demonstrates why Bill Willingham is one of the most consistently creative and entertaining writers working in comics today. No matter how many half-baked superhero crossovers DC ropes him into, he always brings his "A" game to Fables, and this volume is as good as any in the series. Following up a volume that consisted of a number of shorter stories (Sons of Empire), Willingham continues to tease the inevitable battle royal while creating a minor epic (nine issues plus a one-issue interlude) starring a formerly-obscure character. The story offers lots for long-time readers to chew on, and succeeds well enough on its own merits to serve as an entertaining standalone tale for new readers who don't mind having five years' worth of spoilers revealed.
THE COMIC
For the first several years of Fables' run, The character of Flycatcher seemed to exist mostly for comic relief. The former Frog Prince worked as a laid-back janitor and comfortably filled the role of Friendly Neighborhood Stoner. But the standalone volume 1000 Nights of Snowfall revealed his gruesome backstory, his memory of that tragedy was restored in Sons of Empire, and in this installment, Flycatcher – the titular Prince Ambrose – is bent on revenge, and launches an extremely unconventional invasion of the Homelands that brings back a number of gone-but-not-forgotten Fables and points the way to the future of the series.
It starts when he naïvely asks Boy Blue to give him the terrible Vorpal Blade to launch a one-man assault on the Homelands. This necessitates a quick but firm lecture on the realities of war (and magic) by Blue, and serves as an ironic introduction to the magical quest and battle that is to follow. Instead of turning Ambrose into a one-man killing machine, Willingham sends Ambrose on a different kind of invasion, one that is passionately non-violent but completely unstoppable. As the now-King Ambrose vanquishes army after army without shedding a drop of blood, Willingham keeps the magic consistent and believable, and the military tactics are, as always, realistically depicted. The story is complex and satisfying, right down to the wonderfully-drawn moment where Flycatcher momentarily imagines himself abandoning non-violence to become a new Emperor. Along the way, Willingham drops a few hints about how the actual war is going to play out, and uses a subtle visual trick to remind us that there is always more going on than is apparent on the surface. It’s a virtuoso piece of writing from a writer who’s already produced some of the best comic books of the decade.
The art, mostly by Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha, is up to the series’ typically high standards. Buckingham is not a self-consciously flashy artist, but he’s a flawless storyteller and his full- and double-page splashes have a genuine grandeur. Leialoha’s inks are, as always, exquisite. One sequence, involving a troll, took my breath away the first time I read it, even though it had already been spoiled on that issue’s front cover.
But, as always with Fables, the greatest joy comes from the writing. Willingham brings a wealth of ideas together with his characteristic blend of military knowledge, believable magic and recognizably human characterization to spin a tale that impresses not only for its sheer entertainment value but for the deceptive ease with which it all holds together. It’s a rarity in any medium to find a writer who consistently combines creatively original ideas with believable characterization and quality of execution, but comics, in particular, have almost always seemed to cut one corner or another. With this volume, Willingham sets himself apart from the crowd once again as the series hits another high point.
THE COLLECTION
The volume itself is in Vertigo’s standard reprint format. One thing I love about this series (and others from Vertigo) is that both the original issues and the reprints are published on matte-finish paper instead of the glossy paper used for the “higher-end” titles like Batman and Superman. The matte finish provides a much better reading experience by virtually eliminating glare, and it’s a mystery to me why it’s reserved for lower-selling titles instead of being an industry standard. This volume is typically excellent both in content and packaging and, like the rest of Fables, is worth a look by anyone who enjoys comics.
By Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Aaron Alexovich & Andrew Pepoy
Color, 238pp (Softcover)
Published by Vertigo, $17.99
Simply put, this volume (the tenth in this ongoing series), demonstrates why Bill Willingham is one of the most consistently creative and entertaining writers working in comics today. No matter how many half-baked superhero crossovers DC ropes him into, he always brings his "A" game to Fables, and this volume is as good as any in the series. Following up a volume that consisted of a number of shorter stories (Sons of Empire), Willingham continues to tease the inevitable battle royal while creating a minor epic (nine issues plus a one-issue interlude) starring a formerly-obscure character. The story offers lots for long-time readers to chew on, and succeeds well enough on its own merits to serve as an entertaining standalone tale for new readers who don't mind having five years' worth of spoilers revealed.
THE COMIC
For the first several years of Fables' run, The character of Flycatcher seemed to exist mostly for comic relief. The former Frog Prince worked as a laid-back janitor and comfortably filled the role of Friendly Neighborhood Stoner. But the standalone volume 1000 Nights of Snowfall revealed his gruesome backstory, his memory of that tragedy was restored in Sons of Empire, and in this installment, Flycatcher – the titular Prince Ambrose – is bent on revenge, and launches an extremely unconventional invasion of the Homelands that brings back a number of gone-but-not-forgotten Fables and points the way to the future of the series.
It starts when he naïvely asks Boy Blue to give him the terrible Vorpal Blade to launch a one-man assault on the Homelands. This necessitates a quick but firm lecture on the realities of war (and magic) by Blue, and serves as an ironic introduction to the magical quest and battle that is to follow. Instead of turning Ambrose into a one-man killing machine, Willingham sends Ambrose on a different kind of invasion, one that is passionately non-violent but completely unstoppable. As the now-King Ambrose vanquishes army after army without shedding a drop of blood, Willingham keeps the magic consistent and believable, and the military tactics are, as always, realistically depicted. The story is complex and satisfying, right down to the wonderfully-drawn moment where Flycatcher momentarily imagines himself abandoning non-violence to become a new Emperor. Along the way, Willingham drops a few hints about how the actual war is going to play out, and uses a subtle visual trick to remind us that there is always more going on than is apparent on the surface. It’s a virtuoso piece of writing from a writer who’s already produced some of the best comic books of the decade.
The art, mostly by Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha, is up to the series’ typically high standards. Buckingham is not a self-consciously flashy artist, but he’s a flawless storyteller and his full- and double-page splashes have a genuine grandeur. Leialoha’s inks are, as always, exquisite. One sequence, involving a troll, took my breath away the first time I read it, even though it had already been spoiled on that issue’s front cover.
But, as always with Fables, the greatest joy comes from the writing. Willingham brings a wealth of ideas together with his characteristic blend of military knowledge, believable magic and recognizably human characterization to spin a tale that impresses not only for its sheer entertainment value but for the deceptive ease with which it all holds together. It’s a rarity in any medium to find a writer who consistently combines creatively original ideas with believable characterization and quality of execution, but comics, in particular, have almost always seemed to cut one corner or another. With this volume, Willingham sets himself apart from the crowd once again as the series hits another high point.
THE COLLECTION
The volume itself is in Vertigo’s standard reprint format. One thing I love about this series (and others from Vertigo) is that both the original issues and the reprints are published on matte-finish paper instead of the glossy paper used for the “higher-end” titles like Batman and Superman. The matte finish provides a much better reading experience by virtually eliminating glare, and it’s a mystery to me why it’s reserved for lower-selling titles instead of being an industry standard. This volume is typically excellent both in content and packaging and, like the rest of Fables, is worth a look by anyone who enjoys comics.
COMICS: Original Speed Racer Manga
Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go
The Complete Original Manga
By Tatsuo Yoshida
Black & white (with a few color pages)
Two volumes, 620 pp (Hardcover)
Published by DMP Platinum, $39.95
Digital Manga has released a handsome hardbound edition of Speed Racer’s original comic book adventures, just in time to catch any remaining interest generated by the recent live-action movie. Based on reviews, the movie will probably be relegated to the bargain bin by the end of the year, but fans of classic Japanese comic strips will be happy that, at the very least, it resulted in this collection’s release.
THE COMIC
The basics of Speed Racer will be familiar to anyone who watched the cartoon series as a kid. Speed Racer, the son of world-renowned mechanic Pops Racer, confronts gangsters, foreign agents and disgruntled rivals while driving his Mach 5 car in a series of increasingly-improbable road races (in one race, his brakes are intentionally disabled to make the contest even, because his opponent’s car has been similarly damaged!).
Although we see a few of the gizmos that characterized the Mach 5 in the cartoon (the bird robot, the sealed-off cockpit, the under-chassis jacks), the stories are more concerned with action than with showing off all the hardware available. In typical Japanese style, many of the stories are about resolving your differences through non-violent means, rather than just punching everyone in sight, but, that said, there’s still plenty of action, both hand-to-hand (Speed is an accomplished martial artist) and on the racetrack.
The stories are obviously written for kids, but as an adult, I still found them fast-moving and entertaining. In one particularly bizarre sequence that would never pass muster for an American “kids’ comic” today, the annoying young sidekick Spritle is actually strapped to an altar and threatened with a razor-sharp swinging blade, a la The Pit and the Pendulum!
The real prize, though, for adults, is the artwork. Yoshida draws in a clean, fine-line style that’s detailed and dynamic. These volumes are a treat for anyone who appreciates the graphic design elements in comic strips, and each panel is bursting with 60s pop-art style, from the legendary design of the Mach 5 itself down to Speed’s argyle socks (seen in close-up every time he steps on the gas).
In terms of the layout of individual panels, and the “pacing” from panel-to-panel, the artwork has a cinematic visual style that’s pretty far beyond most mainstream American comics of the time, and is reminiscent (to me) of the cutting-edge work that Jim Steranko was producing in America around the same time (1967).
Finally, to my untrained eye, it appears that the last story in the collection (“Race to Fire Island”) was drawn by a different artist, although no other artist is credited besides Yoshida (presumably it was drawn by one of his assistants).
THE COLLECTION
Digital Manga has put together a truly impressive package here. The books are well-made hardcovers with sewn bindings (a practice I wish DC and Marvel would adopt), printed from right-to-left (and “back” to “front”) in the traditional Japanese style. The two volumes (one featuring Speed on the cover, the other featuring Racer X) come packaged in a durable slipcover decorated with a gorgeous wrap-around illustration of the Mach 5. Underneath the dust jackets, the actual book covers have been printed in a beautiful minimalist style (again, with Speed on Volume 1 and Racer X on Volume 2) that perfectly complements the slipcover.
The strips are printed on high-quality matte-finish paper and the artwork is (as much as possible) crisply reproduced. The original artwork was, presumably, long-gone by the time they assembled this collection, and several of the early stories have a rougher look, as if mastered from a higher-generation copy, but the visual brilliance of the art is always apparent, and on the cleaner-looking stories (mostly in the second volume), the image quality is fantastic.
My only reservation about this release concerns a very peculiar decision that was made to print translations of each sound effect next to the original Japanese rendition wherever they appear. At best, this clutters up the panels by introducing two visual elements where the original strip had only one; at worst, it destroys the careful composition of some of the more dynamic panels, and in some cases, it even obscures a noticeable portion of the original art.
That seems like a rather large imposition to make on the author's original work, and it doesn't help that the English sound effects are added in a generic "krazy komics" typeface that doesn't fit in at all with the stylized, dynamic style used for the Japanese characters (which are often drawn in perspective to give them some "depth" within the image). It seems to me that most readers would consider it more valuable to see the original, unaltered artwork than to know whether each car's engine is going “VROOOM” or “VARRROOOM” at any particular moment.
Still, overall, I have to give this collection an enthusiastically positive rating. Digital Manga has done a great job of presenting the original strips that most American have probably never seen, but which inspired the whole Speed Racer pop culture phenomenon for the next 40 years. For collectors who like to “get back to the roots”, these volumes definitely deserve a place on your shelves, alongside the increasing number of other high-quality reprint series (e.g. Complete Peanuts, Complete Popeye, etc.) that have made the early 21st Century a real “Golden Age” for classic comic reprints.
The Complete Original Manga
By Tatsuo Yoshida
Black & white (with a few color pages)
Two volumes, 620 pp (Hardcover)
Published by DMP Platinum, $39.95
Digital Manga has released a handsome hardbound edition of Speed Racer’s original comic book adventures, just in time to catch any remaining interest generated by the recent live-action movie. Based on reviews, the movie will probably be relegated to the bargain bin by the end of the year, but fans of classic Japanese comic strips will be happy that, at the very least, it resulted in this collection’s release.
THE COMIC
The basics of Speed Racer will be familiar to anyone who watched the cartoon series as a kid. Speed Racer, the son of world-renowned mechanic Pops Racer, confronts gangsters, foreign agents and disgruntled rivals while driving his Mach 5 car in a series of increasingly-improbable road races (in one race, his brakes are intentionally disabled to make the contest even, because his opponent’s car has been similarly damaged!).
Although we see a few of the gizmos that characterized the Mach 5 in the cartoon (the bird robot, the sealed-off cockpit, the under-chassis jacks), the stories are more concerned with action than with showing off all the hardware available. In typical Japanese style, many of the stories are about resolving your differences through non-violent means, rather than just punching everyone in sight, but, that said, there’s still plenty of action, both hand-to-hand (Speed is an accomplished martial artist) and on the racetrack.
The stories are obviously written for kids, but as an adult, I still found them fast-moving and entertaining. In one particularly bizarre sequence that would never pass muster for an American “kids’ comic” today, the annoying young sidekick Spritle is actually strapped to an altar and threatened with a razor-sharp swinging blade, a la The Pit and the Pendulum!
The real prize, though, for adults, is the artwork. Yoshida draws in a clean, fine-line style that’s detailed and dynamic. These volumes are a treat for anyone who appreciates the graphic design elements in comic strips, and each panel is bursting with 60s pop-art style, from the legendary design of the Mach 5 itself down to Speed’s argyle socks (seen in close-up every time he steps on the gas).
In terms of the layout of individual panels, and the “pacing” from panel-to-panel, the artwork has a cinematic visual style that’s pretty far beyond most mainstream American comics of the time, and is reminiscent (to me) of the cutting-edge work that Jim Steranko was producing in America around the same time (1967).
Finally, to my untrained eye, it appears that the last story in the collection (“Race to Fire Island”) was drawn by a different artist, although no other artist is credited besides Yoshida (presumably it was drawn by one of his assistants).
THE COLLECTION
Digital Manga has put together a truly impressive package here. The books are well-made hardcovers with sewn bindings (a practice I wish DC and Marvel would adopt), printed from right-to-left (and “back” to “front”) in the traditional Japanese style. The two volumes (one featuring Speed on the cover, the other featuring Racer X) come packaged in a durable slipcover decorated with a gorgeous wrap-around illustration of the Mach 5. Underneath the dust jackets, the actual book covers have been printed in a beautiful minimalist style (again, with Speed on Volume 1 and Racer X on Volume 2) that perfectly complements the slipcover.
The strips are printed on high-quality matte-finish paper and the artwork is (as much as possible) crisply reproduced. The original artwork was, presumably, long-gone by the time they assembled this collection, and several of the early stories have a rougher look, as if mastered from a higher-generation copy, but the visual brilliance of the art is always apparent, and on the cleaner-looking stories (mostly in the second volume), the image quality is fantastic.
My only reservation about this release concerns a very peculiar decision that was made to print translations of each sound effect next to the original Japanese rendition wherever they appear. At best, this clutters up the panels by introducing two visual elements where the original strip had only one; at worst, it destroys the careful composition of some of the more dynamic panels, and in some cases, it even obscures a noticeable portion of the original art.
That seems like a rather large imposition to make on the author's original work, and it doesn't help that the English sound effects are added in a generic "krazy komics" typeface that doesn't fit in at all with the stylized, dynamic style used for the Japanese characters (which are often drawn in perspective to give them some "depth" within the image). It seems to me that most readers would consider it more valuable to see the original, unaltered artwork than to know whether each car's engine is going “VROOOM” or “VARRROOOM” at any particular moment.
Still, overall, I have to give this collection an enthusiastically positive rating. Digital Manga has done a great job of presenting the original strips that most American have probably never seen, but which inspired the whole Speed Racer pop culture phenomenon for the next 40 years. For collectors who like to “get back to the roots”, these volumes definitely deserve a place on your shelves, alongside the increasing number of other high-quality reprint series (e.g. Complete Peanuts, Complete Popeye, etc.) that have made the early 21st Century a real “Golden Age” for classic comic reprints.
MUSIC FLASHBACK: A Rainy Weekend with The Dead at Jones Beach
About four years, I went with some friends to see "The Dead" (the surviving members of the Grateful Dead) at Jones Beach on Long Island. We didn't know it at the time, but this turned out to be the final (to date) joint tour of the surviving Grateful Dead members, who had toured together sporadically since 1998, and more regularly from 2002-2004.
In general, each tour was an improvement on the previous one. While a lot of people undoubtedly wrote them off as pure nostalgia -- after all, nostalgia has been one of the primary driving forces in the American music industry for the last 10-15 years -- the former members of the Grateful Dead were always talented and creative enough to keep the concerts fresh, even for a lot of jaded Deadheads who had no interest in copycats like the Dark Star Orchestra or the boring majority of one-riff "jam" bands.
Still, the constant shuffling of band members should have been an indication that things wouldn't last long, and as of the summer of 2008, the gap between "formerly the Grateful Dead" tours has been the longest since Jerry Garcia died in 1995. In retrospect, a lot of the appeal of each individual tour had as much to do with potential as with the actual music played; in other words, there was always a feeling of "if they're this good now, think how good they'll be after a few tours!"
Unfortunately, those few tours (with any constant lineup) never materialized, and we fans have been left with a few happy memories as the legacy of "The Dead" (and "The Other Ones", as they were known from 1998-2002) rather than any particularly significant body of musical work.
This is a revised version of a review that I wrote at the time.
The Dead
Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, NY
August 13 & 14, 2004
We got back Sunday from a weekend trip to Jones Beach to see the latest incarnation of "The Dead". All in all a great time was had by all and it was very much "worth the trip". While overcast all weekend, the rain didn't start in earnest until the second set of the second show.
First off, some words of praise for the venue. This is the second trip I've made to Jones Beach to see The Dead, and this is now one of my favorite "big" venues in the Northeast. There are a few small minuses -- the venue has no roof, so you might get wet, and there are no beer sales -- but they're far outweighed by the plusses (which include no obnoxious drunks and great sound because there's no roof).
Plus, well, it's just NEW YORK. As Phil Lesh memorably said at the end of the first concert, "We just can't get up here and play the same old stuff for you guys". Even sober, a New York crowd is a high-energy crowd, and any performer is going to get off on that. For the Dead, a loud, boisterous crowd can be pure gold, as evidenced by the large number of official live recordings they've chosen to release from the New York area.
This weekend, they were clearly the best post-Jerry Dead-related band I've seen. I was originally skeptical that they were once again messing with the lineup, losing keyboardist Rob Barraco and vocalist Joan Osbourne at the beginning of the year, and adding singer/guitarist Warren Haynes to the band; even though Warren is a great musician, I was more concerned that the frequently-shifting lineup might not gel easily.
I shouldn't have been worried. Barraco was always merely competent, as a keyboardist and a vocalist, with none of the rhythmic or harmonic sophistication that Jeff Chimenti brings to the band. And Warren Haynes is a (no pun intended) huge addition to the band, in terms of his playing and his vocals.
It probably helped that the Jones Beach shows came at the end of almost two months of touring (with a short break in the middle). This is also the third year in a row that the four original Dead members have toured... the most touring they've done since Jerry died. They're definitely comfortable with who they are now (and who they aren't) and are getting better with every tour at playing to their strengths (although that's still not foolproof -- they wouldn't be "The Dead" if it was! -- and Bob Weir's singing voice seems to be deteriorating at an alarming rate).
While the GD were notorious for almost never rehearsing, this band has taken obvious and infectious delight at digging out some of their most obscure and complex numbers. The baroque creations of the late 60s ("St. Stephen", "The Eleven", "Born Cross-Eyed", etc) and the pseudo-fusion of the mid-70s ("Slipknot", "Unbroken Chain", etc.) were often beyond the reach of the latter-day Grateful Dead, and Garcia admitted as much in a late-80s interview in The Golden Road fanzine where he said it was too much trouble for them to re-learn and rehearse complex songs like "St. Stephen".
Watching the new band, it's sadly obvious where the weak link was in that regard. In terms of tightness and technical virtuosity, this band is so much better than the old Grateful Dead that at times it's literally awe-inspiring. Not just because of the high-quality sidemen they've brought into the group, but because of how much better the GD guys play when they don't have to worry about the bandleader dropping beats or missing the changes. They're fearless when it comes to re-visiting 'difficult' songs from their back catalog, and the results often reveal musical gold that was sometimes obscured by sloppy performances in the past.
But the Grateful Dead were never about technical virtuosity or note-perfect renditions. The GD were about magic, and the other thing that's obvious about all of the post-GD groups (starting with 1998's Other Ones) is the almost inevitable lack of that magic. The Grateful Dead always gave a lot of lip-service to the idea that they were a "collective" with no real leader (yeah, so was the Soviet Union!), and some of us even bought it, for a while. After all, the difference in sound between the Grateful Dead and Jerry's solo "bar band" was immense, and there's no question that every member of the GD contributed far more than mere "accompaniment" on any given night.
But they had a leader, make no mistake, and almost every aspect of their music was based around responding (one way or another) to his ideas (early on, of course, they had two leaders, Jerry and Pigpen, but Jerry was always the primary instrumentalist). Jerry was almost always the one with the final decision where the music was going to go at any given moment, and the band basically lived or died by his level of inspiration on any given night.
Since Jerry died, they've never managed to find someone who could really fill his shoes in terms of shaping the band's sound. The first couple of Other Ones tours featured two guitarists and a sax player in the "solo" slot and suffered from the inevitable "whose turn is it now?" syndrome that resulted. In 2002 they returned with only two guitars, Bob Weir and Jimmy Herring. It was an exciting time to see the band -- certainly more exciting than I really expected any "Other Ones" show to be at that point -- and the band was playing better together than they had in a long time.
But over the next year or so, Herring never succeeded in stepping into Jerry's shoes. Nobody expected him to become a note-for-note Jerry clone, but there was always something missing. He rarely seemed to move beyond being a sideman. He's a technical wizard (of the John McLaughlin/Steve Morse school), and his solos were never less than tasteful and well-constructed, but he just never seemed like he was about to cut loose and lead the band on a bat-out-of-hell musical voyage across the cosmos. And really, what do you want to see at a Dead show? Tastefully succinct melodies, or musical voyages cross the cosmos? Thought so.
So this year, along comes Warren Haynes. In bassist Phil Lesh's band, Warren was usually the one who DID lead the band on long, melodic flights of fancy. Stylistically, he's a perfect match for The Dead, with a killer melodic sense, strong vocals and a huge, varied repertoire (he even sang a Metallica song with The Dead the first night).
Vocally, Warren is a killer, and they have wisely let/asked him to sing a lot, sometimes including songs that the others had "covered" in the past (e.g. "Terrapin"). He's expressive enough that he can take someone else's signature tune (e.g. "Into the Mystic", sung with The Dead or "Alison", sung solo the second night) and render it in his own voice. His presence frees Phil from any heavy vocal duties, but, curiously, the band chose to do mostly Weir (and Mickey Hart) vocals on Saturday, after a very Warren-heavy show the night before. As I mentioned earlier, Weir's voice sounded pretty bad, and while his new speak/sing style can work to good effect (in terms of differentiating his performances from Jerry's), it can really reveal his limitations as well.
So now The Dead have this strong vocalist, who's also a killer guitarist, and the inevitable question is, "Do they need three guitarists"? Three guitars is usually too much for ANY band, unless they're the Gipsy Kings, and Jimmy seemed the odd man out during much of Friday's first set. But Friday's second set played heavily to his strong points. He covered all the fast "fiddly bits" in "Slipknot" and "Unbroken Chain", and he continues to excel at soloing in that fusiony style the Dead were playing with in the mid-70s.
In fact, my opinion of Jimmy Herring's playing has continued to improve almost every time I've seen him. Each night at Jones Beach, he did a "space" segment, accompanied only by Mickey Hart on Beam, that was almost Frippian in its dissonant beauty. His soloing dominated the second night's show, and there was much less of the pointless "woodly-woodly" playing that he sometimes fell back on during previous Dead/Other Ones tours.
But in the end, although each guitarist played exceptionally well throughout the weekend, I still came away thinking that three guitars is too much (unless you're the League of Crafty Guitarists). There were times when Warren took the lead and times when Jimmy took the lead, but at each point, the other one was largely superfluous due to the presence of Weir (plus, the band still suffers from occasional touches of "whose turn is it now?"). In Phil's band, Jimmy and Warren always provide great rhythm support for each other, but in The Dead, there's always one guitarist too many.
If I had to pick, I'd say that Warren is more suited to The Dead. Whether he wants to be a full-time member is an entirely different question -- it would probably be pretty creepy after starting his career in the "majors" filling in for Duane Allman -- but even aside from his vocals, Warren's musical personality is much more suited to The Dead. Jimmy seems to be a soloist from the Armstrong/Parker tradition: say what you've got to say and shut up. Warren is much more interested in spinning extended melodic flights, a la Rollins or Coltrane, but more importantly, Warren is a leader. As technically proficient and stunning a player as Jimmy is, he still plays like an accompanist when he's in The Dead. He never seems ready to "take the bull by the horns" and drag the band hither and yon according to his whim.
With Warren Haynes, the post-Jerry band has, for the first time, a leader who's willing and able to step into that position (Bruce Hornsby was certainly able, and probably willing, during the original Other Ones tours, but I don't think he really got the leeway he needed to mold the band in his image). That's a position that I just don't every see Jimmy Herring stepping into, after seeing him play with The Dead for three years in a row now.
Even if Warren doesn't want to continue with the band after this year, I can only hope that they learn from the experience and find someone with a strong enough musical personality (and fearlessness) to take charge. Because all the tasteful, brilliant, technically flawless accompaniment in the world isn't going to make up for the fact that, until now, The Dead have been Four Sidemen In Search of a Leader. Unfortunately, the fact that Warren was the sideman for most of Saturday's show makes me wonder whether the four GD guys have realized this.
As for Jimmy Herring, as well as he played, and as much as my opinion of him has improved, he still seems like a (chuckle) fish (sorry) out of water when playing with the Dead. This guy should be back playing with Billy Cobham and Alphonso Johnson -- playing real fusion, not Dead covers.
Overall, though, there's no question that this was a great weekend of music. The band was jamming hard the first night, with each song following the previous one like a runaway train. The setlist itself can't capture the feeling, as each song featured top-quality jamming within it, which made each new song transition that much more of a pleasant surprise as they piled classic jamming tune upon classic jamming tune ("What do they have left for tomorrow?" was a commonly-heard question after the first show). Things were definitely chaotic and often out-of-control but this show was the closest to real, on-the-edge "we can do no wrong" playing I've heard from The Dead in a long time (fittingly, it also featured its share of "classic" Dead flubs -- "we can do no wrong" is always a fleeting illusion, after all! -- including a total train wreck at the end of "Shakedown Street" and an impressive double-reverse train wreck with a half gainer that led back into "Slipknot/Franklin's Tower" at the end of the set). As incongruous as it might seem, Warren's Metallica cover ("Nothing Else Matters") fit in perfectly well between "Shakedown" and "Cryptical Envelopment".
Saturday night was much more of a controlled, rocking show (especially the first set, which was very up-tempo) featuring big hits ("Truckin'", "Iko Iko") and obscure rockers ("Golden Road", "Mason's Children"). The second set got off to a ripping start with a massive "Terrapin" before a rocking "Dancing in the Streets" (which was, unfortunately, marred by truly horrible vocals from Weir; they should transpose this song to a different key for him). The title of "Only The Strange Remain" used to be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the Other Ones as many treated it as an excuse for a bathroom break, but the version from Saturday night was so heavy it verged on "Victim or the Crime" territory.
It was raining pretty steadily by the end of drums/space, though, and unfortunately, Weir chose to bring the energy level down with a Jerry ballad ("Standing on the Moon"). His slightly-faster arrangement was well-done, but the song really took a lot of the energy out of the set. "China Cat - Rider" followed, but while the previous night's jams had been chaotic and inspired, this one just seemed chaotic (or maybe I was just too tired by then). "Turn on Your Love Light" ended the show on an uptempo note with ripping solos from everyone, before a "One More Saturday Night"/"Ripple" encore that was, unfortunately, compromised once again by Weir's vocals. Here's hoping he gets some rest before the Ratdog tour.
There's a couple more shows left in this tour, and then who knows what they'll be up to in the fall and winter. If you don't like the New Dead, you know it, and this version of the band probably won't change your mind. If you've been on the fence, though, you should really check them out this time around. And who knows what next year will have in store?
In general, each tour was an improvement on the previous one. While a lot of people undoubtedly wrote them off as pure nostalgia -- after all, nostalgia has been one of the primary driving forces in the American music industry for the last 10-15 years -- the former members of the Grateful Dead were always talented and creative enough to keep the concerts fresh, even for a lot of jaded Deadheads who had no interest in copycats like the Dark Star Orchestra or the boring majority of one-riff "jam" bands.
Still, the constant shuffling of band members should have been an indication that things wouldn't last long, and as of the summer of 2008, the gap between "formerly the Grateful Dead" tours has been the longest since Jerry Garcia died in 1995. In retrospect, a lot of the appeal of each individual tour had as much to do with potential as with the actual music played; in other words, there was always a feeling of "if they're this good now, think how good they'll be after a few tours!"
Unfortunately, those few tours (with any constant lineup) never materialized, and we fans have been left with a few happy memories as the legacy of "The Dead" (and "The Other Ones", as they were known from 1998-2002) rather than any particularly significant body of musical work.
This is a revised version of a review that I wrote at the time.
The Dead
Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, NY
August 13 & 14, 2004
We got back Sunday from a weekend trip to Jones Beach to see the latest incarnation of "The Dead". All in all a great time was had by all and it was very much "worth the trip". While overcast all weekend, the rain didn't start in earnest until the second set of the second show.
First off, some words of praise for the venue. This is the second trip I've made to Jones Beach to see The Dead, and this is now one of my favorite "big" venues in the Northeast. There are a few small minuses -- the venue has no roof, so you might get wet, and there are no beer sales -- but they're far outweighed by the plusses (which include no obnoxious drunks and great sound because there's no roof).
Plus, well, it's just NEW YORK. As Phil Lesh memorably said at the end of the first concert, "We just can't get up here and play the same old stuff for you guys". Even sober, a New York crowd is a high-energy crowd, and any performer is going to get off on that. For the Dead, a loud, boisterous crowd can be pure gold, as evidenced by the large number of official live recordings they've chosen to release from the New York area.
This weekend, they were clearly the best post-Jerry Dead-related band I've seen. I was originally skeptical that they were once again messing with the lineup, losing keyboardist Rob Barraco and vocalist Joan Osbourne at the beginning of the year, and adding singer/guitarist Warren Haynes to the band; even though Warren is a great musician, I was more concerned that the frequently-shifting lineup might not gel easily.
I shouldn't have been worried. Barraco was always merely competent, as a keyboardist and a vocalist, with none of the rhythmic or harmonic sophistication that Jeff Chimenti brings to the band. And Warren Haynes is a (no pun intended) huge addition to the band, in terms of his playing and his vocals.
It probably helped that the Jones Beach shows came at the end of almost two months of touring (with a short break in the middle). This is also the third year in a row that the four original Dead members have toured... the most touring they've done since Jerry died. They're definitely comfortable with who they are now (and who they aren't) and are getting better with every tour at playing to their strengths (although that's still not foolproof -- they wouldn't be "The Dead" if it was! -- and Bob Weir's singing voice seems to be deteriorating at an alarming rate).
While the GD were notorious for almost never rehearsing, this band has taken obvious and infectious delight at digging out some of their most obscure and complex numbers. The baroque creations of the late 60s ("St. Stephen", "The Eleven", "Born Cross-Eyed", etc) and the pseudo-fusion of the mid-70s ("Slipknot", "Unbroken Chain", etc.) were often beyond the reach of the latter-day Grateful Dead, and Garcia admitted as much in a late-80s interview in The Golden Road fanzine where he said it was too much trouble for them to re-learn and rehearse complex songs like "St. Stephen".
Watching the new band, it's sadly obvious where the weak link was in that regard. In terms of tightness and technical virtuosity, this band is so much better than the old Grateful Dead that at times it's literally awe-inspiring. Not just because of the high-quality sidemen they've brought into the group, but because of how much better the GD guys play when they don't have to worry about the bandleader dropping beats or missing the changes. They're fearless when it comes to re-visiting 'difficult' songs from their back catalog, and the results often reveal musical gold that was sometimes obscured by sloppy performances in the past.
But the Grateful Dead were never about technical virtuosity or note-perfect renditions. The GD were about magic, and the other thing that's obvious about all of the post-GD groups (starting with 1998's Other Ones) is the almost inevitable lack of that magic. The Grateful Dead always gave a lot of lip-service to the idea that they were a "collective" with no real leader (yeah, so was the Soviet Union!), and some of us even bought it, for a while. After all, the difference in sound between the Grateful Dead and Jerry's solo "bar band" was immense, and there's no question that every member of the GD contributed far more than mere "accompaniment" on any given night.
But they had a leader, make no mistake, and almost every aspect of their music was based around responding (one way or another) to his ideas (early on, of course, they had two leaders, Jerry and Pigpen, but Jerry was always the primary instrumentalist). Jerry was almost always the one with the final decision where the music was going to go at any given moment, and the band basically lived or died by his level of inspiration on any given night.
Since Jerry died, they've never managed to find someone who could really fill his shoes in terms of shaping the band's sound. The first couple of Other Ones tours featured two guitarists and a sax player in the "solo" slot and suffered from the inevitable "whose turn is it now?" syndrome that resulted. In 2002 they returned with only two guitars, Bob Weir and Jimmy Herring. It was an exciting time to see the band -- certainly more exciting than I really expected any "Other Ones" show to be at that point -- and the band was playing better together than they had in a long time.
But over the next year or so, Herring never succeeded in stepping into Jerry's shoes. Nobody expected him to become a note-for-note Jerry clone, but there was always something missing. He rarely seemed to move beyond being a sideman. He's a technical wizard (of the John McLaughlin/Steve Morse school), and his solos were never less than tasteful and well-constructed, but he just never seemed like he was about to cut loose and lead the band on a bat-out-of-hell musical voyage across the cosmos. And really, what do you want to see at a Dead show? Tastefully succinct melodies, or musical voyages cross the cosmos? Thought so.
So this year, along comes Warren Haynes. In bassist Phil Lesh's band, Warren was usually the one who DID lead the band on long, melodic flights of fancy. Stylistically, he's a perfect match for The Dead, with a killer melodic sense, strong vocals and a huge, varied repertoire (he even sang a Metallica song with The Dead the first night).
Vocally, Warren is a killer, and they have wisely let/asked him to sing a lot, sometimes including songs that the others had "covered" in the past (e.g. "Terrapin"). He's expressive enough that he can take someone else's signature tune (e.g. "Into the Mystic", sung with The Dead or "Alison", sung solo the second night) and render it in his own voice. His presence frees Phil from any heavy vocal duties, but, curiously, the band chose to do mostly Weir (and Mickey Hart) vocals on Saturday, after a very Warren-heavy show the night before. As I mentioned earlier, Weir's voice sounded pretty bad, and while his new speak/sing style can work to good effect (in terms of differentiating his performances from Jerry's), it can really reveal his limitations as well.
So now The Dead have this strong vocalist, who's also a killer guitarist, and the inevitable question is, "Do they need three guitarists"? Three guitars is usually too much for ANY band, unless they're the Gipsy Kings, and Jimmy seemed the odd man out during much of Friday's first set. But Friday's second set played heavily to his strong points. He covered all the fast "fiddly bits" in "Slipknot" and "Unbroken Chain", and he continues to excel at soloing in that fusiony style the Dead were playing with in the mid-70s.
In fact, my opinion of Jimmy Herring's playing has continued to improve almost every time I've seen him. Each night at Jones Beach, he did a "space" segment, accompanied only by Mickey Hart on Beam, that was almost Frippian in its dissonant beauty. His soloing dominated the second night's show, and there was much less of the pointless "woodly-woodly" playing that he sometimes fell back on during previous Dead/Other Ones tours.
But in the end, although each guitarist played exceptionally well throughout the weekend, I still came away thinking that three guitars is too much (unless you're the League of Crafty Guitarists). There were times when Warren took the lead and times when Jimmy took the lead, but at each point, the other one was largely superfluous due to the presence of Weir (plus, the band still suffers from occasional touches of "whose turn is it now?"). In Phil's band, Jimmy and Warren always provide great rhythm support for each other, but in The Dead, there's always one guitarist too many.
If I had to pick, I'd say that Warren is more suited to The Dead. Whether he wants to be a full-time member is an entirely different question -- it would probably be pretty creepy after starting his career in the "majors" filling in for Duane Allman -- but even aside from his vocals, Warren's musical personality is much more suited to The Dead. Jimmy seems to be a soloist from the Armstrong/Parker tradition: say what you've got to say and shut up. Warren is much more interested in spinning extended melodic flights, a la Rollins or Coltrane, but more importantly, Warren is a leader. As technically proficient and stunning a player as Jimmy is, he still plays like an accompanist when he's in The Dead. He never seems ready to "take the bull by the horns" and drag the band hither and yon according to his whim.
With Warren Haynes, the post-Jerry band has, for the first time, a leader who's willing and able to step into that position (Bruce Hornsby was certainly able, and probably willing, during the original Other Ones tours, but I don't think he really got the leeway he needed to mold the band in his image). That's a position that I just don't every see Jimmy Herring stepping into, after seeing him play with The Dead for three years in a row now.
Even if Warren doesn't want to continue with the band after this year, I can only hope that they learn from the experience and find someone with a strong enough musical personality (and fearlessness) to take charge. Because all the tasteful, brilliant, technically flawless accompaniment in the world isn't going to make up for the fact that, until now, The Dead have been Four Sidemen In Search of a Leader. Unfortunately, the fact that Warren was the sideman for most of Saturday's show makes me wonder whether the four GD guys have realized this.
As for Jimmy Herring, as well as he played, and as much as my opinion of him has improved, he still seems like a (chuckle) fish (sorry) out of water when playing with the Dead. This guy should be back playing with Billy Cobham and Alphonso Johnson -- playing real fusion, not Dead covers.
Overall, though, there's no question that this was a great weekend of music. The band was jamming hard the first night, with each song following the previous one like a runaway train. The setlist itself can't capture the feeling, as each song featured top-quality jamming within it, which made each new song transition that much more of a pleasant surprise as they piled classic jamming tune upon classic jamming tune ("What do they have left for tomorrow?" was a commonly-heard question after the first show). Things were definitely chaotic and often out-of-control but this show was the closest to real, on-the-edge "we can do no wrong" playing I've heard from The Dead in a long time (fittingly, it also featured its share of "classic" Dead flubs -- "we can do no wrong" is always a fleeting illusion, after all! -- including a total train wreck at the end of "Shakedown Street" and an impressive double-reverse train wreck with a half gainer that led back into "Slipknot/Franklin's Tower" at the end of the set). As incongruous as it might seem, Warren's Metallica cover ("Nothing Else Matters") fit in perfectly well between "Shakedown" and "Cryptical Envelopment".
Saturday night was much more of a controlled, rocking show (especially the first set, which was very up-tempo) featuring big hits ("Truckin'", "Iko Iko") and obscure rockers ("Golden Road", "Mason's Children"). The second set got off to a ripping start with a massive "Terrapin" before a rocking "Dancing in the Streets" (which was, unfortunately, marred by truly horrible vocals from Weir; they should transpose this song to a different key for him). The title of "Only The Strange Remain" used to be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the Other Ones as many treated it as an excuse for a bathroom break, but the version from Saturday night was so heavy it verged on "Victim or the Crime" territory.
It was raining pretty steadily by the end of drums/space, though, and unfortunately, Weir chose to bring the energy level down with a Jerry ballad ("Standing on the Moon"). His slightly-faster arrangement was well-done, but the song really took a lot of the energy out of the set. "China Cat - Rider" followed, but while the previous night's jams had been chaotic and inspired, this one just seemed chaotic (or maybe I was just too tired by then). "Turn on Your Love Light" ended the show on an uptempo note with ripping solos from everyone, before a "One More Saturday Night"/"Ripple" encore that was, unfortunately, compromised once again by Weir's vocals. Here's hoping he gets some rest before the Ratdog tour.
There's a couple more shows left in this tour, and then who knows what they'll be up to in the fall and winter. If you don't like the New Dead, you know it, and this version of the band probably won't change your mind. If you've been on the fence, though, you should really check them out this time around. And who knows what next year will have in store?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)