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Rating:
Why have the Grateful Dead never been too considered by the Italian public or critics? And why is this album - very interesting, although certainly not a masterpiece - never talked about?
I doubt there is a conspiracy by our deviant secret services against the psychedelic - folk - roots - ethnic rock band of the late Jerry Garcia, so, excluding reprisals against my review, I take on the delicate task of introducing the reader to this album.
I apologize if I'm too brief, but in about forty minutes I have a train to catch, so I will necessarily have to be quick: please forgive the brevity, which forces me to be quicker than usual, notwithstanding this preamble.
Released in '75, when the group had already given its best and the summer of love had turned to autumn, "Blues for Allah" codifies the sound of the mature Deads in a lucid ensemble of songs with delicate acoustic tones, complemented by some electric inserts which do not, however, disturb the peaceful progress of the whole, which, having abandoned any experimental or disruptive ambition, reconnects to a U.S. musical tradition that saw, in those years, the primacy of Byrds' epigones like the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, and, in some respects, the less jazzy Steely Dan... those for Do It Again to understand, or Reelin' in the Years.
The music is essentially simple and straightforward, saved by the craft, the dreamy singing, and Garcia's always clean and bright guitar, well supported by the rest of the group. Meditative music in some aspects, certainly relaxed... even though not always easy to listen to, given that the Deads' melodies always have a zigzagging course that dulls the commercial impact and doesn't always allow memorization, even when it seems to flow through our insides like the fresh water of the moon's fountains.
A separate consideration should be given, however, to the concluding title track, a piece that alone is worth the purchase or at least the listening of the album: here the times become more expanded, the atmospheres of the Grateful Dead's live jam sessions are reproduced in the studio-lab, the contrast between electric tension and acoustic relaxation marries perfectly into the song's bluesy sway, enriched by a hypnotic and at the same time almost ritualistic chant, which in some respects ties back to the group's psychedelic vocation.
Definitely one of the band’s most inspired pieces, probably one of the most interesting tracks of the '70s, even if over here people went crazy for the English-brand prog and, at the time, the late hard rock of the Zeppelin and the remains of Deep Purple.
That said, a four out of appreciation - also to encourage listening - to the album, and a goodbye to everyone, because I'm running to catch the train, blasting the Deads on my iPod.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Help On the Way (03:12)
Paradise waits, on the crest of a wave, her angels in flames.
She has no pain, like a child she is pure, she is not to blame.
Poised for flight, wings spread bright, spring from night into the sun.
Don't stop to run, she can fly like a lie, she can't be outdone.
Tell me the cost; I can pay, let me go, tell me love is not lost.
Sell everything; without love day to day insanity's king.
I will pay day by day, anyway, lock, bolt and key.
Crippled but free, I was blind all the time I was learning to see.
Help on the way, well, I know only this, I've got you today.
Don't fly away, cause I love what I love and I want it that way.
I will stay one more day, like I say, honey it's you.
Making it too, without love in a dream it will never come true.
03 Franklin's Tower (04:43)
In another times forgotten space
Your eyes looked from your mother's face
Wallflower seed on the sand and stone
May the four winds blow you safely home.
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
I'll tell you where the four winds dwell
In Franklin's tower there hangs a bell
It can ring, turn night to day
It can ring like fire when you loose your way.
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
God save the child that rings that bell
It may have one good ring, baby, you can't tell
One watch by night, one watch by day
If you get confused listen to the music play.
(instrumental)
Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice you're gonna harvest the wind.
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
In Franklin's tower the four winds sleep
Like four lean hounds the lighthouse keep
Wildflower seed on the sand and wind
May the four winds blow you home again.
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
You'd better roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
You'd better roll away the dew - roll away.
06 The Music Never Stopped (04:34)
There's mosquitoes on the river Fish are rising up like birds
It's been hot for seven weeks now,
Too hot to even speak now, Did you hear what I just heard?
Say it might have been a fiddle or it could have been the wind
But there seems to be a beat now I can feel it my feet now
Listen here it comes again!
There's a band out on the highway, They're high steppin' into town
It's a rainbow full of sound, It's fireworks, calliopes and clowns
Everybody dancin' C'mon children, C'mon children, Come on clap your hands.
Sun went down in honey and the moon came up in wine,
You know stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord
The band kept us too busy we forgot about the time.
They're a band beyond description, Like Jehovah's favorite choir
People joining hand in hand While the music played the band, Lord
They're setting us on fire.
Crazy rooster crowin' midnight, Balls of lightin' roll along
Old men sing about their dreams, Women laugh and children scream
And the band keeps playin' on.
Keep on dancin' thru the daylight, Greet the mornin' air with song
No ones's noticed, but the band's all pack and gone. Was it ever there at all?
But they keep on dancin' C'mon children, C'mon children, Come on clap your hands
Well the cool breeze came on Tuesday, And the corn's a bumper crop
And the fields are full of dancin' Full of singin' and romancin'
The music never stopped.
07 Crazy Fingers (06:42)
Your rain falls like crazy fingers
Peals of fragile thunder keeping time
Recall the days that still are to come some sing blue.
Hang your heart on laughing willow stray
Down to the water, deep sea of love
beneath the sweet calm face of the sea swift undertow.
Life may be sweeter for this, I don't know,
See how it feels in the end.
May Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you soft, strong, sweet and true.
Cloud hands reaching from a rainbow tapping at the window, touch your hair
So swift and bright strange figures of light float in air.
Who can stop what must arrive now? Something new is waiting to be born
Dark as the night you're still by my side shine inside .
Gone are the days we stopped to decide where we should go, we just ride.
Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams gone, both dream and lie.
Life may be sweeter for this, I don't know,
Feels like it might be all right,
While Lady Lullaby sings plainly through you Love still rings true.
midnight on a carrocel ride, reaching for the gold ring down inside.
Never could reach it, just slips away but I try.
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