Dick's Picks 9 review
Dick’s
Picks 9
is a complete concert recorded September 16, 1990, at the Madison
Square Garden in New York, NY.
This tour is the first after Brent Mydland’s death and is
Vince Welnick’s seventh show and Bruce Hornsby’s second.
The
first disc of Dick’s Picks 9 starts
the concert; it begins with “Hell in a Bucket” that
certainly got the audience off of their feet. They kept the pace up
with their second song “Cold Rain and Snow”; with Garcia holding
the funky melody down, Phil adding his phrasing, Bobby with his
underneath notes, and Bruce throwing in melodic touches, nice! The
rendition of “Tennessee Jed” gets a stunning treatment with
superb interaction between Bruce Hornsby and Jerry Garcia during the
instrumental. The song
that follows, “Cassidy” is no slouch either with Phil battling
Jerry for most interesting musical lines; this dialogue continues
into the next song, the set closer, “Deal.”
The
second disc of Dick’s Picks 9 begins set two. It is rock
solid from start to finish. The whole band is on, but Phil really
leads the way. My favorite part of the disc is the “He’s Gone”
> “No MSG Jam.” The closing instrumental in “He’s Gone”
takes on a blues mood from the beginning and has hints of
“Spoonful” teases throughout.
The “No MSG Jam” includes a hint of “Morning Dew” and some fun musical interplay between Phil
Lesh and Bruce Hornsby.
While
not as good as the preceding disc, the third disc is no slouch. We
are treated to an unexpected jam, “Lunatic Preserve,” The best
part of the third disc is, no surprise, “Morning Dew.” Jerry and
Phil’s musical conversations within it make this version great.
Dick’s
Picks 9 is
the first release featuring the band members Bruce Hornsby and Vince
Welnick. My only complaint is that it took them so long to release
music with this collaboration. The band is definitely on this
evening. Not only are the songs played well they have several
unexpected jams. Dick’s Picks 9 is a solid addition to a
live Grateful Dead collection.
by Barry
Small
©
Grade A
