Arista
1972
Rolling Thunder
About This Album
Along with Bobby Weir's Ace (1972) and Jerry Garcia's Garcia (1972), Mickey Hart (percussion) issued his debut solo in 1972. Some unfortunate business dealings involving his father Lenny Hart -- who briefly managed the Grateful Dead -- resulted in Mickey extricating himself from the band in 1971. However none of the other members blamed Mickey and remained supportive of his sabbatical. It was as a result of suddenly having some time off the road that the Rolling Thunder project was completed -- primarily in the barn of his Novato, California ranch. Unlike Garcia and Weir, Hart ventured beyond the confines of the Dead for support, featuring a bevy of rock and roll heavies -- many of whom were also fellow Bay Area residents. The results are uniformly inspired and are the closest that the percussionist would come to recording a ‘traditional' pop/rock album until the release of Mickey Hart's Mystery Box (1996) over two decades later. The disc begins with a traditional Native American invocation courtesy of Rolling Thunder himself. This leads into a marimba duet which is followed by Allah Rahka and Zakir Hussain's hypnotic rain sticks. Their percussive downpour segues into a seminal version of "Playing In The Band" which is titled "The Main Ten" in reference to the song's time signature.
Track List (try tracks 2,5 and 8)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

 
report abuse