Day 131: Visions Of Johanna, 3/18/95

I would guess that Jerry’s voice sounds relatively good here in part because they started using teleprompters for some songs and I’m pretty sure this was one them. That probably added a little confidence to his singing.
Blair Jackson around this time wrote something along the lines that the band overall was playing great except, of course, for Garcia. Everyone knew he was struggling but many of us didn’t realize how serious it was, we just thought he’d get in shape and bounce back eventually.
At the Soldier Field show on 7-8-95 when Jerry got to the “Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues,” line he pumped his fist in the air and pretty much everyone I heard talk about that show mentioned that. It just shows how rare that kind of thing was from him. Most fans got really excited by it during the show but I kind of felt he did it in part to make up for the lack of a great guitar solo like he might have played a few years earlier. But maybe I was reading too much into it.

Love the Dylan covers, BTW.

Opinions are what this is all about. How can a civil discussion be bad? There is no hate in being critical. We gotta learn to agree to disagree in so many ways in life. That so-called Ace character is the only guy I’ve ever known to threaten someone with physical violence because of a disagreement on the official GD site. The world needs WAY less of that. Lunchbox, I respect your diplomatic response but I won’t miss him for one second.

This is the only tune on this compilation taken from the last year of Grateful Dead performances. Phil mentions in the liner notes that he finds the guitar solo “unutterably poignant”. The song begins less auspiciously than that, with Jerry struggling a bit with the singing and even some of the playing. But hear him growl out some of the lines like a fiery little Dylan, at times speaking a word or two rather than singing. He muffs a few here and there and frankly I am waiting for that guitar solo now. The drummers treat the groove like a moving target that the others must find. When the instrumental break happens, Garcia is surprisingly understated in his expression. I hear some interesting little chording that makes it unusual in some ways, but can’t say that I hear what Phil hears in it. The next verse is sung with a fun rise in the dynamic in its first half. The verse after that is much quieter and the band faithfully rides on whatever vibe Jerry puts forth with his voice and guitar. Listen for Vince Welnick adding tasty piano fills in these last parts. It is a long song, and it feels like a relief when it ends without disaster.