Garcia

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Established band leaders go solo for a variety of reasons. For Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, knocking out his 1972 solo debut was a matter of expanding his horizons. "I'm doing it to be completely self-indulgent musically," he told Rolling Stone at the time. "I'm just going on a trip. I have curiosity to see what I can do, and I've a desire to get into 16-track and go on trips that are too weird for me to want to put anybody else I know through."

Accordingly, Garcia handled most of the music himself during a three-week session, recording the bones of Garcia with only drummer Bill Kreutzmann and then adding other parts on his own. The two men also co-wrote several songs, leading to the album's most experimental moments. "Late For Supper / Spidergawd / Eep Hour," a sprawling trilogy that starts with discordant piano and slowly evolves into a minor-key swing, exudes eerie tranquility.

Garcia also boasts six songs co-written with long-time Dead collaborator Robert Hunter, meaning the album isn't a massive departure from the band's tender, emotionally incisive songwriting and rambling folk. Highlights include the organ-burnished psych-folk "Bird Song," a sweet ode to someone known for embracing freedom ("All I know is something like a bird within her sang/ All I know she sang a little while and then flew off") and the philosophical musings of "The Wheel" ("If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will"). These two became live favorites for the Dead, as did another Garcia standout, the classic "Sugaree." As it turns out, Garcia's solo trips were far from being too weird for the masses; instead, they became some of the highlights of his career. © Annie Zaleski/Qobuz