Ready Or Not, Grateful Dead's unfinished studio album

Still sampling the lovely files posted upthread.

Sweet tender version of Lazy River Road sung perfectly by Jerry. The song is nicely suited for his voice and he nails the vocals in this tske.

Classic lyrics from Mr. Hunter. I particularly love the last three verses. Boy oh boy did he have a way with words!!! Amazing how he was able to paint a clear picture with his lyrics while also inviting listener interpretation.

Lyrics By:
Robert Hunter
Music By:
Jerry Garcia

Way down upon Sycamore Slough
A white man sings the blues
selling roses of paper maché (note 1)
with flecks of starlight dew
I swiped a bunch and threw it your way
where hazy moonlight glowed
Way down, down along Lazy River Road

Way down upon Shadowfall Ward
End of the avenue
Run, hide, seek in your own backyard
Mama's backyard won't do
All night long I sang Love's Sweet Song
down where the water flowed
Way down, down along Lazy River Road

Moonlight wails as hound dogs bay
but never quite catch the tune
Stars fall down in buckets like rain
till there ain't no standing room
Bright blue boxcars train by train
clatter where dreams unfold
Way down, down along Lazy River Road

Way down upon Seminole Square
belly of the river tide
call for me and I will be there
for the price of a taxi ride
Night double-clutches into today
like a truck downshifting its load
Way down, down along Lazy River Road

Thread the needle
right through the eye
The thread that runs so true
All the others I let pass by
I only wanted you
Never cared for careless love
but how your bright eyes glowed
Way down, down along Lazy River Road

 

I dont believe they were doing multitrack recording in this era as there was no live release planned, so that limits the possibility of sweetening vocals. And the Dead tended to play tunes a bit differently each time, including tempos whichbmakes Frankensteining performances a bit of a challenge - and that would likely be criticized by GD fans as well.

 

It was done on the so many roads box. The track so many roads from 7/9/95 cut a verse and inserted a different solo. I was not happy with that decision

 

Way to Go Home. Only one from this batch I caught live (4/5/95). Great sounding version. Not my favorite song by any means, but I dig it. Jerry ABSOLUTELY WAILS from 3:21 to 3:56, really cool to hear. I compared this 92 version to the one I saw and it is superior in every way (as most of 92 compared to 95).

Listening straight through the album this time and, while Samba in the Rain is not my cup of tea, they chose a nice slot for it at track 4. As it sits right between Lazy River Road and So Many Roads, it at helps the pacing and flow and of the album.

 

I am debating this buy. Maybe I will just wait for the 50th Anniversary edition.

 

I really appreciate your analysis, and your taking the time to post all this. If it's any encouragement, a friend of mine has long cited this Oakland '94 version of "Days Between" as the definitive version.

 

I don't think Phil's vocals are the reasons his songs are not included. I think he was never satisfied with the way the band performed them. They had all been dropped from the repertoire pre-95.

 

Thank you for sharing this. I look forward to giving it a listen.

 

Bill's complaint that all of Phil's songs were "hard to play" seems to have a degree of merit.

 

Not all of them, they played "Childhood's End" at the last show 7/9/95. But my guess is he nixed them being included on this release for one reason or another.

 

Did you list the sources for each performance somewhere and I missed it? I'd like to tag the files. Thanks again for sharing.

 

Was it pretty rare at that time? I saw over a dozen 95 shows and dont recall hearing it that year.

And has Phil played any of those 3 tunes post 95?

Odd that with so few original songs he let those go - and also seems to have largely abandoned everything from There And Back Again

 

I didn't.

 

On Deadlists I find that they played "Childhood's End" at three shows in 1995 ("If the Shoe Fits" at two shows).

 

Per setlist.fm................

"Childhood's End" was played 3 times in 1995..............4/1 Memphis, 7/5 Maryland Heights, MO, and 7/9 Chicago.

 

If we get under the cone of silence might you whisper them to me?

 

Ok I'll spill the beans...

The Grateful Dead - Lazy River Road (soniclovenoize "Final Album" reconstruction)
1. Liberty (3/30/94)
2. If The Shoe Fits (verses 10/2/94, choruses 10/19/94)
3. Corrina (10/14/94)
4. Lazy River Road (10/14/94)
5. Easy Answers (3/19/95)
6. So Many Roads (10/1/94)
7. Eternity (9/17/94)
8. Days Between (12/19/94)
9. Way To Go Home (10/19/94)

 

You are a gentleman and a scholar.

 

I have always been curious about these songs but had never really listened to any of them before tonight (except for "So Many Roads" which I have on the "30 Trips" 4CD set), so I did some YouTube research. Maybe I just found lousy versions, but I didn't really like any of them. I don't really like Built to Last and these songs feel like more of that -- not sonically, necessarily, but in the sense that they feel like obligatory pieces of craft by a band that just isn't creatively engaged. Not that anyone seems to be arguing that these songs are among their better works, but man -- coming off the 5-15-70 Road Trips (a Dead release I've been really into lately), the stark difference between that band and this band is palpable and a little depressing, and not just musically. You can audibly hear the difference between a group of friends channeling creative energy together for the fun and the art of it, and a group of business associates making music together because it's their job.

"So Many Roads" is probably the best song of the bunch, and even it is unreasonably elevated by the sort of sentimental, Jerry-unknowingly-delivering-his-own-eulogy mythology that has become its legacy. Apart from that, it's a pleasant tune, not much more.

So yeah, I'll be taking a pass on this one. I wish this was the limited edition Dave's Pick and the 1973 show was the general commercial release.

 

@soniclovenoize, is your avatar the red mage from Final Fantasy?

 

It is! Never leave Coneria without one!

 

Love it! My friends and I were always fighter/thief/black mage/white mage people, but we were also in 3rd/4th grade and possibly not the savviest.

 

Hmm, but the takes of "Lazy River Road," "Eternity," and "Days Between" on the So Many Roads release are studio rehearsals...

 

I can’t agree with this. “Because it’s their job”? You do realize that the fans wanted their favorites and weren’t craving for new stuff, right? The band played the new stuff because they were artists and wanted to keep creating and writing, not because of record industry pressure. Now, granted, the results may not have been very good, but at least they were evolving and updating their craft rather than just churning out repeats of the same style that made they famous over and over - like most bands do.

 

I read Phil's autobiography recently, and you definitely get a sense from him that those last few years were driven more than anything by a sense to keep their organization from falling into financial ruin, and to keep an extremely large network of staff from becoming unemployed. Those are generally not optimal conditions under which to create, and I think it shows. These sound like workmanlike songs by a band whose level of creative engagement was extremely low, and who were burned out by years of routine.

But, I'm not a huge fan of most post-Godchaux Dead, and feel like their real hot streak as songwriters ended before even they left, so it's not surprising that I feel this way. I did want to give the songs a fair shot, though, and I just think the idea of "lost albums" and such are kind of fun. But after, say, Blues For Allah, I can probably count the number of Dead songs that I really love, if not on one hand, then easily on two with fingers to spare. Not trying to rain on the parade, just giving my honest take.