Time to teach the new guy

"Hey, knock it off you guys, you're scarin' my dog."

The Music Never Stopped, 2009 -- Vol. 41

Grateful Dead -- April 16, 1979 Club Front, San Rafael, California * first(?) rehearsal with Brent *

Jam-> Not Fade Away-> Jam->
Drums-> Jam,
Passenger (1), Passenger (2),
I Need A Miracle intro, Bertha,
Bertha-> Good Lovin', I Need A Miracle Jam
Scarlet Begonias (1), Scarlet Begonias (2), Scarlet-> Fire,
sorta spacey Jam, more spacey Jamming,
Gloria-> Linda Lou,
Jam, Ain't That Peculiar Jam, Jack Straw

Very nice recording, perhaps even 4½ stars to some ears. If there's truly no cassette generation in here then the reel has degraded a tiny little bit because there's some very light noise during the quiet moments when there's no music happening.

Speaking of those quiet moments -- that's when you need to listen closest. There's some cool dialogue but it's barely caught on an open mic. Between dialogue amongst band members, there happens to be a ton of sweet Dead music. The jamming, at times, is priceless. Fire On The Mountain is spectacular. These songs are new for Brent but the band sounds great. He's able to play along just fine and another thing about this setting for him -- he's not exactly a complete stranger since he played in the Bob Weir Band the year before. That was straightforward rock and roll, basically, and that's what some of the Grateful Dead is, of course, but the GD, as demonstrated here several times, goes way beyond that... so perhaps some of this is kinda new for him.

What's definitely new here is Gloria. I do not believe Weir ever played this in a side band prior to February '79. That makes this the first recording of that Van Morrison cover tune. And the following Linda Lou, if I'm not mistaken, is the only Dead or Bobby version of that song there is. I wonder where he got it from? Bill Monroe, The Stones, or Foghat... or D) other?

In any case, some very, very, very cool music here. I've almost gotta wonder if Phil was absent 'cause I don't hear him much. There aren't, I don't think, any true stand out solos but what there is is an amalgamation of music we've not heard exactly in typical show form. This is great stuff. Check it out!

4/16/79 @ the Internet Archive: the Soundboard for Listening Only

Download It Here Source: shnid=4163 ♦ Audio Quality: SBD Lineage: Soundboard-» Master Reel-» DAT-» CD-» SHN 4/16/79 - San Rafael - Part 1 Part 2 - Club Front - 4/16/79 Part 3 - Brent rehearsal

4-16-79 aka 04-16-79 aka 4/16/79 aka 04/16/79 aka 79-04-16 Club Front, San Rafael