Jerry Garcia - Garcia

Garcia, his revered 1972 solo debut, exclusively features cowrites by Jerry, Dead percussionist Bill Kreutzmann, and famed Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, including "Sugaree," "To Lay Me Down," and "The Wheel." Now expanded with eight previously unreleased outtakes from the original sessions, including "Study for Eep Hour" and a "Dealin' From the Bottom" studio jam. Album Description

Jerry Garcia's Solo Debut Equals AMERICAN BEAUTY

GARCIA, the debut solo album by Grateful Dead lead guitarist-singer Jerry Garcia, is the equal of the Dead's classic AMERICAN BEAUTY. The songs "Deal" and "Sugaree" are still played on classic rock radio quite often today, and there's other great stuff here, too. This CD has been given a thick, warm remastering job, with numerous bonus cuts added. If you love the Grateful Dead, or even if you're just a casual fan, you'll want this album. August 18, 2008

Garcia Vega

wordup its bangin its beautiful buy it. everyone else is correct; some of the finest 'Dead-ish music made. October 31, 2006

Classic 70's Gem

"If I had a gun for every ace i've drawn-I could arm a town the size of abilene" and "everybody's praying and drinking that wine-I can tell the queen of the diamonds by the way she shines" are the types of lyrics you will be hearing throughout the songs in the album , mix them with Jerry Garcia's inspirational music and soulful honest voice and you will get one of the absolute greatest albums ever to be produced.
I must admit at first listen I didnt really enjoy The Grateful Dead's "American Beauty", but after "Garcia" my whole view of the Dead has completely changed. This terrific gem of an album is only one member's attempt, put them together and you get a tight band who knows which notes to pick.
I can even see now how the Dead have paved the way for many of the southern rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd and so on with their song themes and style.I learnt all these things from my listen to "Garcia" by the late great Jerry Garcia and I learning more.
Get this now if you like great music! August 7, 2006

Genius at Work

This recording shows how much Jerry Garcia meant to the Grateful Dead. He is definitely missed! June 30, 2006

A Brilliant Yet Dirty Gem Of An Album...

"Garcia" offers an interesting counterpoint to Bob Weir's "Ace". Where "Ace" offers mostly straight-laced tunes, "Garcia" offered more experimental arrangements. It would be hard to imagine a song with such celestial soundscapes like "Bird Song" or "The Wheel" on "Ace".

This album features 6 songs that were assimilated into the Dead's Live Reportoire.

"Deal" and "Loser" are songs very relative to those on "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead", which deals with people living the hard life, in this case, gamblers.

"Bird Song", a tribute to Janis Joplin, is filled with a smattering with guitars and organ that just echo a certain pain that Garcia must've felt.

"Sugaree" is somewhat based on an old folk tune with similar titles. This song probably has the sparsest arrangement on the album, with only acoustic guitar, bass, drums, and electric guitar fed into a Leslie Speaker.

"To Lay Me Down" is subliminal in it's subject matter. It could be about lost love, or the death of the 60's dream, choose your own interpretation.

"The Wheel" however feels like a solution to the pain and suffering presented throughout the other songs. But the solution could be different for everybody.

The other songs on the album are little snippets of electronic sound experiments that bridge between the 2 sides of the album.

"Late For Supper" and "Spidergawd" work well as an introduction to "Eep Hour". "Eep Hour" being an instrumental "song" on the album, it works well as transition back to Earth for "To Lay Me Down", but for some strange reason, there's no bass in the song. The only bottom end one hears is Kruetzmann's bass drum, but it's just not enough? How come there isn't any bass, did Garcia ever get asked about it and have a good answer for it? 'Cause I'd Like To Know.

"An Odd Little Place" also works well as an intro to "The Wheel", but there isn't much besides that. May 20, 2006

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