The fact that I’m over half way through this project and this is only the second Estimated Prophet pick speaks to how much great material the Dead have released over the years.
Estimated Prophet is high on my list of “Growing Bobby Appreciation Songs.” Of course, I can do without the “Bobby Rock Star” ad libs in the jam of some of the later era stuff. Those falsetto “HA!”s grate on my ears. But I’ve not only come to a greater appreciation of Bobby’s playing but it’s always great when Garcia is relieved of vocal duties and can focus exclusively on playing guitar. Combine that focus with some cool effects and an odd time signature and it’s a match made in Deadhead heaven.
Fat bass and jangly guitar are the signatures of this song. Well, along with a 7/4 time signature, but I digress…. Keith is playing some sort of electric keyboard and Jerry has his mutron and/or envelope filter switched on. Estimated has such a unique sound and feel in the Dead’s repertoire. It’s to hear why so many people like it. Donna’s vocals are pretty low in the mix but you can tell that she’s in good voice on this tune. Jerry flubs the entry to the bridge, but recovers nicely. This has to be a tough song to recover on. There’s another flub, not sure the culprit, during the walk up section at the end of the bridge. A quick solo over the chorus chords is a bit disjointed so they exit quickly to the next verse. Weir throws in some vocal ad libs, but the part we’ve all been waiting for enters with Jerry’s guitar. Envelope filter in full effect, Jerry explores all seven corners of the time signature. He’s not in a rush by any means at this point. This continues until the groove starts to breakdown and the band shifts out of the 7/4 time and into something a bit more standard in preparation for Eyes of the World.
