Vacant Horizon

Saw Jay solo last night with Gary Hunt. Saw him solo in 2003. Both times were amazing. Seeing him more up close it's clear he's totally into what he's doing. A less than stellar singer/songwriter opened up…when Jay came on it was like the room just lit up. It's amazing how some people have such talent. His songwriting is excellent. Anyway, good time.

I'm going to buy the webcast for tomorrow night. I'm too curious. BTW, aren't they jumping the gun with the Blue-Ray release? Seriously, what if the shows really blow or if there's lots of technical problems. Just some thoughts.

We're all caught up in the same sick web. We are aware of, abhor and critique the corporate system, yet we're all slaves to it.

There in lies one of the many irrationalities of capitalism. Incidentally, Monsanto Years is much more listenable than Storytone. However, Neil is losing his voice and is writing songs way to high for him.

RE: John Mayer tour-I'd be surprised if Phil or Billy were involved in this. Will this be Ratdog with Mayer? If Phil does tour then why did Furthur break up? That would kind of piss me off. I will say that I'd take Mayer over Trey any day. Not a fan of his stage presence, but at least he solos. Curious how things will go next weekend.

This is great! Thanks for the link. Not sure why Mayer is there. Does not fit and not necessary playing his cliche solos. I so wish Stu was playing the Fare Thee Well shows. Let Bruce sing all of Jerry's songs and drop Jeff, while we're at it. Lesh is more, IMHO.

Actually, this is a lot easier than top 5. Not even sure I have 30. 1. Grateful Dead 2. Neil Young 3. Pat Metheny 4. Pink Floyd 5. Mark Kozelek 6. Gillian Welch 7. Beatles 8. Wilco 9. Thin Lizzy 10. Yes …that's all I got.

I remember the first Firm album had a Page tune from the Zep period called Swan Song or something.

You are obviously referring to Coverdale and Page, right?

Tweedy's production is so minimal yet meticulous that I'm surprised that the Tweedy album as so sloppy and under-produced, IMHO.

I appreciate the responses. It's an ongoing thing. I have to admit that the digital revolution has made it a bit easier to listen and less clutter in the house as other responsibilities take over (kids!). A specific example of all of this is that I've tried for years to get into springsteen and dylan. With the advent of iTunes I've been able to just cherry pick. That's a bitter sweet thing though. Am I missing out on really giving an 'album' a chance. Maybe, but in the CD age I'd have never bought either a Dylan or a Springsteen CD. I would've saved my money for the next Grateful Dead

Anyone experiencing this. I have to be honest with myself. I am. I find I just don't really give a shit about new stuff and I'm so tired of hearing the old stuff. It's musical limbo out their with disposable mp3s, death of and shitty mastering of CDs and the over-priced vinyl. I still make lists of stuff I want to get, but the fact that it's all basically on spotify kind of takes the fun out of getting new music. I don't know. I've just noticed that my time actually listening and enjoying music to be short and far between. Nothing like when you're a teenager and hearing all this stuff

i agree with this. he got used to using his aged voice well and was more alive on stage. by 95 though his head hung down so low.

the hype for these shows can't meet what will really happen. the best incarnation was 98 other ones. each dead tour since has been touch and go with the run with jimmy herring in 04 being fun. the problem with these one off tours is precisely what you said, they are under-rehearsed. the dead were great because they had all played together for decades! the new incarnations just don't have that chemistry. my hunch is that trey will be really hesitant looking around for when he should solo while bruce looks on with a pensive smile. phil will rock, as always and bob will slow the tempo of e

I respect this opinion, heartbreak. I saw a bunch of shows in the 90s, but to tell you the truth, i was getting tired of it all. I don't think I ever recovered to tell you the truth. i haven't driven more than 30 minutes for a related show since 1996. i only saw one show in 95 and it turned out to be a fare thee well of sorts. all my dead buddies were able to meet up in pittsburgh. i saw a ton of phish shows in the in their prime of the first half of the 90s. that got tiring too. anyway, i think that played a roll in not digging 90s dead. i will say that it's fascinating to me how ga

Too bad trunk show hasn't seen official release. No hidden path is good live. Love be Keith on rhythm guitar

Very good points nodope. 90s were sort of a comeback. Ragged Glory suffers from some production issue, but has some classic tunes, two of them being from the 70s, go figure (White Line, Country Home). Harvest Moon is great, but not on par with 70s output. Sleeps With Angels is a masterpiece, except for maybe Piece of Crap. Mirrorball was missed opportunity. Some potentially good tunes on there. Broken Arrow is good too, but a bit sloppy. Big Time and Music Arcade are classic tunes to me. Also, don't forget Looking Forward with CSNY. Slowpoke and Looking Forward are great tunes that w

Good point. He also plays BE Women and TLEO. I prefer CRB original stuff though.

I'm curious, what are your picks are for each decade. For the 80s, it's obviously Freedom, but Trans was an important album. The 90s have a few good albums including Ragged, Harvest Moon, Sleeps With Angels, Silver and Gold. The 2000s have been rough. Excluding Amercana and the last 3 albums you could pull together an okay comp. I wouldn't call any of albums since Live Rust as classic though. That's due precisely to smugness, narrcicism, shitty production and very spotty song writing. This compared to Dylan and Springsteen who have put out some arguably classic albums ( Time Out of Mind

The Spectrum was host to many good shows in the final years. Didn't they bust out unbroken chain there? Uncle? Yeah, this was a puff piece. These dudes don't like the dead. Fair whether fans. Which is okay, but not appropriate for article. What I do find curious is the national's fandom do the dead. Their music is totally different.

Love that album but could do without motorcycle mama.

Creativity research shows that there is a peak in the 20s that wanes in the mid to late 30s. This could be for academics, artists etc. To me it pans out. Look at all the great bands from the late 60s, 70s. Their initial stuff was okay and then moved into classic art. This seems to last about 10 years and then falls off into lack of productivity or lack of quality. All the great ones struggled in the 80s, right? Anyway, the caveat is that these creative types can have a resurgence later in life. An example to me is Dylan. He loses it around 1980 (earlier?) and then, bam, Time Out of Mi

He's one of my top 5, but I've come to really dislike the man, causes and music since his ridiculous post 9/11 album. One could probably pull together a mediocre, yet listenable ep or lp from the shit put out since silver and gold. His pono project is so misguided that it's not worth talking about. His first archive set was a big fuck you to fans. Finally, his political escapades are commendable, but it's just neohippie posturing. I wish Neil would just take a break and spend five years writing 10 good songs surrounded by 'no men'. Then reemerge at age 75 with a real comeback.

Watched it tonight. Pretty good. I could've watched hours of Weir just dicking around his studio talking about stuff. I'd also love to see some more of his solo show performances. That Jack Straw with Bruce was great. I was also struck by Trixie's sadness. Could really relate to her both as a Deadhead and as a human being whose lost people ect. My only issue is that the movie doesn't cover the last 20 years. I would've love to have heard about Ratdog, the Other Ones, The Dead, Further, his recent issues. Also, how about his solo stuff. Would've also loved to have Weir give a demonstr

"the Stones were there so we recorded some songs." The book in a nutshell. So disappointing.