1998 Live CD

The Strange Remain, released in February 1999, offers highlights from The Other Ones' 1998 Furthur Festival run. The powers-that-be began taping in multi-track format at Alpine Valley after presumably realizing the magnitude of the band's performances. The band took what they felt to be the tracks worthy of release--in the time constraints of CD's--and touched them up before releasing them. Nothing from the 1st night of Shoreline appears on the CD because Phil allegedly was looking to release that show in its entirety, although that never materialized. Still, The Strange Remain is a great-sounding compilation of The Other Ones' work.  When listening, you'll find Mark mixed in the left speaker and Steve mixed on the right.

Buy It!

CD1:
St. Stephen/The Eleven  13:55  7/17 Riverport
Jack Straw  7:11  7/22 Irvine
Sugaree  12:05 7/17 Riverport
Corrina  10:54  7/25 Shoreline
Only the Strange Remain  8:18 7/16 Chicago
White-Wheeled Limousine  7:31 7/19 Fiddler's Green
Estimated Prophet  14:12  7/16 Chicago
TOTAL TIME: 1:14:06

CD2:
Playing in the Band  11:58 7/13 Pine Knob
The Other One  8:10   7/25 Shoreline
The Banyan Tree  8:31
Rainbow's Cadillac  11:26 7/22 Irvine
Mountains of the Moon  5:16  7/22 Irvine
Friend of the Devil  6:43  7/25 Shoreline
Baba Jingo  8:01 7/21 Las Vegas
China Cat/I Know You Rider  13:18  7/12 Polaris
TOTAL TIME: 1:13:18

Reviews

The Other Ones Keep the Faith
4 stars (out of 5)

This two-CD set, culled from last summer's successful Furthur tour, demonstrates exuberantly that the Acid Test vibes of the late Grateful Dead are in good hands. Original band members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, along with ringleader Bruce Hornsby, Ratdog saxophonist Dave Ellis, drummer John Molo and guitarists Mark Karan and Steve Kimock, manage not only to echo effectively that unique mixture of blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz and sonics that the Dead patented, but seem to have a lot of fun doing it.

You can tell by the chances they take. Adventurous reinterpretations of Dead encyclicals like ``Playing in the Band,'' ``China Cat Sunflower'' and ``St. Stephen/The Eleven'' reveal the Other Ones at their spontaneous jamming best. And tunes such as Hornsby's ``Rainbow's Cadillac'' and reworked versions of Dead oldies ``Corrina,'' ``I Know You Rider'' and ``Jack Straw'' succeed in generating that crucial danceable consciousness.

Hornsby's keyboards, with Ellis' elastic sax playing in tow, are particularly perceptive, and the vocal work throughout is buoyant and imaginative -- bright on ``Friend of the Devil,'' sinuous on ``Mountains of the Moon.'' New songs ``Baba Jingo'' and ``Banyan Tree'' feature some of lyricist Robert Hunter's most Owsleyish images in years.

The Furthur Generation has arrived. Jerry Garcia is smiling somewhere.

--by Gary von Tersch, San Francisco Chronicle

* * *

The Grateful Dead once immortalized Ken Kesey's cosmic cross-country bus trip with his band of Merry Pranksters in the song "The Other One."

It is now a fitting name, made even more potent by its hallucinogenic ramifications, for the remainder of the post-Jerry Garcia Dead. The Other Ones include former Dead vocalist/drummer/percussionist Mickey Hart, keyboardist/vocalist Bruce Hornsby, bassist/vocalist Phil Lesh and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir, who joined forces with reed player/vocalist Dave Ellis, guitarist Mark Karan, guitarist Steve Kimock and drummer John Molo to tour the U.S. in the summer of 1998.

This double live disc, recorded over the course of that summer tour, stands as a testimony to the players' innate skill and phenomenal musicianship.

Over the course of the album, you'll find mostly Dead tunes like "Sugaree" and "Estimated Prophet," as well as a couple of Hornsby's compositions, such as "Rainbow's Cadillac." True to form, the songs are drawn out and thoroughly explored with most stretching beyond the eight-minute mark.

The Other Ones are not without irony, and the title, The Strange Remain, rings as true as their moniker. When you hear them harmonize "We used to play for silver/Now we play for laughs" on "Jack Straw," you can see all their faces light up like so many Merry Pranksters in the midst of a trip fantastic.

It's like Kesey once so simply said -- "You're either on the bus ... or off the bus." And these guys are definitely on the bus for the duration.

--by Nevin Martell, CDNow

* * *

OK, so they're not the Grateful Dead, but cut the Other Ones some slack: On last summer's Furthur Festival, this Dead-alumni tribute band did a fine job of kicking life into a seriously played-out repertoire by adding just enough new twists to keep things interesting. On this double-CD set, the band shows off its tight interplay. Guitarist Steve Kimocks' slippery-necked leads capture the feel, if not the fire, of Jerry Garcia's playing, and drummer John Molo provides the kind of sturdy, in-the-pocket grooves that the Dead frequently lacked. As for those new twists, they're mainly a vocal thing: Without Garcia's singular craggy croon, vocalists Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Bruce Hornsby reinvent songs that have borne the late guitarist's imprint for decades. Not everything clicks: Phil Lesh's vocal stab at "Mountains of the Moon" is touch-and-go, and there's a fair share of loose-limbed meandering. Still, on The Strange Remain, the Other Ones provide plenty of reasons for loyalists to hold out hope for yet another tour. (RS 807)

--Mark Weingarten, Rollingstone.com

* * *

The disc just smokes: that is the bottom line. The opening notes of St. Stephen just send chills down my spine, like when I heard it at the Continental Arena in Jersey. I just love The Eleven and the emotion in Bobby's voice (yeahhhh Bobby!!!). The Bruce tunes rock and it was good to hear them with different musicians. When I first heard the Banyan Tree this summer I was floored by the way the rainforest sounds and traditional instruments came together. This version is no exception. MOTM---wow. Phil's voice is great, I am sure whenever The Other Ones did this, Jerry was kicking back smilin'. And to close the discs with a fine China->Rider, all I gotta say is Thank You for that as a closer. I love Bobby's vox on it. Everyone in the band did a great job interpreting the music, so we can all enjoy it all over again. And who cares if it was a once in a lifetime deal? We have these discs to remind us that even though the band won't tour, we can still have their music to remember the good times.

"Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own..."

--ez2slip