The second installment of the Heads & Tails, a vinyl series will be released in December. The idea behind Head & Tails is “to showcase first-rate Jerry Garcia performances orphaned on tapes deemed otherwise unusable, brings together two distinct eras of Garcia’s musical life outside the Grateful Dead. Each half of the double-A-sided LP offers two sides of a story with way more than two sides.”
Heads & Tails: Volume 2 collects performances from the Jerry Garcia Band at the Keystone, Berkeley, CA on January 26, 1976 and Portland Meadows in Portland, OR on August 8, 1993. The Keystone cuts are “Russian Lullaby” and “Who Was John?” The Portland performance yields “And It Stoned Me” along with “The Maker.” The version of “Who Was John?" is now streaming (and can be heard below).
As the official announcement notes, “From January 1976 at Keystone Berkeley comes a glimpse of Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux’s very first show with the group, including the debut performance of the traditional gospel tune “Who Was John?” and an exquisite reading of Irving Berlin’s “Russian Lullaby.” The performances hint at the overtly spiritual material that would come to define much of the band’s musical identity in the ’90s.
“On the other side, a summer afternoon at Portland Meadows in 1993 finds the classic lineup nearing the end of its journey together. Though an imperfect day overall, the soul-soaked rendering of Van Morrison’s “And It Stoned Me” and a positively transcendent version of Daniel Lanois’s “The Maker,” with Garcia quietly and assuredly occupying the vocal before delivering a majestic, crystalline guitar solo, are too evocative to remain on the shelf.”
Heads & Tails: Volume 1 paired a performance from 1972 with one from 1988. The 1972 show by Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders took place on January 19, 1972 at Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA offering a version of “Save Mother Earth” with Paul Butterfield. The 1988 performance was by the Jerry Garcia Band on February 5, 1988 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Santa Rosa, CA, offering “Don't Let Go” and “Think.”
Heads & Tails: Volume 2 is pressed on lavender eco-mix vinyl. It is now available for pre-order. A Heads & Tails bundle is also available.
