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There & Back Again (Multichannel/Stereo)
Former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh's first solo album (not counting Seastones, his 1975 electronic collaboration with Ned Lagin) traffics more in Springsteenian arena rock than in the jazzily extended high-wire improvisations of his live shows. While the music lacks the lilt of Lesh's former combo, the band is tight and Dead lyricist Robert Hunter's verses are as evocative, regretful, and optimistic as ever--usually at the same time. Song after song alludes to a golden age of rock hedonism while simultaneously reassuring listeners that the past can be recaptured in the here and now. "Give it up for love, so I've been told," sings deep-throated Lesh in the barrelhouse "Rock-a-Roll Blues," "It seldom gets younger but it never gets old." Guitarist Warren Haynes, who contributes a handful of downbeat power ballads, smears the record with his signature slide playing while fellow guitarist Jimmy Herring bobs and weaves like Bob Weir to Haynes's Jerry Garcia. It's a nostalgia trip for sure, but it just might do until the real thing reappears. --Hazel Luftglass
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Tracks| 1 | Celebration | | 2 | Night of a Thousand Stars | | 3 | Real Thing | | 4 | Again and Again | | 5 | No More Do I | | 6 | Patchwork Quilt | | 7 | Liberty | | 8 | Midnight Train | | 9 | Leave Me Out of This | | 10 | Welcome to the Underground | | 11 | Rock-N-Roll Blues |
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