The Grateful Dead

I suppose I should open with a disclaimer before I hear all kinds of noise from serious Deadheads. I'm not a serious Deadhead, or anything close, I don't own all their records, and there's many of them that I used to own that have been removed from the stacks. But I like some of their music a lot.

Overall I think of them as having a less than stellar recording career. I tend to like studio records more than live ones, and the Grateful Dead struggled to make the most of their studio time. More on that after I very briefly deal with their recorded live legacy.

The Grateful Dead made a lot of live records, and if you include the retrospective releases, the number is quite staggering. I know Deadheads that swapped tapes and talk about this show or that show as classics, but I just don't have the time to listen to three years of Dead shows to find the great ones. I like Live/Dead 1969 a lot, and the Dark Star/St. Stephen/The Eleven medley that takes up the first three sides is very fine. I also liked Grateful Dead (Skull and Roses) 1971, which included two sides of concise tunes that feature a super hot band and great songs. Europe '72 is a solid and sprawling 3-LP set featuring more acoustic guitar driven versions. After that I never felt like I needed more live material, although I do own a few of the retrospective releases on CD, and they document good shows. The trouble is finding the ones you might want in an overwhelming sea of choices.

Back to their studio work. The early records never quite did it for me. Grateful Dead 1967, Anthem of the Sun 1968, and Aoxomoxoa 1969 are all generally well regarded, but only Aoxomoxoa ever really impressed me. I'm not a huge blues fan, and much of their work is blues twisted around folk and psychedelia that just doesn't connect with me. Your results may vary. While I'm delving into their lesser studio work, let me just say that most of what they did in the studio is disappointing. They made a total of thirteen studio records (fourteen if you count Ace- see below) from Grateful Dead 1967 to Built To Last in 1989. Everything after 1976 is less than terrific- Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street, Go To Heaven, In The Dark, and Built To Last. These records aren't terrible, but there always seems like something is missing. The 2015 2-CD The Best of The Grateful Dead on Rhino is a fine collection that touches on all of their studio recordings, and is as good a sample as one could expect.

So which records are worthwhile? Well, 1970 was a good year, producing both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, what I would say are their two best studio records. Both feature a lot of acoustic guitars and folk/country/blues sounds, and both include stellar songs. American Beauty had the hits with Truckin', Sugar Magnolia and Friend of the Devil, and also maybe their most beautiful song lyric, Ripple. Workingman's Dead is my vote for their best work, with Uncle John's Band, Casey Jones, Easy Wind, Dire Wolf, and Cumberland Blues, and not a single clunker. Consistently solid clear through. 

That just leaves 1972-1975 left to discuss. Both Wake Of The Flood 1973 and Blues For Allah 1975 have moments of brilliance. Both also see the band's sound branching out into jazz and world music influences, and both sold quite well. I bought them both when they came out, and purged them both many moons ago. They're not bad, but they're also not their best work. Two more from the early seventies do qualify with their best work. The first is From The Mars Hotel 1974. It contains many great songs and relatively upbeat performances with U.S. Blues, Scarlet Begonias, Unbroken Chain, Pride of Cucamonga, and Ship Of Fools. It is hard to believe that it came between Wake of the Flood and Blues For Allah, as it is a pretty straight forward rock record between two seemingly odd diversions. And that leaves only Ace 1972, Bob Weir's solo debut, but a Grateful Dead record in all but name only. And a mighty fine one at that. Packed with great songs Playing In The Band, the lovely Cassidy, the humorous Mexicali Blues, the rocking Greatest Story Ever Told, and frequent live staple One More Saturday Night.

So, here's my personal best of their studio work, ranked in this order: Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Ace, and From The Mars Hotel. For live material, I'm partial to Grateful Dead (Skull and Roses) and Live/Dead (interestingly, their first two live releases).

There are no less than 165 (!) retrospective live recordings to choose from including the Dick's Picks series, the Road Trips series, the Dave's Picks series, and some seventy one-offs released between 1991 and 2022, not including six others released while they were still together. So if you're really interested (or crazy), you can fill your head with live performances from throughout their 20 year career, and decide for yourself which version of Dark Star is the best.

The Best of 1971 Fifty Years On

There has been a lot of discussion this year of the music from 1971. And why not. It was 50 years ago, and it was a fine year for music (or was it?). Before I began this post, I went and looked at 1971, but I also looked at 1970 and 1972 to see if there was anything particularly special about 1971. Honestly, it seemed to me that 1970 was just as interesting as 1971, but 1972 did not seem to live up to the 1971 standard. Anyway, it's covid days and distractions are welcome, so let's just say that 1971 was special. I know it was special to me, because I was very into music and I was sixteen years old. Music (and lots of things) from your impressionable teen years can leave a mark. I was surprised just how many of the classics from 1971 I own and still enjoy.

So you can browse the "Best of 1971" sites for yourself, and when you do you'll find many of these classics:

Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers

Joni Mitchell Blue

Marvin Gaye What's Going On

Carole King Tapestry

Allman Brothers At Fillmore East

Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells A Story

T Rex Electric Warrior

John Lennon Imagine

Funkadelic Maggot Brain

Led Zeppelin IV

Harry Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson

David Bowie Hunky Dory

Beach Boys Surf's Up

Janis Joplin Pearl

Yes The Yes Album, and Fragile

Grateful Dead Grateful Dead (Skull and Roses)

Santana III

 

That does look like an impressive list. In addition to artists, it was an incredible year for engineer-turned-producer Glyn Johns. In 1971 he produced The Who's Who's Next, The Faces' A Nod Is As Good As A Wink (arguably the best records by those two bands), and Boz Scaggs' Moments and Boz Scaggs And Band. He was a busy guy. 

 

And 1971 also included some other bright spots that may not be as well remembered as the classics, but that were no less interesting and/or influential. Some of these include:

 

Can Tago Mago - I didn't get hear Can until many years later, but it amazes me that this record came out in 1971. This music seems so alien to the era, and so different from anything else then, or now.

The Kinks Muswell Hillbillies - Maybe their last great record, and definitely the end of a spectacular five-year run.

Fleetwood Mac Future Games - Bob Welch and Christine McVie head the band in a new direction. Serious candle-lit stoner rock jams.

Laura Nyro Gonna Take A Miracle - Songwriter Nyro, with help from LaBelle, does an all-covers record that stands the test of time. A lesser-known gem that still sounds great.

The Rascals Peaceful World - Although it further alienated their pop fans, this smooth jazz/rock hybrid is a great record that went almost completely neglected.

Elton John 11-17-70 - The big lists like to talk about Madman Across The Water, but this is such a singular and riotous Elton John record, and Madman was only OK.

 

New York Rock Ensemble Roll Over - Great record, great band, should have been, could have been...

The Band Cahoots - Their fourth, and last near-perfect studio album.

 

Poco From The Inside - Paul Cotton's first with Poco, and one of their better ones all things considered.

 

Ten Years After A Space In Time - Again, maybe their last great record at the end of a string of them. Includes the hit I'd Love To Change The World. 

Oh, I almost forgot. 1971 was the year of The Sons Follow Your Heart (the one without horns), the title track of which contains my favorite guitar break, by the fantastic Terry Haggerty.

Grateful Dead (Skeleton Live) 1971

                        

I always liked this particular live record by the Dead. Stripped down to a five piece with one drummer, bass, two guitars, and Pigpen's occasional keyboards, they sound terrific. I actually should be talking about only half the record. The last time I listened to side two (a pretty good The Other One, as I recall) and side four (Wharf Rat, Not Fade Away, Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad) was a while back, and I didn't even do the responsible thing and listen to them for this entry.

Anyway, sides one and three are well worth the price of admission, and whatever you spend to buy this music. Bertha opens the record on a high note, a grand Dead rocker with a twisted hook in the chorus that's rhythmically difficult, even for these guys. Mama Tried follows and they do a wonderful arrangement of Merle's classic. The oft recorded Playing In The Band is presented in a nice, relatively concise version.

Side three is the Dead at their best. Me And My Uncle is a tale of familial deceit that is both gruesome and hilarious. Big Boss Man is the definitive version of this blues classic. Me & Bobby McGee, with Bob Weir giving one of his best vocal leads- the song is perfect for him- is almost as good as Janis' original, albeit in a totally different stylistic interpretation. The Dead were a really good covers band most of the time. A rocking (real rocking, not just Dead rocking) Johnny B. Good finishes things off in grand style.

The original vinyl is wonderful sounding, and probably has more bass content than is actually needed. It's warm and casual, and it sounds excellent. I've never heard the CD, but it's probably similar (let's hope).

I'm not a Deadhead by any stretch, and their good studio albums are few, but when they're on, they're good. Nowhere else is a more simple and direct explanation of what was great about this band to be found than right on this record. Flashback to right now.