Leave it to Rhino to issue another winner from the archives of Jerry Garcia.
Three years after The
Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 1: Legion of Mary, which caught the
guitarist scurrying at a funky creative crossroad, comes The Jerry Garcia
Collection, Vol. 2: Let It Rock. Brace yourself for a powerful two-CD
set that brilliantly captures Jerry Garcia during an extremely productive period
of his life.
Somehow, between recording Blues For Allah with the Dead,
directing The Grateful Dead Movie, and gigging with Legion
of Mary, Garcia made time for his ongoing pet project, the Jerry Garcia Band.
The lineup was particularly strong with bassist John Kahn and drummer Ron Tutt,
but received an extra boost when famed British session man Nicky Hopkins joined
in for a few gigs on piano.
Hopkins’ musical pedigree is impressive through his association with
the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver
Messenger Service, and dozens more. His time was short with the Jerry Garcia
Band, but pivotal in, according to one writer, “shifting away from big
jams toward song-oriented material.” Without debating the results, that
doesn’t stop the band from extending most of the songs here.
Let It Rock includes covers of songs by Chuck Berry (“Let It Rock”),
Little Milton (“That’s What Love Will Make You Do”) Jimmy
Cliff (“Sitting In Limbo”), and the Rolling Stones (an 18-minute-plus
version of “Let’s Spend The Night Together”). There are also
performances of Allen Toussaint’s “I’ll Take A Melody”
and Hank Ballard’s “Tore Up Over You,” which subsequently
appeared on Garcia’s Reflections album.
The Dead classic “Friend Of The Devil,” along with “Sugaree,”
from Garcia’s 1972 solo debut, is included. Hopkins gets in three originals.
“Pig’s Boogie,” picks up from a Munsters and Addams Family
theme face-off, and features some of the best ivory tinkling from Hopkins on
record. The piano man’s “Lady Sleeps” and “Edward, The
Mad Shirt Grinder” (originally done with Quicksilver) also made the cut.
Hopkins even speaks up during the introductions, calling out each player before
Garcia does the same to him. It’s hard not to imagine what the Englishman
could have done with the Grateful Dead.
While this isn’t the complete show, Let It Rock is sequenced as a two-set
club gig, with highlights recorded November 17 and 18, 1975, during two gigs
at the Keystone Berkeley, right across the bay from San Francisco. Any Jerry
Garcia and Grateful Dead fan, worth his or her weight in patchouli and kind
bud, will want to add The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2: Let It Rock
to their collection.
~ Shawn Perry
