Dancer'sChoice Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Brent Mydland would have been 58 today. One has to wonder where the music would have gone, had he survived his personal demons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP bs69 Posted October 21, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 RIP Brent! You are sorely missed, but your music lives on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP gr8fulpair Posted October 21, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Good dude, and a great musician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrentFan Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 What a voice!!! Very few can make an organ howl like he could... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP comesatime Posted October 22, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 (((((((((((((((( BRENT )))))))))))))))) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP New York Steve Posted October 22, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Brent Mydland would have been 58 today. One has to wonder where the music would have gone, had he survived his personal demons. Appreciate Brent more and more each day, personal demons and all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP chuckvegas Posted October 22, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 a soldier in the armies of the night...RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Dstone5553 Posted October 24, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 There was a Rolling Stone interview in 1991 with Garcia where the interviewer heard Jerry had said he wasn't having fun anymore in a recent GD board meeting and asked him about it. Garcia said that it was true, and that he thought everyone in the band felt that way--that it was "getting too hard" and that it just wasn't fun anymore for the people creating the music. When asked further about it, he said that things were going along pretty smoothly when "bam!" they lost "a huge part of the band." The GD wrote lots of new material in 1992 ,in order to try to address some of the things Garcia was talking about, but ultimately I think most people agree that the band never really got over losing the power and genius that Brent was. It was pretty obvious for anyone who saw this band during the Brent era how musically connected Garcia and Mydland were on stage. They were fairly close to one another in proximity and the energy between them, musically, was pretty fucking incredible, and made them seem to be even closer (within inches). You just couldn't help being hit by the power of those two playing off one another, whether it was a feather soft passage in FOTD or a spit in your face, stomp on your mother siege in NFA. There certainly were some great shows during that first tour with Hornsby (MSG 1990) as well as moments of magic and genius up until the very last set, but Mydland's loss was such a big one, as Garcia hinted at in that RS interview, that the band never approached that level of play in a sustained way after him (at least in my mind). Listening to him sing his songs (every single one of them) with Garcia and co behind him was a special experience--he had a vocal power as well as a magic with his intrument that was something to behold in person...and it is my opinion that the band, and Garcia in particular, missed him as much as we did following his death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redeyedbert Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 There was a Rolling Stone interview in 1991 with Garcia where the interviewer heard Jerry had said he wasn't having fun anymore in a recent GD board meeting and asked him about it. Garcia said that it was true, and that he thought everyone in the band felt that way--that it was "getting too hard" and that it just wasn't fun anymore for the people creating the music. When asked further about it, he said that things were going along pretty smoothly when "bam!" they lost "a huge part of their band." The GD wrote lots of new material in 1992 ,in order to try to address some of the things Garcia was talking about, but ultimately I think most people agree that the band never really got over losing the power and genius that Brent was. It was pretty obvious for anyone who saw this band during the Brent era how musically connected Garcia and Mydland were on stage. They were fairly close to one another in proximity and the energy between them, musically, was pretty fucking incredible. You just couldn't help being hit by the power of those two playing off one another, whether it was a feather soft passage in FOTD or a spit in your face, stomp your mother siege in NFA. There certainly were some great shows during that first tour with Hornsby (MSG 1990) as well as moments of magic and genius up until the very last set, but Mydland's loss was such a big one, as Garcia hinted at in that RS interview, that the band never approached that level of play in a sustained way after him (at least in my mind). Listening to him sing his songs (every single one of them) with Garcia and co behind him was a special experience--he had a vocal power as well as a magic with his intrument that was something to behold in person...and it is my opinion that the band, and Garcia in particular, missed him as much as we did following his death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redeyedbert Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 woops. I just replied nothing. I think I remember that interview. I read it at a new friends apartment. He was the first guy I knew who had plenty of tapes. I heard my first eleven there. Also the Good Lovin/ LaBamba. If I'm not mistaken they asked Jerry why Brent never really felt part of the band. Jerry said that was on Brent. As far as the band was concerned he was one of them. Am I remembering this right? I didn't like Brent at first. That gravely voice didn't do it for me, at first. It didn't take long for me to change my opinion. That energy between Jerry and Brent was electric. I saw 7 Brent shows and then alot of the Bruce/Vince shows. At the time I thought Bruce was better. As the years go on I realize how wrong I was. I can barely listen to fall90 on. Its not that it is bad, its that it is so good with Brent. Brent Rules!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbf3 Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Interesting as it was at times, Vince/Bruce were always sitting in Brent's spot..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jazz-man Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 I'm a huge Brent fan, what a voice and how he made the B-3 rumble! I am also a huge Hornsby fan. Vince I could take in very small doses. I wonder what the band would have been like if Pete Sears got the keyboard gig and they got someone else for the high vocals? Or was it too late and they were fated to end as they did? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Dstone5553 Posted October 25, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Am I remembering this right? Think so...been a while since I've read it. I think it makes sense for those who want to compare musicians to compare Bruce with Keith, since they are both piano players. Bruce to Brent doesn't make sense imo because Brent plays the keyboards/organ--buy holy shit, did he play great electric piano, as well as the real thing on those acoustic shows in 1980. Keith had that thing on top of the piano that was plugged in but he was a pure piano player in my eyes, just like Bruce, mostly--take away the accordion...which I really wish I could have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advisory Board Herdygerdy Posted October 26, 2010 Advisory Board Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Brent was the man!!! I love his vocals, and the way he could wail on that Hammond, was just amazing!!! When I first started seeing DSO back in 2000, Scotty blew me away, as he most definitely had Brent in his soul. Miss you Brent, and miss you Scotty!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jazz-man Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 The last DSO show I saw with Scott on keys was at the Crystal Ballroom. Looky had got us stage side (it was my birthday) and Scott was just ripping on "Rooster". The energy he flung off on that tune was amazing, the crowd was rivited into his performance. "You may be a litttle red rooster but you ain't SHIT to me" he wailed, then proceeded to hammer on the B-3. Terrific time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP gr8fulpair Posted October 26, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Came across this today. I never saw Brent do this one with the Dead, but sure wish I had. An excellent glimpse of his prowess and his connection with Jerry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazy digits Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 I will take you home , to me, is the saddest song the GD did...makes you think about brent and what he was thinking about when he put this together? Its almost like he knew his end was near and wanted to spell out the love he had for his children with this song? I am also convinced jerry lost one of his closest friends when brent died..no one has, with direct knowledge, ever told me but this is the feeling i got after brent died. it seemed that jerry was a different guy after that? brent is the only band member i ever spoke with and my favorite band member outside garcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum MVP Dstone5553 Posted October 28, 2010 Forum MVP Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 I will take you home , to me, is the saddest song the GD did...makes you think about brent and what he was thinking about when he put this together? Its almost like he knew his end was near and wanted to spell out the love he had for his children with this song? I am also convinced jerry lost one of his closest friends when brent died..no one has, with direct knowledge, ever told me but this is the feeling i got after brent died. it seemed that jerry was a different guy after that? brent is the only band member i ever spoke with and my favorite band member outside garcia Not sure what input Brent had on the subject matter for Take You Home but Barlow is the one who wrote the words to that one, like all the new Brent songs that were so good. You get the idea that Brent might have been the one to arrive on that theme though, because, as you say, the words do seem very evocative of that time in a father's life, but I have no idea. Brent and Barlow made an insanely talented collaborative team. Think about it...those songs comprised their first effort as songwriting partners. And apparently, (according do Healy) the new batch of songs that were almost ready to be performed were better than the first batch! To me, this is almost impossible to imagine. To think of how many songs that tandem could have created if they had had more years to write just makes me sad. Just a Little Light is an incredible song. Blow Away is an incredible song. Take You Home and We Can Run...they are all just great songs and to think of what the second batch of songs would have brought, and then the third (I tend to believe Brent wouldn't have pissed off Barlow like Weir did regarding song lyrics). I also think you could tell how much Garcia liked those songs too. I have absolutely no inside knowledge of this either, but I never thought Garcia and Brent were that close as friends. It seems like they got along great but they seemed pretty different from one another as people. I think Garcia talked about that a little in that interview I mentioned as well...saying that he didn't think he would be able to live if he didn't have Dylan Thomas and other artists to go to for inspiration and intellectual stimulation, and that he thought Brent didn't have that and this, to him, was sad. Musically, those two were as connected as artists could be but friends outside of the GD world? For some reason, I don't think they were...but I'm just guessing as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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