Of the tons of Grateful Dead releases floating around Disaster Amnesiac's world, lately I've been listening to and getting a bit obsessed about Ready Or Not. As recalled, it was conceived of and released as a kind of live demo for a potential mid-1990's studio album that was never realized, for obvious and obscured reasons. No need to delve into the tragic dynamics of the Dead in general and Jerry specifically during their final few seasons as a living band, but suffice it to say that the nine songs on this disc represent a missed opportunity, for, as much as the group have been purported to have hated their studio albums, the songs on Ready would have been fascinating to hear within that style.
Take for example Jerry tunes such as Liberty, Lazy River Road, and Days Between. The live clips of each of these fall within the time frame during which he was playing his last custom guitar, Lighting Bolt. Disaster Amnesiac recalls reading somewhere the opinion of an astute Grateful Dead analyst that opined on the seamless blending of rich acoustic and cutting electric timbre that was achieved by Garcia with that axe; this is on full display on these tracks of the release. Liberty and Lazy River Road rely upon easy going picked figures that move at relaxed paces which perfectly frame the singer's by then well aged yet uniquely harnessed style. It's pretty amazing to me that the man could move stadium-sized audiences with these simple pieces, yet with the clarity of Lightning Bolt's crafting and the dedication of the Deadheads this was indeed the case. Days Between opens up spaces that are a lot more abstract, and it falls within the ending period of Jerry's relationship with the Rosebud six string, yet it still feels to be within the cluster of Liberty and Lazy River Road. How would have these tunes been documented within a recording studio? Would Days Between have been a lengthy track with lots of psychedelic tinges added within its sombre coda? Would Lazy River Road have been stripped down to its Folk form essentials, a la some Workingman's Dead track? Would Vince Welnick have retained that piano filigree that was so hook-ey on Liberty, or would Jerry have nixed it? Then there is So Many Roads. In the years following Jerry Garcia's death, this song has taken on a kind of eulogy function (at least if the comments on YouTube videos of it are to be believed). Supposing that he had survived his health crisis and made a commitment to record the song with the Grateful Dead, how would he have produced it? Would he have agreed to the very much like Knockin' On Heaven's Door harmonies from Bob and Vince during the song's finale? What would his guitar solo have sounded like? Would he have used clean tones, or more processed ones? One of the aspects that I always find enjoyable about Dead studio albums is the small sweeteners utilized by Garcia during fades. I feel like those would have been audible within a release that had proper recordings of these songs of his and Hunter's. Thinking here of the ending seconds of Standing On the Moon. It's that last "be with you!" that always gives this listener goose bumps. Surely, Jerry would have had moments such as that within that unrealized document of these 1990's songs. Again, an opportunity that was missed. Obviously, when it concerns an artist as multi-faceted as Garcia, opinions such as these are only scratching the surface. One could probably spend years weighing in on how he would have handled the "official" documentation of these songs. Would that he had survived to make that realization!
As regards the Bob Weir songs, the most interesting thing about them for Disaster Amnesiac is the fact that they feature much simpler time signatures than was usually the case from him. Eternity, Corrina, and Easy Answers all pretty much feature solid 4/4 meters, something really surprising, coming from Weir. Were these concessions to the band, as in maybe they'd grown tired of having to pay attention to all of those 7/4 and 10/4 phrases? Total conjecture here, I know, but one can't help but wonder if there had been discussions as to the arduousness of that type of playing within the stadiums that the Dead were packing full of raving fans. Eternity features a springing rhythm that propels a fine Blues riff and really fine percussion from Mickey Hart. Would it have felt the same on an album? Easy Answers feels like a kind of rejoinder to some of the more optimistic statements within the Grateful Dead world, but when Jerry takes a Leslie-ed solo turn one will probably feel hopeful again. I can hear a more abrasive tone within an imagined studio track of the tune, perhaps a bit faster paced and attacking. Bob Weir certainly is capable of those kinds of attitudes, even though he's known as a paragon of Marin Mellow and such-like. Then there is Corrina. As Disaster Amnesiac recalls it, the song was pretty disliked in its time. I even saw Dead parking lot shirts that had the Velveeda logo with "Corrina" written in that classic cheezy font. People heard it as some kind of dippy ditty, but, I always loved its sounds, especially that Vince keyboard ostinato. Guys, why did you let Vince flounder, post-Dead? Damn. But back to the song: its rendition on Ready Or Not features a prodigious jamming section, which shows that they were highly comfortable with the contours that it presented. Projecting again to the studio conception, it seems reasonable to conjecture that it would have taken its place along side Easy Wind or Scarlet Begonias as high level Grateful groovers for those who love the albums as well as the shows. I can easily envision a nice, surreal Dub-inflected section arising from its massive rhythmic lock. Did Weir flesh any of these songs out post-1995 on his solo albums? I have paid zero attention to those, so that question remains mysterious to me.
Finally, on to the Welnick songs. Samba In the Rain and Way To Go Home to be exact. The former was pretty much instantly rejected by the Heads that Disaster Amnesiac knew. One of them would refer to it as "SAM-ba In the Rain", implying an corny "Sambo" type of vibe in it. That said, with all of these years' remove....it's kind of a banger. The Grateful Dead do Smooth Jazz is one thought that I've had, in that, yeah the rhythm section is kind indeed smooth, but original engine room dudes Lesh and Kreutzmann lock in such a way as to be really, really intriguing. Then of course Jerry swoops in, and he could make even as staid a genre as that super weird with his expressive playing. And, he does of course. Knowing what the feel of the mid-1990's was, I wonder if Samba In the Rain could have been produced into another radio hit. Very much of its time, but it has aged well. If you're a Samba hater, I beg you give it another try. Way To Go Home has an assertive, tribal stomp style, again good for the dynamics of Stadium Rock, and the vocal from Vince and his backers touches upon CSN harmonies not really heard from the Dead since the American Beauty/Working Man's Dead paring. Those guys were all Marin County homies, so surely that small copping would have been copacetic with all parties concerned. What Glitter and Pomp Rocks effects, residue from his time with the Tubes, would Welnick have added to his songs on the Dead studio album offerings that he was never allowed to offer? Disaster Amnesiac's appreciation of his playing and singing has grown mightily since I got my copy of Ready Or Not.
Even among strong endeavors the center cannot hold forever, and even the invincible eventually fall. Such was the case for the Grateful Dead. Their thirty year run was startlingly cut short on an odd day in August of 1995, while they were still, despite a lot of external and internal challenges, working on their music. Ready Or Not proves that, had Jerry Garcia not succumbed to his physical ailments, they would have had at least one more good to great album waiting in the (bat) wings. It's a tough fact of life that some potentialities go unrealized.
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