should i give the grateful dead a chance?

It's really a radical song. Redefines what a rock band does.

yah timellison otm, St. Stephen rules

Just picked up Workingman's Dead and the original/first mix of Aoxomoxoa. Man. Sounding pretty fucking great tonight.

Watched 'Sunshine Daydream' last week (show in Oregon from '72). Great stuff. Wish it were longer. Lots of audience nudity, though.

You guys are forgetting Shakedown Street. The title song, fire on the mountain and good lovin are excellent.

When they were making ABeauty, here was Phil Lesh's idea for the album: record the Mojave Desert air for 30 minutes, then record the Fisherman's Wharf in SanFran (I think) for 30 minutes. And that would've been the album. Lesh was non-plussed when the execs didn't go for it.

― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Tuesday, August 2, 2005 3:22 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought that was Weir with Anthem of The Sun
& why Dave Hassinger walked away from producing the lp.

ii. can anyone recommend a live thing post gaining godchaux where you can really HEAR godchaux? he seems to make so little difference to what they're doing in the jams, whereas on the records he's a massive component of the sound

― thomp, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 5:39 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If anybody is looking for an answer to this now, there is plenty of Keith Godchaux audible on the Sunshine Daydream official release. One thing that stood out to me on listening to the set.

Agreed. Also, it's nice to hear from another Keith fan. Dude gets no respect among Deadheads; even Bobby is held in higher regard!

I get that he wasn't exactly Mr Personality, but the era he was with the band (and, err, awake) is my favorite era (approx 72-77) and I love when he's audible in the mix. After years of ODing on Jerry (easy to do) and listening for Phil's insane shit, these days I love the jams where Keith is super prominent. It's kinda crazy how much love Brent gets in some circles while Keith is rarely acknowledged for seriously bringing the Miles (as opposed to, say, the Kenny Loggins. Hey-o!).

I've read, I think, almost every major book published on the Dead and I still don't know much about the dude. Even the above mentioned (and otherwise terrific - one of my top ten shows) Sunshine Daydream DVD contains, I think, a single frame of Keith playing? Like, if you didn't know any better you'd think the piano was being played from behind a curtain. His one close-up in The Grateful Dead Movie might go a long way to explaining things: he's sorta lost in the music, notices the camera, and grimaces pretty openly. Ha! Dude did not want to be a star. I could go on but I've ranted too much already.

Oh, one more thing: his lone songwriting contribution, "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away" is like Little Feat meets Canned Heat. Massively underrated song on Wake Of The Flood. I think they only ever played it live 6 or 8 times or something. If you've never heard the studio version, check it out.

As a Dead newbie, Godchaux's playing was a revelation to me. I think I posted this on another Dead thread, but if there's a missing link between Nicky Hopkins and Andrew Hill, it's Godchaux.

He's pretty prominent and great throughout 1972 recordings. Gets progressively lower in the mix as time goes along and that's prob a good thing by 1978 or so

A friend of mine makes the case for yes:
http://21hoursaday.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/a-haters-guide-to-the-grateful-dead/

i'm going to say, "no!," and i am unanimous about this.

http://www.southernfriedscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/inigo-montoya-you-keep-using-that-word-i-dont-think-it-means-what-you-th-3b4b2920-sz625x625-animate.jpg

No you know what fuck this band. Even the studio version of St. Stephen sucks -- they sound like drunk kids jamming in my basement. Great tune but they can't even pull off one solid take of it, and every live version of it is awful.

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Sunday, March 24, 2013 10:55 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wronnnggggggggggggggg

and hurting i think you're friend is pretty much otm, even if would pick different examples to illustrate the inroads he suggests. hating bands for their fanbases has always struck me as stupid, even if i get the sentiment behind it. i commented similarly on the bob marley island albums poll. (but in any case, i don't get the sentiment wrt the dead but that's because i love hippies).

though i disagree with some of the stuff in his postscript -- e.g. i love when the dead dabbles in bluegrass, i love 'trucking' and many other weir-sung tunes

LOL the first link is to Anthem of the Sun

Every time this thread appears I have the overwhelming urge to post
NO!
resisted till now...

Grateful Dead Movie on some cable channel right now. Fuckin Jerry man, always hanging on that major 7th at the wrong times. Shitty soloist imo.

Haw, I tried to tune into that but apparently am not subscribed to that channel. Palladia?

Yeah, I'm way over listening to the Dead for the solos. Beat parts of that movie are the animated sequences and the section where Phil gets super excited backstage over some unintentional feedback from his bass.

I enjoyed how dorky and awkward Phil came off. They really all kind of look like groovy engineering students or something.

Haha I watched the first 45 minutes of this last night. During the trippy animated opening sequence my wife was like, "how can you even handle this without any kind of drugs at all?".

"how can you even handle this without any kind of drugs at all?"

the band's motto iirc.

along with: "they aren't the best at what they do, but they keep doing it anyway..."

lol

I had to fill he in on the joke about what Deadheads say when they run out of drugs, she actually hadn't heard that one before. her most telling comment was, however, "at least it isn't Phish".

i'm glad my wife loves the dead.

my wife hung out with a lot of hippies in high school and has always been receptive to this kind of stuff. it's great for me.

I have a friend who keeps telling me I should like Phish and all of Zappa cos of other things I'm into. Really can't get into Phish, they don't seem to have any of the flying by the seat of your pants edge of the Dead. & Zappa has some great stuff like that gamelan/stravinsky whatever thing in the instrumental interplay up to the mid 70s but I find the lyrics really puerile.

But the Dead in full flight really are a great band with or without drugs. been listening to them pretty straight for years interspersed with everything else I listen to.

phish is just too goofy for me

I've been a Phish and Dead fan for about the same amount of time, but yeah, can easily understand the multitude of reasons why people hate Phish. My wife is tolerant when I play most of the Dead stuff actually, I think that movie was just the first time she'd encountered the band visually with the full-on spinning hippie dancing.

I only dip into the Dead now and then, but this conference actually looks quite interesting:

So Many Roads : The World in the Grateful Dead, A Conference & Symposium
Date: November 5-8, 2014
Location: SJSU Student Union
So Many Roads will bring together scholars, participants, and enthusiasts for a ground-breaking four-day international conference and symposium exploring the meaning and impact of the Grateful Dead phenomenon.

i am at a work conference those exact dates, wish it was a dead conference

Work/Dead

Rock Scully has passed on, following a fight with lung cancer. From his former partner Nicky:

Rock Scully crossed the great divide this morning. I got the call he was passing just as I was about to load up the car for a visit to Monterey to see him. Those of you lucky enough to have known him know that despite his human frailties, he was a loving, gentle, bright (actually brilliant), handsome, witty and especially charming rogue who brought people together, made them laugh and grow, and had a huge, generous heart.
Our fourteen year love affair felt like it was still in full swing when I spoke to him by phone in the hospital this morning. I could hear his labored breathing and his girl friend, Christina, assured me that he was responsive to my words.
His graciousness and generosity can be summed up in the words he said to me on the day back in the summer of ’69 that we knew for sure that we were in love—When I told him I was six weeks pregnant with my then separated husband, his response was, “You will be so beautiful!” Who could resist that statement at such a vulnerable moment.
He took on Spirit (Acacia) as if she were his own, and then gave me Sage, who will be having her second child, a boy, this coming March.
The years I spent with him, and through him, the Grateful Dead, were some of the most exciting times imaginable—from Woodstock to our farm in Forestville (now the California School of Herbal Studies) to Europe and Saturday Night Live, we were part of a weird kind of rock and roll royalty, and loved every moment of it. For six years we were the New Year’s skeletons, dancing on stage at midnight, often after being dropped from the ceiling tossing roses. We measured the success of a concert by how much our cheeks hurt from smiling, and those experiences set a bar that is rarely reached to this day. It was Rock’s ticket that took me to Egypt that first time in 1978.
My dear, beloved Rock, I wish you smooth, sweet travels in the next stage of your soul’s journey.

Just a little past a week since the 45th Anniversary of Altamont too.

Well then.

http://pitchfork.com/news/58092-grateful-dead-members-reunite-for-final-shows/

it's your last chance to give the grateful dead a chance!

Somewhere, Trey Anastasio heaves a sigh of relief. "My...my fanfic. IT CAME TRUE."

LOL that this is not happening in San Francisco.

Uhh, the idea of Trey singing Jerry tunes and doing his power-soloing over them is a bummer to me. Hopefully he can rein it in (and someone else will sing the Jerry tunes, like Bruce maybe?). Guess it is fine, nice to see the remaining four do a final set of shows, just not sold on the Trey aspect.

Scott Walker should sing the Jerry tunes.

Trey has sat in with Phil and Friends before. I just hope they stick to Dead tunes. No Wolfman's Brother this time.

Scott Walker should sing the Jerry tunes.

I would kind of like to hear him sing

The other day they waited, the sky was dark and faded,
Solemnly they stated, "He has to die, you know he has to die."
All the children learnin', from books that they were burnin',
Every leaf was turnin', to watch him die, you know he had to die.

The summer sun looked down on him,
His mother could but frown on him,
And all the other sound on him,
He had to die, you know he had to die.

http://pitchfork.com/news/42256-the-national-plan-grateful-dead-tribute-comp/

It looks like the National was talking about putting out a tribute comp, but then their label backpedalled on that statement? I would anticipate this, if it were to come to fruition.

― kkvgz, Tuesday, April 19, 2011 3:37 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://cdn.meme.li/instances/50204824.jpg

Day of the Dead Track List

"Thunder" (Vol. 1)

1. The War on Drugs – "Touch of Grey"
2. Phosphorescent, Jenny Lewis & Friends – "Sugaree"
3. Jim James & Friends – "Candyman"
4. Moses Sumney, Jenny Lewis & Friends – "Cassidy"
5. Bruce Hornsby and DeYarmond Edison – "Black Muddy River"
6. Ed Droste, Binki Shapiro & Friends – "Loser"
7. The National – "Peggy-O"
8. Kurt Vile and the Violators (featuring J Mascis) - "Box of Rain"
9. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Friends – "Rubin and Cherise"
10. Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten & Friends – "To Lay Me Down"
11. Courtney Barnett – "New Speedway Boogie"
12. Mumford & Sons – "Friend of the Devil"
13. Lucius – "Uncle John's Band"
14. The Lone Bellow & Friends – "Me and My Uncle"
15. Lee Ranaldo, Lisa Hannigan & Friends – "Mountains of the Moon"
16. Anohni and yMusic – "Black Peter"
17. Bryce Dessner – "Garcia Counterpoint"
18. Daniel Rossen, Christopher Bear and The National (featuring Josh Kaufman, Conrad Doucette, So Percussion and Brooklyn Youth Chorus) – "Terrapin Station (Suite)"
19. Angel Olsen – "Attics of My Life"
20. Wilco with Bob Weir – "St. Stephen (live)"

"Lightning" (Vol. 2)

1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – "If I Had the World to Give"
2. Phosphorescent & Friends – "Standing on the Moon"
3. Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band – "Cumberland Blues"
4. The Tallest Man on Earth & Friends – "Ship of Fools"
5. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Friends – "Bird Song "
6. The National – "Morning Dew"
7. Marijuana Deathsquads – "Truckin'"
8. Cass McCombs, Joe Russo & Friends – "Dark Star"
9. Nightfall of Diamonds – "Nightfall of Diamonds"
10. Tim Hecker – "Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald"
11. Lucinda Williams & Friends – "Going Down The Road Feelin' Bad"
12. Tunde Adebimpe, Lee Ranaldo & Friends – "Playing in the Band"
13. Local Natives – "Stella Blue"
14. Tal National – "Eyes of the World"
15. Bela Fleck ¬– "Help on the Way"
16. Orchestra Baobab – "Franklin's Tower"
17. Luluc with Xylouris White – "Till the Morning Comes"
18. The Walkmen – "Ripple"
19. Richard Reed Parry with Caroline Shaw and Little Scream (featuring Garth Hudson) – "Brokedown Palace"

"Sunshine" (Vol. 3)

1. Real Estate – "Here Comes Sunshine"
2. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – "Shakedown Street"
3. Hiss Golden Messenger – "Brown-Eyed Women"
4. This Is the Kit – "Jack-A-Roe"
5. Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear – "High Time"
6. The Lone Bellow & Friends – "Dire Wolf"
7. Winston Marshall, Kodiak Blue and Shura – "Althea"
8. Orchestra Baobab – "Clementine Jam"
9. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – "China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider"
10. Bill Callahan – "Easy Wind"
11. Ira Kaplan & Friends – "Wharf Rat"
12. The Rileys – "Estimated Prophet"
13. Man Forever, So Percussion and Oneida – "Drums -> Space"
14. Fucked Up – "Cream Puff War"
15. The Flaming Lips – "Dark Star"
16. s t a r g a z e – "What's Become of the Baby"
17. Vijay Iyer – "King Solomon's Marbles"
18. Mina Tindle & Friends – "Rosemary"
19. Sam Amidon – "And We Bid You Goodnight"
20. The National with Bob Weir – "I Know You Rider (live)"

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-national-unveil-massive-grateful-dead-all-star-tribute-album-20160317#ixzz43BGZpmv3
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

This looks like the most boring line-up I could imagine, given the scenario.

There's probably some gems in there though. Don't want to sound too snarky.

Every generation gets the http://i63.tinypic.com/2s8imc0.jpg it deserves.

touch of grey remains my favorite dead song, but i feel like that's saying my favorite kind of sushi is the california roll

these are the ones i'd be interested in hearing...

Courtney Barnett – "New Speedway Boogie"
Vijay Iyer – "King Solomon's Marbles"
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – "China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider"
Angel Olsen – "Attics of My Life"
Bill Callahan – "Easy Wind"
Ira Kaplan & Friends – "Wharf Rat"
Cass McCombs, Joe Russo & Friends – "Dark Star"
Orchestra Baobab – "Franklin's Tower"
Luluc with Xylouris White – "Till the Morning Comes"
Tunde Adebimpe, Lee Ranaldo & Friends – "Playing in the Band"
Tim Hecker – "Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald"

the album sounds good. i always liked the grateful dead's songs better than their performances of their songs

which i realize is inverted from what most ppl are like but then again i am not a fan

you should give them a chance