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Jerry Garcia
All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions
(Rhino)
Part Three: Reflections
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2004, Volume 11, #9
Written by John Metzger
 Jerry Garcia
Reflections
(Rhino)
Jerry Garcia’s third solo outing Reflections featured neither the
avant-garde excursions of Garcia nor the wide-ranging eclecticism of
Compliments, and in fact, it almost never came to fruition. Originally
conceived as a means of showcasing the newly formed Jerry Garcia Band, the
project nearly was derailed when legendary keyboard player Nicky Hopkins
succumbed to a variety of ailments brought about by an addiction to drugs and
alcohol. In the end, the album was salvaged when, in the midst of its
self-imposed hiatus, the Grateful Dead joined Garcia in the studio, allowing him
to complete the collection and turn what could have been a disaster into a
rather happy accident. By utilizing sessions recorded with each of his
ensembles, the famed guitarist was able to find the middle ground between the
two disparate entities, thereby lending the effort a cohesive focus that made it
an oft-overlooked, hidden gem within his solo canon.
Indeed, Reflections stands as one of the finest albums that the
Grateful Dead or any of its many off-shoots ever released. Coupling a few
well-chosen cover songs with several outstanding compositions penned with Robert
Hunter, the album struck a bittersweet balance between light and dark, sun and
rain, and hope and despair as it gracefully waltzed from the introspective
ruminations of Mission in the Rain to the uplifting sentiments of Allen
Toussaint’s I’ll Take a Melody to the heartfelt musings on the importance
of love expressed through Comes a Time. With each turn of phrase that he
delivered as well as each note that he played, Garcia vulnerably bared his soul,
casting a projection of images and emotions that appeared to pour straight from
his heart. Like much of his material, he extracted the essence of gospel, blues,
country, jazz, reggae, and folk and fused it with a rock ’n‘ roll backbone in
order to form his own playfully exuberant brand of Americana-tinged
improvisational bliss.
From the driving beat of Mystery Train to the wistful tenderness of
Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie and from the breezy swing of All by Myself
to a refurbished rendering of You Win Again, the bonus tracks that
augment the recently remastered rendition of Reflections are all
magnificent. However, the highlight undoubtedly is Orpheus, a
mind-bending, jazz-fusion jam performed by the Grateful Dead that is closer in
texture and tone to the material found on its Blues for Allah project.
Combining percolating rhythms and streams of sinewy guitar, the ensemble
unleashed a swirling sea of sound that mined the thematic cruces of Slipknot!
and King Solomon’s Marbles while plunging deeply into the
psychedelically-induced mayhem of its live performances.  ½
This is the third installment of a six-part series, which will examine All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions
album by album. The entire set is rated:
All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions
Part One: Garcia
Part Two: Compliments
Part Four: Cats under the Stars
Part Five: Run for the Roses
Part Six: Outtakes, Jams, Alternates
All Good Things is available
from Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Reflections [Remastered & Expanded] is available
from Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
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
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