Jerry Garcia's "Garcia" vs. Bob Weir's "Ace"

Track Listings:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/GarciaGarciaCD.jpg

1. "Deal" (Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia) – 3:14
2. "Bird Song" (Hunter, Garcia) – 4:26
3. "Sugaree" (Hunter, Garcia) – 5:54
4. "Loser" (Hunter, Garcia) – 4:10
5. "Late For Supper" (Garcia) – 1:37
6. "Spidergawd" (Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Hunter) – 3:25
7. "EEP Hour" (Garcia, Kreutzmann) – 5:08
8. "To Lay Me Down" (Hunter, Garcia) – 6:18
9. "An Odd Little Place" (Garcia, Kreutzmann) – 1:38
10. "The Wheel" (Hunter, Garcia, Kreutzmann) – 4:12

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/Bob_Weir-Ace.jpg

1. "Greatest Story Ever Told" (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 3:43
2. "Black-Throated Wind" (Weir, Barlow) – 5:42
3. "Walk in the Sunshine" (Weir, Barlow) – 3:05
4. "Playing in the Band" (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 7:38
5. "Looks Like Rain" (Weir, Barlow) – 6:12
6. "Mexicali Blues" (Weir, Barlow) – 3:28
7. "One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 4:31
8. "Cassidy" (Weir, Barlow) – 3:41

I should get a copy of Ace. Those are some of my favorite Weir songs.

Ace is a fine record. But you can't compare it to Garcia. I prefer it to any studio record by the Grateful Dead.

I started this b/c I just picked up Ace this weekend, and I was shocked by how much I like it. I like Bob's songs about 1/3 as much as Jerry's in general, but this seems like one of the Dead's best studio albums. The sound is really good, just seems like a very solid 70s rock album instead of sounding limp like so much of the Dead's studio output. Not saying I'd take it over Garcia, nec, but it is quite good.

never heard Ace, but can't imagine it's better than Garcia. I agree -- it might be better than any Dead studio album ... i kinda think Weir is the Dead's weakest link ...

Ace is great - I love Greatest Story and Cassidy and LLR. It definitely deserves a listen along with the rest of tgeir early 70s stuff. But my big GD challop is that I hate Playin' in the Band. I like the exploratory section well enough, but I'm not a big fan of the song. Much little less controversially, I'm just sick of Mexicali Blues. Weir had much better upbeat first set material, but for some reason they never let go of that one. I even liked him better when he tried to play blues.

However, I'd easily recommend Garcia to somebody who felt they only needed one Grateful Dead album, so classic are each of the tunes contained herein. Just look at the tracklist. If you don't know any of the songs, you really should. Some people might not go for the experimental stuff, but I like it and it's pretty harmless, although it probably benefits for me from its association with the cosmic pinball sequence in the Grateful Dead Movie.

Garcia. Plus some of those tunes (Deal, Loser) turned out to be great in concert.

These guys loved their cards, man. I guess that's a Hunter thing.

Playin in the Band SUCKS. Black Throated Wind is pretty great, tho.

Jerry could solo on top of Deal like nobody's business.

Ace is a fine record. But you can't compare it to Garcia. I prefer it to any studio record by the Grateful Dead.

― kornrulez6969, Monday, December 7, 2009 9:05 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

GARCIA easily lords over ACE, even though both are great. Also, what about Rolling Thunder by Mickey Hart? I don't think it's as good as either Garcia or Ace, but it's still pretty good and worth mention. The three records all coming out around the same time always reminded me of the 4 Kiss solo albums.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Garcia is fab; it emerged from the PERRO scene with the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Neil Young, Graham Nash, and others, and resulted in lots of great albums.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The "Mexicali Blues" on Ace is pretty nice, but fuck, "Sugaree" is really ace. The alt take on the reissue of Garcia is savage, or as savage as a Garcia song on acoustic can be: good grief does it swing.

As good a place to post this as any: The "Sugaree" I recently discovered from Nashville on 12/16/78 has 14 minutes worth of amazing guitars: Bob's slide, Jerry's filigrees, ringing harmonics... I'm no Dead expert, but it's a really cool version.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1978-12-16.sonyecm250-no-dolby.walker-scotton.miller.82212.sbeok.flac16

Wait, there's a Garcia reissue? Holy mackerel!!!!!!!

never heard Ace, but can't imagine it's better than Garcia. I agree -- it might be better than any Dead studio album ... i kinda think Weir is the Dead's weakest link ...
man four years ago me was not otm! was listening to this last night, and it might just be the best Dead studio album. in all but name.

no way, yr past self was otm! wld take workingman's dead, american beauty and wake of the flood over ace

i was drinking some whiskey while listening, so that may have had some effect. but still -- a pretty sweet album!

Isn't there a Garcia record that has tape collages on it or something? Dunno where I read that; seems more likely that I dreamed it.

hooteroll? (sp?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbhAsj-QbHE

Wow. This is fucking glorious. Thanks for posting!

Did Ace get an expanded remastered edition since The Golden Road came out? I know that the Garcia did cos I have it. Think i'd pick up a copy of that remastered Ace if it existed and probably the Mickey Hart Rolling Thunder too.

i don't think ace has been expanded. could anyone hook a dude up w/ that expanded/remastered Garcia? it seems to be OOP and fetching all kindsa wacky prices. i only have the thing on cassette.

Just looking at the tracklisting on Ace and every track but one became a 70s Dead concert staple.
I guess the same is true of most of that Garcia with th eother tracks being weird studio experiments I think. Though it did take several years for The Wheel to become a concert staple, don't thinkit was being played much before '76 if I'm thinking right.

Hadn't realised that Rolling Thunder was actually from the same year and shares a couple of the concert staple to be tracks, though possibly in less developed form. THey're still there as The Pump Song and The Main Ten whereas they've already become Playing In the Band and Greatest Story Ever Told on Ace.

holy hell nothign makes me reach for the dial faster than when a weir song come on the seriusxm in my rental car

I finally got around to hearing Ace last weekend and holy shit this is a great record! Been listening to it all week. It took me a while to come around to Weir in general, but I think I've come around completely now. I knew most of the songs from live recordings, but I had never heard "Cassidy" before and it destroyed me. What a beautiful song! Can anyone recommend any particularly good live versions?

Garcia still the better of these two records, though, just because it's practically perfect.

The bummer thing about the version of "Cassidy" that's on ACE is that it lacks Jerry's super lysergic guitar leads.
I don't have a particular live version to recommend, though.

Maybe check the one on Reckoning?

'77 versions are good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH8aPu-W_ZM
apparently weir collapsed onstage last night? eek!

live cassidys from that period make a case for weir/donna duets

first ever live performance of cassidy can be found on Dick's Picks #24, which is a v gd 74 set (it was also the first 'wall of sound' show)

“Black-Throated Wind” on Ace has me imagining what exile-era Rolling Stones would have done with it.