Joel Selvin is the first, last and best chronicler of the life-changing musical events that happened in the Summer Of Love ‘60s. Here he focuses on the Grateful Dead post-Jerry Garcia, the San Francisco band’s longtime founder and guiding light.
The book trace’s the group’s descent into turmoil, dissension and pretty terrible music following the death of Garcia in August 1995. Chapters are devoted to the dissection of the various remaining members, how they coped with the passing and what they hoped to achieve moving forward.
This look behind the curtains reveals a group of musicians who weren’t all about peace, love and drugs. There was turmoil, infighting, verbal lashings and a whole lot of other mean-spirited stuff that went down among the remaining quartet of players, and Selvin chronicles it all.
A fascinating page-turner.