The Grateful Dead

[That Jekka Gal]

I want to explore the music of the Grateful Dead.

They have such a huge back catalogue & up to the time that they disbanded, had been seen live by more people than any other band so I’m curious to check them out and see what it’s all about.

Can anyone recommend an album that’s reasonably accessible (by that, I mean an easy listen - some of their stuff I hear is a bit “out there” - 30 minute jams etc).

 

[Mr Badger]

30 minute jams

Isn't that a Mary Berry book?

 

[pduk]

I'm not a huge Dead fan but sometimes they really do hit the spot. The main advice I have is, don't start with any of the studio albums. The live stuff, of which there is enough to last a lifetime, is where it's at. And you'll get a good cross section of styles and an idea of what the band is about. Europe '72 is a good place to start. There's a triple album version which you could try. You could also try this show from 1977 for a different era of the band with a somewhat different feel.

Personally though I come from more of a prog rock inclination and the more lengthy versions of "Dark Star" the better as far as I'm concerned, so I do like the really early album "Live Dead" for that reason.

 

[Cern]

Lifelong Deadhead here. I too started with the more accessible studio stuff and steadily disappeared down the wormhole of their live performances

First thing to understand is that Grateful Dead of the studio albums is a very different beast to the Grateful Dead of the live albums. Both are wonderful, but in different ways. They are almost unique in that they recorded and archived almost every single concert they ever played onto high quality multitrack and then made them available to fans. Originally they released them to fans via unofficial tapes which got passed about and copied (with the band's consent). But then due to demand they released two official series of CDs: Dick's Picks (36 volumes !) and Dave's Picks (54 volumes !) named after their archivists. So there's literally hundreds of concerts available spanning their entire career and they are all top stereo quality, not bootleg quality. All very daunting for the newcomer.

Here's where I would start: there's a bunch of studio albums that have a lot of their more accessible songs that made it into their live sets: American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Blues For Allah and my personal favourite Wake Of The Flood (which is where I started). There's also several very good live albums in their regular releases: Europe '72, Live Dead and the live acoustic Reckoning. But good as these live albums are (especially Reckoning IMO) they aren't a match for what's on the live Dick's Picks and Dave's Picks archives.

So if you like what you hear I would then start dipping into the Dave's Picks and Dick's Picks archives (they're all on Amazon Music and other streaming services). Everyone has their personal favourites, I prefer the concerts from 1973, 1974, 1977 and 1980. If you get this far I can recommend a few of the best ones (IMO).

Then if you can't get enough there's Dead And Company which was formed after Jerry Garcia's death by Bob Weir and several of the other surviving members, plus some great new musicians, including Oteil Burbridge on bass and ... very surprisingly .... John Mayer replacing Garcia. I was very sceptical at first, but they really capture the Deadhead spirit and hearing this side of John Mayer's playing was an eye opener. There's a whole long series of their concerts available too. But don't go there just yet, not until you've listened to the real thing

Wishing you a "long strange trip"

 

[That Jekka Gal]

I'm not a huge Dead fan but sometimes they really do hit the spot. The main advice I have is, don't start with any of the studio albums. The live stuff, of which there is enough to last a lifetime, is where it's at. And you'll get a good cross section of styles and an idea of what the band is about. Europe '72 is a good place to start. There's a triple album version which you could try. You could also try this show from 1977 for a different era of the band with a somewhat different feel.

Personally though I come from more of a prog rock inclination and the more lengthy versions of "Dark Star" the better as far as I'm concerned, so I do like the really early album "Live Dead" for that reason.

Yes, I’ve heard Live Dead is good. It’s got The Eleven on it I believe as well as Turn On Your Love Light. I know the latter well as there’s a 20 minute version of it on the Woodstock directors cut.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

Lifelong Deadhead here. I too started with the more accessible studio stuff and steadily disappeared down the wormhole of their live performances

First thing to understand is that Grateful Dead of the studio albums is a very different beast to the Grateful Dead of the live albums. Both are wonderful, but in different ways. They are almost unique in that they recorded and archived almost every single concert they ever played onto high quality multitrack and then made them available to fans. Originally they released them to fans via unofficial tapes which got passed about and copied (with the band's consent). But then due to demand they released two official series of CDs: Dick's Picks (36 volumes !) and Dave's Picks (54 volumes !) named after their archivists. So there's literally hundreds of concerts available spanning their entire career and they are all top stereo quality, not bootleg quality. All very daunting for the newcomer.

Here's where I would start: there's a bunch of studio albums that have a lot of their more accessible songs that made it into their live sets: American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Blues For Allah and my personal favourite Wake Of The Flood (which is where I started). There's also several very good live albums in their regular releases: Europe '72, Live Dead and the live acoustic Reckoning. But good as these live albums are (especially Reckoning IMO) they aren't a match for what's on the live Dick's Picks and Dave's Picks archives.

So if you like what you hear I would then start dipping into the Dave's Picks and Dick's Picks archives (they're all on Amazon Music and other streaming services). Everyone has their personal favourites, I prefer the concerts from 1973, 1974, 1977 and 1980. If you get this far I can recommend a few of the best ones (IMO).

Then if you can't get enough there's Dead And Company which was formed after Jerry Garcia's death by Bob Weir and several of the other surviving members, plus some great new musicians, including Oteil Burbridge on bass and ... very surprisingly .... John Mayer replacing Garcia. I was very sceptical at first, but they really capture the Deadhead spirit and hearing this side of John Mayer's playing was an eye opener. There's a whole long series of their concerts available too. But don't go there just yet, not until you've listened to the real thing

Wishing you a "long strange trip"

Only studio stuff I heard really was the Terrapin Station album. Flatmate had it because he kept terrapins but apparently it’s not representative of their usual stuff (if that even exists).

So, yes as I alluded to in my reply to the other poster, I’ll take your advice and check out something live from Dave’s or Dick’s picks (really need to be careful typing there!). Thanks very much.

Incidentally- do you like Phish? I’m a big fan & this is the angle I coming at the Dead from. They’ve very much taken on the Dead’s mantle, apparently, as the leading “Jam Band “ of the day.

 

[potatolord]

Start with American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. They're studio albums, both very good.

 

[Cern]

Only studio stuff I heard really was the Terrapin Station album. Flatmate had it because he kept terrapins but apparently it’s not representative of their usual stuff (if that even exists).

So, yes as I alluded to in my reply to the other poster, I’ll take your advice and check out something live from Dave’s or Dick’s picks (really need to be careful typing there!). Thanks very much.

Incidentally- do you like Phish? I’m a big fan & this is the angle I coming at the Dead from. They’ve very much taken on the Dead’s mantle, apparently, as the leading “Jam Band “ of the day.

Terrapin Station is fantastic live, but a little lifeless on the studio album. That's the Dead paradox in a nutshell. They really mostly existed as a live phenomenon, songs played differently every night, no two versions of any song are exactly the same. Sometimes they played it safe, sometimes they went way out there. I guess a lot depended on their 'state of mind' and what was going on with the audience. But it was that almost telepathic ability to read each other and feed off the crowd's energy that drives things along.

If you're diving into the live stuff, Dick's Picks (heh yeah, careful) was the original series that cherry picked some of the best performances. Here's half a dozen to try from what is generally considered to be the band's golden period in the 70s:

Dick's Picks: Vol 15 (1977), Vol 29 (1977), Vol 33 (1974), Vol 12(1974), Vol 36 (1972), Vol 4 (1970).

I've listened to a fair bit of Phish yes, love them and especially Trey Anastasio's playing. They definitely seem to have taken on that Dead space jam mantle. Recent Phish concerts I've watched on YT seem to be similar to the direction Dead And Company took with Mayer, Burbridge and Chimenti. Different of course, but same feel.

I've also seen a concert on YT with Derek Trucks playing with Phish. Now there's someone else who knows how to handle a guitar Stunning.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

They really mostly existed as a live phenomenon, songs played differently every night, no two versions of any song are exactly the same.

A little like Frank Zappa - and while much of his live work has been recorded, a lot of it is bootlegged and the sound quality poor. The Dead live stuff you’ve linked is much better quality

 

[That Jekka Gal]

I've listened to a fair bit of Phish yes, love them and especially Trey Anastasio's playing. They definitely seem to have taken on that Dead space jam mantle. Recent Phish concerts I've watched on YT seem to be similar to the direction Dead And Company took with Mayer, Burbridge and Chimenti. Different of course, but same feel.

I've also seen a concert on YT with Derek Trucks playing with Phish. Now there's someone else who knows how to handle a guitar Stunning.

Would you believe it, I had tickets to see Phish in the States - was going to do Shakedown Street, the whole hog but sadly I couldn’t go & neither could anyone else. The date of the concert was November 2020

 

[Cern]

A little like Frank Zappa - and while much of his live work has been recorded, a lot of it is bootlegged and the sound quality poor. The Dead live stuff you’ve linked is much better quality

Yeah Zappa liked to keep tight control of his output. There was a series of live albums called You Can't Do That On Stage anymore which captured some of his live sound across the years, but no major archive like the Dead. You have to wonder what the family are sitting on, if they could stop feuding

All of the Grateful Dead live recordings were taken straight off the mixing desk, so it's pretty much how the sound engineer heard it.

Would you believe it, I had tickets to see Phish in the States - was going to do Shakedown Street, the whole hog but sadly I couldn’t go & neither could anyone else. The date of the concert was November 2020

Unlucky timing At least there's a lot of concert footage on YT these days, but it's no substitute for being there.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

Yes, I’ve got the complete set of You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore.

I also bought one or two bootlegs from 2nd hand record shops over the years but gave up wasting my monkey.

I believe a lot of these recordings are available in a boxset that was released way back when called Beat the Boots but I’ve heard excerpts on Spotify & the quality is v poor.

I’ve kind of lost track of the Zappa Family Trust vs Dweezil disputes I guess it all started going south after Gail died. Such a shame.