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Jerry Garcia Band
Live at Shoreline
(Rhino)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2005, Volume 12, #9
Written by John Metzger
Within the world of the Grateful Dead, one rule trumped all others: The show
must go on. When Pigpen fell ill in 1971, the band quickly hired Keith Godchaux
to carry it forward; in 1979, after Keith and his wife Donna’s personal problems
began to weigh too heavily upon the group, they were replaced by Brent Mydland;
and when Mydland died tragically from a drug overdose in July 1990, the ensemble
kept most of its tour schedule intact by plunging forward with Vince Welnick.
One of the shows that didn’t survive in the wake of Mydland’s passing was a
hometown event that was planned for September 1 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in
Mountain View, California. Yet, even here, the Grateful Dead — or, at least, a
part of it — persevered when Jerry Garcia’s eponymous side-project not only
fulfilled the obligation, but also brought along a film crew to document the
proceedings. The result is the long overdue DVD Live at Shoreline, which
features the entirety of the collective’s touchingly heartfelt performance.
Throughout much of his career, Garcia was influenced heavily by gospel music,
but this was never more apparent than when he was collaborating with keyboard
player Melvin Seals in his long-running solo outfit. Not surprisingly, the
convergence of the Jerry Garcia Band’s spiritual core with the loss of a close
friend yielded an overwhelmingly emotional memorial service. This was most
obvious, of course, within the selection of the songs that were sung — the
comforting embrace of How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You; the tearful,
but heavenly strains of Bob Dylan’s I Shall Be Released; and the joyous
refrains of My Sisters and Brothers, for example. Elsewhere, it was just
a facial expression (the somberly reflective look on Garcia’s face during And
It Stoned Me) or a particularly poignant lyric (Stop That Train’s
"All my good life, I’ve been a lonely man/Teachin’ my people who don’t
understand/And even though I tried my best/I still can’t find no happiness,"
seemed as well-suited to Mydland’s life as it did to Garcia’s) that struck with
soul-rattling resonance.
Although it is augmented with bonus material that includes a
mini-documentary, interviews with lyricist Robert Hunter and the surviving
members of the Jerry Garcia Band, song histories, and a photo gallery, Live
at Shoreline is notable entirely because of the performance itself. Indeed,
from the feverishly intense hellfire of Think to the rainbow-hued
transcendence of Dear Prudence, Live at Shoreline glistens with
the joy, the sorrow, the pain, and the comfort that spring forth from the heart
of life itself. 
Live at Shoreline 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 © 2005
The Music Box
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