The Grateful Dead: Summer, early 1990’s
Driving from Houston to Aspen, Colorado with my friend Eric. Eric has somehow just gotten his gum all over the road map, and in trying to clean it off he has now gotten the gum all over the map and the front dash of my car. We finish arguing over the gum just as we cross the New Mexico and then Colorado border and all is well again. After hours of the flat, boring hell that is the Texas panhandle, once you enter the brief bit of New Mexico and then Colorado it becomes one of the most beautiful parts of the country. The mountains are visible in the distance, the air immediately feels fresher and cooler. Eric pulls out a cassette of The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty from his backpack. I’ve had happier days (my wedding day, birth of my daughter), but I don’t think I’ve ever felt so content and relaxed as on that day. Beginning of summer, with one of your best friends at your side, driving into the Colorado mountains, a clear blue sky, and the smooth groove of “Box of Rain” coming out of the speakers. I think we played through that tape about 5 or 6 times, all the way to Aspen. Nothing fits the carefree freedom of summer like the Dead. At the end of the trip, Eric gave me the tape as a gift to commemorate our adventure. Sure I’ve got American Beauty on CD and vinyl, but they don’t quite sound like that old cassette tape.
What To Listen To: Man, this is tough with the Dead. There is studio Dead and live Dead. Very different creatures. On the studio side you need to head straight for 1970. In that same year they released their two best records, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Both are acoustic-heavy Americana that is as good as any out there. Two great records that are live but are also used to introduce important new (at the time) songs into the Dead canon are The Grateful Dead (1971) (aka “Skull and Roses”) and Europe ’72. As for getting a real taste for legendary live Dead jams, there are over 100 live recordings available, and they are daunting to sift through. Out of the ten or so that I own, I would recommend 1969’s Live/Dead for the trippiest, boldest, most psychedelic improvisation. For more down to earth but very good live shows, I like The Closing of Winterland and Dick’s Picks, vol. 14.
The Byrds: Individuality
The genius of The Byrds is that leader Roger McGuinn realized that he was surrounded, throughout the shifting line-ups, with very distinct talents. He loosened the reigns enough to allow each of these talents to contribute to the magical sound of The Byrds. David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Clarence White and Skip Batten were all given the opportunity to contribute songs, take lead vocals (or guitar in the case of White), and even shape the direction of the band. Crosby’s wacked-out but always sonically complex musings, Gene Clark’s ethereal and hypnotic songs and vocals (Clark was the primary songwriter on the first two records), Hillman’s burgeoning prowess on multiple instruments and deep roots in traditional American music, Gram Parson’s country/rock pioneering, White’s stunning and fluid guitar work and Batten’s simple but engaging country compositions were all given full flight alongside McGuinn’s own great compositions and groungbreaking 12-string jingle-jangle chime.
ABOVE: "Eight Miles High." The greatest psychedelic song ever? You decide. Listen to those tight vocal harmonies!
As many great songwriters that they had going through their ranks, they were also masters of covering songs while making them their own. There is really no point in a cover unless you transform it in some way. Of course, Jimi Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” remains the greatest and most transformative cover, but The Byrds’s debut single of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” remains the most significant cover in rock. It created the folk-rock movement, opened the door for more serious songwriting in the rock realm, and was a catalyst in encouraging Dylan himself to go electric. What is it about Dylan’s songs that make them so ripe for great covers? The songwriting is so solid, yet the musical structures so basic (like a rock solid blues song) that it gives the artist much room to go in many directions with it. (Another brilliant Dylan cover: Van Morrison and Them doing “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”). Finally, forget about the Beach Boys, CSN or The Beatles. The Byrds had the most gorgeous vocal harmonies.
What To Listen To: Much of their early repertoire is essential. Debut Mr. Tambourine Man is stunning. The three records they released during their first transitional period (Gene Clark and David Crosby’s exits) are all brilliant: Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday and the gorgeous and mysterious The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Gram Parson’s sole record as a Byrd, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, is considered by many to be the greatest hybrid of country and rock, although I’ve never really warmed to it for some reason. For a compilation, there are many out there. I quibble with a few omissions, but the 2 disc Essential Byrds is a good intro.
Allman Brothers Band: Improvisation
The Fillmore Concerts. That is where you need to go. The Grateful Dead may be the most celebrated jam band, but the Allmans were the best. Duane Allman was a visionary guitarist, one of the few who had both the chops and the creativity to make 20 minute jams interesting. It is telling that Duane cited John Coltrane as one of his biggest influences. The Allman’s were one of the few bands whose jams and improvisation workouts were of the quality of great jazz music. And they did it using basic building blocks, tunes that were simple yet solid and open enough to explore freely. Some of their greatest improvisations were based on simple blues or folk compositions, the best example being “Mountain Jam,” a 33-minute rocker based on the simple, three minute Donovan confection “There Is a Moutain.” Some were more complex, such as Dicky Betts’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (their version on the Fillmore Concerts features my favorite Duane Allman solo at the climax of the song). The Fillmore Concerts is most famous for its 22-minute tour de force version of “Whipping Post,” a fascinating exploration of one of their signature songs. Yes, it spawned many less talented jam bands who made the long jam a cliché of overindulgent noodling, but you can’t blame the Allmans for that. Chops + creativity. So rare to find both in the same artist. Duane had some stellar help, of course. Dickey Betts was a brilliant second guitar foil, the rhythm section of Berry Oakley on bass and the double drums were a complex rhythmic cauldron, and the greatest white blues singer ever in brother Gregg Allman definitely helped fulfill Duane’s vision.
ABOVE: The Allman Brothers Band The Fillmore Concerts
What To Listen To: Everything from their original line-up before the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley is essential. Debut The Allman Brothers Band and sophomore effort Idlewild South both laid the foundation, the greatest live album ever in The Fillmore Concerts (an expanded version of the original Live at the Fillmore East) is essential, celebration/wake for Duane Allman Eat a Peach was a surprising triumph, as was celebration/wake for Berry Oakley Brothers and Sisters, which allowed Dickey Betts to step out in front…get them all. After that, it gets spotty, but there is worthwhile stuff out there. As for compilations, Gold covers the 60’s and 70’s exceedingly well, while Mycology is an excellent overview of their surprising and inspiring resurgence in the 1990’s.
1 comment:
I do think ties are kosher (like I've said before, the Library of Congress isn't monitoring these things), but the ties on my movie list have at least been thematically linked. Yours seem a little more like just a way to cram in more artists. But to each his own.
This post has inspired me in a couple of ways: to check out a bit more of the Allmans (I've always been a big fan of "Melissa" and "Jessica," but haven't explored much beyond that. And I need to get more comprehensively knowledgeable about the Byrds' stuff. I like them a lot, but should know them better.
Never had much interest in the Dead.
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