Ace was the debut solo album from Bob Weir (credited here as Bobby Weir). It was a key release in the history and evolution of the Grateful Dead, and it was the second release in 1972 from a member of the Grateful Dead. Garcia, from Jerry Garcia, was also a debut solo album from a member of the group and came out in January of that year. The two albums signified that the group would do outside projects, but the Dead would carry on.
While the Garcia album only featured one member of the Dead other than Garcia (drummer Bill Kruetzmann), Ace featured the entire group of that time except for Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Donna Jean Godchaux. The primary group on the album, along with Weir, consisted of Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kruetzmann, and Keith Godchaux. The album came during a three-year gap in studio albums from the Grateful Dead between American Beauty (1970) and Wake of the Flood (1973).
Ace would launch a long and varied career for Weir outside the Dead that would include albums from groups he led, including Bobby and the Midnites, Rat Dog, and most recently the Wolf Brothers (more on them later). Since most of the members of the Dead were on the Ace album, it did have the feeling of another Dead album during a time when the group wasn’t recording.
Additionally, several songs are included here that would become the official studio recordings of songs that were staples of recent live Dead tours and appeared on the second official live Dead album (Skull and Roses): “Playing in the Band” and on the third (Europe 72); “One More Saturday Night.” Playing in the Band,” clocking in here at nearly eight minutes, is not as long as the typical length of a Dead live workout nor as improvisational, but it is a definitive classic Dead recording which did not appear on a Grateful Dead studio album. Similarly, “One More Saturday Night” works as a fully realized studio recording without sacrificing the magic, spark, and spontaneity of the Dead live on stage.
“Mexicali Blues” and “Cassady” are two other classics on the album that received heavy FM airplay and that were live Dead favorites, with “Cassady” making an appearance on the second-to-last, official Grateful Dead live album Reckoning and on the last one Without A Net.
It’s great having a newly remixed and remastered version of this classic solo album from a member of the Grateful Dead, but there’s a superb bonus CD included as well. Bobby Weir and the Wolf Brothers performed two shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York in April of 2022 and the show on the 3rd of that month was recorded. The part of the show when the group performed the Ace album in its entirety is included in this package.
Weir is supported by Don Was on bass; a veteran of many iterations of the Grateful Dead, Jeff Chimenti on piano; drummer Jay Lane, who has played with Weir’s Ratdog group; Barry Sless, who has played with Phil Lesh and Kingfish, a group that has included Weir and Kreutzmann; and the Wolfpack, a five-piece orchestra that includes Sheldon Brown, Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, and Mads Tolling.
These musicians bring a fresh new take to the album. While simply recreating an original album can sometimes seem redundant, or going too far in reimagining classic music can lose the magic that made the original so special, this live disc adds perfect new touches throughout to make it fresh, but retains the distinct flavor of the LP when it was first released. Others who contribute here are Tyler Childers handling vocals on the opener “Greatest Story Ever Told,” which works perfectly, and Britney Spencer who adds vocals to “Walk in the Sunshine” and “Looks Like Rain.” Her vocal interplay with Weir is inspired.
The backing group and mini orchestra sometimes add a jazzier feel to some of the music, without losing the country flavor that permeated some of the original tracks. The orchestra is most prevalent on “Mexicali Blues,” spicing up the south-of-the border sound just right.
Weir waited six years before he released his second solo studio album, Heaven Help the Fool, and it would be 2016 before he released his third, and so far, last solo studio album, Blue Mountain. This is truly a welcome reissue of a classic release, but one that is part of a package that also reflects Weir today.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
