Track List

Pure Jerry - The Jerry Garcia vault series 

Jerry Garcia Band: (2 CDs)
Warner Theatre ~ Washington, DC
3/18/78

This line-up of the Jerry Garcia band is similar but not identical the one from releases such as Don't Let Go, and Theatre 1839. The differences are that Buzz Buchanan replaced Ron Tutt on drums (a minus), and a second back-up vocalist, Maria Muldaur was added (a plus). This personnel was together from Aug. 1977 through November 1978.

There were two shows played that evening. Upon listening to the them, the obvious conclusion is that the lucky folks attended the late show. 

The early show is fairly short. Jerry opens with an apology so time must have been short. But more, the performance is average. Jerry seems to hold back his explosiveness. Also, the set list is just ok as I do not care much for reggae rendition of "Heaven's Door." The strongest song is one of two Motown tracks, "That's What Love Will Make You Do," and they stretch out "Love in the Afternoon" in an interesting manner.

The late show is sort of like two chapters. The first is a typical Jerry band set with an abundance of musical genres. Some of the highlights include the opening track, "They Harder They Come" that features Jerry and Keith locking into a good jam. During "Midnight Moonlight" Jerry takes his good old time and features several moments of guitar bliss. During the Dylan cover "Simple Twist of Fate" Keith adds some nice complementary runs to interact with Jerry's vocals.

The second chapter emphasizes material from the Cats Down Under The Stars album. It begins with the bible based "Gomorrah." Much of that album is vocal oriented and some songs are light on the guitar. This material is perfectly suited for this two back-up singer line-up. As a result, some of this material never sounded better live. For example, the track like "I'll Be With Thee" sounds fantastic vocally. The vocal brilliance carries over to the next song "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home." Packed within the track is a Grateful Dead like jam that ventures into several different modes, but generally emphasizes a spacey theme, yielding a solid piece of music. The jam is mostly dominated by Jerry and John Kahn.

There is quite a bit of excellent music packed onto these two discs.
Grade  B +
by Barry Small © 
Order it today. JerryGarcia.com

Disc 1

Early show

I Second That Emotion (Robinson / Cleveland) 
They Love Each Other (Garcia / Hunter) 
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Dylan) 
That's What Love Will Make You Do 
Love In The Afternoon (Kahn / Hunter) 
Mystery Train (Parker / Philips)

Late Show
The Harder They Come (Cliff) 

Disc 2
Mission In The Rain (Garcia / Hunter) 
Simple Twist Of Fate (Dylan) 
Midnight Moonlight (Rowan) 
Gomorrah (Garcia / Hunter) 
Cats Under The Stars (Garcia / Hunter) 
I'll Be With Thee (Love) 
Lonesome And A Long Way From Home (Bramlett / Bramlett / Russell) 
Palm Sunday (Garcia / Hunter) 

Label - JGCD 
Released  2005
HDCD

A very nice JGB photo with the Cats Down Under the Stars background. 

From the Jerry Garcia website
jerrygarcia.com is happy to announce the newest release in the Pure Jerry series of Jerry Garcia concert recordings: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978. 

The Jerry Garcia Band toured in especially auspicious circumstances in early 1978. They had a wealth of new material from the brand-new "Cats Under The Stars," and were joined by Maria Muldaur on vocals, creating exquisite vocal harmonies with Donna Jean Godchaux. The Grateful Dead had just finished their legendary west coast tour of December 1977 and January 1978. Jerry was on a roll...

Nearing the end of the tour, the JGB played two shows (early and late) in one night at Washington DC's Warner Theatre. Passionate collectors are well-familiar with the late show (circulated on tape from a local FM broadcast). This Pure Jerry release contains both shows from the original two-track soundboard masters, updated in the brilliant sounding HDCD format.

Highlights include a sparkling "Mission In The Rain", a very spacy jam on "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home", and one of only two "Palm Sunday"s ever performed live by the Jerry Garcia Band. At the Warner Theatre, on song after song, Jerry's solos are adventurous and thrilling, showcased within a framework of gospel and funk.

Special Note -- you will notice that the cover art of Warner Theatre features a photograph of a unique piece of memorabilia -- a setlist handwritten by Jerry. For the first pressing of Warner Theatre, one lucky purchaser will receive a coupon inside their package that can be redeemed for this original setlist from Jerry's personal journal.