Cats Under the Stars is an album by the Jerry Garcia Band. Released in 1978, it is the only studio album credited to the band. It was Jerry Garcia's first album on the Arista label and his first LP using the band name Jerry Garcia Band. It includes only one song that was performed by the Grateful Dead. Keith and Donna Godchaux, who were at the time members of the Garcia Band, contributed to the music. The album was the first to be recorded at the Grateful Dead's Club Front in San Rafael, a warehouse space that had been acquired for band rehearsals and then converted to a studio. Garcia explained " Tutt liked the drum sound in the room and we hadn't really thought about it before, so we whipped the place into a recording studio." The record was not a financial success, but it remained Garcia's favorite, as he said in an interview in the late 1980s: "The record I worked hardest at and liked best was Cats Under the Stars. That was kind of like my baby. It did worse than any other record I ever did. I think I probably gave away more copies than I sold. It was amazingly, pathetically bad. But I’ve learned not to invest a lot of importance in 'em, although it's nice to care about your work." On another occasion in the early '80s he said "Cats Under the Stars is my favorite one. That's the one that I’m happiest with, from every point of view in which I operate on that record. We did all those tunes on tour right after the albumcame out, with John and Maria, Keith and Donna and I think Ronnie Tutt was still playing drums with us on those first few tours." (Although Ron Tutt played on the album, he left the band before the album was released and was replaced by Buzz Buchanan. In the early '90s he still thought well of the album: "As far as I'm concerned Cats Under the Stars is my most successful record — even though it's my least successful record! I've always loved it and it just never went anywhere." In an interview with Joel Selvin he was more succinct; " had everything — chops, production, songs." Cats Under the Stars peaked at #114 on the Billboard 200.
Critical reception
On AllMusic, Lindsay Planer wrote, "Jerry Garcia's fourth solo album was the first to be released under the collective title of the Jerry Garcia Band... However, unlike his previous effort, Cats Under the Stars contains all new original material.... Many Deadheads and critics alike feel as if Cats Under the Stars is Garcia's best non-Dead effort..."
Track listing
"Rubin And Cherise" – 5:17
"Love In The Afternoon" – 4:09
"Palm Sunday" – 2:21
"Cats Under The Stars" – 5:31
"Rhapsody In Red" – 5:11
"Rain" – 5:53
"Down Home" – 1:46
"Gomorrah" – 5:26
The album was reissued in the box set with the following bonus tracks:
"Magnificent Sanctuary Band" – 3:50
"I'll Be With Thee" – 6:01
"The Way You Do the Things You Do" – 5:01
"Mighty High" – 3:04
"Don't Let Go" – 15:59
"Down Home " – 1:49
"Palm Sunday " – 2:24
Tracks 9 & 11-13 are from a rehearsal session in November 1976.
