Nothin' Lasts Forever

AMG Review of Nothin' Lasts Forever

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

San Francisco-based Zero is very much in the mold of the Grateful Dead, and on this live album, there are times during such lengthy instrumentals as "This Is Your Brain on Drums, Pt. 2" when you'd swear you were listening to the middle of a Dead jam. Lyrical saxophone player Martin Fierro (who has played with the Dead) provides an alternate voice to Steve Kimock's Jerry Garcia-like guitar lines, and gruff singer Judge Murphy, sometimes expounding former Dead lyricist Robert Hunter's words, adds an R&B element, notably on a cover of the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." But soon enough, the band has taken off into musical exploration, building attractive melody lines over midtempo rhythms on tracks rambling on for up to 12 minutes each. Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cipollina was an early member of this group, and even without him they remain true to the '60s San Francisco dance hall esthetic, especially on this disc, which was recorded at the city's Maritime Hall. No wonder Kimock joined the post-Dead group the Other Ones.