Joel -
Yes, it is about taste, but anyone assessing the Dead could pretty
much lambaste each individual musician along those lines. Pigpen,
taken as part of the Dead, was pretty much what the band needed at the
time - and, as others have mentioned, the band took a different
direction after his death. Arguably, he might gotten better in time
had he lived longer.
If you read (among others) THE DEAD by Hank Harrison, you will see
that Pigpen was driven to hard drink (Regular drink for Pigpen was
hard for most people). The story goes that after Janis Joplin died,
he sort of went downhill and his hard liquor consumption went up. In
those days, those kinds of things went on in Haight Ashbury without
too many people taking notice, even if you drank more bourbon than
U.S. Grant.
On the subject of Jerry Garcia, although you might find his vocal
abilities abysmal, he was probably one of the most versatile musicians
of his generation. He played banjo, mandolin, piano, pedal steel,
guitar, bass and some others, wrote many songs - and spanned entire
genres of music while doing it. All while establishing one of the
most successful cult rock bands of our time.
I'm sure glad I can carry a tune better than that - and some would say
I play harmonica well (taste again), but I can make few of the claims
above.
Mark Russillo
(a.k.a. The Rhode Island Kid)
*/Joel Fritz <jfritz666@xxxxxxxxxxx>/* wrote:
It's a matter of taste, but wouldn't the best of Pigpen be like
the John
Cage piece that's nothing but silence. Jerry Garcia was even worse
as a
singer, but Pigpen was right up there. I could have taken the
voice if
he could have sung on key. His keyboard playing was fine.
The one thing the Grateful Dead always lacked was a competent singer.