OTBT Phil Lesh tribute show

*** Show now uploaded. This link will take you to Mixcloud. ***

I have recorded a new show mainly in tribute to bass player and founder member of the Grateful Dead Phil Lesh who passed away recently. I thought I had uploaded it to Mixcloud but discovered that they are doing some systems work on their website today and everything is up the pictures, to coin a phrase. 

So some thoughts about the Dead. The first album of theirs I bought was Live Dead which I might well have found in a record shop in Camden Town. I lived in London from the end of 1988 to March 1991. I can't remember the name of the shop but it had a basement which I'm pretty sure you got to via a spiral staircase. As with many things, the passage of time robs one of memories but I can still see the record shop in my mind's eye having made a few purchases there. They had a fine selection of LPs from the hippie era and I picked up albums by other West Coast bands like Quicksilver Messenger Service. 

From Live Dead I bought Workingman's Dead and it must have been something of a surprise to hear the radical change of direction they took on that album. Remember, this was in the pre-internet days so unless you heard something on the radio or TV or heard a record at a friend's house you were more or less taking pot luck (if you'll pardon the unintentional drug reference) regarding the music you were buying. But like it I did and not long after I found a copy of American Beauty, both on CD as I had bought my first CD deck by then. 

I never got to see the Dead in concert which is a shame as they had a reputation for playing long sets with no two nights ever being the same. As we got into the 90s with the Madchester & Britpop scenes exploding onto the UK music scene I started buying fewer records from yesteryear and paid more attention to the new sounds of Manic Street Preachers, Dodgy, The Charlatans, Echobelly and of course the dominant duo - Blur and Oasis.

I did buy one final Grateful Dead album namely their 1987 release In The Dark which I picked up on cassette for the very reasonable price of 99p in a branch of John Menzies which was Scotland's equivalent of WS Smith. 

So on to the playlist. Three numbers by the Dead with a CSN&Y song which Jerry Garcia guested on along with various other late 60s\early 70s favourites and some more recent cuts. But probably best to leave going onto Mixcloud until tomorrow.

Grateful Dead - Box of Rain 
Carole King - So Far Away 
Dom Martin - Belfast Blues 
Katie Spencer - Hello Sun (live) 
Phil Ochs - That Was The President 
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Teach Your Children 
Grateful Dead - Cumberland Blues 
Blue Rodeo - Go Go Round 
Martyn Joseph - Born Too Late 
Roddy Frame - Small World 
Virginia Kettle - Promise of a Sunrise 
The Broken-Hearted Few - Hidden From The Sun 
The Doors - Hyacinth House 
Grateful Dead - Friend of the Devil 
The Byrds - My Back Pages 

RIP Phil Lesh (15 March 1940 – 25 October 2024)