Grateful Dead

Week of October 16, 1995

First of a two-part interview with Grateful Dead bandmates Bob Weir and Phil Lesh accompanying the release of Hundred Year Hall, a two-CD set recorded April 26, 1972 in Frankfurt, Germany, during the deservedly-legendary Europe '72 tour. WNEW-FM DJ Marty Martinez and I did the interview with Bob and Phil in Bob's northern California studio.

You'll find a transcript here. An excerpt:

Gans: I wanted to talk about my favorite passage in this record.... on the label it says "Lovelight->Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad," but there's a three-and-a-half-minute section in there... Jerry starts playing "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" at a very fast tempo, and the entire band sort of glides into a smoother tempo, and then somebody starts talkin' "Not Fade Away," and there's a moment in here when half the band is playing "Not Fade Away" and the other half is playing "Goin' Down the Road," and then there's more - tempo changes, harmonic interest, and there's one moment where the "I Bid You Goodnight" theme from the end of "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" is happening - it's just this beautiful, sort of telepathic, thing. You get all the way into "Not Fade Away," and then say to heck with it and go straight to "Goin' Down the Road" after all.

Lesh, Weir: [laughing]

Lesh: That's the stuff that we dream about. That's the stuff that we aim for, that's the stuff that's the most fun to do, and it's the most magical... you can never predict what's gonna happen. Although there are some factors that are involved - for instance, with only one drummer, we could turn faster, we could shift gears rhythmically, differently than we do with two. It's like you're heavier, and going faster with two drummers, and it's hard to change direction. It's like, it's like a car or an airplane, the heavier, you know, and bigger it is...

Weir: Bigger engine, goes faster, but - it doesn't turn on a dime.

Lesh: Yeah, so that was a particular thing we could do with tempo, and the thing about it was, it was never all in one direction - we could go faster or slower, and sometimes both at the same time. And, uh, it was just - those moments are, you know, true goose-bumpers, for me.

Next week we'll post the conclusion of this interview, and then the week after that we'll post a show that was broadcast several years later, featuring some of the 4/26/72 music that was left off of Hundred Year Hall.

Enjoy!

Interview: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Marty Martinez, David Gans

The music:

Grateful Dead, Hundred Year Hall
THE OTHER ONE (excerpts)
JACK STRAW
NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME
BIG RAILROAD BLUES

Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.

Thank you for listening!
- David Gans
Producer/host

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