Description
The Grateful Dead – Grateful Dead (2LP)
Label: Warner Bros. Records – 66009
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold
Country: France
Released: 1974
Rights Society: SACEM, SDRM, SACD, SGDL
Price Code: 2 x Ⓒ
Tracklist:
A1 Bertha 5:27
A2 Mama Tried 2:42
A3 Big Railroad Blues 3:34
A4 Playing In The Band 4:39
B1 The Other One 18:05
C1 Me And My Uncle 3:06
C2 Big Boss Man 5:12
C3 Me Et Bobby McGee 5:43
C4 Johnny B. Goode 3:42
D1 Wharf Rat 8:31
D2a Not Fade Away 9:14
D2b Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad
Notes:
Reissue with “Burbank Palm Tree” labels
Vinyl and Cover in very good condition. Label sticker on the front. address stamp (mine) and sello tape on inside of the cover (non-visible) and on one side of the labels. See photo’s for details.
++++++++++++++ Second (official) double live album, recorded at the Fillmore East, Winterland and The Manhattan Center and released in the fall of 1971. Culled from the largest aggregation of music (13 performances, 9 reels of usable songs, 60 hours’ worth) the Dead has ever assembled. Originally called “SKULL FUCK”, but Warners rejected this title. It is generally named SKULL AND ROSES. Pigpen’s only vocal performance is on BIG BOSS MAN, and THE OTHER ONE is the Dead’s ode to the glorious days of the Merry Pranksters and has a long percussion solo breaking into three-quarter time dissonance on bass and lead, complete with mike feedback and the sounds of a crowd getting off on pure rhythm. PLAYING IN THE BAND showcases the group’s ability to go from a polite whisper to a forcefull roar within one song. WHARF RAT is about a skid row citizen, determined to escape the gutter. Merl Saunders plays organ on BERTHA, PLAYING and WHARF RAT. GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD, a Woody Guthrie song of depression era displacement, is alchemised by the DeaD into a claim for the liberating possibilities of the road. At this time Mickey Hart had left the band. Jerry Garcia said after its release; “It’s us man, it’s the prototype Grateful Dead, basic unit. Each one of those tracks is the total picture… enough of an overview so people can see we are a regular shoot-em-up saloon band.”
nr. 1 Relying heavily on C & W tunes and early R’n’R standards, the album is a look at another of the band’s peak touring periods. Weir took a greater portion of the vocal responsibilities and the album managed to capture some pretty quintessential versions. GOLDMINE, JULY 1987
nr. 2 I wish some of this live double had been done in the studio-might have saved Bob Weir’s faint PLAYING IN THE BAND if not his ME AND BOBBY McGEE- and the drum-and-guitar interlude isn’t going to inspire anybody to toke up, much less see visions. But even there they gather some of that old DeaD magic. And it’s about time they documented their taste in covers-I’ve craved their NOT FADE AWAY for years. original grade:A minus (rating: B+). ROBERT CRISTGAU, ROCK ALBUMS OF THE 70’S. 1982
nr. 3 It’s a live, two record set that finds the Dead in surprisingly strong form following the departure of Mickey Hart. It’s an uneven affair, with plenty of peaks and valleys. Side four is uniformly powerful, boasting a very hot version of NOT FADE AWAY / GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD and the only recorded version of WHARF RAT. THE OTHER ONE, which takes up an entire set, also has some fine moments after Kreutzman’s overlong drum solo. Most of the rest of the album is competent but forgettable. Two other stand-outs are BERTHA and BIG RAILROAD BLUES. * * * BLAIR JACKSON
nr. 4 The Grateful Dead epitomize hippie rock & roll, and if you are a hippie yourself, you might want to invert the judgements expressed in these R.S. Record Guide ratings. * * DAVE MARSH, R.S. RECORD GUIDE, 1982
NR. 5 Just after Mickey left, the band recorded what was to become their first gold record. It is at times a dynamically energetic session, one that featured sharp versions of Grateful Dead standards and introduced a number of new songs to the repertoire, including especially killer versions of both the haunting ballad WHARF RAT and the riproaring BERTHA. It’s also one of the few albums the band has admitted to liking. JAMIE JENSEN
NR. 6 While not of the mysterious brilliance of the groups’ former live album, GRATEFUL DEAD found the band playing tight and strong in New York and San Francisco. Starting with Jerry Garcia’s splendid BERTHA, they shoot through many a style – country, the usual acid stuff (THE OTHER ONE, 18 minutes about a bus stop), rock ‘n roll (JOHNNY B. GOODE – rather a disaster, actually; it’s a funny thing but accomplished as they are, The DeaD always sound a trifle phoney when it comes to straight rock ‘n roll). It’s on originals like Garcia’s haunting, melancholic WHARF RAT and Bob Weir’s tricky PLAYING IN THE BAND that they are on their best and Bill Kreutzmann’s bomping drums are things of joy as ever. But Ron “Pigpen” McKernan died shortly after this recording and things would never be quite the same again.*** TOM HIBBERT, Q Magazine, July 1993, no. 82
nr. 7 There are three excellent previously unrecorded group compositions, PLAYING IN THE BAND, BERTHA and WHARF RAT, the latter being one of the best songs they’ve ever written. To my mind the record itself stands as a proof of a significant step in the band’s development in that they reached the point where they are supremely capable of performing structured and tightly arranged songs on stage with a consistency and confidence that is nothing less than a revelation. Listen to WHARF RAT for a good example of what I mean… ANDY CHILDS, ZIG ZAG Magazine
nr. 8 Grateful Dead (Warner Bro. 2WS 1935) Merl Saunders appears (probably overdubbed) on this live album. Also known as “Skull and Roses”. “Skullf*ck” was a working title for the album, but Warner Bro. nixed it. This was the band’s first gold record, indicating a million units sold. The early releases had a ‘Skull and Roses’ sticker enclosed with the album. Released in October, 1971. “Bertha” and “Bobby McGee” are from April 27, 1971; “The Other One” is from April 28, 1971; and “Me And My Uncle” is from April 29, 1971 at the Fillmore East. “Not Fade Away”/”Going Down The Road Feeling Bad” is from April 5, 1971 at the Manhattan Center, NYC. The “skull and roses” illustration used for the cover of this album was originally a black and white illustration by Edmund Sullivan which appeared in a 19th century edition of “The Rubiyat Of Omar Khayyam”. Kelly and Mouse adapted it for the Dead. “Wharf Rat”, despite its inclusion of the four letter f-word, has not been censored. This album contained those famous words on the inside cover: “Dead freaks unite. Who are you? Where are you? How are you? Send us your name and address and we’ll keep you informed.” I. W. Slabicky
nr. 9 GRATEFIJL DEAD (1971)
2 RECORD SET ON 1 SPECIALLY-PRICED DISC-
The band managed to avoid making a studio record between 1970 and 1973, consigning a series of fine Garcia/Hunter songs to their live albums of the period. The double-LP “Grateflil Dead”, taped at shows in San Francisco and New York, captured the exquisite “Wharf Rat”, one of the duo’s finest early ballads. It also documented two of their early 70s concert extravaganzas, the drum solo/improvisation “The Other One”, and the seamless passage from “Not Fade Away” to “Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad”.
Surrounding the band’s originals, though, were too many of their rather redundant covers, from Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”. “Of course the original versions are better than ours,” Garcia admitted. “What the fuck! It’s traditional to do a guy’s tune if you like his music.” Maybe that was all part of the concept behind the title the Dead wanted for this set: “Skullfuck”. The album’s better known by its “Skull & Roses” alias.
from Record Collector
