should i give the grateful dead a chance?

Do not give the Grateful Dead a chance. I have given the Grateful Dead several chances, and they continue to bore me solid. Friends say "Oh, you're into 60s garage, listen to their first album..." nope, sorry, it's still uninspired hippie stoner jams. Friends say "Oh, you like spacerock, listen to this or that experimental jam album..." nope, sorry, it's still uninspired hippie stoner jam drivel. Friends say "Oh, you have to listen to it on acid to get it." I listened to it on acid. It only stretched the INTERMINABLE boredom to the breaking point where it was a relief to sit and listen to radio static afterwards.

I think that Deadheadism is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. If you have it, you will like them. If you do not have it, then no ammount of "Dude, no, you have to hear this most ultimate jam session that they did on this super-rare collectible live bootleg out-take from 1973..." in the world will ever convince you to find even a modicum of interest.

I know that calling a band "boring" is verboten on this forum. The Dead are not just boring, they are interminable, self indulgent, they noodle, they wibble, they do not drone in a transcendant manner, no they ANNIHILATE any sense of enjoyment of music to the point where I would rather listen to elevator music rather than the Dead. In fact, that is what they are. They are the elevator music of hippie stoner jam psychedelia.

Do not waste your time. Sing along with the hoover instead.

A: God this band are shit.

(Keith Richards tells that gag - which is a bit rich considering that 'Can You Hear Me Knocking' sounds just like the Dead...)

I think they're worth checking out rather than applying some knee jerk reaction. But obviously lots of people don't agree.

Did you even read my fucking post? This is not some knee jerk reaction. This is a carefully thought out aesthetic decision that I have reached after repeated exposure and more consideration that I would give to most bands who repeatedly bombarded me with shit.

Everything about the Grateful Dead is repulsive - the music (yes I *can* judge them on a minute or so), the fans, the mythology.... They're a crystallisation of everything I dislike in music.

The thing is, I love the IDEA of the Dead - the endless noodling jams, those moments of improvisation when they reach the mythical 'zone', the community of fans, all those bootlegs to tick off and collect, the Verlaine-esque sound of Garcia's gtr, the vast quantities of drugs etc etc.

But - their recs just never seem to live up to the rep - before I ever listened to them, I imagined they were like the most mega-cosmic freak out group of all time, but when I finally did spin a few of their albs all I got was wimpy country-lite w/ really terrible singing. They rarely seem to rock out in any meaningful way, their cover versions are just AWFUL (esp. the 'bluesy' Pigpen-led stuff) and Hunter's lyrics are hippy bilge.

Without wishing to sound too alt snooty, Ghost and esp. Acid Mothers Temple do the whole folk-psych rock jam thing w/ so much more passion, imagination and freaky fun.

No, I don't think I recall the Dead ever having extended sax solos in any of their songs.

You obviously never heard Branford Marsalis jam with them, then.

I knew when I saw this thread appear it would be full of the usual "the Dead are the worst band ever" stuff... they seem to be one of a small handful of bands it's ok to heap your worst insults on around here. So I'll do my usual and say yes "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead" are full of concise, well-written pop songs, their mid 70's LPs on their own label are amazing ("Blues for Allah" is my pick), and as great a guitarist as Tom Verlaine is, Garcia is better. He's a better vocalist, too. I know that for whatever reason the Dead are a band many people will just never permit themselves to like, so I expect to make no converts.

I think SY owe a lot to the dead in the way that they'd start a song and then they would use that as a basis for a jam and get back to the song.

The singing isn't to everyone's tastes but at a time when ppl are listening to Thom Yorke that isn't such a big problem.

For myself, they don't trouble my interest, and I can't say they will be anytime soon.

You obviously never heard Branford Marsalis jam with them, then.

Nope, and although I'm sure he's, uh, "funkier" than his brother, I can't imagine his jams with the Dead approach the instrumental break of "Can You Hear Me Knocking" (which was, after all, used by many a black "urban" radio station in the 1970s as promo music). Anyway, the point was that the claim that "Can You Hear Me Knocking" sounds like the Dead is way, way off-base.

''I think that Deadheadism is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. If you have it, you will like them. If you do not have it, then no ammount of "Dude, no, you have to hear this most ultimate jam session that they did on this super-rare collectible live bootleg out- take from 1973..." in the world will ever convince you to find even a modicum of interest.''

it's bollocks! any band will have it's fans and haters but to dismiss it as 'chemical imbalance' is bullshit. Plus the 'annihalate' line (see dave q's ans).

Personally, the only song of theirs that I can instantly recognize is "Touch Of Grey". I'm fine with that.

If you're still hell bent on checking out the Dead, I'd start with any of the Dick's Picks live releases from 1972 or earlier. Even then, listening to them are like trying to dig for gold in a mine that's been completely played out. There's a lot of shovelling involved for very little payoff.

How is the Grateful Dead any different?

There must just be a neurotransmitter that makes people like SHIT, that is the explanation.

Sometimes I think that the 6/23/74 Jai-Alai Fronton is my favorite Dead show ever. Tonight is one of those nights. I mean, a killer “Seastones”! That jam into “Ship of Fools”! The “Dark Star” jam! So much to love. It’s a killer night for Keith too. I’m listening to the Dave’s Picks version now, but this tape was one of the instrumental ones when I first got j to the Dead and I’m glad it still sounds as good today.

“got into”, damn my fat fingers posting from my phone

haven’t heard that one, will check it out!

It’s a stone-cold classic

https://i.imgur.com/VfkZ70m.jpg

nice acoustic set, night before harpur college. at first i couldn't believe that the harmonies in the first set were the dead, because they were in tune- then i realized members of NRPS were sitting in

https://archive.org/details/gd1970-05-01.sbd.miller.95683.sbeok.flac16/gd70-05-01d2t01.flac

lmao

Reviewer: mattsegel - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - June 26, 2013
Subject: Unbelievable

I don't care how 'good' the second set is, the first set is unreal, Jerry singing on Mama Tried and MAMU...sound is perfect. This is gold! Actually upon further review I don't think Jerry is singing on those songs.

that's a true deadhead review right there.

my favorite one was this, a direct quote. re: 5/8/77

Yes, it is overrated. It is not *THAT* much better than a handful of other shows. It is, however, the absolute #1 work of art that I consider proof of the divine essence of man.

bought those recent 50th anniversary Workingman's Dead / American Beauty sets — and the live shows sound great. Good to be reminded that a pro mix can elevate a familiar recording. Performances are super loose, even sloppy at points, but they have a certain magic.

also -- worth a follow https://twitter.com/charliemiller87

bought those recent 50th anniversary Workingman's Dead / American Beauty sets — and the live shows sound great. Good to be reminded that a pro mix can elevate a familiar recording. Performances are super loose, even sloppy at points, but they have a certain magic.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 March 2021 04:10 (nine hours ago)

Stop it Tyler. I've managed to persuade myself that I didn't need these!

They are both really good! But if you can only buy one, I'd recommend the American Beauty one since it has the 2/18/71 show at the Capitol Theatre that includes the "Beautiful Jam" out of "Wharf Rat" and back into "Dark Star". It's tremendous and I've come back to that set much more often than the one packaged with Workingman's Dead.

It was cool to hear wharf rat sandwiched in a dark star sandwich but didn’t notice anything distinct enough to be given a title like that

It's barely over five minutes, here's a YouTube excerpt of that portion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WD3d_CUTbw

From the great Grateful Dead Guide blog:

also the "Beautiful Jam", done only during the 2/18/71 Dark Star, which is quite unique, almost a song in itself. (I don't think it's closely related to the Tighten Up jam, though others hear it that way.)

A shorter excerpt, at just four and a half minutes was included on the So Many Roads box, which might be on your favorite streaming service of choice too. It was on Spotify at one point, but I haven't checked recently.

Yeh the Spotify version is what I’m listening to but it’s not broken out as a distinct track

i am a very attentive dead listener and haven't caught on to the 'beautiful jam' yet. doesn't strike me as anything remarkable

it's good, but most dark stars from that era are

i dunno, i think it's pretty remarkable — "beautiful jam" is a good title.

Listened to that live set and hooboy that run of “Greatest Story Ever Told” through “Hard to Handle” is a bit too much Weir lead vocals for me.

If I let myself start buying the 50th A. sets, would also get Anthem of the Sun and prob Aoxomoxoa---how's the debut s/t?

xp haha! i think that is first eve "greatest story" — and it shows!
funny, i was listening to that new live set included with The Band's Stage Fright and it's like those dudes were Steely Dan compared to the Dead. But then again, you don't ever get that weird trainwreck danger you do from the Dead.

(All of the live bonus sets are still on archive.org, or were the last tyme I checked.)

weird trainwreck danger you do from the Dead.

how's the debut s/t?
It is okay. The live set included is nothing revelatory, its worth is dependent on your opinion of those early days. There isn't a whole lot of jamming, outside of "Viola Lee Blues." The sets on WD and AB are both more interesting. Have not listened to the Anthem 50th, though it looks good. I don't think they released one for Aoxomoxoa.

They did one for Aoxomoxoa which has both stereo mixes of the album on disc 1, and a live show from the Avalon Ballroom on disc 2.

so they did! My bad.

Does anyone stand for weirs solo record from 78? Overcooked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGB46f4fGzc

typo or accurate description?

I’m at the “why do i keep trying to listen to this terrible band” stage which, if this thread is anything to go by, is the first stage of fandom

did the dead ever do “la woman”?

Halfway through Robert Greenfield's Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III. He was, as Sydney Greenstreet would say, quite a character. His lineage encompassed the highest reaches of Kentucky politics--governor, senator, even talk of a presidential run one year.

XXP that was me last year!

that's me at time as a confirmed fan

My road to moderate Dead fandom went from seeing them with Dylan and Petty in the late '80s and thinking they were boring and kind of embarrassing (Dylan and Petty were fine), to enjoying "Touch of Grey," to picking up the Long Strange Trip 2-CD compilation sometime in the '90s, to having a crush on a hippie chick who gave me some live tapes to listen to, to hearing a live track from a Jerry Garcia Band album in a record store and really clicking with Garcia's guitar playing ("oh yeah, this guy was great"), to a full immersion in the Napster/Slsk era. I've listened to their full studios discography over the years and a whole bunch of Dick's Picks and other live shows available on streaming, and I've reached the point now where they are among my go-to's to toss on whenever I can't think of what else to play. My early objections to their ragged vocals and rhythms have turned into fondness, and I recognize that at their best as a live band they were truly great. Just took a while for me to hear it.

did the dead ever do “la woman”?

― brimstead, Monday, March 29, 2021 11:44 AM (fifty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't think so, but after thinking about it for a bit I could imagine Jim Morrison bellowing out a version of West L.A. Fadeaway (except for maybe the verse about the mob/"copacetic").

my cousin (who i went to my only dead show with) and I used to sing the opening line of 'bombs away' just to enrage each other. I haven't heard the whole record though.

Probably just as well, though there are some l a session guys on there I think

Too bad The Doors didn't cover Dead (can well imagine Morrison listening, though, around the time of Morrison Hotel for inst) Los Lobos did do "West L.A, Fadeaway," and it fit right in.
from my Nashville Scene ballot comments re 2010 albums:

On Los Lobos' Tin Can Trust, it seems like the narrator is on the
verge, he's some old tired guy, but made up his mind to do something,
take revenge and/or a commission, various indicators of volatility
keep rolling by or up the block, and little jolts--I know, enough with
the foreplay already, but the tension keeps getting renewed,
reinforced, and the Dead cover, "West L.A. Fadeaway," fits perfectly,
with no crunchy granola attached
(it's all sidewalks and traffic, the whole album, and then
there's the sardonic "happy ending" history short). A cliche to say
it's a soundtrack for movies you can make up, but it really seems to
work that way, rumbling implications--if it were so definite a
storyline, would get too familiar too fast, perhaps. It is badass
urban country, obsessive as a shot glass lens.

the 8/24/72 dark star is a total masterpiece. i love it. that's it for now.

Veneta was like 3 days later which is a major peak on a number of songs .

2/26/77 PITB>The Wheel>PITB was playing on the Sirius Dead station on my morning commute. Good one!

That was one of the first shows I burned off archive.org when I started really getting into live GD.

Me too. That setlist is like their greatest hits for me.

the 8/24/72 dark star is a total masterpiece. i love it. that's it for now.

Still not quite sure I understand why they released the following night (a just fine, but not exceptional show for ‘72) instead of this one as a Dave’s Picks.

Who knows what they’re thinking. Seems to me they could have done a box set of the entire Berkeley run as a nice complement to the celebrated Oregon show. The Berkeley run is excellent from start to finish and I assume that just about any ‘72 release sells well.

I don't know if this is the best thread for it, but if any of you had, as I did, grown to love the hilariously irreverent and loving blog, Thoughts on the Dead, Brother of the Dead posted an update yesterday that Rick, the guy behind the blog, lost his battle with cancer at the terribly young age of 46.

I'll be firing up some Dead tonight (and schmedibles) in his honor tonight.

yeah that is a shame — very funny guy. 46, way too young.