Blues For Allah is a bit deceptive for the title here. It’s actually:
- Blues For Allah >
- Stronger Than Dirt >
- Drums >
- Stronger Than Dirt >
- Blues For Allah
The comments on this show from deadlists.com:
Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin sat in for complete Dead set ; show was part of the SF SNACK (San Francisco Students Need Athletics, Culture, and Kicks) Benefit; performing artists (billed): Doobie Brothers, Graham Central Station, Mimi Farina, Jefferson Starship, Jerry Garcia and Friends, the Miracles, Joan Baez, Santana, tower of Power, Neil Young, (unbilled): Bob Dylan; guest celebrities (billed): Frankie Albert, John Brodie, Rosie Casals, Werner Erhard, Cedric Hardman, Willie Mays, Jesse Owens, Gene Washington, the Rev. A. Cecil Williams; 10:00 am Sunday showtime; $5 advance; $7.50 at the door
For my money the Stronger Than Dirt sections are where you get your money’s worth with this show.
Of course, one of the biggest challenges with procuring this recording is that it was a limited bonus disc for the Beyond Description box set. It’s really a shame that these bonus discs (and I would argue the limited edition releases in general) aren’t available for download (in FLAC or mp3). As someone who owns most of the limited edition stuff I don’t see this as devaluing my copies, and there’s precedent for it, but that’s life I guess.
Over at dead.net it’s frequently come up that all of the 1975 shows would make a good release, 3/23/75, 6/17/75, 9/28/75. The band only played 4 shows that year while on hiatus, one of which was released as One From the Vault. A set of the other 3 shows seems both feasible and reasonable. Yes, this track is pretty much the entire 3/23/75 show (missing only the Johnny B Goode encore, no big loss in my eyes), but it’s extremely limited availability should keep it a candidate for wider release. (There’s precedent for releasing material already released on bonus discs.)
Jerry finally pushes everything forward establishing a cogent guitar line that eventually morphs into Stronger Than Dirt. Phil rides the main bass riff for a while, and the rest of the band settles into a nice groove. Garcia’s tone really cuts through the mix here. I assume a good reason for that is the new Travis Bean guitar he was playing in 1975.
The funk and groove of Stronger Than Dirt gives way to Drums, and Mickey and Billy have their way with whatever percussive instruments are on hand.
After a few minutes Phil starts to lay down the Stronger Than Dirt bassline and everyone quickly falls back into place for another jaunt through that song. The main rhythm figure of Stronger Than Dirt provides some nice breathing spaces for quick ad-libs and everyone seems to take notice and add extra color when appropriate. Swirls of keyboards, mix with block chords, throbbing drums, and a pulsating bass, all held together by Weir’s comping and Jerry’s lead, which winds its way through the maze of sounds like an electric eel. The fever-dream subsides as one of the multiple keyboardists, probably Merl, takes center stage. He passes the lead off to either Keith or Ned, I assume the latter because the playing style doesn’t sound like Keith. In the background Jerry can be heard teasing Slipknot! riffs for a few measures until they get back to the main theme – or at least one of them, or should I say a variation thereof? In short order the pace slows and Jerry picks out the chords.
And we’re back to Blues For Allah to finish up the set. There’s a lot more confidence and clarity in the Blues For Allah theme at this point. Jerry’s playing is more precise and it’s the same song with a different feel as a result. Jerry and Phil sing “do do do”s to the Blues For Allah melody in lieu of the actual lyrics. After a few runs through the band drops out and they sing a cappella a few times through. The band comes back in, plays the main theme one last time and they stick the landing. “Thanks for coming folks” says Phil as they wrap up their set.
Complete Setlist 3/23/75
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One of the sponsored ads on my browser is for “Portrait Professional” photo editing software. There are two head shots of the featured female model. The one on the left looks tired and ready to snort some meth to start her day off on the right foot. She clearly lives in a trailer park and will reach the top of her career as a clothing folder at the local Family Dollar store. The one on the right looks vibrant and interested in everything I have to say and might be enrolling in med school next week before she marries me and makes beautiful babies. Wow. How do they do that?
Haha. Sometimes the ads that pop up here, or anywhere on the internet really, just amaze me.
Back to our regularly-scheduled program — “Ancient Reviews” by Steve Seachrist. (They are a whole lot less ancient than the music itself, by the way.) This half-hour-plus medley comes to us from that rarest of Grateful Dead vintages, 1975. The band had barely cooled their heels after the previous October’s “retirement” gigs, yet had somehow worked up fresh material to be recorded on the Blues for Allah album that summer. Here, it gets a test drive.
A huge ovation leads to a very unfamiliar flourish of electric piano and guitar, for openers. Right away, the bass and lead guitar delve into the melody of the “Blues for Allah” suite, while both Keith and an unidentified organist or two (reportedly Ned Lagin and/or Merl Sauders) color the proceedings. The drummers are appropriately loose in their interpretations as the squiggly song trucks along. At about 3:25, this introduction gives way to a bass-and-two-keyboards backing that is both creepy and soothing. Garcia and Weir add fragmentary melodies to the mix as the song continues to loosen from its already unstable moorings. A storm is brewing now, and what comes of it rivals plenty of “space jams” and other non-destinations found in the middles of those other songs – you know the ones I mean.
The mood settles pretty quickly and a regrouping centers on the space left between all the spare playing. Garcia leads it in a nondescript but familiar direction momentarily before the rhythm section hijacks the whole thing into something more funky after 9:00. This something turns out to be “Stronger Than Dirt/Milkin’ the Turkey”, or at least the jammy parts, without the big changes. Some really odd effects jump out of the left speaker just before 14:00, and I can’t even guess their origin. So far, this whole thing has shaped up to be a jam unlike any other I have heard before.
Finally, after 15:00, the changes that define “Milkin’ the Turkey” arrive, but only for a moment before everyone drops out in favor of the drummers. Mickey and Billy duet in front of an audience for the first time in many years here. The seeds of endless future drum duels are sown as we listen to this. The drum portion of the jam is satisfyingly long (though as I look at the counter it is only about 4 minutes,) then the others crowd in and set up the groundwork for the next movement. Again, the jammy segments are featured, without resolution into the main changes. Tension, but no release, in other words. This state of affairs continues for a surprisingly long time, and then builds to a hot climax after 24:00. This finally drops into the series of changes that you were waiting for. That mystery organ plays on, loud and proud, and even is featured as a solo instrument for a good spell next. Keith responds in kind with a jazzy run across his keys, only to be shouted down by the organ again. The others stay out of the way for the most part here. Suddenly, after 27:15, Phil steers the jam in a melodic direction that touches on familiar ground for just a moment. Jerry signals a descent into the original theme (“Blues for Allah”, but the ending part) and everyone gets on board and rides this thing to its majestic conclusion with just a bit of “Do-do-do-do” singing holding the place for the soon-to-come Robert Hunter lyrics. Any fan of the jammy Grateful Dead simply must hear this thing!
I understand they played “Johnny B. Goode” as the encore. Perfect! Where is it??
Awesome jam here, maybe it’s Ned and Merle’s keys that make this sound decidedly more “early” 70s (to my ears at least) than late 70s, even though it’s about as mid 70s as you can get. Count me among the many who would enjoy a ’75 box.
I hadn’t heard Blues for Allah in a very long time and at first listen here, I couldn’t help but think of Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge. I went back and listened to Stonehenge and the two song aren’t really that close but they are similar in their initial approach. And as far as the movie goes, early on, when the roadies are trying to place the dragons head (or whatever it is) seems very much like early parts of the Grateful Dead movie when they’re putting together the wall of sound.
All in all this is spectacular listening. I just spent way more time listening to this than I’d planned but it was time well spent.
This just reminds me how much I love Spinal Tap. That film is pure genius.
I’ve been exposed to this set at various times for the last 30 years, but I’ll admit I didn’t “Get It” until I just gave it “one more chance”. I’m glad I stuck it out, past the initial Blues For Allah theme (I could still do without it, but it’s essential to the experience here). Garcia is going for the throat, no doubt! I topped off the experience by listening to the JBG encore on the LMA (Charlie Miller source is still streamable) and now this one will be added to the rotation. Thanks, LB!
The Blues For Allah section is actually the weakest part of this jam, if you ask me so I can understand you dilemma. The rest is pure gravy though! Glad you stuck it out this time.