Creedence Clearwater Revival vs the Grateful Dead vs the Band

The Dead did more things badly, I'll give you that

and none of them well imho

you listen to music badly

This thread is chooglin

American Beauty is not real representative of the Dead qua Dead. It has no guitar solos, for one thing.

― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Thursday, August 16, 2012 10:37 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the question was the best dead album for a NON dead fan, american beauty is their best conventional album, so i think that's a better starting point that OMG dude def start with the 15 minutes of dicking around with feedback on dark star at the cleveland speedway april 16 72

OTM. Although I would break it out more. If you like nuggets style garage rock you should like Cream Puff War, the early Warlocks stuff, Birth of the Dead, Mindbender, Can't Come Down, etc. If you like SF style psych like the Airplane, Fish, Quicksilver, Charlatans, etc. then I can't see why you wouldn't be into Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxoa. And if you like country rock go to American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. If you don't like any of those things then what are you doing trying to get into the Grateful Dead?

the question was the best dead album for a NON dead fan, american beauty is their best conventional album

This album that sounds like nothing else they ever did is the perfect gateway!

but if you do like those things and still claim that the Dead did them badly then you're either trolling, haven't actually listened to those records, or you can't get past some stupid idea of gross '80s-'90s deadheads.
xp

how does AB sound like nothing else they ever did!? it sounds like a logical continuation of other stuff they were doing around that same time.

Golliwogs > Warlocks

"Fight Fire" kinda sucks. I skip it every time.

I was speaking relatively

stupid idea of gross '80s-'90s deadheads.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WcTN-EKpH1c/S1YQogEhrNI/AAAAAAAAB_I/fVx6Zv_7yYw/s400/Grateful-Dead-Biography.jpg

^^^
"the dregs"

levon and the hawks (or the canadian squires) better than both the warlocks and golliwogs. tho fight fire rules, what are you talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1SJZGhg2QI

that's kinda lame

you listen to music badly too!

we all listen to music badly ;_;

oh well

for me a garage rock song with organ always beats a garage rock song without organ. piano is an immediate disqualification.

I'll agree that Fight Fire is hardly a standour cut on the Nuggets box. The Dead's entries on the SF Nuggets box don't even deserve to be called nuggets imho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqDjA3DqbcM&list=ALNb4maWNoT6TiTrC9-MF6z2Jt-FU9qNJL&index=33&feature=plpp_video

^^^has no hook

Diggin' the Canadian Squires, thx! I not listen music badly!

quickly scanning brain for great garage rock songs with piano, knowing that's going to bite me in the ass...

electric piano gets a pass

wtf that was supposed to be "The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion)"

xp

The Dead's entries on the SF Nuggets box don't even deserve to be called nuggets imho.

almost nothing on that set does though tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqDjA3DqbcM

almost nothing on that set does though tbh

we're in agreement here! there's a few exceptions (Psychotic Reaction, Chocolate Watchband etc) but ugh such a blight on the otherwise impeccable Nuggets name

I'm not saying the Dead made the greatest garage rock ever, but it's a potential way in for some people. It's how I got into them and then I just went in chronological order.

"leave me alone" is great, so's garage piano

Best way in to the Dead I think is Europe '72. Live songs (and the Dead are a live band above all else), and some of their best, but not necessarily laden with endless jams. I think its fantastic.

I've been slowly getting into the Dead over the past couple of years. American Beauty was the first one I heard, on the recommendation of a friend. Since then, I've tracked down everything up to Wake of the Flood and I have to agree that Europe '72 is the best place to start. Bill's description is spot-on: it's the Dead LIVE, but with minimal jamming and maximum emphasis on good songs played extremely well.

Bill is OTM - there aren't many better places to start than Europe '72, the version of "He's Gone" is really good and the long "Truckin'" is sort of a demo reel of how they take something really crude and make it stretch

starting with a triple lp kind of a big ask, but europe 72 is great. i like it cause there are no studio versions of some of those originals. think i posted this elsewhere, but the studio follow up to american beauty could have been:

Bertha
He's Gone
Jack Straw
Brown Eyed Women

Wharf Rat
Ramble on Rose
Tennesse Jed

could've included some of the Garcia numbers too -- sugaree or bird song.
the vol. 2 europe thing that came out last year is pretty awesome too. come on everybody, get into the DEAD.

vol 2 is great!

"Jack Straw" on Europe '72 is great; everybody singing and playing well, plus the live hall vibe is nice. Actually that whole LP side: Jack Straw/You Win Again/China Cat/I Know You Rider.

europe 72 is pretty heavily overdubbed tho, isn't it? at least the vocals?

That's what I've often heard. Makes no difference to me, long as the end result is pleasant.

first Garcia record not a bad place to start

xp oh yeah, i don't really care. did the dead ever do that again -- take live performances and sweeten them in the studio? seems like they got good results with that mix.

Without A Net has overdubs too I think.

Wouldn't overdubs be considered a net, though?

Bastards!

haha!

first Garcia record not a bad place to start

― Euler, Thursday, August 16, 2012 4:52 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

love this record

is there some reason the first Garcia record is so hard to come by on CD? Seems to be out of print.

"Jack Straw" on Europe '72 is great; everybody singing and playing well, plus the live hall vibe is nice. Actually that whole LP side: Jack Straw/You Win Again/China Cat/I Know You Rider.

― Ermahgerd Thomas (Dan Peterson), Thursday, August 16, 2012 4:45 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Amen. This is just an all time side right here.

Damn, I found Europe '72 to be impossibly tedious. I like everything that came before it better (never heard "Skullfuck" tho)

tyler, most of Jerry's stuff is impossible to come by these days, i presumed just due to the vagaries of the Garcia estate. there were a bunch of live garcia band recordings that came out in the early 2000s but I hadn't gotten around to buying. can't find them anywhere.

irritating! maybe the fact that they're putting out that saunders/garcia keystone box this fall bodes well for reissues?