One of my favorite websites to visit is Archive.org. Sometimes when I’m fed up with the commercials on my radio, the fund drives on the NPR, and I’m sick of jumping up and down to find a new CD to put on and then pile up all over my desk, I go to archive to listen to a show while I work on my computer. They have video, software, and other stuff, but I only use it for the audio because I love music and always have to be listening to something. I love when I return to the site and find a pretty nugget that I wasn’t expecting, as I did today.
Today I found the Phil & Friends show from 1/26/08 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium taped by Pete Gilmore. From reading the comments, it sounded like a nice show to be at for more than just the music. I say bravo Phil for making an effort and giving more of a show than just a few guys standing around twanging on their instruments. As for the music, I thought overall it sounds great. They all did a nice job, sounded tight most of the time, and came across sounding as if they had been playing together for quite a while. The added bonus was that Pete did an excellent job recording and the sound for an audience recording is excellent.I am not a music expert so I don’t presume to claim I know enough to criticize anyone in a review. But as a listener of the recording and one who has been listening to this type of music and some of these exact songs for about 30 years, I could offer a few of my personal remarks.
Overall, I thought it was a show worth listening to. I enjoyed it enough that I’ve already burned a CD to enjoy many times, and God knows I don’t need anymore CDs. I’ve heard and seen many incarnations of Phil and Friends. Some of my favorites were back in the days with Jimmy, Warren, Rob & some Joan. I have to admit to not being that impressed when I saw one version of the band with Larry and others. I don’t know if this current version of Phil’s friends have been rehearsing a lot over the past few months, but they sounded like they knew what they were doing most of the time.
I was thinking of commenting on some individual songs, but on second thought I think I’ll just add a couple general comments. Just go listen to it and judge for yourself if you want. It sounded like they got the groove going good enough in a few songs and were probably dancing while playing. I really dug Molo’s work on Iko during a Mardi Gras parade. That must have been nice to see. I always liked Rob on keys, but I thought Steve also did a good job here. Now I’m going back to Archive to listen to some other shows by them, or maybe hear how the “Deadheads For Obama” show was.
The current band lineup for this show was Phil Lesh, John Molo, Jackie Green, Larry Campbell, and Steve Molitz.
