Mickey Hart's Mystery Box
| Mickey Hart's Mystery Box | ||||
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| Studio album by Mickey Hart | ||||
| Released | June 11, 1996 | |||
| Genre | World music | |||
| Length | 54:17 | |||
| Label | Rykodisc | |||
| Producer | Mickey Hart | |||
| Mickey Hart chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| The Music Box |  |
Mickey Hart's Mystery Box is an album by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. It was released on CD and cassette by Rykodisc Records on June 11, 1996. The album combines Hart's percussion-based world music with the vocal harmonies of the British singing sextet the Mint Juleps. Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics for all the songs.
The song "Only the Strange Remain" was later performed live by the Other Ones, and appears on their album The Strange Remain.
On Allmusic, Lindsay Planer said, "Mickey Hart's Mystery Box harks back to [Rolling Thunder] with [Hart's] first album of pop-oriented material in nearly a quarter-century. He combines the seemingly disparate world of percussion-based rhythms with traditional 'Western-style' structures containing lyrics by Grateful Dead wordsmith Robert Hunter. All the more diverse are the contributions of the Mint Juleps.... Their paradisaical harmonies support Hart's occasional leads, while they're effectively incorporated as primary participants on the infectious groove..."
In The Music Box, John Metzger wrote, "Overlaying the rhythmic sounds created by Hart, Giovanni Hidalgo, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, Babatunde Olatunji, and Airto Moreira are the sweet, soulful vocals of the Mint Juleps. What ensues is an album with more of a rhythm and blues feel than many Hart fans may be accustomed, but... persistence will pay off with tremendous rewards. Robert Hunter penned the lyrics to all of the songs on Mickey Hart's Mystery Box, and as with all of his poetic creations, the lyrics contain multiple meanings that will shift depending upon one's mood.... The Mint Juleps handle the Hunter-penned lyrics so skillfully that the ensemble essentially becomes a rhythm track of its own.... In short, Mickey Hart's Mystery Box is a multi-dimensional album that contains many subtle rhythm and vocal textures."
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