Electric on the Eel
Electric on the Eel is a live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains three complete concerts on six CDs. The shows were recorded on August 29, 1987, June 10, 1989, and August 10, 1991 at French's Camp in Piercy, California, near the Eel River. The album was released on March 15, 2019. The three performances were promoted by Bill Graham and Wavy Gravy as benefit concerts for the nearby Hog Farm commune. They featured the mid-1980s to early-1990s lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band – Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Melvin Seals on  keyboards, John Kahn on bass, David Kemper on drums, and Gloria Jones and Jaclyn LaBranch on vocals. Some copies of the album include a bonus disc called "Acoustic on the Eel", recorded by the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band at the August 29, 1987 concert. Additionally, "Electric on the Eel: August 10th, 1991", a four-disc vinyl LP recording of that concert, was released on April 13, 2019 as part of Record Store Day. Release and reception. "Electric on the Eel" debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, and at number 154 on the Billboard 200. On "Pitchfork , Jessie Jarnow wrote, [The recordings] show Jerry Garcia at both the height of his fame and simultaneously escaping into his not-so-secret identity: himself... [T]he scope of the set is also a fine way for the Jerry-curious to take a deeper dive into what many consider to be the Garcia Band's golden period... Its six discs are both a comprehensive document of the group's penultimate lineup and a fine introduction to the Jerry Garcia Band at their best, music to make the hassles disappear." On AllMusic, Timothy Monger wrote, "Captured during the height of Garcia's  late-period fame, these sets have a joyful and relaxed air to them, as did many of the Jerry Garcia Band shows of that era which often provided to him a sense of escapism from the touring and cultural behemoth that the Grateful Dead had become." "Glide Magazine" said, "The six compact discs document a period in which this iconic musician was, arguably, as fully and joyfully engaged in such musical endeavors as any other time prior to his untimely passing in 1995... Though the box set proper focuses on the electric sets, an "Acoustic on the Eel" bonus disc  is also available exclusively at independent record stores and through JerryGarcia.com and it complements the primary contents..." Track listing. Disc 1 Disc 2 Disc 3 Disc 4 Disc 5 Disc 6 Bonus disc: "Acoustic on the Eel" Personnel. Jerry Garcia Band Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band Production