We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
1972 was a fruitful year for fans of the Grateful Dead. Not only would we get a three LP live record of their 1972 European Tour, we also got solo records from Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Jerry Garcia.
The LP “Garcia”, released early in the year, was pretty much a solo record as Garcia played all the instruments except drums which were added by the Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann.
Kreutzmann also co-wrote many of the songs with Garcia and Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Many of the songs became standards in the Dead live catalog.
The first side of the record is solid including a particularly strong tune called ‘Loser”. Side two is a bit more experimental including the first three cuts to which weird doesnt begin to describe.
“To Lay Me Down” is a nice plaintive tune featuring some solid piano and shimmering pedal steel and then he gets psychedelic again with the Burrito-ish ‘The Wheel”.
We will get to the Weir & Hart Records later in the year…but for now you can get your Deadhead hit right here.
