The Dead's Own Magical Mystery Tour
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themselves. Considering his dual talents, Jerry Garcia with John Pizzarelli might need to watch his Travis Bean guitar back. – DF and Bob Weir during their May ’77 tour. DVD Iggy and the Stooges and Special Guests Tribute to Rob Asheton The Stooges’ influence on ’80s and early ’90s indie scenesters is unimpeach- able. For more than a quarter-century, cognoscenti have clamored to comprehend the quartet’s long shadow, THE DEAD’S OWN MAGICAL more often than not dubbing frontman Iggy Pop with sobriquets like “The Godfather of Punk.” Understandable, given Pop’s perfor- MySTery TOUR mance chops, but such assessments overlook the cornerstone of the band’s sublime scuzz: ver the decades, the ’74’s lackluster From the The five shows here founding guitarist Ron Asheton, who passed Grateful Dead played Mars Hotel, and a creative include stops at the St. away in January 2009. Omore than 2,000 rebirth with ’75’s Blues Paul Civic Center Arena, Shot in the band’s hometown of Ann concerts, but none are as for Allah. After losing their Chicago’s Auditorium Arbor, Michigan, in April 2011, Tribute at- fabled, as mythologized as finances and the dreary Theatre, St. Louis Arena, tempts to rectify this by presenting a set of their performances on the live album Steal Your Face, and the University Of Stooges classics with mixed results. Indeed, magical spring 1977 tour. they were standing on Alabama Coliseum. Each Pop proves he can still induce mayhem, This 14-disc box set col- the threshold of failure. night, the show included and classic Stooges riffs as laid down by lects five complete shows The Dead headed out Dead chestnuts from all Raw Power guitarist James Williamson and from that run, displaying on the road in ’77 with the eras. But it was the new Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek still manage the band at a peak of songs that formed Terra- pairings of new songs and to sound timeless, primitive as they may energy and experimenta- pin Station, to be released the extended jams that be. Unfortunately bassist extraordinaire tion. that July, in their back linked them that made Mike Watt, with the Stooges since they The tour came at an pockets. Those songs – these shows legendary. re-formed in 2003, is virtually buried in opportune time in the especially Jerry Garcia’s Garcia’s guitar work the mix – doubly shameful considering Dead’s history. They had Mu-Tron III anthem was at a creative MC Henry Rollins’ preshow spiel on the survived their psychedelic “Estimated Prophet” – and zenith in “Estimated importance of the band’s rhythm section. early years, then rein- the jams on other recent Prophet”/“Eyes Of The Also puzzling is the extraneous string and vented themselves with tunes literally took center World” and “Scarlet horn sections that manage to sully a trio of the rootsy Americana stage in the band’s shows. Begonias”/“Fire On The primo Funhouse cuts. of 1970’s Workingman’s This tour formed the Mountain.” Bob Weir Depending on how seriously you take your Dead and American Beau- basis of what the Dead continued to prove Stooges, Tribute could be a real cool time or ty. But now, they were would rely on for the rest himself one of the most no fun at all. – Dennis Pernu in a middle age slump, of its long strange career. innovative rhythm seeking direction that As Dead historian Steve guitarists alongside the resulted in three varied Silberman writes in the stellar bass playing of albums – 1973’s almost- liner book: “The spring Phil Lesh. If it wasn’t for forgotten Wake of the tour of 1977... represented Donna Jean Godchaux’s Flood, one of those Darwinian “singing,” these would be leaps, when the Dead the perfect Dead shows. took a bold collective step This gorgeous box set into the future, reinvent- was designed by graphic ing itself for a savvy artist Masaki Koike and audience eager to live on includes a book filled that edge where some- with the story behind thing new was always each show and an essay waiting to be born.” by Silberman on the tour and the turning The Grateful Dead point it represented. May 1977 – Michael Dregni J. Garcia in ’77: James R. Anderson. November 2013 137 VINTAGE GUITAR.