...he might have been a major force. It's true that he was hired during a rare fertile period (1990, first show in late summer) during a general upward swing in creativity (The period from October 1989 to December 1991 is regarded by many Heads as the Dead's final "golden age." It occurred, unfortunately, during a downward drift for the band: from 1987 onward, The Dead were a considerably weaker unit than before Garcia's coma in mid-86, which has led a lot of Heads to also OVERRATE somewhat this "golden age" in the Dead's tenure.

So Vince was given a key player position in an interesting time for the band: almost exactly in the middle of an upward arc. The whole group was on a real hot streak in 1990, and Vince's hiring, along with Bruce Hornsby's assistance, colored the whole enterprise - for better or worse; his choices of timbre on his tiny single synth could be REALLY out of place. I have a tape of them from 2-20-91, where the cheesy hair band sound of his synth absolutely DERAILS a decent "Scarlet>Fire." It's painful, and dates the music.

Once that "hot streak" was over (spring 92) and Hornsby departed, Vince was left standing, holding the band back with his insistance on cheese, and his original tunes, which frankly were inferior stuff. However, his musical instincts could be a glorious thing - he was a decent harmony singer, his sense of color could be downright awe-inspiring when he hit the right MIDI patch, and he added much to the Space segments of each show, often to mind-bending effect: 3-20-92, for instance, features a gorgeous piano-led space that sounds positively angelic, like the most beautiful, epiphanic part of a good trip. It's tapes like this that prove, to me anyways, that Vince could have been a major factor in the Dead's development had he joined them in the 70's, during their "peak" years, rather than at the tail end of a sad downhill spiral. Interviews with the band, however, tell a different story; apparently Vince could never tell what song the band was going to play during a second set, with the segueways and jamming, so the band conceded to the newbie and started crafting a setlist before shows, something they had never done before. One wonders if, had he been a stronger man in these fallow years, Garcia would have put a stop to this practice, which severely limited the Dead's improvisational power.

I think Vince gets lumps from Heads because he's associated with a general calcification of the whole group but Garcia in particular. 1992-95 was a period of disintegration for all parties, with the band refusing to accede to Garcia's demands for more time off, another Garcia rehab stay, and a general sense of malaise within the band and the community, as the ranks of fans swelled with rich dilletantes, fratboys, and rowdy partiers who gave nary a fuck about the band's transformative powers. Vince wasn't the catalyst for any of this, of course, but rather a symbol. This is unfair.

While not as much of a fan of Vince as I am of Pig or Keith or even Brent, I have to accept that Vince was a wonderful musician. That much cannot be in dispute when confronted with material as strong as 6-22-91 or 12-31-90, where Vinny holds his own against a randy Garcia, a playful Hornsby, AND a monstrously impressive Branford Marsalis. I suggest any Vince-hating head go directly to the Internet aArchive site and download the shows listed above for evidence of what I'm talking about.

RIP, Mr. Welnick....