January 10th holds a sore spot for many musicians and fans of the art form. 10 years ago, David Bowie left us. A decade later, Bob Weir has passed. Bob Weir needs no introduction. At the age of 16, he co-founded the Grateful Dead alongside fellow members Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan in 1965 in San Fransicsco. The bands now legendary name came by random selection in the dictionary. In 1967, the band released their self-titled debut record and featured faster-paced shorter songs which is in stark contrast to what the band was about to become. That same year, a critical addition was added to the band. Mickey Hart was recurited which would help create the famous "Rythym Devils" percussuion sound for the band. The album did include a jam titled "Viola Lee Blues' which would foreshadow their jam band legacy. Furthermore, the albums that followed Anthem Of The Sun (1968) and Aoxomoxoa (1969) pushed their psycodleic influences to the forefront. Their live album Live/Dead (1969) would solified it annd included an epic "Dark Star" jam that lasted 20 minutes. Plus, the album has a killer jam of "St. Stephen." Come 1970, the band would return to their roots and release two critically acclaimed studio records that same year. Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are both cherished albums 55 years later and includes the bands most enduring songs like "Truckin", "Casey Jones", "Sugar Magnolia" and "Dire Wolf". Come 1975, the band contunued the rest of the decade with gnere-fuising records like Blues For Allah, Terrapin Station (1977) and Shakedown Street (1978). All those albums feaature Weir as a creative rthymic force. He treated rhythm guitar as a "second lead voice" and doing so created a complex harmonic latricework that would define the bands sound. It was creative leap foreward since his coffee-house folk playing days.
For more than 6 decades, Weir has toured playing the music of the dead. After the passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995, the band continued to delgiht deadheads. Furthermore, the past decade saw Weir on the road as "Dead And Co." which included band members Kreutzmann and Hart along with John Mayer filling in for Garcia. Lots of deadheads were skeptical, given Mayer's musical repuation and ego. Nonetheless, they succeeded.
For anyone boxing the band in as the 'hippie jam band' I urge you to rethink your thoughts and give Europe 72 a listen. Weir and the band shine on there. From the mythical "Jack Straw" to the blues romp "Mr. Charlie" and the integrate "China Cat Sunflower/ I know Your Rider" theres something for everyone. And of course, listerns can dive into the legendary Dick Picks collection for mind- blowing live jams.
Bob Weir lived the ultimate life. Changing the world of music and its capabilities, while also serving as the ultimate guru on life-lessons, meditation and living in the moment. He truly was the last hippie. We can all take a page from the book of Weir. Thank You Mr. Weir for your contributions. You and Jerry must be having a blast now reuinted again. Fly high brother.
No comments:
Post a Comment