Jerry Garcia Band + Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman
Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound
Round records, 2013
Jerry
Garcia Band and
Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman:
Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound
Announcing Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound - a new 6 CD box set from the Jerry Garcia Band and Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman featuring cover art by Stanley Mouse is released on Round Records. This new archival release features two complete performances with over 5 1/2 hours of previously unreleased music from September 5th, 1989 at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT and September 6th, 1989 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.
Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound celebrates the storied East Coast 1989 run which featured acoustic duo Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman setting the stage for two nightly sets from the Jerry Garcia Band. Widely considered one of the Jerry Garcia Band's strongest tours, the run kicked off with two magical nights at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, previously documented as 2005's Pure Jerry Volume 5, and a solid performance in Philadelphia prior to these blistering evenings in Hartford and Uniondale.
Highlights from the Weir/Wasserman opening sets include bluesy versions of the pop-jazz standard "Fever", Grateful Dead staples "Looks Like Rain" and "Throwing Stones", the Beatles' "Mockingbird" which showcases Bob's fingerpicking and delicate vocals, and nods to Bob Dylan with "Desolation Row" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece." With strong, confident and evocative playing throughout, it's easy to see why Bob and Rob were so well received by audiences throughout the tour.
As Blair Jackson eloquently details in the release's liner notes: "What you'll hear throughout these JGB recordings is a band at the peak of its powers. Jerry's vocals - rough-hewn though they may be - are imbued with tremendous passion, grit and, when called for, nuance. Listen to the moving versions of "Forever Young" and "Like a Road" from Hartford, or Nassau's "That Lucky Old Sun," which oozes from the stage like slow, sweet molasses. His guitar work is searing on the ballads and positively explosive on the uptempo numbers. "That's What Love Will Make You Do" sounds like it's jumping off the stage of some tiny and dangerous R&B nightclub. The "Deal" from Hartford hits one volcanic peak after another and feels as if it might actually lift the arena off on the ground. (Surely, it's one of the best versions ever.) "Let It Rock" simmers and then boils over, as Jerry plays with endless variations around the chunky Chuck Berry rhythm. And both versions of "The Harder They Come" bounce and bop with infectious joy - dig Melvin's marimba-like timbre on his solos and Jackie and Gloria's bright harmonies."