Earlier this week, 60 Minutes II on CBS did a piece on the newly reformed The Dead (dropping the “Grateful” as per their promise). It looks to have been quite a piece, as the band took correspondent Charlie Rose to their old Haight-Ashbury hangout and reminisced.
I thought it was kind of interesting, going back to Haight-Ash and all. From the musical standpoint it was nice to hear them do that drummy/acoustic thing on the street, what a trip that would have been to be walking down the street and see them. Nice that they did a Jerry song too.
From the overall musical standpoint, I think they just royally suck now. They only sound good when they’re jamming or paying muic without the vocals. Weir sounds awful, worse than he looks, and having Joan Osborne singing instead just isn’t right. I like her ok as a solo artist, but not as a fill-in for Jerry. It was his band, and will always be his band, imho. Give it up boys, you have plenty of money.
I agree with dantheman, Big Cheese. They kicked butt at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July picnic. You can’t expect them to sound like they did with Jerry. Different musicians create a different vibe. And that was the case here. I was skeptical about the whole thing but the players were into the gig, Joan Osborne sang real well, and it was a good time. She definitely isn’t a fill in for Jerry. Phil, Joan, and Bob all sang some Jerry tunes.
To each their own - which is a big, big strong point of their shows anyway. It’s never been for all tastes. (I’m not sure why you’d think it was about the money, though; as you pointed out, they hardly need any.)
OK, ‘royally suck’ may be a bit harsh. I haven’t seen the latest incarnation, but saw them (Other Ones I think) a few years ago. I’ve heard a couple shows they did this year. It’s just not my cup of tea. It’s still good to hear a good Franklin’s Tower but Jerry’s songs were always my favorites and when you lose your favorites it’s hard to get excited over them. I want to remember them like when I saw them.
C’mon though, you can’t say Weir is as good as he used to be, he isn’t even close. He was never a great singer, but he sounds pretty bad now, imho. I was trying to say above but my fingers denied me, that they’re good when they’re playing music, but the vocals just aren’t there.
If you like them, great, just listen to the music play.
I’ve seen Ratdog once, TOO once, and TD twice in recent years, and I think he sounds better than before. But it was an important move to get Joan Osbourne in there. Without her, they really were a shell of themselves anyway, because they were very limited in what they could do. I was very surprised to see how well she fit in with the group. Very surprised. They give her a song or two to do on her own per show, too - her “Built to Last” is fantastic.
I definitely recommend downloading the one show they have on Dead.net - I believe it was from Valentine’s Day this year.
(I bought the three-CD set for the show I went to this summer. Outstanding.)
