Jerry Garcia Band – GarciaLive, Volume Five
Jerry Garcia Band – GarciaLive, Volume Five: December 31st, 1975 Keystone Berkeley (2014)
The fifth installment of the GarciaLive series collects archival footage of the only New Year’s Eve show any incarnation of the Jerry Garcia Band performed, recorded at the tiny Berkeley, California club the Keystone on the last day of 1975.
Garcia’s band of drummer Greg Errico, bassist John Kahn, and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins is joined on the second and third sets by familiar Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart as well as harmonica player Matthew Kelly on several tracks.
A particularly loose, appropriately celebratory feeling flows through much of the sets as the band wanders through seemingly completely unrehearsed instrumental interludes, briefly visiting themes like “God Save the Queen” (the traditional melody, not the Sex Pistols version still a few years from coming into existence) and a bumbling jam on the Beatles’ “Mother Nature’s Son.” When they do get cooking, it’s on extended 12-bar blues vamps in the first set like “It Ain’t No Use” and “Pig’s Boogie,” while the second set tends toward laid-back jams like “Catfish John” or shuffling electric blues workouts like “Tore Up Over You.”
The band takes some time to truly get in a groove on this date, finally settling into some of the best material near the end of the recording. The ambling shakiness of the first set puts this into the category of simply average-caliber fare from Garcia and friends. Die-hard completist Deadheads and those who prefer the bluesier side of Garcia’s multifaceted playing might take interest, but the casual listener might find this set falling short of inspired, even for the fun-loving vibe that develops as it goes on.
Disc 1
First set:
“Let It Rock” (Chuck Berry)
“Mother Nature’s Son” (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
“It Ain’t No Use” (traditional)
“God Save the Queen” (traditional)
“They Love Each Other” (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)
“Pig’s Boogie” (Nicky Hopkins)
Disc 2
Second set:
New Year’s countdown
“How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland)
“Catfish John” (Bob McDill, Allen Reynolds)
“Mystery Train” (Junior Parker, Sam Phillips)
“Drums” -> “New Year’s Jam”
“Mystery Train” (Parker, Phillips)
Third set:
“Tore Up over You” (Hank Ballard)
Tuning
“C.C. Rider” (traditional)
“(I’m a) Road Runner” (Holland, Dozier, Holland)
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