December 31, 1975
The Nicky Hopkins era ends
December 31, 1975
Date Listened
January 24, 2025. Feels like I’m on a roll.
Sources
The most obvious source for this show is Garcia Live Volume 5. It’s a perfectly fine recording, and my guess is that most listeners will be perfectly happy settling for it.
But there’s more.
This is one of those funny moments where the community has actually done a better job than the official release. My recommendation here is SHNID 126967, otherwise known as Sick Bits Volume 33 — a matrix created back in 2008 by Chris Chappell. Like yesterday’s 1991 Grateful Dead show, this is an excellent example of what the matrixing process can do to a show. The soundboard is perfectly fine, but the addition of the audience recording gives the instruments a bit of a lift, includes more of the audience, and adds in the aural ambiance of the room. You can really tell the difference if you listen with headphones on.
For those curious (and all of you should be), Chappell used SHNID 87686 as the soundboard base. There’s actually a newer soundboard under SHNID 138599 — one that has that Charlie Miller magical touch — but that source came out after this matrix was completed. If someone like Hunter Seamons ever happens to read this, it might be worth it to try to make an alternative matrix using the newer soundboard source.
The audience recording is SHNID 8664 and is credited to Bob Menke and Louis Falanga. It’s also a great recording.
Like I said — there’s nothing wrong with Garcia Live Volume 5. The matrix, however, is warmer, a little bit brighter, and feels just a bit more lively.
Reputation
As I’ve said before, it’s pretty hard to figure out what reputation Jerry Garcia Band shows have in the community. There’s not much about this show on Reddit — but, then again, the Jerry Garcia Band subreddit isn’t exactly a hotbed of activity.
Most people who comment on this show talk about how drunk famous pianist Nicky Hopkins sounds. And it’s true. At the beginning of Let It Rock, the first song, it sounds like Nicky is playing something completely different. Having said that, there is also some very nice piano work in this show.
Discussion
Hopkins joined the Jerry Garcia band sometime in 1975. As described in And On Piano — Nicky Hopkins, Garcia reached out to him directly sometime that year. Nicky moved to the San Francisco area sometime that September:
In that great Grateful Dead tradition, copies of all sorts of recordings from that era have survived. For example, you can listen to a few studio rehearsals from Hopkins’ first days with the band on SHNID 121425.
From what I can gather, the first recorded show of the Hopkins era was on September 18. I recommend SHNID 108270.
I’m not sure exactly how many shows Hopkins did with the Jerry Garcia Band, though it’s obvious from the tapes that they played a bunch of shows between mid September and the end of December.
And today’s show, December 31st, marks the end of the Hopkins era of the Jerry Garcia Band.
Hopkins was troubled by drinking and substance abuse during this period. An unhappy marriage seems to have been the source of much of Hopkins’ frustration:
Of course, if you’re struggling with depression and have turned to booze and drugs, hanging out with Jerry Garica and John Kahn is probably not going to sober you up.
Now, the creative pairing of Hopkins and Garcia did succeed to some extent:
You can hear a lot of Hopkins’ banter in this December 31st show, including in some awkward and inappropriate places (i.e. the beginning of It’s No Use). Hopkins was clearly wasted from the start of the show — and yet he sounds lively and energetic on tracks like Mother Nature’s Son and Pig’s Boogie.
Nevertheless, by the end Hopkins’ presence wasn’t exactly wanted:
One can only imagine how it would have been had he not been drunk during the show.
Now, the most bizarre part of the whole Hopkins era has got to be this summative quote:
If you listen to this December 31, 1975 show, you’ll notice that there isn’t a lot of “Jerry singing and playing guitar.” Multiple tracks feature Nicky performing either a solo or as the lead. If anything, Jerry was quite gracious in allowing Hopkins to take the spotlight.
In the end, it’s kind of a shame that Hopkins was going through so many problems when he was part of the Jerry Garcia Band. There’s a lot of good potential in this recording, and the interplay between him, Garcia, and Kahn is refreshing and exciting.
Jerry always loved playing off of strong keyboard players — the Brent Mydland types. In hindsight, I’ve got to ask what might have been.