Ace

Bob Weir

Warner Brothers BS 2627

Bob Weir's first solo LP. This is a Grateful Dead album in all but name. The musicians involved were the current line-up of the Dead plus a guest. Seven of the eight songs became standards in the Dead repertoire.

Tracks

• Greatest Story Ever Told (Bob Weir / Robert Hunter)
• Black Throated Wind (Bob Weir / John Barlow)
• Walk In The Sunshine (Bob Weir / John Barlow)
• Playing In The Band (Bob Weir / Robert Hunter)
• Looks Like Rain (Bob Weir / John Barlow)
• Mexicali Blues (Bob Weir / John Barlow)
• One More Saturday Night (Bob Weir)
• Cassidy (Bob Weir / John Barlow)

• Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
• Jerry Garcia - guitar, pedal steel
• Donna Godchaux - vocals
• Keith Godchaux - piano
• Bill Kreutzmann -drums
• Phil Lesh - bass, vocals
• Dave Torbert - bass

• Recorded at Wally Heider's Studio by Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor
• Mixed at Alembic Studios by Jerry Garcia and friends
• Produced by everybody involved
• String arrangement by Ed Bogus
• Cover Art by Kelley/Mouse studios
• Photography Ron Rakow

Recording for Ace started in January 1972.

In a contemporary interview Weir commented on Ace;

I pretty much knew in the back of my mind what would happen. I go and get the time booked and start putting the material together. Everybody gets wind of the fact that I got the time booked and I may be going into the studio. So one by one they start coming around. Lesh and Garcia, 'Hey man, I hear you got some time booked ... Need a bass player? A guitarist? .... Of course I ended up with the Grateful Dead on the record, which I figured up front ... And we had a great time making the record.

That was a Grateful Dead record, as far as I'm concerned. And I don't do that material with my side groups. ..... It was all me singing, all my songwriting. I started by using a couple of different musicians, and it just settled in to being a Grateful Dead record right quick.

Issued in the UK in August 1972 on Warner Brothers K 46165

Reissued in 1987 by Grateful Dead Records GD BS 2627R

Reissued in 1988 on CD by Grateful Dead Records GDCD 4004

Reissued on CD in 1995 by Arista 14004

Cassidy was included on the loss leader sampler;

• Burbank, Various Artists, 1972

• Display Case Vol. 7, Various Artists, 1972

• One More Saturday Night / Cassidy, Bob Weir, 1972

Cassidy, Mexicali Blues, Looks Like Rain, Playing in the Band and One More Saturday Night were included on;

• Weir Here: The Best Of Bob Weir, Bob Weir, 2004

• Ace: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Bob Weir, 2023