The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2: Let It Rock

I love the Grateful Dead. As for Jerry’s side projects, my feelings are mixed. Some were good quality (David Grisman), some were toss-offs (Howard Wales), and the revolving case of what came to be the Jerry Garcia Band crafted some great music, as well as some so-so stuff that I’ll never much care for.

This line-up, with Jerry, drummer Ron Tutt, longtime bass player John Kahn, and British piano magician Nicky Hopkins (who’d made such magic on Quicksilver Messenger Service’s “Shady Grove” just a few years before) has got to rank as among the best.

The blend of songs is great, It opens with a 13-minute take on Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” (hence the title), but done in slow, laid-back JG speed. It was nice, but just once I wanted to hear Jerry let loose and really speed up to mimic Chuck Berry’s version. Not so. Jerry played at a loping along, steady pace, and every song on this album reflects that. The guys rev it up on Tore Up Over You, followed by a nice, different FOTD and TLEO, a funky Pig’s Boogie, the JGB classic Sitting in Limbo, closing out with I’m a Road Runner.

The second CD opens with a nice 11-minute Sugaree, a couple of JGB long-time standards (I’ll Take a Melody and That’s What Love Will Make You Do), followed by a couple of unique tracks in the Jerry Garcia catalog, “Lady Sleeps and the 12-minute “Ain’t No Use,” both of which are just great.

The last 28 minutes of CD 2 are worth the price, period: a 19-minute cover of the Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” and Hopkins’s manic piano rant from Shady Grove, “Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder.” Again, as with “Let It Rock” the band’s cover of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” lopes along at Jerry speed, never quite catching the hard-driving bang-on-the-table-as-if-you’re-playing-drums rhythm that the Stones created. Still, it ain’t bad, it’s just different. I’ll admit, I loved Shady Grove and Hopkins’s short tenure in Quicksilver drove them to new heights, and the first track I played on this CD when I got in my Jeep outside the CD store was “Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder.” It’s as manic and intense as the version on Shady Grove, but with Garcia’s guitar weaving in and out of Hopkins’s precice piano notes, and Tutt and Kahn providing a strong rhythm section, the 9-minute “Edward” really is the high point of this two-CD set.

The compilation was taken from two nights (Nov. 17 and 18, 1975) at the Keystone in Berkeley, where so much JGB magic was captured. I can only hope that there is more from this lineup in the vaults, because this has got to be my favorite post 1995 Jerry Garcia live release (although the Orpheum release of ‘76 is pretty damn hot).

I listened to it all day yesterday as I drove around Tucson in my Jeep for work, then I ripped it when I got home and put it on my iPod and fell sleep during Sitting in Limbo, only to be awakened by Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder’s intensity, and enjoying every minute of it before falling back to sleep.

The Pure Jerry and other posthumous releases have generally been very good. I love the four-CD After Midnight collection. But I have to admit, right now this has jumped to the head of the list. It’s a great 2.6 hours (according to my iPod), and I can’t help but give it a very, very solid 5 stars!

Keep music like this coming, please!