The GRATEFUL DEAD ("Skull & Roses")

Original released on Double LP Warner Bros 2.WS.1935

(US 1971, September 24)

The Grateful Dead's second live release was an eponymously titled double LP whose cover bears the striking skull-and-roses visual motif that would become instantly recognizable and an indelibly linked trademark of the band. As opposed to their debut concert recording, "Live/Dead" (1969), this hour and ten minutes concentrates on newer material, which consisted of shorter self-contained originals and covers. Coming off of the quantum-leap success of the studio country-rock efforts "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty", Grateful Dead offers up a pair of new Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter compositions - "Bertha" and "Wharf Rat" - both of which garnered a permanent place within the band's live catalog. However, "The Other One" - joined in progress just as Billy Kreutzmann fires up a blazing percussion solo - sprawls as the album's centerpiece. The Dead also begin incorporating several traditional folk, blues, and R&B cover tunes, such as Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried," Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee," as well as a few that had been in their songbook for several years, including John Phillips' "Me & My Uncle" and "Big Boss Man," a blues standard popularized by Jimmy Reed. Their formidable improvisational chops have begun to take on new facets of lean intricacy as Mickey Hart (percussion) and Tom Constanten (keyboards) were no longer in the band. Additionally, the arrival of Keith Godchaux (organ) and his wife, Donna Godchaux (vocals), had yet to occur. As such, the Grateful Dead spent the spring and summer of 1971 in their original five-piece configuration - which is when these recordings were documented. The "Golden Road (1965-1973)" (2001) box set features a remastered version of "Grateful Dead" and includes two additional covers - Buddy Holly's "Oh, Boy!" as well as Leiber & Stoller's "(I'm A) Hog for You" - plus an unmarked vintage radio spot for the album. Enthusiasts should note that this era is likewise represented on the four-CD "Ladies and Gentlemen...The Grateful Dead" (2000) archival release. (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)

GRATEFUL DEAD: "American Beauty" (50th Anniversary Edition)

Original released as Warner Bros LP WS 1893
(US 1970, November 1)

A1. Box Of Rain (Hunter/Lesh) 5:18
A2. Friend Of The Devil (Dawson/Garcia/Hunter) 3:24
A3. Sugar Magnolia (Hunter/Weir) 3:19
A4. Operator (McKernan) 2:25
A5. Candyman (Garcia/Hunter) 6:13
B1. Ripple (Garcia/Hunter) 4:09
B2. Brokedown Palace (Garcia/Hunter) 4:09
B3. Till The Morning Comes (Garcia/Hunter) 3:09
B4. Attics Of My Life (Garcia/Hunter) 5:14
B5. Truckin’ (Garcia/Hunter/Lesh/Weir) 5:17

Produced by The Grateful Dead and Robin Hurley
Co-producer: Audio – Steve Barncard
Art Direction: Kelly (Mouse Studios)
Rear photo: George Conger
Recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, CA (9/70)


They recorded just three studio albums in their final 15 years, but back in 1970 the Grateful Dead somehow managed to assemble their two best works all within the space of five months: "Workingman’s Dead" and this one, their trully masterpiece. With a new producer (the 20-year old Steve Barncard, who’d recorded Garcia’s famous pedal-steel overdub for the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young hit “Teach Your Children” some months earlier) the band set up in Heider’s upper-level Studio C, birthplace of classic recordings by the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, and CSN&Y. Even with drummer Bill Kreutzmann perched just a few feet away, Barncard insisted on cutting the band’s acoustic guitars live. «That was so important – especially when there would be any interplay between the two acoustic guitars,» Barncard recalls. «The reason those rhythm tracks are so tight is because they were set up really close together, just sitting in these plastic chairs facing each other, with very little obstruction. I may have had a few small baffles around the drums, but that was it. When they were recording, they liked to be able to look at each other’s fingers, pick up on accents, and do forth. The interplay was a very big part of those sessions.»



Everything in this album it is a joy to listen to: rich in acoustic instrumentation, well-rounded backing vocals, and a subtle electric presence. "American Beauty" established the group as more than a house band for its charismatic stoner leader, Jerry Garcia (there is not a single Garcia guitar solo on the whole record). For the first time, the Dead seemed a cohesive unit with a battery of accomplished singer-songwriters, including Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. There is no “jamming” on the album, it’s all about the songs, and the perfomances serve them beautifully. Expertly played, with some gorgeous harmony singing, this is an intricate album. Its influence has resonated in successive generations of musicians but back in 1970 "American Beauty" proved to be a good career move. It ended with the existing dichotomy between those that worshiped or simply hated the Grateful Dead. Since then, there was no more reasons to extreme feelings: the band’s fans becomed united in the love for the Dead. Forty six years after, "American Beauty" remains as one of the absolute masterpieces of the pop/rock universe.

The GRATEFUL DEAD Live 1980: "Reckoning"

Original released on Double LP Arista A2L-8604

(US 1981, April 1)

In the fall of 1980, the Grateful Dead played a series of shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall in New York City (venues considerably smaller than they had grown accustomed to) for the purpose of filming and recording. The group opened these special concerts with a special acoustic set at which Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir played acoustic guitars, Brent Mydland played piano, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart played reduced kits. (Phil Lesh stuck to his electric bass, but at a modest volume.) Also special was the set list, as demonstrated by the track list on this album drawn from the shows. A batch of old folk and country tunes never before included on a Grateful Dead album make up half of the 16 songs, mixed in with originals. (And actually, three of those originals, "Cassidy," "To Lay Me Down," and "Bird Song," only appeared previously on Garcia or Weir solo albums.) The music deliberately harks back to a period most Deadheads weren't around for, the band's origins in the folk, bluegrass, and country groups Garcia led in Palo Alto, CA, in the early '60s, culminating in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, the band that went electric and became the Warlocks, renamed the Grateful Dead. Garcia in particular seems comfortable with this material, and he takes two-thirds of the lead vocals, with Weir spelling him every couple of tracks, usually with a song at least slightly more uptempo (although, for example, his version of "The Race Is On" has none of the breakneck pace of George Jones' original). Of the bandmembers, Garcia is the one who has shown the most affection for the Grateful Dead's folk and country roots, continually reintroducing them either with the band or in his side projects, and his ease with such selections as "Jack-A-Roe" and "Deep Elem Blues" is apparent. At the same time, the juxtaposition of such traditional material with originals by Garcia and his lyric partner Robert Hunter, such as the lead-off song, "Dire Wolf," and the closer, "Ripple," emphasizes the songwriters' deliberate effort to evoke and reshape the folk idiom in their compositions. The Grateful Dead have released numerous live albums, but this one takes a different approach, and it will appeal especially to the many fans of "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty". (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

The GRATEFUL DEAD Live 1980: "Dead Set"

Original released on Double LP Arista A2L-8606

(US 1981, August 26)

The Grateful Dead mined two separate double-album sets from their 15th anniversary shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Because of the special nature of these shows - which included the first acoustic sets that the band had played in almost a decade - "Reckoning" was taken from the unplugged performances, and this title was culled from the electric ones. These were the first live albums that the band had issued since the "Steal Your Face" debacle four years prior, as well as the earliest to feature Brent Mydland (keyboards). More so than any previous live Grateful Dead album, "Dead Set" attempts to simulate a typical Dead concert - including a somewhat abbreviated percussion solo ("drums") and free-form instrumental ("space") section. However, because the album is compiled from a number of different concerts, there is not the firmly established continuity that a single performance provides. This was further compounded on domestic U.S. compact disc pressings - as the ("space") section was judiciously edited to enable the contents to fit onto a single CD. In 2000, a remastered edition was issued in Japan, and the original running order was restored and once again spread over two discs. The set list mixes older and more established favorites such as "Loser," "Candyman," and "Deal" with newer ones ("Fire on the Mountain," "Feel Like a Stranger," and the rarely performed Phil Lesh [bass] composition "Passenger.") Unfortunately, the time limitations inherent in vinyl prohibited the use of any extended improvisation or song couplings. The band also documented their October 31st show - at Radio City Music Hall - as a live closed-circuit television special. From that performance, the band's very first home video - also called "Dead Set" - was compiled, which includes a few of the acoustic performances as well. (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)

The GRATEFUL DEAD: "Shakedown Street"

Original released on LP Arista AB 4198

(US 1978, November 15)

Since the Grateful Dead were notorious for recording awkward studio albums, it always seemed that the answer to their problem was simply getting the right producer to coax magic out of the band - and nobody would seem better suited for the position than Little Feat leader Lowell George, whose own band shared the Dead's tendency to wander and jam in a live setting, yet made almost nothing but good studio records. But 1978 was not a great year for either camp, as the Dead were drifting in their attempts to score a crossover hit for Clive Davis' Arista Records, while George was pushing Little Feat toward disbandment as he was inching closer to his premature death in 1979. Add to that the Dead's sudden, inexplicable fascination with disco, a desire to have Donna Jean Godchaux be an integral part of the record, plus no new songs ready to go at the beginning of the sessions, and it's little surprise that "Shakedown Street" wound up as a mess. It rambles and wanders all over the place, as the Dead cover the Rascals' "Good Lovin'" before they revive "New Minglewood Blues" (which they originally cut for their debut), as Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter write their own "Stagger Lee" while Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann get a percussion workout on the brief instrumental "Serengetti" and Bob Weir affects a bluesy growl on "I Need a Miracle." In George's hands, this is all given a smooth gloss not all that far removed from such latter-day Feat LPs as The Last Record Album, but since the Dead favor hazy, lazy grooves to Feat's laid-back but tight New Orleans funk - and since George didn't produce so much as he created an appropriate atmosphere in the studio - "Shakedown Street" meanders mercilessly, and its indulgences wind up overwhelming the album as a whole. And there isn't just one kind of indulgence here; there's a plethora of them, ranging from the disco pulse of the title track to the fuzziness of the two songs sung by Donna Jean. This can make "Shakedown Street" a bit of a difficult, dated listen, since even the good songs boast bad arrangements ("Shakedown Street" and "Fire on the Mountain" were later reworked and revitalized in concert), yet it falls short of flat-out disaster, partially because it's a fascinating listen due to the very things that make it a severely flawed record. The disco flirtations, subdued funk, misguided commercial concessions, and overarching Californian slickness do make "Shakedown Street" fascinating for at least one spin, even if they'll keep even hardcore Deadheads - maybe especially hardcore Deadheads - from coming back to the record more than once every decade or so. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

The GRATEFUL DEAD: "Steal Your Face"

 

Original released on Double LP Grateful Dead GD-LA620-32
(US 1976, June 26)

Some Deadheads and enthusiasts have dismissed this two-disc live set as being foul-sounding and wholly unrepresentative of a typical Grateful Dead show circa 1974. These are undeniably accurate thumbnail assessments. However, somewhat obscured beneath what is not on this collection are a few salvageable performances. The story of why the Dead would contribute to such substandard workmanship has long been grist for the rumor mill. The evidence, however, speaks in the package's indescribably poor song selection and complete lack of cohesion. "Steal Your Face" is compiled from the same four-night stand (October 16 through October 20, 1974) at Winterland Arena that the Dead filmed for the "Grateful Dead Movie" (1976). Because the band had announced their decision to cease their incessant touring and essentially go on sabbatical, these concerts were being touted at the time as the "final four." By all accounts there was plenty of inspired musical interaction during the course of the run. So, why weren't those tracks accessed for this release? In essence, this boils down to two factors: the absence of quality control at the time the recordings were made, and some decidedly unsavory and unethical conduct by the band's concurrent management. What listeners are left with is a loose assortment of shorter tracks and self-contained performances. 

This was written off by the band as an attempt not to duplicate the style of their previous concert releases "Live/Dead" (1969), "Grateful Dead" (1971), and "Europe '72" (1972) - all of which were infinitely more realistic and warmly received. There are a few throwaways, such as the Chuck Berry covers "Promised Land" and "Around and Around" as well as Bob Weir's cowboy tunes "Big River" and "El Paso." It should be noted that these particular cuts are not all that bad. However, none of the songs have much room for any ensemble work or extended improvisation - key elements when capturing the essence of the Grateful Dead live. Conversely, newer originals such as the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter ballads "Ship of Fools," "It Must Have Been the Roses," and the album's unmitigated gem, "Stella Blue," rate among the package's most thoughtful and lyrical moments. (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)

The GRATEFUL DEAD Debut Album

Original released on LP Warner Bros WS 1689
(US 1967, March 17)

The Grateful Dead's eponymously titled debut long-player was issued in mid-March of 1967. This gave rise to one immediate impediment - the difficulty in attempting to encapsulate/recreate the Dead's often improvised musical magic onto a single LP. Unfortunately, the sterile environs of the recording studio disregards the subtle and often not-so-subtle ebbs and zeniths that are so evident within a live experience. So, while this studio recording ultimately fails in accurately exhibiting the Grateful Dead's tremendous range, it's a valiant attempt to corral the group's hydra-headed psychedelic jug-band music on vinyl. Under the technical direction of Dave Hassinger - who had produced the Rolling Stones as well as the Jefferson Airplane - the Dead recorded the album in Los Angeles during a Ritalin-fuelled "long weekend" in early 1967. Rather than prepare all new material for the recording sessions, a vast majority of the disc is comprised of titles that the band had worked into their concurrent performance repertoire. This accounts for the unusually high ratio (seven:two) of folk and blues standards to original compositions. The entire group took credit for the slightly saccharine "Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)," while Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) is credited for the noir garage-flavored raver "Cream Puff War." Interestingly, both tracks were featured as the respective A- and B-sides of the only 45 rpm single derived from this album. The curious aggregate of cover tunes featured on the Dead's initial outing also demonstrates the band's wide-ranging musical roots and influences. These include Pigpen's greasy harp-fuelled take on Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl" and the minstrel one-man-band folk of Jessie "the Lone Cat" Fuller's "Beat It On Down the Line." The apocalyptic Cold War folk anthem "Morning Dew" (aka "[Walk Me Out in The] Morning Dew") is likewise given a full-bodied electric workout as is the obscure jug-band stomper "Viola Lee Blues." Fittingly, the Dead would continue to play well over half of these tracks in concert for the next 27 years. (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)

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GRATEFUL DEAD: "Workingman's Dead" (50th Anniversary Edition - 3 CD Set)

Original released on LP Warner Bros 1869

(US 1970, June 14)

As the '60s drew to a close, it was a heavy time for the quickly crumbling hippie movement that had reached its apex just a few years earlier in 1967’s Summer of Love. Death and violence were pervasive in the form of the Manson murders, fatalities at the Altamont concert, and the ongoing loss of young lives in Vietnam despite the best efforts of anti-war activists and peace-seeking protesters. Difficult times were also upon the Grateful Dead, unofficial house band of San Francisco’s Summer of Love festivities and outspoken advocates of psychedelic experimentation both musical and chemical. The excessive studio experimentation that resulted in their trippy but disorienting third album, "Aoxomoxoa", had left the band in considerable debt to their record label, and their stress wasn't helped at all by a drug bust that had members of the band facing jail time. The rough road the Dead were traveling down seemed congruent with the hard changes faced by the youth counterculture that birthed them. 

Fourth studio album "Workingman's Dead" reflects both the looming darkness of its time, and the endless hope and openness to possibility that would become emblematic of the Dead as their legacy grew. For a group already established as exploratory free-form rockers of the highest acclaim, "Workingman’s Dead"'s eight tunes threw off almost all improvisatory tendencies in favor of spare, thoughtful looks at folk, country, and American roots music with more subdued sounds than the band had managed up until then. The songs also focused more than ever before on singing and vocal harmonies, influenced in no small way by a growing friendship with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The band embraced complex vocal arrangements with campfire-suited folk on "Uncle John's Band" and the psychedelic cowboy blues of “High Time.”

Before they blasted off into hallucinatory rock as the Grateful Dead, several founding members had performed as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a group that played traditional jug band music with earnest, heartfelt appreciation. Those early influences came into sharp focus on the bluegrass rhythms and hillbilly harmonies of "Cumberland Blues" and the glistening pedal steel and shuffling drums of "Dire Wolf." The more rocking songs add to the album's brooding feel with "New Speedway Boogie" directly addressing the violence at Altamont, and "Casey Jones," which appeared at first to be a lighthearted celebration of cocaine, but was really a lament for troubled times that felt like they were spinning off the rails. The abrupt shift toward sublime acoustic sounds on "Workingman's Dead" completely changed what the Grateful Dead meant to their listeners at large. The enormous risk they took in changing their sound entirely resulted in a heartbreakingly beautiful, unquestionably pure statement and one of the more important documents of its time. They’d continue this trend on the even more roots-minded "American Beauty", recorded later the same year, but the limitlessness, fearlessness, and true power of the band began here. (Fred Thomas in AllMusic)

GRATEFUL DEAD: "Blues For Allah"

Original released on LP Grateful Dead GD-LA494-G

(US 1975, September 1)

The Grateful Dead went into a state of latent activity in the fall of 1974 that lasted until the spring of the following year when the band reconvened at guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir's Ace Studios to record "Blues for Allah". The disc was likewise the third to be issued on their own Grateful Dead Records label. When the LP hit shelves in September of 1975, the Dead were still not back on the road - although they had played a few gigs throughout San Francisco. Obviously, the time off had done the band worlds of good, as "Blues for Allah" - more than any past or future studio album - captures the Dead at their most natural and inspired. The opening combo of "Help on the Way," "Slipknot!," and "Franklin's Tower" is a multifaceted suite, owing as much to Miles Davis circa the E.S.P. album as to anything the Grateful Dead had been associated with. "Slipknot!" contains chord changes, progressions, and time signatures which become musical riddles for the band to solve - which they do in the form of "Franklin's Tower." Another highly evolved piece is the rarely performed "King Solomon's Marbles," an instrumental that spotlights, among other things, Keith Godchaux's tastefully unrestrained Fender Rhodes finger work displaying more than just a tinge of Herbie Hancock inspiration. These more aggressive works contrast the delicate musical and lyrical haiku on "Crazy Fingers" containing some of lyricist Robert Hunter's finest and most beautifully arranged verbal images for the band. Weir's guitar solo in "Sage & Spirit" is based on one of his warm-up fingering exercises. Without a doubt, this is one of Weir's finest moments. The light acoustic melody is tinged with an equally beautiful arrangement. While there is definite merit in "Blues for Allah"'s title suite, the subdued chant-like vocals and meandering melody seems incongruous when compared to the remainder of this thoroughly solid effort. (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)

GRATEFUL DEAD: "Aoxomoxoa" (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) 1969 & 1971 Mixes

Original released on LP Warner Bros Seven Arts WS 1790

(US 1969, June 20 - remixed September 1971)

The Grateful Dead's third studio effort was also the first that the band did without any Warner Bros. staff producers or engineers hampering their creative lifestyle and subsequent processes. As they had done with their previous release, "Anthem of the Sun", the Dead were actively seeking new forays and pushing envelopes on several fronts simultaneously during "Aoxomoxoa" - which was created under the working title of "Earthquake Country." This was no doubt bolstered by the serendipitous technological revolution which essentially allowed the Dead to re-record the entire contents when given free reign at the appropriately named Pacific High Recording facility. As fate would have it, they gained virtually unlimited access to the newly acquired Ampex MM-1000 - the very first 16-track tape machines ever produced - which was absolutely state of the art in late 1968. The band was also experiencing new directions artistically. This was primarily the net result of the budding relationship between primary (by default) melodic contributor Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) and Robert Hunter (lyrics), who began his nearly 30-year association with the Grateful Dead in earnest during these sessions. When the LP hit the racks in the early summer of 1969, Deadheads were greeted by some of the freshest and most innovative sounds to develop from the thriving Bay Area music scene. The disc includes seminal psychedelic rockers such as "St. Stephen," "China Cat Sunflower," and "Cosmic Charlie," as well as hints of the acoustic direction their music would take on the Baroque-influenced "Mountains of the Moon" and "Rosemary." The folky "Dupree's Diamond Blues" - which itself was loosely based on the traditional "Betty & Dupree" - would likewise foreshadow the sound of their next two studio long-players, "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty" (both from 1970). The too-trippy-for-its-own-good "What's Become of the Baby" is buried beneath layers of over-indulgence. This is unfortunate, as Hunter's surreal lyrics and Garcia's understated vocals languish beneath the soupy sonics. In September 1971, "Aoxomoxoa" was overhauled, and the original mix - which includes several significant differences such as an a cappella vocal tag at the tail end of "Doin' That Rag" - has yet to be reissued in any form. When the title was reworked for inclusion in the "Golden Road" (1965-1973) (2001) box set, three previously unreleased and incomplete studio instrumental jams - respectively titled "Clementine Jam," "Nobody's Spoonful Jam," and "The Eleven Jam" - as well as a live rendering of "Cosmic Charlie" from a January 1969 performance were added as "bonus material(s)." (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)

NOTE: This 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes the remastered 1969 & 1971 mixes of the original album, plus an extra Disc with previously unreleased Live recordings (the first concerts in music history to be recorded to 16-track tape) at Avalon Ballroom, in San Francisco - California, between 24 and 26 January, 1969.