Vacant Horizon

May have missed it...anyone watched Vinyl? Kind of interesting. They sure make a good case for the rise of punk...if inadvertently.

Neil Young, Dylan, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will be big for me. Now in my 40s, it's quite clear my body is breaking down. I'm making friends with the idea of nonexistence. Dropped religion years ago and it has helped a lot. Not without its angst, however.

For some reason thought he was older. Probably mixed him up with George Jones. Hope he keeps it up. My wife saw Willie last year and said it was great. Go figure.

This makes me wonder, do you guys ever skip songs while listening to shows? Are there Dead songs you just never need to hear again? I tend to skip Big River here and there. Need to think of a few more.

Yeah, she was here in Atlanta for the last CRB show. Was cool to see her.

I then think about Willie Nelson who's almost 90 and still playing and recording. If Dylan or Neil Young make it that long we could get 5-10 more albums...for good or ill. It is a wake up call.

Brent's unreleased solo album is on YouTube. Any of those tunes could've been on Go to Heaven. Also found a Bob Weir Band show on there from '78. I'd forgotten about that tour. Lots of blues tunes. Precursor to the first Ratdog. I'm too lazy to put the links here.

That version of Diginity on Vol. 3 is one of my favorite Dylan songs. I've never been a huge fane, but I like that disc.

I really like a Brent or Phil tune in the first set. Vince's tunes would've been better served there as well. Blow Away was great. I hated just a Little Light at first, but that little space jam in the middle when played live was good. I also liked Gentlemen Start Your Engines, which I think they only played once or twice.

I wasn't aware of Don't Need Love for years. It is pretty bad. Definitely a set two buzz kill. Gotta say, Brent did keep the guys going with original material. Tons of Steel and Easy To Love You were pretty good tunes.

Yeah, I'd say the sound did kind of change around '86. Everything sounded more processed or digitized because of 'better' equipment it seems. Definitely more of a polished sound and not the organic band on stage with amps sound. The sound changes over the years are really interesting. It's hard to pinpoint when each happened. I think the mid 70s through 81 sound best because Bob had no effects, all instruments were real and jerry's effects were analog. Probably tube amps over solid state played a role. It's crazy how much went into Garcia's guitar just to make a clean, tight tone. You'

New single definitely sounds like Smile/SoL era. It's so interesting how bands find this timeless/classic sound (imho) on their first two records and then it's over. Neither good nor bad...just different. Those first two albums are so great. Kind of like MMJ. First few albums have this amazing sound and songwriting then it all changes. Not that bands have to stay the same. I'm just rambling. The whole creative process from writing to recording is just fascinating.

Yeah, Brent changed keyboards in 81 or something and it sounded like a toy piano. Then he got that more 'piano' sounding keyboard that he played up until the end. Of course, the organ was always killer. Too bad Vince only played digital keys.

That sounds interesting. I remember watching an 84 video and close ups of Garcia's fingers showed so much dirt under his nails. It's interesting how the band talks about the final years and pre coma, but not this era where it seems he was on a 3 year bender. Tragic.

Some vids from that era show Jerry looking filthy. Was he showering? Maybe I'm not remembering correctly. 82-84 are interesting years to me. It's amazing that not more than two years before they recorded the stellar Reckoning only to have Garcia's voice and stage presence change so much. He was only 40! Luckily the guitar playing didn't really get too bad until close to end. At least to my ears.

Yeah, I may have over stated things a bit. I agree, I love Lanois too and do think most of that album is good. I saw that tour and it was great! Yes!

That's awesome! RE: earlier posts...I definitely need this book So Many Roads. I didn't know anything about the '84 recording sessions. I assume it would've been most of the stuff that ended up on In The Dark plus Day Job. I agree about artists being infantile. Definitely Neil Young. If he had a real producer his last 10 years' output may have resulted in 2 good albums rather than 10 almost absolutely unlistenable ones.

Didn't Vince play at some camp ground at the Terrapin thing on 2002? I remember that show was the first time I live streamed something. During the Playin' I really thought the Dead were back. Herring was a good fit. I liked Vince when he started, but I really can't listen to those shows much. The band obviously didn't give a shit. It was a sinking ship...still some good shows though:)

And the conversation continues as if it was an eternal Dark Star Jam! Incidentally, I've been listening to that Other Ones live disc Only The Strange Remain. I like Hornsby's songs on there. Fun setlist too. Wish they'd curate some sets from all the incarnations. I'd definitely buy them. Much easier than sloughing through a ton of shows looking for gems. Thanks A-Man.

It's hard to tell if this dude is joking or not. It's really good. The photo for the album cover is a little too bright and clear for Koz ;-)

http://www.sunkilmoon.com/jesuskm.html Sun Kil Moon and Jesu. Very interesting album with some shoe gaze background music and Mark doing his rap thing...even some spoken word. Koz is just on a tear the last few years. He put out another SKM album and is constantly putting out these random EPs with covers and originals.

Love that version and love Phil's solos. Was there ever a name for that key change riff jam they did after Eyes in 74? We always called it the Nine Jam. I also wonder if that was part of the original song, but was not recorded to make room for Bob's opus.

Yeah, he plays the first part of the Casey solo on that album as well. So great. He does a little solo on the slow FOTD too. I never found the blues solos off key. Some of the rhythm slide stuff through out the years was horrible. Sugaree comes to mind.

@jff How was the show? I sat this one out. It would've been cool seeing the band close up as opposed to theater or arena venues. I'm surprised they played the Tabernacle. They played Cobb Energy 2 nights for TWL tour.

Waste of a great title and cover imho.