Stormy Mondays | Live Garcia And Wales
By Team JamBase Jul 22, 2013 • 6:50 am PDT
The Garcia-Wales relationship is both storied and obscure. Tales about long, improv heavy funky freak outs featuring Captain Trips and the organ groover have always circulated, but many fans, even well-established Heads, aren’t familiar with the material because what doesn’t circulate are recordings. There is the late ’90s solo release of Side Trips Vol. 1 (there was never a Vol. 2) which has some pretty wild music on it, and of course Hooteroll?, and then there’s this show from Boston in January 1972. The band on this gig is Howard Wales’ lineup, not the Vitt/Kahn rhythm section on the album, the rhythm section that would eventually become early versions of JGB, and Garcia plays the role of featured artist for the most part.
What we have here is the first half hour or so of the show, which is largely music from the album: “South Side Strut” > “Up From the Desert” > “On AM Approach” > “Carry Me Back.” The music is less pretty than the album, more aggressive and a lot of fun, and admittedly the recording is raw in spots too: it’s sourced from an FM broadcast, so it has a weird weather voiceover just as it starts, and another little hiccup early on, but by four minutes in, everything settles down for some serious music. Another noteworthy detail is because this is Wales’ band, Garcia is playing with another lead guitarist, which is a real rarity and makes for some interesting listening. As always, enjoy!
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Written By: Dan Alford
