Weir Here – The Best of Bob Weir
{{Short description|2004 compilation album by Bob Weir}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Weir Here – The Best Of Bob Weir
| type = greatest
| artist = Bob Weir
| cover = Weirhere_mini_300_dpi.jpg
| alt =
| released = March 23, 2004
| recorded = 1972–2003
| venue =
| studio =
| length = {{duration|m=155|s=24}}
| label = Hybrid Recordings
| producer =
| prev_title = Live at Roseland
| prev_year = 2000
| next_title = Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound
| next_year = 2013
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}} {{cite web |first=Lindsay |last=Planer |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/weir-here-the-best-of-bob-weir-mw0000696988 |title=Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 21, 2018}}
| rev2 = The Music Box
| rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}} Metzger, John (April 2004). [http://www.musicbox-online.com/bw-here.html Weir Here: The Best of Bob Weir], The Music Box
}}
Weir Here – The Best of Bob Weir is a 2004 live/studio compilation album featuring former Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist Bob Weir. A career retrospective, it features tracks from many of Weir's bands, solo and duo projects, as well as those from his main gig with the Dead.{{cite web |url=http://www.deaddisc.com/disc/Weir_Here_Best_Of_Bob_Weir.htm | title=Grateful Dead Family Discography – Weir Here: The Best Of Bob Weir |accessdate=July 24, 2016}}
Content
Similarly to Birth of the Dead, The album contains two discs – one studio and one live. The studio
disc proceeds chronologically, beginning with Weir's first solo effort and then including his work in the bands
Kingfish, RatDog, Weir & Wasserman (though the duo is here a
trio, augmented by Neil Young), Bobby & the Midnites, and one track by the
Grateful Dead. The final track of the disc is from a then-recent appearance on a [[Children%27s music|
children's album]] by Dan Zanes (of Del Fuegos fame).
The live disc features a variety of songs from Grateful Dead performances with Weir as the lead singer – though five of the tracks were previously unreleased – and one track by RatDog (a Dylan cover from a 2003 band rehearsal).
Production and critical reception
The album was compiled by Hybrid Recordings, with final approval by Weir. It is currently out of print. The cover art is by Alton Kelley with liner notes by Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally. The title refers to the focus being on Weir, "speaking up" as the Dead's "secondary" guitarist, and is a pun on "we're here", a reference to the existential element of attending a live Grateful Dead concert (and in general).{{cite web |url=http://www.hybridrecordings.com/weirHere.html | title=Hybrid Recordings – Weir Here|accessdate=July 29, 2016}}
In the album's press release, Andrew Clarke of The Independent called Bob Weir "arguably rock's greatest, if most eccentric, rhythm guitarist."{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bob-weir-the-living-dead-101309.html | title=Bob Weir: The living Dead | first=Andrew | last=Clarke | work=The Independent | date=21 August 2003 | accessdate=July 25, 2016}} Joel Selvin of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "No major rock star's solo career has ever received less attention than Weir's." He said the album "[shines] some light on Weir's long-term (albeit secondary) solo career", and that "he can let other musicians pick out the material he sings. He doesn't care about that. He is the rarest of musical animals – a hands-off bandleader. It hasn't exactly been a bell-ringing, million-selling solo career. Still, underachiever Weir has never gotten his due for some genuine high points and a whole lot of good music under his own brand."{{cite web | url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/DEAD-MAN-TALKING-2777961.php | title=Dead Man Talking | first=Joel | last=Selvin | author-link=Joel Selvin | work=San Francisco Chronicle | date=21 March 2004 | accessdate=July 26, 2016}}
Track listing
Disc one - studio
{{tracklist
|extra_column = Original album
|title1 = Cassidy
|length1 = 3:42
|extra1 = Ace
|title2 = Mexicali Blues
|writer2 = Barlow, Weir
|length2 = 3:27
|extra2 = Ace
|title3 = Looks Like Rain
|writer3 = Barlow, Weir
|length3 = 6:11
|extra3 = Ace
|title4 = Playing in the Band
|length4 = 7:38
|extra4 = Ace
|title5 = One More Saturday Night
|writer5 = Weir
|length5 = 4:31
|extra5 = Ace
|title6 = Lazy Lightnin'
|writer6 = Barlow, Weir
|length6 = 3:02
|extra6 = Kingfish
|note6 = Performed by Kingfish
|title7 = Supplication
|writer7 = Barlow, Weir
|length7 = 2:57
|extra7 = Kingfish
|note7 = Performed by Kingfish
|title8 = Feel Like a Stranger
|writer8 = Barlow, Weir
|length8 = 5:08
|extra8 = Go to Heaven
|note8 = Performed by the Grateful Dead
|title9 = Easy to Slip
|length9 = 3:06
|extra9 = Heaven Help the Fool
|title10 = Wrong Way Feelin'
|writer10 = Barlow, Weir
|length10 = 5:12
|extra10 = Heaven Help the Fool
|title11 = Shade of Grey
|writer11 = Barlow, Weir
|length11 = 4:30
|extra11 = Heaven Help the Fool
|title12 = (I Want to) Fly Away |writer12 = Barlow, Weir
|length12 = 3:59
|extra12 = Bobby and the Midnites
|note12 = Performed by Bobby and the Midnites
|title13 = Easy Answers
|writer13 = Bralove, Hunter, Wasserman, Weir, Welnick
|length13 = 6:01
|extra13 = Trios
|note13 = with Rob Wasserman and Neil Young
|title14 = Two Djinn
|writer14 = Graham, Chimenti, Karan, Lane, McGinn, Wasserman, Weir
|length14 = 9:04
|extra14 = Evening Moods
|note14 = Performed by RatDog
|title15 = Ashes and Glass
|writer15 = Pessis, Chimenti, Ellis, Karan, Lane, McGinn, Wasserman, Weir
|length15 = 5:55
|extra15 = Evening Moods
|note15 = Performed by Ratdog
|title16 = Wabash Cannonball
|writer16 = traditional
|length16 = 3:41
|extra16 = House Party
|note16 = with Dan Zanes & Friends
}}
Disc two - live
All tracks performed by the Grateful Dead, except track 11 performed by RatDog.
{{tracklist
|extra_column = Recording date
|title1 = Truckin'
|writer1 = Hunter, Garcia, Lesh, Weir
|length1 = 9:22
|extra1 = April 29, 1971
|title2 = Estimated Prophet
|writer2 = Barlow, Weir
|length2 = 11:09
|extra2 = March 21, 1990
|title3 = Hell in a Bucket
|writer3 = Barlow, Weir, Mydland
|length3 = 6:24
|extra3 = October 12, 1989
|title4 = Me and Bobby McGee
|writer4 = Foster, Kristofferson
|length4 = 6:04
|extra4 = April 24, 1972
|title5 = New Minglewood Blues
|writer5 = traditional, arr. Weir
|length5 = 6:13
|extra5 = October 14, 1989
|title6 = Man Smart, Woman Smarter
|writer6 = Span
|length6 = 4:27
|extra6 = July 4, 1989
|title7 = Jack Straw
|writer7 = Hunter, Weir
|length7 = 5:05
|extra7 = May 26, 1972
|title8 = Sugar Magnolia
|writer8 = Hunter, Weir
|length8 = 6:00
|extra8 = April 25, 1971
|title9 = Throwing Stones
|writer9 = Weir, Barlow
|length9 = 7:53
|extra9 = July 26, 1987
|title10 = The Music Never Stopped
|writer10 = Weir, Barlow
|length10 = 8:58
|extra10 = July 17, 1989
|title11 = Masters of War
|writer11 = Dylan
|length11 = 5:34
|extra11 = March 19, 2003
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Bob Weir}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir Here - The Best Of Bob Weir}}