''At the Edge'' is a percussion-based

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

album by

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

drummer

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

. It was released on CD and

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

Rykodisc Records Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record lab ...

on September 18, 1990. It was Hart's first album with the multi-national percussion ensemble that would later be called Planet Drum. In an interview in 2008, Hart said of ''At the Edge'', "The soft side of percussion. More, we were romancing the drum on that one and that was really very sparse, beautiful, serene, patient and calm."

Book

On September 1, 1990,

Harper San Francisco HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 e ...

published the book ''Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A Journey into the Spirit of Percussion'', by Mickey Hart,

Jay Stevens Jay Karl Stevens (November 11, 1953 – February 19, 2025)"Jay Karl S ...

, and

Fredric Lieberman Fredric Lieberman (1940 - died May 4, 2013) was an American ethnomusicologist, composer, music professor, and author. As a faculty member at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he was affiliated with the Music Department (including the unde ...

. The book explores the origins of drumming in human culture, and its relationship to spirituality. The book is a companion piece to the album ''At the Edge'', and shares the same cover art by Nancy Nimoy. Hart later went on to release other album-and-book pairs – ''

Planet Drum ''Planet Drum'' is a world music album by Mickey Hart, a musician and musicologist who was a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead. Hart's concept for ''Planet Drum'' was to play drum music with percussionists from around the world, and i ...

'' (1991) and ''

Spirit into Sound ''Spirit into Sound'' is a percussion-based world music album by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. It was released on CD on January 25, 2000. Most of the compositions were co-written by Hart and Rebeca Mauleón, both of whom play a wide ...

'' (2000). In an interview in 2011, Hart said, "Well, when I wrote that book I was looking for the origins of percussion. So by writing that book I kept going back, you know? To the Mongols of the 11th century. Then I went back to the caves, and then the Neolithic, then the Paleolithic, and then when I reached the point where drums first started to appear, I thought, well, okay, where did that come from? And, it led me back to the beginning of time and space. The beginning of the universe. The Big Bang."

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, William Ruhlmann wrote, "You'll feel like you're at the edge of the rain forest listening to this atmospheric recording that uses a variety of unusual instruments and employs such musicians as

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

Babatunde Olatunji Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist. Early life Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nig ...

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer, composer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a membe ...

, and Zakir Hussain." Ken Hart in Q Magazine called it "fragments of an unchartered musical wastelands."

Track listing

#"#4 for Gaia" (

) – 4:46 #"Sky Water" (Hart, Zakir Hussain) – 8:15 #"Slow Sailing" (Hart, Hussain) – 5:01 #"Lonesome Hero" (Hart) – 6:19 #"Fast Sailing" (Hart, Hussain) – 5:04 #"Cougar Run" (Hart) – 3:39 #"The Eliminators" (Creek Hart, Mickey Hart, Taro S. Hart,

) – 6:01 #"Brainstorm" (Hart,

) – 4:12 #"Pigs in Space" (

) – 4:39

Personnel

Musicians

– drums, percussion * Zakir Hussain – drums, percussion *

Sikiru Adepoju Sikiru Adepoju (born 10 November 1950) is a Nigerian percussionist and recording artist, primarily in the genres of traditional African music and world music. He plays a variety of instruments and styles. Background A master of the talking dr ...

– drums, percussion *

– drums, percussion, vocals *

– electric guitar,

guitar synthesizer A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnership) such as ...

, forest zone *Joze Lorenzo –

berimbau The berimbau (, borrowed from Kimbundu ''mbirimbau'') is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as ''sekitulege'' among the Baganda and Busoga. It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd ...

*Creek Hart – drum samples *Taro S. Hart –

electronic drum Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the Drum synthesiser, synthesized or Sampler ...

Production

– producer *Tom Flye – engineering, mixing *Jeff Sterling – engineering, mixing, computer processing *Phil Kaffel – additional engineering *Tom Size – additional engineering *

Joe Gastwirt Joe Gastwirt is an American audio engineer, known for digitally remastering hundreds of CDs and LPs for famous artists, including the Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Helen Reddy, Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, The Blu ...

– CD mastering *Jack Crymes – technical support *Jay Stevens – liner notes *Nancy Nimoy – cover art *Howard Jacobsen – art direction *Steven Jurgensmeyer – package design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:At the Edge Albums produced by Mickey Hart Mickey Hart albums 1990 albums