Description
Grateful Dead – Wake Of The Flood / From The Mars Hotel (2LP)
Label: United Artists Records – UDM 103/4
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Compilation
Country: UK, Released: 1977
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Grateful Dead Records
Sleeve design: Rick Griffin
Tracklist:
Wake Of The Flood (LP1)
A1 Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo 5:42
A2 Let Me Sing Your Blues Away 3:15
A3 Row Jimmy 7:11
A4 Stella Blue 6:22
B1 Here Comes Sunshine 4:37
B2 Eyes Of The World 5:16
Weather Report Suite (12:41)
B3a Prelude
B3b Part One
B3c Part Two (Let It Grow)
From The Mars Hotel (LP2)
C1 U.S. Blues 4:37
C2 China Doll 4:09
C3 Unbroken Chain 6:45
C4 Loose Lucy 3:23
D1 Scarlet Begonias 4:19
D2 Pride Of Cucamonga 4:16
D3 Money Money 4:21
D4 Ship Of Fools 5:22
Notes:
Double album, Issued in a gatefold sleeve
Wake Of The Flood: UDM 103
℗ 1973 Grateful Dead Records
From The Mars Hotel: UDM 104
℗ 1974 Grateful Dead Records
Vinyl and cover in very fine condition. Record Label sticker on the front and back of the ‘Wake of the Flood’ side of the cover.
See photo’s, they are of the actual item.
Reviews ‘Wake of the Flood‘:
+++++++++++++ This LP was made incredibly quickly-just two months from beginning recording to the release-and every aspect of production, manufacture and distribution was handled under the eagle eye of quality-conscious Grateful Dead personal. Recorded, mixed and mastered in Sausalito, Marin County, and is being pressed to weigh exactly 128 grams which is heavier than an average album and provides better reproduction. Three pressing plants were used…Even the artwork on the cover has hidden qualities; hold it in front of you and turn it 45 degrees anti clock-wise. Then look at the cloud in the picture +++++++++++++
nr. 1 …. Musically, this is the goods as usual, with WAKE OF THE FLOOD sounding excellent, as it does in any format. And in musical terms, WAKE and BLUES FOR ALLAH are two of the best Dead sets around. RECORD COLLECTOR, 4/90
nr. 2 …A terrible letdown after the likes of WORKINGMAN’S DEAD and AMERICAN BEAUTY, continuing as it does those albums’ country-rock approach, but with little conviction. The Hunter-Garcia songwriting partnership that effected the group’s transition from jamming band to song band is here working with neither rigout nor direction, and their aimlessness is faithfully mirrored in the group’s performances, the lack of instrumental colour and the doped-sloth tempos: If the seven minute ROW JIMMY and the six minute STELLA BLUE were any slower, they’de be in reverse gear. And if EYES OF THE WORLD-the best thing here, by a country rock mile-sees them almost making it as a pop band, Keith Godchaux’s apalling LET ME SING YOUR BLUES AWAY signals a complete breakdown in the Dead’s already shaky quality control department. * ANDY GILL, Q MAGAZINE
nr. 3 Armed with their own label, the band set sale to create the kind of product that they would feel proud to have nailed to the mast. The first of these was the astonishing WAKE OF THE FLOOD, an almost mesmeric experience that was housed in Rick Griffin’s beautiful biblical cover. The pace of WAKE was uncluttered, simple and leisurely with such songs as STELLA BLUE providing the necessary muscle to punch home. Moaned about at the time, today WAKE’s sounds like one of the best records ever made! rating: 9 Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 25/3/89
nr. 4 Produktie en geluidskwaliteit zijn voortreffelijk, maar ondanks prachtige momenten mist de plaat als geheel de power, de overtuigingskracht van vroegere studioplaten. Jerry Garcia is als componist een beetje op dood spoor geraakt, een krappe zege. OOR, NOVEMBER 1973
nr. 5 Albeit, well recorded, actually a quiet weak album. EYES OF THE WORLD is a gem, but the rest of the album is slow and uneventful, pastorally paced to the point of being leaden at times. GOLDMINE, JULY 1987
nr. 6 Capturing that ruminative, seemingly aimless part of the concert when the boogiers nod out, which doesn’t mean nothing is going on-what do boogiers know by now? Musically, this is a deceptively demanding combination of AMERICAN BEAUTY and AOXOMOXOA, sweet tunes mined for structure and texture-including good fiddle, which figures, and good horns, which doesn’t. But the lyrics are more of the old karma-go-round, with barely a hook phrase to come away with. I remember Robert Hunter when he was making up American myths. Original grade: B+, rating: B- ROBERT CRISTGAU, ROCK ALBUMS OF THE 70’S, VERMILION 1982
nr. 7 The band’s debut on their own label is a personal favourite, though I know many Deadheads who think it’s a little on the feeble side. I love the songs: MISSISSIPI HALF STEP TOODELOO is Hunter and Garcia at their playful best; WEATHER REPORT SUITE is the strongest of Weir’s early serious compositions; HERE COMES SUNSHINE is a melodic delight; STELLA BLUE perhaps the group’s most affecting ballad; and EYES OF THE WORLD is wonderfully played, with Lesh in particular, shining. Even the weak spots are well performed. **** BLAIR JACKSON, THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED, PLEXUS
nr. 8 The DeaD are worshiped for their image as hip pratiarchs, which means that as long as Jerry Garcia has that acid twinkle in his eye, he’ ll never have to worry about his pedestrian set of chops. rating: * DAVE MARSH, R.S. RECORD GUIDE
nr. 9 Many of the songs on the album, which was snapped up by eager Deadheads, are variations on the theme of breaking away and starting afresh. There are also numerous references to crossing rivers, and of course to floods, both biblical and real. Side one slowly builds up, and has the only Keith Godchaux’s lead vocal. A mournful ROW JIMMY, struggling against a rising tide of lameness. The lovely STELLA BLUE, a song that “just popped out full grown”. On side two is an uplifting EYES, with its sparkling guitars and optimistic lyrics. Bob Weir is in fine voice on his impressive contribution, the side-ending WEATHER REPORT, with some energetic horn work by Martin Fierro. JAMIE JENSEN, BUILT TO LAST
nr. 10 What an album! Five beautiful Garcia/Hunter compositions, including one absolute killer of a song called HERE COMES SUNSHINE plus the added attraction of Doug Sahm on twelve string guitar and Vassar Clements on violin. The rest of the additional instruments (ex-Doug Sahm’s El Quintet members Martin Fierro and Frank Morin) blends in perfectly with the music, which retains in every ounce that Grateful Dead “feel”, yet is continually expanding and becoming more sophisticated. Put the record on and enjoy what is at the very least one of the best ten albums released sofar this year. ANDY CHILDS, ZIG ZAG Magazine
nr. 11 Wake Of The Flood – GD (Grateful Dead GD 01) Released on November 15, 1973. Early releases had a sticker on the back shrinkwrap listing the additional artists playing on the record. “Weather Report Suite, Part I” was co-written by Bob Weir and Eric Andersen when Andersen was living in Mill Valley, CA. “Stella Blue” was written by Hunter while the band was staying at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Before “Here Comes Sunshine”‘s second chorus, one can faintly hear several band members talking. I . W. Slabicky
Reviews: ‘From the Mars Hotel’
+++++++++++++ Released in 1974 and named after a seedy hotel, now demolished, in San Francisco. It has the two worst songs the DeaD ever recorded: LOOSE LUCY and MONEY MONEY, a sexist song about gold digging women, intended to be humorous. PRIDE OF CUCAMONGA is written by Lesh with his long time friend Bobby Petersen. UNBROKEN CHAIN is another tune written by and sung by Phil Lesh. On stage Donna Godchaux took over the vocals of Lesh. SCARLET BEGONIAS never appeared on a live album although it was a radio staple. As was US BLUES, a song about the Watergate era. SHIP OF FOOLS is a ballad with a crystal clear message about integrity and the power of the individual. CHINA DOLL is a delicate, mournful song in which a man tries to cope with his friend’s attempted suicide. Godchaux’s contribution was all over the album, supplying organ and piano lines that are nearly as dominant as Garcia’s guitar parts. The album sold reasonably well. The cryptic type beneath the title must be held upside down in front of a mirror, in order to read the words: UGLY RUMOR. +++++++++++++
nr.1 MARS HOTEL sits in between WAKE OF THE FLOOD and BLUES FOR ALLAH, though inconsistent in tone, is the most satisfying of the DeaD studio trilogy of the early seventies. Stand-outs are two of Garcia’s most plaintive ballads, CHINA DOLL and SHIP OF FOOLS, which capture the DeaD at their most sweetly desolate, and the two songs written by Phil Lesh. rating: * * * * MARK COOPER, Q no. 35, august 1989
nr. 2 Brighter and more up-tempo than WAKE OF THE FLOOD(which is not to claim it’s “high energy”), with almost as many as memorable tunes as AMERICAN BEAUTY. Robert Hunter is not progressing, however – even US BLUES, an entertaining collection of conceits, seems received rather than found. And a Weir-Barlow song about money is just one more way for rich Marin hippies to put women down. original grade: B+ rating: B- ROBERT CRISTGAU, ROCK ALBUMS OF THE 70’S, 1982
nr. 3 Four great Hunter-Garcia songs; US BLUES; the only version of the fabulous SCARLET BEGONIAS; SHIP OF FOOLS; and the moving CHINA DOLL, make this record worth owning. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is seriously flawed, from Weir’s sexist atrocity, MONEY MONEY, to the equally embarrassing LOOSE LUCY, to Lesh’s two poorly sung curiosities, CUCAMONGA and the intriguing UNBROKEN CHAIN. The good songs are available in better versions on a million different live-tapes. * * * BLAIR JACKSON, 1983
nr. 4 Thruthfully, there simply isn’t very much about this group that’s impressive, except the devotion of its fans to a mythology created in Haight-Ashbury and now sustained in junior high schools across America. rating: * DAVE MARSH (him again), R.S. RECORD GUIDE
nr. 5 Although there is some great keyboard-work on US BLUES, this song really works live only. CHINA DOLL instead, gets a beautiful rendition and is a real gem, again with very good keyboard playing. UNBROKEN CHAIN is a very pleasant song that goes by almost unnotably. LOOSE LUCY is a nice song to skip, just like MONEY MONEY. PRIDE OF CUCAMONGA is another pleasant surprise from Phil Lesh. SHIP OF FOOLS is just like CHINA DOLL a song one has to get used too, before one can really understand the beauty of it. It’s a pity the album is not that interesting as the cover. On the back one can detect the Dead members as alien superman, Roman warrior on Duck shoes, clown, the holy mother Maria with a fishtail, an extra-terrestial swamp man, and a space traveller. And I sure hope that it ain’t Phil Lesh, dressed up as salamander, hanging on the wall of that spaceship….. * * ERIK SCHOTHANS, July 1992
nr. 6 Much more song-orientated than its predecessor. Jump-starting with US BLUES – whose irresistable beat has made it a natural encore tune – it quickly changes into the fragile CHINA DOLL, then into Phil’s last lead vocal, the evocative UNBROKEN CHAIN. The undisputed highlight is the side two opener, the only recorded version of the lovely SCARLET BEGONIAS. But the album includes also some of the most un-Deadlike songs imaginable, the jaded, somewhat misogynist MONEY MONEY – though exactly why this song is so objectionable and why DUPREE’S DIAMOND BLUES is so well-loved is hard to say. JAMIE JENSEN, BUILT TO LAST, 1990
nr. 7 Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel – GD (Grateful Dead GD 102) also known as “Ugly Rumors” (hold the front cover upsidedown in front of a mirror to see why). Early releases have ‘AUTHENTIC’ stamped vertically on the left side of the cover to counter the record bootlegging that was rampant at the time. Released on June 27, 1974. John McFee plays pedal steel on “Pride Of Cucamonga”, which was written by Phil Lesh and Robert Petersen. Lesh and Petersen also co-wrote “Unbroken Chain”. The album also includes “China Doll”, “Scarlet Begonias”, and “U.S. Blues”, which had long been performed by the Dead as “Wave That Flag”. The Mars Hotel was a hotel for the down-and-out, located near the CBS recording studios, and has since been torn down. I . W. Slabicky 1993
