Title: Long strange trip.
Review: This album should have been a slam dunk, but it's largely a frustrating bad trip into the Grateful Dead music arena. "Friend of the Devil" has the descending bass line of the tune running through it, but thats about all that's recognizable or enjoyable about the arrangement. As with many of the tunes here, the melody is too loud and shrill(trying to emulate Jerry Garcia's vocals?); chords and melody seem to each be in a different key sometimes and humming along will only lead to: huh?. where did that come from?There are snippets of Jerry Garcia leads and some nice capturing of groove (Sugar Magnolia) but it never hangs together-it sounds fragmented. Cullen had a great chance on "Ripple", but even that starts off abbrieviating the opening, the signature of the tune.Maybe Deadheads will buy this and enjoy, but I didn't-this can't decide if it's New Age, folk or rock and none of the arrangements are fully satisfying. This is a disappointment.
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