Gilbert Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 I'm ashamed to mention this, but I have never owned a DeadHead album/cd, cassett, etc. etc.....But I have heard some of their music. (Sorry Gerry G., God rest his soul) Anyway, my question is this, what is an absolute MUST HAVE deadhead CD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 I am sure GaryMD will respond to you shortly as he has a large collection of the Grateful Dead. I for one never cared for their music with the exception of the pop sounding tune that they did the MTV video for and I cannot think of the name "I will survive?" I think you needed to drink heavily and drop acid to understand the stuff. I don't get Phish either and they are Vermont natives and have a huge cult following. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 American Beauty Workingman's Dead Start with those 2 and let me know if you want to continue. Their best stuff is live and I can point you in the right direction there too. Those are the 2 studio albums you will be most familiar with. They're classics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 I don't know if this is on CD (or any other digital format), you'll have to check. Grateful Dead/Europe '72 (was 3 LPs originally) Also the self-titled 'Grateful Dead' "skull & roses" American Beauty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Anderson Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 Gary hit on my top two selections - I would add Live in Europe '72. Great version of Jack Straw. Lot's of repackaged greatest hits out there. And it would be Jerry G. (with a J). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lon Armstrong Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 Hmmm. . .I find their music quite accessible. My favorite band was the 72-75 or so band with the Godchaux husband and wife team, and just Kreutzman on drums. This was a great, jazzy, breezy band. My favorite studio effort is probably "Wake of the Flood"--a real seventies masterpiece in my opinion. I like the live material from this band that are out in "Dick's Picks" volumes and "Europe 72" (which is indeed on cd) as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 '77 was by far Jerry's best year as a musician. More great live shows came from that year and a little into '78 then any others. Keith was a weak (but adequate) keyboard player and only was hired because he knew all the tunes. I actually have a tape of one of his auditions. Donna's voice was intolerable most of the time. Brent was great on the keyboards but not everyone liked his style of vocal harmony. Bobby rode on Jerry's coattails the entire time and still is. Phil & Friends are the shows to see now if you want to see talent. Jimmy Herring and Warren Haynes fill in beautifully on guitar and Rob Barrocca is a fantastic keyboard player with a great voice for Jerry's tunes. Not to mention the most underrated bassist in rock history (Phil Lesh). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwoods Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 Not a Deadhead by no means, but I had to have Tarrapin Station, 'cause dancin' turtle's make for a cool album cover.... oh, and the tunes Estimated Profit and Passenger sound great cranked up on Heresy's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmikid Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 I would go for the album with Bertha on it. I can't even remember which album it is but it is great. Me and my self proclaimed brother used to play indoor frisbee while playing it. Via the heater, plant pots and walls we tried to hit the replay button on my Marantz CD80 and did so many times without destroying the machine . You should have seen it! Jerry died 3 months early for me to see him live, instead of the allowed three months I wandered the west coast for 20 months. The border patrol grilled me for hours before letting me through 8 years later (this last january). Long live Jerry. BTW: I always thought he sang: Ï had a hard on, running by the window". Instead of "a hard run". Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lon Armstrong Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 Okay. . . opinions differ, as they should. I think that Keith was a fine player for this band, Brent doesn't do anything for me really. I think Donna sang fine; I really like the gospelly things she and Jerry and Keith did mainly outside the Dead. I like Weir a lot, he wasn't always "on" but when he was I dig him. But hey, I like some of the 77 and 78 stuff I've heard, but I don't think that the two drummers are better than Kreutzman alone, and some of the material gets outside of my interest. . . . Still, the Dead was a great band. But I really haven't followed their work after 1980 much and have recently renewed my interest in the 73-75 band and bought some cds that are nice to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 That would be "Skull & Roses" as it's known, however it's an untitled live album from 1970 I believe. That was also my first Dead lp. Gilbert, American Beauty Workingman's Dead The others mentioned are great but those are what you need to start with. All this is JMHO of course. When you get too saturated with it all as I did (200+ shows over 30+ years) you can become fairly opinionated as I am (not for the better in many cases). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 ---------------- On 5/25/2004 12:34:05 PM Frzninvt wrote: I am sure GaryMD will respond to you shortly as he has a large collection of the Grateful Dead. I for one never cared for their music with the exception of the pop sounding tune that they did the MTV video for and I cannot think of the name "I will survive?" I think you needed to drink heavily and drop acid to understand the stuff. I don't get Phish either and they are Vermont natives and have a huge cult following. ---------------- The song is called "Touch of Grey" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorny Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 The Greatful Dead never recovered from the death of Pigpen. The horns, piano and chicks all sucked. At the end they got their act together again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 You wanna go back in time, to when Jerry was WAILING and the band was on fyah??? Pick up "The Closing of Winterland" on DVD. It's 6 hours of AWESOME Grateful Dead from the NYE concert, 1978. And yeah, I know it's lowly DVD format being recommended in 2 channel, but the performance and sound is SOOOOOOOOOOO good, especially for 1978, it's a must see if you ever wondered what the Dead was all about. Another highly recommended disc is "One From The Vault", August 13, 1975, from the Great American Music Hall. It was my first live analog Dead tape, and I wore it out. Yeah, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are recommended (what I call "beginner Dead"), but it really is all about the live stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 ---------------- On 5/25/2004 4:49:39 PM khorny wrote: The Greatful Dead never recovered from the death of Pigpen. The horns, piano and chicks all sucked. At the end they got their act together again. ---------------- Huh? They had 1 chick. Donna. The only horns were when Branford Marsallis would sit in on a show. Brent was an awesome keyboard player as was Bruce Hornsby who filled in after Brent's death. Pigpen was the blues side of the Dead. He sat out on most of the pschyedelic stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted May 25, 2004 Author Share Posted May 25, 2004 Thanks Gary: American Beauty and Workingman's Dead it is. I'm getting ready to leave the office and will stop by Best Buy and pick'em up. "Touch of Grey" is the song I remember. That was back when MTV actually played real music, they (MTV) went to hell in a handbasket shortly there after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorn58 Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 I am no deadhead but I do have 6 old vw buses(from 52 to 85). Having vw buses put you in contact with many deadheads as alot of my freinds are. From what I am told live dead was always the best . Try to find a live tape that not to far off from the master(or better yet burn or recoded to tape a copy from a master. Many dehadehead taspers recorded with nice nakamich decks so sound quilty can be high. The dead back in the day had a very nice sound sytem live with a separt pa for each instrument ect. the also sent live pa feeds to taspers to mixin with live mikes. I heard the deasd 3 times 76, 78 and and 80 back then the did have a very nice live sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorny Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 ---------------- On 5/25/2004 5:17:59 PM garymd wrote: ---------------- On 5/25/2004 4:49:39 PM khorny wrote: The Greatful Dead never recovered from the death of Pigpen. The horns, piano and chicks all sucked. At the end they got their act together again. ---------------- Huh? They had 1 chick. Donna. The only horns were when Branford Marsallis would sit in on a show. Brent was an awesome keyboard player as was Bruce Hornsby who filled in after Brent's death. Pigpen was the blues side of the Dead. He sat out on most of the pschyedelic stuff. ---------------- Yea, I guess that the congas, tom-toms, bongos, gongs cymbals vibes and tamburine played themselves right? Up through his death in the Europe'72 era. Pigpen had more of the stage to himself than Phil Lesh and Bob Weir combined. He was the lead singer. Jerry tried to copy his voice after he left. I'm sure that you went to a lot of Dead concerts when you were in grammer school! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Bey Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 I think Jerry Garcia's solo albums are a must have, especially ... uh, hmmmm. Well, Bobbie's Ace is a good album too, and yeah, the Jerry one with "The Wheel" is what I'm thinking of. don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 ---------------- On 5/25/2004 7:12:45 PM khorny wrote: ---------------- On 5/25/2004 5:17:59 PM garymd wrote: ---------------- On 5/25/2004 4:49:39 PM khorny wrote: The Greatful Dead never recovered from the death of Pigpen. The horns, piano and chicks all sucked. At the end they got their act together again. ---------------- Huh? They had 1 chick. Donna. The only horns were when Branford Marsallis would sit in on a show. Brent was an awesome keyboard player as was Bruce Hornsby who filled in after Brent's death. Pigpen was the blues side of the Dead. He sat out on most of the pschyedelic stuff. ---------------- Yea, I guess that the congas, tom-toms, bongos, gongs cymbals vibes and tamburine played themselves right? Up through his death in the Europe'72 era. Pigpen had more of the stage to himself than Phil Lesh and Bob Weir combined. He was the lead singer. Jerry tried to copy his voice after he left. I'm sure that you went to a lot of Dead concerts when you were in grammer school! ---------------- No. Actually 1973 was my first show. I was just wondering where all the horns were you were talking about. I know the percussion. Pigpen played his songs for 20 minutes and longer most of the time. A 45 minute version of Midnight hour or Lovelight or Good Morning Little Schoolgirl was not uncommon. He didn't dominate the set list though. I have about 300 bootleg tapes in my basement, mostly gathering dust (1963 to present). Lots of good live stuff on CD now so I seldom listen to my tapes anymore. Sometimes I'll still grab a few for the ride into work. I never noticed or read that Jerry tried to copy Pigpen's voice. Where'd you get that one? Jerry's voice did have different styles over the years. It changed a lot from 65 to 68 for example. I'll tell you what shows & songs to compare if you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.