Phish is back with their first album in five years, and Ben Wiser thinks it might be their best yet. Also: A list of potential candidates for Phish’s 2009 “Halloween costume.”
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In the spring of 1971, Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten, along with the band Touchstone, produced and performed the music for an off-broadway show at the Circle in the Square in New York City.
The performance was called Tarot and the music was later recorded and released in 1972 on United Artists. The performance and resulting album both fell into obscurity and is now highly sought-after by collectors of rare prog and psychedelia.
A little over a year ago, the possibility of a Phish reunion was the stuff of parking lot rumor and message board postings. When they took the stage at Hampton back in March and played those opening notes to “Fluffhead,” 2009 officially became the year of Phish.
Somehow, between jamming with Bruce Springsteen at Bonnaroo and playing consistently sold-out nights, they managed to record a new album with old friend Steve Lilywhite. Joy is their first studio outing since the weary Undermind back in 2004. (more…)
“But there was something else tugging at Garcia as 1964 turned into 1965. For one thing, like half of America under the age of 25, Jerry had been seduced by the Beatles, especially their film, A Hard Day’s Night, which depicted life in a rock and roll band as just about the most fun that could be had on planet earth. the Beatles were deliciously irreverent and in-your-face anarchic; untamable gadabouts on an endless lark, always living in a completely different universe than the pitiable straight forces that were constantly trying to control, or at the very least, restrain them…” –from Garcia: An American Life by Blair Jackson
Grateful Dead – Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?” 4/7/85 Philly Spectrum
Grateful Dead – “Day Tripper” 12/28/84 SF Civic Auditorium (more…)
Somewhere between Burlington and Denver, Asheville and Brooklyn. In a Between the Rainbow bus, the disco van, and the drum circle. Beyond the hula hooping sistas and the guy with the didgeridoo. Just past the hemp jewelry, the h3tty crystal wraps, the miracle seekers, the dreadies with the ice cold sammies and kind veggie burritos, you might find intrepid writer J.J. Colagrande. He’s been on the road for a long time and he’s taken his experiences on Phish tours, at the music festies, and in the vibrant culture and community that goes along with it into his first novel, Headz.
Headz is a rambling, ambling read – told through the point of view of different characters – “Heads” themselves from all over the country. Their collective paths all leading to Soldier Field for “Oracledang” — and what’s “Oracledang,” you ask? Why, it’s only the biggest festie of them all. (more…)
As people gather to celebrate the life of Jerry Garcia during the first week of August, I wanted to share a mix of tunes. Instead of the usual suspects like “Eyes of the World” or “Ripple,” I dug a little deeper and found some stuff that was a little off the beaten path.
You can read my “Jerry Post” from last summer here.
Enjoy the tunes and I’ll meet you back here next week.
““You need music, I dont know why. It’s probably one of those Joseph Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic and bliss, and power and myth, and celebration and religion in our lives and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.” - Jerry Garcia
The Grateful Dead – “Mountains of the Moon” from Aoxomoxoa original vinyl pressing
Jerry and Sara Garcia – “Deep Elem Blues” 5/4/63 The Tangent, Palo Alto
The Grateful Dead – “I Second That Emotion” 4/25/71 Fillmore East, New York
Jerry Garcia Band – “Shining Star” unknown date and venue 1993
Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions – “Shake That Thing” 7/?/64 The Tangent, Palo Alto
Legion of Mary – “The Wicked Messenger” 4/19/75 Oriental Theater, Milwaukee
The Grateful Dead – “Morning Dew” 9/21/74 Palais Des Sports, Paris
Jerry Garcia and John Kahn – “Ruben and Cherise” 5/5/82 Oregon State Prison, Salem
The Grateful Dead – “Whiskey in the Jar” soundcheck 2/?/93
bonus track
Jerry’s Acid Test Commentary ca. 1967 (?)
The double album turns 30 this year. In upcoming installments of Test of the Boomerang, ‘ll be taking a look at the album’s creation, live spectacle, aftermath and legacy. In this first installment we’ll be looking at the long-storied origins of the album and sharing the band’s original demo recordings.
I. Origins
It’s one of the most repugnant tales in rock history: The final show of Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh” tour, July 6th, 1977 in Montreal. Roger Waters had had quite enough. Floyd was performing in a stadium, fans were setting off fireworks during the quiet numbers, the sound was lousy, and finally, out of the roiling sea of people, a fan, imploring the band to play “Careful With That Axe Eugene,” clambered onto the stage, only to have Waters spit in his face.
Pink Floyd had come a long way from the spirited whimsy of “See Emily Play” just 10 years prior. 1977 saw the release of Animals – a visceral and venomous five-song diatribe on class and culture. After the worldwide success of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, the grislier Animals showed Roger Waters exerting himself more and more as band leader and the weightier themes on their new album suggested a pretension that was very unlike the zen parable simplicity of Dark Side’s best moments or Wish You Were Here’s built-in nostalgia. (more…)
The 2009 Dead made their last stand on July 4th at Rothbury. The second year of the Michigan festival was a rousing success and the Dead’s solid show was a definite highlight. While the band got off to a shaky start on their spring tour, they proved their mettle beneath the Independence Day sky rockets.
Now if there was only a fall tour to start getting fired up about.
You can get the boards of the Rothbury show at dead.net and you find several excellent audience recordings on Etree.
Today we’re looking at some rehearsals and soundchecks from the ’90s, but I do have some pretty remarkable recordings of Jerry Garcia in the studio from 1969 for your downloading pleasure. Enjoy.
Sherman, set the wayback machine for September 1990. (more…)
Babatunde Olatunji – Drums of Passion (Legacy Edition)
Columbia/Legacy has just released a glorious two-disc edition of Babatunde Olatunji’s 1959 masterwork, Drums of Passion, one of the most profoundly influential records ever. Before Passion there was no such thing as “world” music, just the industry of “exotica” records from guys like Les Baxter and Martin Denny, who created the music and ambience of “faraway lands” in an air-conditioned recording studio. There were scholarly field recordings for anthropological purposes, but when John Hammond signed Olatunji, a Nigerian drummer, it opened a portal to an entire world of beat, rhythm, passion, spirituality, and movement.
Babatunde Olatunji – “Baba Jinde (Flirtation Dance)”
Babatunde Olatunji – “Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder)”
Olatunji made a string of albums for Columbia through the ’60s; the Legacy edition includes 1966’s More Drums of Passion and a slew of bonus tracks. He became an ambassador of African drumming and culture, and his acolytes include everyone from Cannonball Adderley to Afrika Bambaataa, Carlos Santana to Mickey Hart.
Hey gang, welcome back to another edition of Test of the Boomerang. Happy summer solstice. I hope you all get a chance to enjoy these long summer days with some sweet tunes, either on the road or on your patio. Festival season is in full swing and rather than try and cover everything, we’re going to take a look at a few notable shows from the past month or so. We’ll call it “Best of the Fests” or something clever like that. Pass me a beer and let’s get to the music!
Railroad Earth at DelFest, May 23rd. Allegany County Fairgrounds, Cumberland, MD.
Warhead Boogie>New Jam, Saddle of the Sun, Little Bit O’ Me, Fisherman’s Blues, 1759, Long Way to Go
encore: Railroad Earth
You may have heard about the terrible storm that tore into DelFest on Saturday, May 23rd. It destroyed the stage area and Railroad Earth’s late-night set was moved into a indoor multi-purpose room. The band delivered one solid set the previous day, but after the terrible events of the 23rd, the band played one of their most intimate and heartfelt sets ever.
Highlights include a 25-minute suite of “Warhead Boogie” into “New Jam,” guest appearances by Jason Carter and Ronnie McCoury, and a sweet “Railroad Earth” encore. Tim Carbone wrote over at his blog:
“That night when we encored with Railroad Earth at the late night show, I never meant it more when I sang…. Oh Mama, ain’t it good to be alive! It surely is… it surely is.”
Go check it out HERE. Also here’s some goodness from 5/29/09Â — a good chunk of that night’s way cool version of “Like a Buddha.” Enjoy! (more…)
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Demos (Rhino)
In the wake of Graham Nash’s box earlier this year, and of course Neil Young’s behemoth Archives, Crosby, Stills & Nash (Neil Young appears only on one song) Demos is a pretty modest little disc. A cross-section of hits in their embryonic, home recorded states. It almost feels like a missing chunk of the old CSN box set. Almost. Nothing here feels too oblique, nothing too archaic or for-completists-only. Crosby’s early takes on “Almost Cut My Hair” and “Deja Vu” are especially interesting in their early arrangements. Graham Nash’s “Sleep Song” and Stephen Stills’ “My Love Is a Gentle Thing” crank up the intimacy factor on these recordings and “Be Yourself” and “Music is Love” retain their summery sing-along feel. (more…)
