![]() A double album with just 6 songs, it's very easy to digest and leave in the background. It propelled them to fame and showcases their insane ability to improvise. The first Grateful Dead live album, even before their two famous studio albums. And Deadheads? Well, you're already there with this. I wouldn't say this is for the casual music fan but any of the jam band and even jazz fans will appreciate most of this. I would have to give the slight live album edge to Europe 72' but this is really good. Each songs raises the intensity as the song progresses. This album has incredible improvisation, pyschedelia, blues, jamming and guitar interplay. The album actually ends with a 30-second a capella song "And We Bid You Goodnight." And, why not end with nearly eight minutes of feedback on they do that with "Feedback." I'm of a fan of irritating noises but this takes right to the limit. And, they do another unique cover with Blind Gary Davis' "Death Don't Have Mercy." This is their most bluesy song with organ. Side three begins with Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan on vocals on the Bobby Bland cover "Turn On Your Love Light." They do a great job fusing R&B and jam band. More blues-based guitar and even more trippy lyrics with fantasy and nature imagery. The song transitions right into "The Eleven." This is fast pace. ![]() Stephen was the first matyr of the New Testament and was stoned to death or is this about Stephen Gaskin, a 60's counterculture figure who formed a community. Stephen." Hey, we have a melody here with the The song continues with chaotic guitar, guitar interplay, improv and feedback. Is this an acid trip? About patterns of life? The start and end of life? Maybe all the above. The song picks up and sort of gets a groove. Slow guitar, percussion and bass start their epic 23-minute "It" song "Dark Star." Honestly, this sounds like their tuning their instruments for a good long time. The album received positive reviews with critic Robert Christgau commenting that it "contains the finest rock improvisation ever recorded." High praise from a guy that I rarely see something completely positive from. It also was the first live rock album to use 16 tracks. They wanted a more representative version of their live performances. It was recorded over a series of San Francisco concerts in early 1969 and to mitigate debt accrued from their previous album "Aoxomoxoa" and fulfill their record contract. "Live/Dead" is the first official live album (fourth overall) by American rock the Grateful Dead and a double album at that. If you want that jam-band spacey vibe, there are so many better live albums out there that will slake that thirst: Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service, At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers, or Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970) - It's About That Time by Miles Davis. ![]() Like seriously? These were the best takes? Good lord. The fact that these tracks were not taken from one concert, but were instead hand-selected from a few different shows blows my mind. This is the limpest, blandest, hackey-sackiest music I've ever heard. (And not in a good way, like Ornette Coleman or Ascension-era John Coltrane.) What's more, there's no fire or passion. First of all, no one is playing anything remotely interesting, there were clams all over the place-especially by the bassist, and worse still, none of these guys are listening to what anyone else is doing, so it's like everyone is playing a different song. Everyone raves about their jamming, but they are a terrible jam band. I'm not a Dead fan, but they seem like cool guys, so I saw this as a chance to fully engage with their live music, and I hoped that I would finally appreciate this band that is beloved by so many. In his ballot for Jazz & Pop magazine's 1970 critics poll, Christgau ranked Live/Dead as the third best popular music album. ![]() ![]() The album was met with very positive reviews, with Village Voice critic Robert Christgau writing that it "contains the finest rock improvisation ever recorded" and Rolling Stone magazine's Lenny Kaye saying it foreshadows "where rock is likely to be in about five years". "Feedback" and "We Bid You Goodnight" were also released on the triple disc, highlights release Fillmore West 1969. Stephen", "Death Don't Have No Mercy", "Feedback" and "We Bid You Goodnight" were released, in their original sequence and with a new mix, on the respective Februand Madiscs of the Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings box set (the first 1:34 of "Dark Star" can be found on the previous track, "Mountains of the Moon"). Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording. Live/Dead is the first official live album (and fourth overall) released by the rock band Grateful Dead. ![]()
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