It has been said that the Grateful Dead never really stuck the landing when playing watershed concerts: Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Egypt, all were, at the time, considered lackluster performances. Yet, in retrospect, there were enough diamonds in the rough from the series of Egypt shows to warrant a release. Last time we visited Rockin’ The Cradle was with Candyman, but this time the spotlight shift to Looks Like Rain.
It seems that Strange Occurrences in the Desert abounded during the Egypt trip. This selection is in a similar vein to the recent I Need A Miracle selection in that it sees Garcia pushing for more but ultimately denied.
The music speaks for itself, for better or for worse, so give it a listen and let me know what you think.
How does Garcia get his guitar to sounds like water? Even the noodly notes in the beginning of this song seem to have that quality to them. Phil’s bass is very articulate here. Donna joins Weir singing mid verse, but that’s ok. Her vocal stylings are always welcome on this tune and she’s in fine form. After the “street cats making love” line you can hear someone meow on stage. I never noticed that before! Haha! That’s hilarious. Jerry’s guitar shimmers as he runs up and down the fretboard. He slows his pace a bit during his bonafide solo, adding a bit of distortion to the mix all while dancing around the melody. As he brings it down Keith jumps on his coattails and injects a couple of concise runs of his own to the mix. I can’t decide if Phil is disinterested in playing Looks Like Rain or if his is just being very deliberate. Granted the song benefits from being able to breathe, but Phil just doesn’t seem like himself. Perhaps it’s just me? The vocal jam between Bob and Donna goes on a for a while and finally takes off. It seems that Jerry doesn’t want the song to end as he start hitting it hard right as the song ends. His efforts are slightly rewarded and he’s able to draw out a few more measures before bringing the song to its final destination.
