This is mine off the top of my head although I might move Blues For Allah to #5. I could see swapping In The Dark and Go To Heaven too. 1) American Beauty 2) Workingman's Dead 3) Anthem Of The Sun 4) Aoxomoxoa 5) Wake Of The Flood 6) From The Mars Hotel 7) Blues For Allah 8) Grateful Dead s/t 9) Terrapin Station 10) Go To Heaven 11) In The Dark 12) Shakedown Street 13) Built To Last
American Beauty Blues for Allah Anthem Of The Sun Mars Hotel Workingman's Aoxomoxoa Wake of the Flood Terrapin S/T Blah, blah, blah
I'm going to be 100% honest and put it out there that I'm absolutely uninterested in Dead studio records. Can't be the only one...
The self titled debut would probably be in my top 5, maybe top 3. I call it 'the greatest garage record that never was'.
This was me for many years. Which was kinda cool cuz after being a deadhead for many years here was this giant chunk of fantastic music to “discover.” sure I knew all the songs, but it was really great to put them in a whole new context and realize The Grateful Dead were fantastic in the studio! I was misguided in thinking they weren’t good in the studio when it was just that their live repertoire overshadowed some really great studio performances!
A year or two ago I decided to listen to all the studio albums in order. I made it to Wake of the Flood. I had Terrapin and Shakedown before then. I’ve still never heard Blues For Allah, In The Dark or Built To Last. I’ll get there eventually.
Go to Heaven is a must have. It fits in perfectly on the shelf next to all of your massive Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins, and Fleetwood Mac collections.
I think the studio records through even Terrapin all have a bit to offer but it’s kinda like the vegetable with a prime porterhouse steak compared to prime live dead. I’ve not listened to a Dead studio album straight through in over 35 years...
There's an amazingly exhaustive website that details the location of that iconic photo: The Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead _ Album Cover Location
I happened to read that a few weeks back and then one afternoon recently I made a couple of wrong turns and bam I was at that intersection! I looked up at the street signs and had to do a triple take and then hop online to confirm
Not sure which mix you are listening to, but What’s Become of the Baby is more interesting and tolerable on the original mix, although still a bit of a slog. The ‘71 remix of that track (which is the most commonly available) is terrible.
I smoked a j at that corner while stepping out from the brewery now on that block (Speakeasy), and only learned about a year later that I’d been at the spot where that photo was taken. When in Rome, even if you don’t know where you are.
Yep, the original mix is a studio version of their live avant-garde piece “Feedback” with a fantastic Robert Hunter poem sung by Jerry. The remix is just a phased and hard to decipher version of the poem.
With some new blood around these here parts, it's time for a revisit of jaw-dropping moments* on official releases. 3/27/72 (DiP 30) - 6:08-6:48 of Playing in the Band. I still have a boot imprint on my tongue from when I first heard this back in 2013 when I dragged myself back on the bus after a 20+ year hiatus during which I listened to zero GoGD. 3/28/72 (DiP 30) - 4:40 of China Cat - 0:54 of I Know You Rider. Some Hard Bop GD there at the end of the segment. 4/17/72 (Trunk) - 25:18-26:40 of Dark Star; a proto-Let it Grow jam crystallizes out of nowhere and it's simply gorgeous. 4/24/72 Rockin' the Rhein - the "launch sequence" from Playing in the Band - 4:50-5:50. Seriously? 4/24/72 Rockin' the Rhein - the first 1:30 of Part II of Dark Star after Uncle. Just listen to it 100 times in a row and try to figure out how they managed to compose this in real time. The real kicker starts at 1:13, where they spontaneously discover what a transitive nightfall of diamonds must have looked like, had they even seen one. OK, that's five for now and I'm tired. More tomorra. * For the purposes of this post, "moment" means a segment that lasts no more than 2:13.
Grateful Dead “Grate”st hits of Spring 1972 Compiled by Archtop Yours for only $49.99 plus tax and shipping* Hurry, someone come up with some groovy artwork! * free to users of “the internet”
