Ramu

Mickey Hart - No FCC violations
Released Dec. 2017 reviewed Feb. 2018 by Gil Howdler.

The tracks flow without pause. This may make some track seem to end suddenly. Use X-Fades to segue, in and out. Total Time: 47 Minutes continuous.

The poly-rhythmic structure of all the music is great, recording quality excellent. Mickey hart began developing as a solo artist while he was in The Grateful dead, and is very popular. New record tends toward loopy beats and samples and favors hip-Hop and r&b vocal styles. Other highlights include two instances of Jerry Garcia's Guitar playing making an appearance via looping of some archival recordings. Mickey's recording and editing space is state of the art and he has been involved with the Smithsonian Institution as a curator for 15 years or so. Another treat is Robert Hunter's Lyrics on a few tracks. I am gonna play, "You Remind Me" on my show. Detailed track by track descriptions follow. Further info inside booklet.

1. 2:41: "Auctioneers", inst. w samples from the 1940's. Flows into next. sets the tone.

2. 4:08: "Wayward Son", first Hart/Hunter song of the five. A somber jazzy lament. Duet male voice; Avey Tare and Tarriona "Tank" Ball female

3. 5:09: "Big Bad Wolf", Mickey is thinking about the times, and reflecting on his vaunted position. hip fable style ballad with built-in jumpiness. Donald Trump is called out by name on this one track (only) but Tr. 5 is also all about it. Peter Coyote reads some of the lines.

4. 4:24: "The Lost Coast" is an instrumental.
The depth of these recordings by four drummers and a lap guitar (Steve Kimock) is astounding. Y

5. 3:54: "Who Do You Think You Are?" is second of five Hart/Hunter compositions. Features Terriona 'Tank' Ball, Vocs.

6. 4:08: "You Remind Me" -- third Hart/Hunter collaboration. Avey Tare Vocal, and interwoven is a recording circa '63-'64, of a song by the singers of the Shipibo people of Rainforests of Eastern Peru - Sweet lyric.

7. 1:58 "When The Morning Comes" - The Icon of drumming, Olatunji recorded with Hart and this must be a scrap of those sessions all dressed up. Ms. Ball on vocals again.

8. 3:39: "Jerry" - here's an instrumental in which long dead Grateful Dead founder's guitar noodles are presented draped in resplendent new musical clothes. Mickey's Ranch in Novato, CA was a great place to try out new guitar effects in a good musical context. wish there was more about the tape lineage--however there is nothing in the notes. Mystery tape of Garcia using the effects loop which made him sound like flute.

9. 3:59: "Wine Wine Wine" Charles Lloyd contributes Saxophone to a vamp created to be layered on a 1944 field recording of Longshoremen in Tampa, Florida.

10. 4:58: "Nacare" - perfect balance of whispered vocals and stately dub step rhythms features Giovanni Hidalgo. The lyric, by Hart, is in Spanish.

11. 3:38: "Spreading The News" - Does a nice job of finding a scat-o-logical usefulness amid tuneless beats. It is Tank Bell at her best. Hart/Hunter Four of Five.

12. 4:42: "Time Beyond Reason". Last song. More Garcia licks used to a reasonably nice effect, then a trap drums beat to fade on as a final cadence.