Weir/Wasserman Live

AMG Review of Weir/Wasserman Live

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Two years after the demise of the Grateful Dead, guitarist/singer Bob Weir put a tentative toe in the water of a post-Dead career with this release, his first non-Dead disc since 1984. Part of what made it so tentative was that it was in fact archival material, all but one track coming from the fall of 1988, and that one from the summer of 1992. Weir has been touring with bassist Wasserman since their partnership began with the show recorded for this album, in recent years with extra players under the name Ratdog. Most of the material here is familiar from the Dead's repertoire ("Victim or the Crime," "Throwing Stones") or Weir's ("Looks Like Rain," "Heaven Help the Fool"). But especially when the two break into "Walkin' Blues," the spare acoustic guitar/bass arrangements are liable to remind you not so much of the Dead as of Hot Tuna. Of course, Weir doesn't have Jorma Kaukonen's chops, but he is an enthusiastic singer, and Wasserman remains a wonderfully melodic bass player.