Montag, 17. Aug 2009, 16:53
I will tell you about the song lengths on this album:
1st song: 23 minutes
2nd song: 6,5 minutes
3rd song: 9,5 minutes
4th song: 15 minutes
5th song: 10,5 minutes
6th song: 7,5 minutes
7th song: 0,5 minutes (that’s what I call funny).
Are the Grateful Dead kidding me?!
No, they’re not. And they’re also not kidding about playing impressive guitar solos, drumming unbelievable rhythms, improvising till you’re kilometers high in the (psychedelic) sky and exploring every possible corner of a song. This is a live album, and it consists almost solely of improvising and/or jamming. Some parts sound absolutely great (the beginning of Dark Star, the 11th and 12th minute of Dark Star, the last 3 minutes of Dark Star, the whole (!) of St. Stephen, The Eleven starting from the 4th minute, the beginning and the sung parts of Turn On Your Love Light, the sublime from beginning to end Death Don't Have No Mercy).
At first I didn’t care a tiny rat’s ass. It all seemed too overstretched and too spinned out, even if it was as brilliantly played as it is. But repeated listening helps although it always stays tiring to listen to this. But the excellent parts are really excellent (especially Death Don't Have No Mercy) and focusing on those helps (and even got me moving to the music!). However, this is an album (and a long one!) and as a whole this is just a bit too much for me.
Although drugs might help possibly.
(Het is waarempel een liedje: St. Stephen, Death Don't Have No Mercy)