Weir Here – The Best of Bob Weir

Weir Here – The Best of Bob Weir is a 2004 live/studio compilation album featuring former Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist Bob Weir. A career retrospective, it features tracks from many of Weir's bands, solo and duo projects, as well as those from his main gig with the Dead.[3]

Weir Here – The Best Of Bob Weir
Greatest hits album by
Bob Weir
ReleasedMarch 23, 2004
Recorded1972–2003
GenreRock, Jam
Length155:24
LabelHybrid Recordings
Bob Weir chronology
Live at Roseland
(2000)		 Weir Here – The Best Of Bob Weir
(2004)		 Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound
(2013)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
The Music Box [2]

Content

Similarly to Birth of the Dead, The album contains two discs – one studio and one live. The studio disc proceeds chronologically, beginning with Weir's first solo effort then including his work in the bands Kingfish, RatDog, Weir & Wasserman (though the duo is here a trio, augmented by Neil Young), Bobby & the Midnites, and one track by the Grateful Dead. The final track of the disc is from a then-recent appearance on a children's album by Dan Zanes (of Del Fuegos fame).

The live disc features a variety of songs from Grateful Dead performances with Weir as the lead singer – though five of the tracks were previously unreleased – and one track by RatDog (a Dylan cover from a 2003 band rehearsal).

Production and critical reception

The album was compiled by Hybrid Recordings, with final approval by Weir. It is currently out of print. The cover art is by Alton Kelley with liner notes by Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally. The title refers to the focus being on Weir, "speaking up" as the Dead's "secondary" guitarist, and is a pun on "we're here", a reference to the existential element of attending a live Grateful Dead concert (and in general).[4]

In the album's press release, Andrew Clarke of The Independent called Bob Weir "arguably rock's greatest, if most eccentric, rhythm guitarist."[5] Joel Selvin of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "No major rock star's solo career has ever received less attention than Weir's." He said the album "[shines] some light on Weir's long-term (albeit secondary) solo career", and that "he can let other musicians pick out the material he sings. He doesn't care about that. He is the rarest of musical animals – a hands-off bandleader. It hasn't exactly been a bell-ringing, million-selling solo career, but underachiever Weir has never gotten his due for some genuine high points and a whole lot of good music under his own brand."[6]

Track listing

Disc 1
Studio
  1. "Cassidy" (Barlow, Weir) – 3:42
  2. "Mexicali Blues" (Weir, Barlow) – 3:27
  3. "Looks Like Rain" (Weir, Barlow) – 6:11
  4. "Playing in the Band" (Weir, Hunter, Hart) – 7:38
  5. "One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 4:31
    • tracks 1–5 from Ace by Bob Weir
  6. "Lazy Lightnin'" (Barlow, Weir) – 3:02
  7. "Supplication" (Barlow, Weir) – 2:57
  8. "Feel Like a Stranger" (Barlow, Weir) – 5:08
    • slightly edited, originally from Go to Heaven by Grateful Dead
  9. "Easy to Slip" (George, Kibbee) – 3:06
  10. "Wrong Way Feelin'" (Barlow, Weir) – 5:12
  11. "Shade of Grey" (Barlow, Weir) – 4:30
  12. "(I Want to) Fly Away" (Barlow, Weir) – 3:59
  13. "Easy Answers" (Bralove, Hunter, Wasserman, Weir, Welnick) – 6:01[lower-alpha 1][7]
    • from Trios by Rob Wasserman
  14. "Two Djinn" (Graham, Chimenti, Karan, Lane, McGinn, Wasserman, Weir) – 9:04
  15. "Ashes and Glass" (Pessis, Chimenti, Ellis, Karan, Lane, McGinn, Wasserman, Weir) – 5:55
  16. "Wabash Cannonball" (traditional) – 3:41

Note

  1. Though a Grateful Dead song by the time of the track's original release, this version is performed by Weir & Wasserman along with Neil Young. According to the liner notes, the arrangement of the song was first finalized for this recording

Disc 2
Live
  1. "Truckin'" (Hunter, Garcia, Lesh, Weir) – 9:22
  2. "Estimated Prophet" (Barlow, Weir) – 11:07[lower-alpha 1]
  3. "Hell in a Bucket" (Barlow, Weir, Mydland) – 6:24[lower-alpha 1]
  4. "Me and Bobby McGee" (Foster, Kristofferson) – 6:04[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]
  5. "New Minglewood Blues" (traditional, arr. Weir) – 6:13[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 4]
    • October 14, 1989, Meadowlands, East Rutherford, New Jersey. Edited version of performance
  6. "Man Smart Woman Smarter" (Span) – 4:27[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 5]
  7. "Jack Straw" (Hunter, Weir) – 5:05[lower-alpha 2]
  8. "Sugar Magnolia" (Hunter, Weir) – 6:00
    • April 25, 1971, Fillmore East, New York City. Previously released on Ladies and Gentlemen...
  9. "Throwing Stones" (Weir, Barlow) – 7:53
  10. "The Music Never Stopped" (Weir, Barlow) – 8:58
  11. "Masters of War" (Dylan) – 5:34[lower-alpha 1]
    • March 19, 2003, RatDog band rehearsal

Notes

  1. Previously unreleased
  2. Also released on Europe '72: The Complete Recordings
  3. Sleeve notes incorrectly list as March, 1972, New York City
  4. Another track from this concert later released on the soundtrack album from the motion picture The Music Never Stopped
  5. Intro patched with intro from the August 17, 1989 show at University of California

References
  1. Planer, Lindsay. "Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir". AllMusic. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  2. Metzger, John (April 2004). Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir, The Music Box
  3. "Grateful Dead Family Discography – Weir Here: The Best Of Bob Weir". Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  4. "Hybrid Recordings – Weir Here". Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  5. Clarke, Andrew (21 August 2003). "Bob Weir: The living Dead". The Independent. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  6. Selvin, Joel (21 March 2004). "Dead Man Talking". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  7. Trios; GRP Records, 1994. Liner Notes: Rob Wasserman
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