Title - Naught Again [2CD]
Artist - Zero
For those of you not in the know, Zero was formed in the early 1980s by guitarist Steve Kimock and drummer Greg Anton after playing with Keith and Donna Godchaux’s Heart Of Gold Band with Quicksliver Messenger Service’s John Cipollina.
Various San Francisco Bay and international artists including Nicky Hopkins (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who) Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship), Vince Welnick (The Tubes, Grateful Dead), John Kahn (Jerry Garcia Band), and more played with the band.
It seemed inevitable considering the Zero family tree, that Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter added lyrics to their instrumentals, it was a magic ingredient and Zero took off. After nine albums and over 1,300 shows, Zero was more than a conglomerate of talented musicians, they were a San Francisco institution.
Now Zero is back again, hitting the road in 2022 and in celebration, is releasing two shows that were recorded at The Great American Music Hall in 1992. One show was released as Chance In A Million in 1994 and now, the other set appears as Naught Again in 2022.
Naught Again (out now via Omnivore Recordings) is newly mixed by Emmy®-nominated Brian Risner from the original multi-track tapes recorded by Dan Healy and Don Pearson (Grateful Dead).
An evening from the past ushers in a new era for Zero for Naught Again is a music treasure trove, featuring originals, as well as covers from The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and so much more.
CD 1:
1. Prologue by Robert Hunter
2. Cole’s Law
3. Interlude
4. Tangled Hangers
5. End Of The World Blues
6. Golden Road
This quite wondrous musical work of art opens on a very profound, and well articulated one-minute prologue by Robert Hunter and then we are introduced to the sweepingly ornate gossamer of Cole’s Law which is itself followed seamlessly (after a brief, instrument-recharging interlude) by the triumphantly free flowing Tangled Hangers, this live recording coming to a close on the forthright rhythms held within the piano-led End Of The World Blues and the harmonica-led, rocking-blues of the brilliant Golden Road.
CD 2:
1. Gregg’s Egg’s
2. Baba O’Riley
3. Little Wing
4. Epilogue by Robert Hunter
5. Tear Tags Off Mattresses
6. Roll Me Over
7. Roll Me After
The second live recording opens on the wickedly turbulent, cinematically-charged Gregg’s Egg’s and a stunningly vocalized version of Baba O’Riley and they are backed by their take on Jimi Hendrix’s languishing beauty Little Wing, before we once again hear from Robert Hunter (via a somewhat rambling epilogue), before the album rounds out on the euphorically sunny Tear Tags Off Mattresses, the completely all-encompassing musical magnificence within Roll Me Over and its fluidly ornate instrumental book end Roll Me After.
Official Purchase Link
www.omnivorerecordings.com