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Grateful Dead
Live at the Cow Palace: New Year's Eve 1976
(Rhino)
#10 Boxed Set/Live Album/Music DVD for 2007
First Appeared in The Music Box, February 2007, Volume 14, #2
Written by John Metzger
As anyone who became hooked can attest, attending a Grateful Dead show always
felt like a sort of homecoming. Whether it was held in an arena, a stadium, or a
theater in Chicago, San Francisco, or New York City didn’t matter. Magic
inevitably was in the air as friends long separated once again were connected.
Even when the band was experiencing its darkest hours, there simultaneously was
a calming sense of peace, love, and happiness that permeated the communal
gathering. As the lights went down and the band took the stage, the assembled
crowd’s excitement and anticipation would peak in a thunderous roar as it
collectively pondered the question, "What do you think the opening song will
be?"
In the case of the Grateful Dead’s 1976 New Year’s Eve concert, which
recently was issued in its entirety on the three-disc set Live at the Cow
Palace, there likely wasn’t much debate. While legendary promoter Bill
Graham was making his introductory announcements, the group’s members took turns
cycling through snippets of Chuck Berry’s Promised Land. Sure enough, as
soon as Graham completed his speech, the Grateful Dead began to saunter its way
through the song. The band’s slow, deliberate approach provided hints as to the
direction in which the bulk of the concert would head, though this undoubtedly
also was a reflection of the Grateful Dead’s recent, two-month vacation from
touring as well as its customarily minimal preparation for a show. The groan
that Bob Weir emitted after the conclusion of Promised Land was telling.
Still, even when the Grateful Dead’s members were struggling to come together
as a single-minded entity, it was capable of moving mountains and reconfiguring
the cosmos. As the first set of its concert at the Cow Palace progressed, the
ensemble began to find its footing. On the one hand, its laid-back approach to
Bertha allowed the song to assume a cheerfully breezy buoyancy, in spite
of Jerry Garcia’s botched lyrical delivery. On the other, Merle Haggard’s Mama Tried was nothing more than a safe circling of the wagons, while They Love Each Other lumbered along in a frustratingly uneven fashion,
showing sparks of creativity in the solos by Garcia and pianist Keith Godchaux
yet never quite coalescing.
The turning point, however, occurred during Looks Like Rain, a tune
that never failed to produce high drama, particularly in the various
permutations that the Grateful Dead unleashed in 1976. The delicate nature of
Garcia’s aching guitar solos joined the emotive, intertwined vocals of Bob Weir
and Donna Godchaux to convey the mood of heartache and loss that is described in
the song’s lyrics. The cascading waves of sorrow that emanated from its
conclusion provided the perfect release of the tension that had been built so
carefully.
The rendition of Deal that followed gradually mutated from a shuffling
gait into an insistent, driving groove that seemed to signal the end of the
first set. Yet, rather than leave the stage, the Grateful Dead acknowledged its
newly reformulated connectedness by launching into an expansive reading of Playing in the Band. Its dark, spiraling passageways alternately were framed
and paved by the instrumentation, which rose, fell, twisted, and turned in an
extravagantly intricate dance, the song’s ethereal melody bouncing among the
accompaniments provided by Garcia, Weir, Keith Godchaux, and bass player Phil
Lesh. Bent but never broken, the tune offered a surreal glimpse at the celestial
wonders of the universe. In providing safe transport back to Earth, the band
bathed its journey in a warm, life-affirming glow that was so powerful that it
left the group no choice but to take a break and prepare for the countdown to
midnight as well as the latter half of the show.
As one year passed into the next, Bill Graham appeared out of a giant
hourglass, and the Grateful Dead began its second set by launching into a
jubilant Sugar Magnolia. The song rather effectively eased the band back
into its groove, and as its celebratory atmosphere dissipated, the jazzy
refrains of Eyes of the World emerged. Taking its time, the ensemble
explored every nook and cranny of the sunshine-baked tune. Toying with the
melody, Garcia and Lesh painted brilliant patterns of color with their
distinctly separate but utterly synchronized solos.
As cheerfully as Eyes of the World was delivered, the subsequent Wharf Rat assumed a more somber and serious tone. Even so, the dusky
desolation of its verses was balanced perfectly by the gospel-bred rays of light
that filtered through the surrounding music. As a result, the song became a
prayer of hope for the coming year, and Wharf Rat’s ponderous conclusion
provided a time for reflection.
Immediately thereafter, the Grateful Dead tossed care to the wind as it
turned the evening’s soundtrack in a deeply funky direction via the one-two
punch of Good Lovin’ and Samson & Delilah. Embracing the vibrant,
driving cadence provided by the tandem percussion of Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey
Hart, the group created a dance-party atmosphere that lingered for the remainder
of the night. Twirling through the rainbow-hued beat of Scarlet Begonias,
soulfully swinging through the blues-y shuffle of Around and Around,
tumbling down the winding corridors of Help on the Way and Slipknot,
and immersing itself within the slowly simmering ambience of Not Fade Away,
the Grateful Dead further brushed away the cobwebs that had clung so tightly to
it during the show’s opening moments. The dynamic power and haunting beauty of
Morning Dew, the raucous exuberance of One More Saturday Night,
the easy-going playfulness of Uncle John’s Band, and the hushed
spirituality of We Bid You Goodnight were just the icing on the cake. As
with the group’s prior archival releases, Live at the Cow Palace boasts a
stunning sonic clarity that suitably enhances the intricacies of the Grateful
Dead’s performance. Once again, the collection is more than just a historical
document; it’s a breathtaking glimpse at the exhilarating environment of the
band’s concerts. 
Live at the Cow Palace: New Year's Eve 1976 is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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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 © 2007 The Music Box
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