12-07-2006, 03:06 PM
FYI (to the uninitiated): Phil Lesh was the bass player of the Grateful Dead.
The title pretty much sums up the focus of this book: it's primarily about the music and being in the band. Although not in depth; it's more anecdotal. Don't expect any soul searching here; he doesn't go into much detail about his personal life, and I don't think anyone is really looking for that anyway. He also says nothing about the rift between the surviving band members right after Garcia's death. (DM can perhaps shed some light on that.) It seemed like he wanted to present himself as a brother to everybody, even using that very word several times. (Well I suppose it's natural to want to look good in your autobiography.)
The story of the earlier years was exciting and well told, and I enjoyed it a lot, but it turned into a tragedy as it went on. Drugs took their toll on the band, of course. And, as he tells it, their unwillingness to handle the business end of things led to both a neverending tour to support their staff, and to larger and larger venues where they couldn't really perceive or experience any connection with the audience. Then Jerry died, and that's pretty much where it leaves off. So now I'm feeling kind of down.
I thought the highlight of the book was the story of how he joined the band and began to learn to play the bass. It would have been a great stand alone magazine article, although maybe a bit long for that, and I doubt anyone except Relix would have published it anyway.
The title pretty much sums up the focus of this book: it's primarily about the music and being in the band. Although not in depth; it's more anecdotal. Don't expect any soul searching here; he doesn't go into much detail about his personal life, and I don't think anyone is really looking for that anyway. He also says nothing about the rift between the surviving band members right after Garcia's death. (DM can perhaps shed some light on that.) It seemed like he wanted to present himself as a brother to everybody, even using that very word several times. (Well I suppose it's natural to want to look good in your autobiography.)
The story of the earlier years was exciting and well told, and I enjoyed it a lot, but it turned into a tragedy as it went on. Drugs took their toll on the band, of course. And, as he tells it, their unwillingness to handle the business end of things led to both a neverending tour to support their staff, and to larger and larger venues where they couldn't really perceive or experience any connection with the audience. Then Jerry died, and that's pretty much where it leaves off. So now I'm feeling kind of down.
I thought the highlight of the book was the story of how he joined the band and began to learn to play the bass. It would have been a great stand alone magazine article, although maybe a bit long for that, and I doubt anyone except Relix would have published it anyway.
the hands that guide me are invisible