Reflections
Jerry Garcia
Initial release : February 1976
Round RX 107
Garcia's third solo album and his last to be credited to him alone rather than the Jerry Garcia Band. Includes five songs that were performed by the Grateful Dead. All of the 1976 members of the Grateful Dead contribute to the music on this LP. An expanded CD edition was released in 2004. Two colored vinyl editions were released in 2016.
Tracks
- Might As Well (Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter)
- Mission In The Rain (Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter)
- They Love Each Other (Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter)
- I'll Take A Melody (Allen Toussaint)
- It Must Have Been The Roses (Robert Hunter)
- Tore Up Over You (Hank Ballard)
- Catfish John (Bob McDill / Allen Reynolds)
- Comes A Time (Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter)
Bonus tracks included on the CD version of album included in the All Good Things box set in 2004 and the subsequent individual CD release in 2005;
- Mystery Train (Studio Jam) (Parker / Phillips)
- All By Myself (Studio Jam) (Domino / Barholomew)
- Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie (Cotton)
- You Win Again (Williams)
- Orpheus (Grateful Dead)
The bonus tracks are all previously unissued outtakes from the album recording sessions
Musicians
The musicians on individual tracks are as follows.
Might As Well;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, organ, vocals
- Bob Weir - second guitar, background vocals
- Phil Lesh - bass
- Bill Kreutzmann - drums
- Keith Godchaux - fender rhodes, tack piano
- Donna Jean Godchaux - background vocals
- Mickey Hart - drums, percussion
Mission In The Rain;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, chimes, vocals
- Nicky Hopkins - piano
- John Kahn - bass, synthesiser, vibes
- Ron Tutt - drums
- Larry Knechtel - fender rhodes
They Love Each Other;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, percussion, vocals
- Bob Weir - second guitar
- Phil Lesh - bass
- Bill Kreutzmann - drums
- Keith Godchaux - fender rhodes
- Mickey Hart - drums, percussion
- John Kahn - organ
I'll Take A Melody;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, synthesiser, percussion, vocals
- Donna Jean Godchaux - background vocals
- Bob Weir - background vocals
- John Kahn - bass, synthesiser, organ
- Ron Tutt - drums
- Nicky Hopkins - piano
- Larry Knechtel - fender rhodes
- Mickey Hart - percussion, fire extinguisher
It Must Have Been The Roses;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals
- Bob Weir - second guitar, harmony vocals
- Phil Lesh - bass
- Bill Kreutzmann - drums
- Keith Godchaux - fender rhodes, acoustic piano
- Donna Jean Godchaux - harmony vocals
- Mickey Hart - drums, percussion
Tore Up Over You;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, vocals
- Nicky Hopkins - piano
- John Kahn - bass
- Ron Tutt - drums
- Larry Knechtel - piano
- Mickey Hart - percussion
Catfish John;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Donna Jean Godchaux - harmony vocals
- Bob Weir - harmony vocals
- Nicky Hopkins - piano
- John Kahn - bass, clavinet, synthesiser
- Ron Tutt - drums
- Mickey Hart - percussion
Comes A Time;
- Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bells, vocals
- Bob Weir - second guitar
- Phil Lesh - bass
- Bill Kreutzmann - drums
- Keith Godchaux - fender rhodes
- Mickey Hart - drums, percussion, box
Credits
- Engineer (tracks 1, 3, 5 and 8) - Dan Healy
- Second engineer (tracks 1, 3, 5 and 8) - Rob Taylor
- Engineer and mix-down engineer (tracks 2, 4, 6 and 7) - Smiggy
- Second engineers (tracks 2, 4, 6 and 7) - Willi Deenihan, Joel Edelstein
- Production assistants - Steve Brown, Kidd, Ramrod, Steve Parrish
- Cover - Mike Steirnagle
- Art direction - Ria Lewerke
- Mastering - George Horn
- Special thanks to - Elliott Mazer, John Kahn, Zippy
- Tracks 1, 3, 5 and 8 recorded at Ace's Studio in August and September 1975
- Tracks 2, 4, 6 and 7 recorded at His Master's Wheels in October and November 1975
- Mixed at His Master's Wheels
- Mastered at Columbia Recorders
Notes
Reached number 42 in Billboard's album charts.
Garcia spoke of the Reflections after talking about the Dead's recording of Blues For Allah, in an interview collected in "The Grateful Dead : A Look Back"
A lot of the energy from that record [Reflections] is really a continuation of the Blues For Allah groove that we got into. We sort of continued the same energy because we were having a lot of fun doing it.
John Kahn commented on the recording of the album in an interview;
The album was supposed to be a Jerry Garcia Band album but it sort of fell apart in the middle, so it ended up being half that band and half Grateful Dead.
Related releases
Reissued in January 1976 on LP by United Artists (United Artists LA 565)
Reissued in May 1989 on LP, CD and cassette by Grateful Dead Records (GDV/GDTC/GDCD 4008)
Reissued in 1995 on CD by Arista (Arista 14008)
The complete Reflections album plus bonus tracks from the album recording sessions were included in the Garcia box set;
The All Good Things version of the album was subsequently released as a single CD in 2005.
A limited edition purple tie-dye vinyl remastered edition was released as part of Record Store Day's Black Friday event in 2016. A normal vinyl edition of this remastered version was released via the jerrygarcia.com website.
Might As Well, Mission In The Rain and I'll Take A Melody were included on;
The version of Tore Up Over You from Reflections was included on a UK produced sampler;
- For Dead Heads, Various Artists, 1976, Round Records / United Artists, FREE 2
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