Grateful dead albums5/8/2023 ![]() ![]() (Yes, it’s true that there are probably no studio-album songs that weren’t done better live, but just play along with the concept here.)Ĭaveat emptor: Taste is subjective, and so this ranking might look differently if done expressly based on my personal tastes instead, as with my other music lists, I’ve tried to rank based on a combination of my own views plus each album’s historical significance, critical consensus, etc. We are not here to debate the Dead’s greatest album, live or otherwise (that would be Live/Dead) or the best live version of any song like, say, “Dark Star” (that would be at the Capitol Theater) or their greatest set ever (undecided, but I might venture to say at the County Fairgrounds in Veneta, Oregon).Īs such, this list solely focuses on the albums featuring original studio recordings-i.e., albums like Europe ’72 are not included, despite the heavy use of studio overdubs and mixing. Bob Dylan first comes to mind here, but the 2016 tribute album Day of the Dead-featuring indie luminaries like The National, The War on Drugs, and The Flaming Lips-demonstrated just how remarkable the Dead’s songs were. Part of what makes a classically great songwriter immediately identifiable is the ease with which their songs can be covered or reworked into a different tempo, swing, or genre altogether. ![]() Their studio albums, stripped of the improvisations and sonic explorations featured in their live performances, showcase the incredible songwriting of the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter and Bob Weir/John Perry Barlow partnerships. Singer and lead guitarist Garcia’s death in 1995 brought a close to the initial iteration of the band, but the Dead’s seemingly bottomless vault of live music (and various post-Garcia offshoots) lives on.There are many obstacles ( mostly imaginary) to the average person listening to the Dead, but once you get it, you truly get it: The Dead were among the greatest rock, folk, and country-rock songwriters of the 20th century. No matter their studio output, the Dead never lost their live alchemy, and shows as late as 1989 (which newcomers can sample on Without a Net) are highly regarded by Deadheads. As the ’70s wore on, the Dead’s music grew jazzier and lighter, with albums like 1975’s Blues for Allah touching on the sound of jazz fusion later in the decade, they’d experiment with progressive rock (1977’s Terrapin Station) and even disco (1978’s Shakedown Street). A pair of albums in 1970, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, focused on acoustic guitars and rustic Americana, and Europe ’72 beautifully extended those songwriting ideas into an expansive live setting. Their live prowess put them on the map first (1969’s Live/Dead was an instant classic), but the Dead revealed themselves as songwriters of the first order in their second decade. A gritty Merle Haggard cover might be followed by a dark and spacey interlude that would stretch on for half an hour. From the beginning, they were renowned for their thick stew of influences-rock, jazz, bluegrass, country, experimental composition-and skill at in-the-moment creation. Indeed, the group’s relationship to that fanbase-their faithful were officially known as Deadheads by the early ’70s-is arguably their most significant legacy, fostering innovations like open tape-trading and the use of the internet to share information. ![]() But the Dead would acquire a devoted cult all their own, one that transcended both the geography and the era. The band-Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron McKernan, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann-emerged from the same psychedelic San Francisco milieu that birthed Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, and the group’s shared house near the corner of Haight and Ashbury during 1967’s Summer of Love became a focal point for the scene. The Grateful Dead expanded rock’s horizons with long jams and fierce improvisation, but they also turned their communal aesthetic into a way of life. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |