Bob Weir
Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir
(Hybrid)
First Appeared at The Music Box, April 2004, Volume 11, #4
Written by John Metzger
Bob Weir is, perhaps, the least appreciated member of the Grateful Dead despite the fact that the music he contributed to the band was some of its most complex and adventurous material. As the group’s youngest participant, Weir inevitably felt a need to prove himself to his peers, and his compositions tended to invoke complicated rhythmic arrangements and jazz-oriented chord sequences that thrust Dave Brubeck’s experiments with the time-space continuum into the rock ’n‘ roll community. In other words, his contributions were well-suited to the very essence of the Grateful Dead’s style.
Still, Weir remains a remarkably underrated artist, and perhaps the biggest obstacle to his gaining the credibility that has eluded him — other than the superb guitarist named Jerry Garcia, who unwillingly was placed within the spiritual spotlight that gleamed upon the Grateful Dead — has been the overtly slick approach he took to recording many of his side projects. Despite the gems Ace and Evening Moods that, thus far, bookend his studio career, everything that came in between has been sketchy, at best. Typically, otherwise terrific tunes were polished to a glossy sheen and then buried within a morass of lesser material.
Fortunately, the non-concert portion of the recently released two-disc career retrospective Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir largely avoids the fluff in favor of Weir’s more substantial compositions. It’s hard to argue with the notion that 7 of its 16 tracks were culled from Ace and Evening Moods, given that these albums are represented by nuggets such as the airy Cassidy, the rousing rocker One More Saturday Night, the sprawling epic Two Djinn, and the jam-heavy Playing in the Band. While the trio of tracks (Easy to Slip, Wrong Way Feelin’, and Shade of Grey) plucked from Heaven Help the Fool as well as the pair of R&B workouts (Lazy Lightnin’ and Supplication) drawn from Kingfish venture into some extremely satiny terrain, they are also essential components of Weir’s exquisite canon of songs.
As for the second half of the set, it is devoted almost entirely to concert
performances, save for one previously unreleased rehearsal out-take — a sterling
rendition by Weir’s latest ensemble Ratdog of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War,
which was captured just after the "shock and awe" portion of the 2003 Iraq
bombing campaign had begun. The rest of the tracks, five of which are new to
this collection, were culled from a variety of Grateful Dead shows held between
1971 and 1990. Naturally, no compilation of this nature would be complete
without including the staples Truckin’, Sugar Magnolia, The
Music Never Stopped, Jack Straw, and Throwing Stones, and the
versions featured on Weir Here certainly don’t disappoint — even if they
are available elsewhere. Of course, most of the attention will be paid to the
recently unearthed material, and the best of these selections is undoubtedly the
serpentine reggae groove of Estimated Prophet, though the New
Orleans-baked shimmy through Norman Span’s Man Smart (Woman Smarter), the
amplified boogie of New Minglewood Blues, the countrified stroll through
Kris Kristofferson’s Me & Bobby McGee, and the powerhouse romp through Hell in a Bucket are exceptional and vital. In total, Weir Here: The Best
of Bob Weir offers a fulfilling glimpse at the Grateful Dead’s secret
weapon, a rhythm guitarist and songwriter who not only provided the brilliant
counterpoint to Jerry Garcia’s shimmering lead, but also has been overlooked for
far too long. That Weir’s career has taken a new twist within the dynamic
journeys of Ratdog is merely icing on an already well-decorated cake. 
Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir is available
from Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2004 The Music Box