White Lies for Dark Times and a commemoration of a magical day in Grateful Dead history (see end of post). Two posts in one! Sorry Nate.Ben Harper's latest album dropped this week. Harper is a prolific guy who generally releases an album a year. Does this dilute his work? Maybe. Hell I didn't even know he had released another album after Both Sides of the Gun. But Lynyrd Skynyrd released an album a year in their heyday and things worked out alright for them. Well, sorta.
Anyway, I've come to the decision that I don't like Harper's voice as much as I thought I did. However, he's still a gifted songwriter and guitarist. And his new band is DIRTY. The Innocent Criminals were given a break for this album, and Relentless7 offers a new rootsy sound that is powerful and old school. Guitarist Jason Mozersky in particular really adds a new layer to the Ben Harper sound, and that layer coupled with some stellar slide guitar work by Harper himself makes this release particularly fresh, especially when compared to his recent work. These are not the guys who did Burn One Down, and I mean that in a good way. Harper has always been a rocker who was best known for his softer stuff; with White Lies for Dark Times his rocker abilities are on full display, and true fans are sure to take note. Check it out:
I'm off to San Fran for not one, but two shows this weekend, including the third Dead show of the tour to appear on TSAD (I'm seeing Keane as well). I really can't describe in words how excited I am to see The Dead in their hometown, but the link below might give you an idea. Thirty-two years ago today something incredible happened, and it is captured in tremendous quality below. Deadheads know it simply as 5/8/77 or Barton Hall.
In a stroke of luck that literally changed my life, the very first Dead song I downloaded off of Kazaa and listened to was Scarlett Begonias>Fire on the Mountain from this show (track 13 below). At the time I had no idea what I had stumbled upon. Many regard 5/8/77 as the finest show the Grateful Dead ever played. While I'm not sure I can go that far, I can tell you that Scarlett>Fire was never played any better than it was that night (I get chills at the 17:00 mark every time). You could argue that Dancin' in the Streets and Morning Dew are played to perfection as well. And if a show has the all-time best versions of those three Dead classics, it has to be in the top 10 at least, right? Decide for yourself. Honestly, you can skip the first seven or even ten songs. The beauty begins with Dancin' (track 11). If you haven't listened to much (or any) Grateful Dead, this is the place and the time to begin:
Click here to go to the full Internet Archive page for 5/8/77
The fact that I'm flying out to San Francisco to see the Dead on the anniversary of perhaps their greatest performance is Providence at its finest. Til next week, enjoy.
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