Jerry Garcia
Ladder to the Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan
(Rhino)
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2005, Volume 12, #11
Written by John Metzger
Although they were separated in age by a mere 26 months, Jerry Garcia still was forging an identity among San Francisco’s folk music purveyors when Bob Dylan leapt onto the national stage. Indeed, by the time that the Grateful Dead began to develop its own distinctive voice on 1968’s Anthem of the Sun, Dylan not only had issued a slew of classic albums, but he also, on more than one occasion, significantly had altered the trajectory of folk and rock history. It’s no surprise, then, that initially, the admiration that Garcia had for Dylan was unrequited, and as was demonstrated by the rendition of It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue on the Dennis McNally-compiled prequel Birth of the Dead, the Grateful Dead was infatuated with Dylan long before it even had established its own distinctive persona. Over time, of course, Dylan came to hold the Grateful Dead in equally high esteem, and once he shared the stage with Garcia at a 1980 concert in San Francisco, their futures fully became intertwined.
Garcia Plays Dylan follows in the wake of 2002’s composite Postcards of the Hanging, but where the latter set emphasized the Grateful Dead’s interpretations of Dylan’s compositions, the new collection culls material primarily from Garcia’s solo repertoire. No matter: The results are largely the same since each outing, in its own way, beautifully highlights the indelible and wholly personal stamp that Garcia placed upon Dylan’s work — be it the gentle lyricism in which he thrived on Forever Young; the bittersweet aura he gave to She Belongs to Me; or the dark, moody ambience he explored during Señor (Tales of Yankee Power).
Nevertheless, Garcia Plays Dylan is far more challenging than its
predecessor, and as a result, it isn’t nearly as accessible a collection. For
starters, there is little variance to the pacing of its contents, and much of
the 15-track endeavor is devoted to slow- to mid-tempo selections that likely
will blur together within the minds of those not paying tremendously close
attention. Yet, taken out of context, each tune reveals itself to be a
magnificent gem that showcases different aspects of Garcia’s staggering skills
as both a guitarist and a vocalist. Yes, his ominous rendition of The Wicked
Messenger, which plodded along with a viscous air of deliberation that was
more befitting of Mountain than any of his own projects, was barely recognizable
as the composition that Dylan had recorded for John Wesley Harding. Yet,
the hellfire that Garcia unleashed with his startling, angst-filled guitar solos
made it downright riveting. Likewise, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door began in
an unassumingly sleepy fashion, but by its conclusion, it had blossomed into an
affecting anthem that pitted its weary intonations against the radiant salvation
of its gospel-blues core. Elsewhere, Dylan’s bilious charges on Positively 4th
Street were supplanted with rueful rumination and mourning; a lazy stroll
through When I Paint My Masterpiece gave way to an orgiastic flurry of
guitar; Visions of Johanna was devoid of extensive soloing, and the
subtlety of its arrangement chillingly framed Garcia’s haunted, lyrical
delivery; the somber, nearly claustrophobic strains of I Shall Be Released
burst with the fiery force of spiritual transcendence; and within its gentle,
country-tinged lilt, Simple Twist of Fate bore hints of Eric Clapton’s Okie-derived charm. For certain, Garcia never tackled Dylan’s songs in a
straightforward fashion, and he subsequently always managed to find a fresh
perspective from which to perform the material, which is precisely why Garcia
Plays Dylan is such an insightful venture into the minds of both artists. 
Ladder to the Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan is available from CD Universe.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2005 The Music Box