Description
Various – Deadicated (CD)
Label: Arista – 354 179
Format: CD, Album
Country: Europe
Released: 1991
Barcode: 4 007193 541798
Label Code: LC 3484
Price Code (D): 231 / (F): RC650 / (UK): QP
Rights Society (Boxed): BIEM / GEMA
Tracklist:
1 Los Lobos Bertha 5:17
2 Bruce Hornsby And The Range Jack Straw 5:51
3 The Harshed Mellows U.S. Blues 5:18
4 Elvis Costello Ship Of Fools 5:20
5 Suzanne Vega China Doll 3:25
6 Suzanne Vega Cassidy 3:34
7 Dwight Yoakam Truckin’ 5:25
8 Warren Zevon & David Lindley Casey Jones 4:16
9 Indigo Girls Uncle John’s Band 4:48
10 Lyle Lovett Friend Of The Devil 4:14
11 Cowboy Junkies To Lay Me Down 5:18
12 Midnight Oil Wharf Rat 6:05
13 Burning Spear Estimated Prophet 6:46
14 Dr. John Deal 4:17
15 Jane’s Addiction Ripple 4:39
Notes:
36-page booklet with credits, pics, lyrics, notes and quotes
Tribute to The Grateful Dead
“To save the rainforest”
Printed in Germany
CD and Inlay in very good condition. With label sticker on the front. see photo’s for details.
Reviews:
nr. 1 As Elvis Costello once pointed out, the Dead’s songwriting capabilities have long been overlooked. But now maybe the worlds greatest non-rock’n’roll band get through through to a few folks who think Stanley Owlsley 111 is a football team in Lancashire. DEADICATED doesn’t lack in variety or surprises. The acoustic side of Hunter and Garcia is in safe hands with the Indigo Girls and Perry Farrell’s mob while Los Lobos whip the skin off the grooving BERTHA like the good old boys they surely are. Elvis handles SHIP OF FOOLS, with kid gloves, while Bruce Hornsby and Suzanne Vega tread softly with their material…..And any record that slips Spear blasting ESTIMATED PROPHET next to the Heartbreakers ripping metallic holes in US BLUES ain’t to be sneezed at. rating: 7 Max Bell, VOX, July 1991
nr. 2 DEADICATED-a tribute album-seeks to rehabilitate the Dead’s pop reputation by stripping the group from its own music and turning the band’s legacy over to a collection of politically sympathetic modern performers. Ironically, the result may be the single most affirmative work of criticism ever assembled about the group: an affectionate reminder that at a certain juncture in American history, this band produced some of the loveliest and smartest rock’n’roll to be found….In the end there isn’t a genuinly bad cover in the bunch, though only a handful – SHIP OF FOOLS, US BLUES, ESTIMATED PROPHET, DEAL and RIPPLE – are inspired or ludicrous enough to surpass the originals. Which is to say that perhaps what is missing from DEADICATED is, after all, the Grateful Dead. For all it lapses, one thing the band has never done is play its own music with too much staidness or reverence. Rather, the DeaD have always played their songs as if running a collective risk – the risk of coming to comic ruin in pursuit of fleeting transcendence – were the only way to make it through life. DEADICATED makes an important point: that the DeaD survive and continue to attract a fervent following because the group has something to say about the prospects of self-willed , idealistic community. As a monu- ment to such ideals, the album is fun tribute and a worthy cause. * * * MIKAL GILMORE, ROLLING STONE no. 603, MAY 1991
nr. 3 Yes, Dwight Yoakam kicks some cow-punk into the radio-weary TRUCKIN’ Yes, Warren Zevon successfully accelerates CASEY JONES to cruising speed. And sure enough Dr. John’s barrelhouse rendition of DEAL catches lyricist Robert Hunter playing hokey. Beware, though: Bruce Hornsby’s JACK STRAW is a digital-age heir to the DeaD at their opiated blandest. Likewise fir INDIGO GIRLS’ humorless UNCLE JOHN’S BAND. Then when Midnight Oil takes a radical turn on WHARF RAT, it misses the pier. In the end, only Jane’s addiction’s murky RIPPLE makes an open-and-shut case for razing the DeaD. Alas, revelation can be more perilous than revolution. ALEC FOEGE, SPIN, JUNE 1991
nr. 4 They should have called it DEAD MEAT. Not since Todd Rundgren’s Faithful have cover versions sounded so flaccid. The DeaD, with their open ended tunes and ceaseless experimentation, should have sparked the same improvisatory flights. Instead, DEADICATED gives us the Cowboy Junkies, whose soporific take on TO LAY ME DOWN transforms the song’s tragic romanticism into a long and whining moan; and the Indigo Girls, who play UNCLE JOHN’S BAND as a politically correct singalong. Like his own SHIPBUILDING, Elvis Costello’s version of SHIP OF FOOLS resonates exquisitely with lost political innocence. Like the DeaD doing Dylan, he makes it his. Costello’s whistling “Dock of the Bay” fade out provides the collection’s sole hint of wit. Some of these guys haven’t got a clue. The black humor behind ESTIMATED PROPHET escapes Burning Spear completely. That’s still okay, because the song’s wild-eyed lunatic was probably a white rasta anyway, and Spear’s dubwise take happens to be the album’s most musically interesting. Judging from WHARF RAT however, Midnight Oil probably doesn’t even like the DeaD. Suzanne Vega, Lyle Lovett and Warren Zevon sound neither inspired nor otherwise. With any luck, DEADICATED will dissuade another few thousand would-be Deadheads from jumping on the bus and perhaps make their live shows bearable again. RICHARD GEHR, CREEM ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 1991
nr. 5 Attempting to cover a Grateful Dead song is an awe inspiring prospect: not only are they notoriously difficult to play, most are enshrined in the hearts of three generations of fans and hung with the label “Do Not Touch”. All of which makes this collection the more remarkable. The artists manage to retain the essential spirit of the DeaD originals yet stamp their own distinctive mark upon them. Costello’s inter- pretation of SHIP OF FOOLS, for instance, has all the soulful bitter sweetness we’ve come to expect. The biggest surprises, though, come from artists who freely admit little prior knowledge of these San Francisco legends, reggae giant Burning Spear sculpting a dense, haunting rendition of ESTIMATED PROPHET and Midnight Oil a storming version of WHARF RAT. HMV add, VOX, JUNE 1991
nr. 6 …Most participants, wisely, keep the originals’ shape and spirit firmly within their sights. The real difference, though, is in the way the tunes themselves are actively sold, as opposed to merely delivered. Costel- lo’s taut reading of the glorious ballad SHIP OF FOOLS is another case in point, not just haunted but hopelessly doomed as well. It’s not all one-way traffic, of course. US BLUES is reduced to a ballroom rumpus by a scratch combo; Midnight Oil too, surprisingly, come off second best to the meandering WHARF RAT and Jane’s Addiction could be charged with homicide for the way they they treat the pretty RIPPLE. However, Burning Spear’s righteous re-routing of ESTIMATED PROPHET into something that wouldn’t have sounded out of place during reggae’s ’70’s heyday more than makes up for these, as do Cowboy Junkies and Dr. John, who easily manage to mould TO LAY ME DOWN and DEAL to suit themselves: somnambulist mode and New Orleans voo- doo respectively. Yet whatever the style, the songs, for the most part, are treated with a deference both they and the DeaD themselves deserve. In fact, with the proceeds going to a good cause, this is a doubly laudable venture. It’s certainly an easy way of looking afresh at what is, in many ways, the last great American band. * * * * PETE KANE, Q,JUNE 1991.nr. 7
nr. 7 A well deserved tribute for a great American band. Los Lobos could have made more of BERTHA, while Bruce Hornsby gives a good rendition of JACK STRAW, but one couldn’t expect less from this free-lance Dead player. The Marshed Mellows give an high-gear US BLUES, but can’t top the original that has a more humourous and subtle approach. Elvis Costello makes SHIP OF FOOLS a beautiful Costello song. One can hear through the music that he understands the music of the Grateful Dead. Suzanne Vega takes a whole lot of risks to take on CHINA DOLL. It’s beautiful played but misses the emo- tion of the DeaD version. CASSIDY succeeds a whole lot better. Dwight Yoakam gives a hard-rockin’ version of TRUCKIN’ and Warren Zevon and David Lindley know how to treat a DeaD song. The Indigo Girls stay close to the original version of UNCLE JOHN’s BAND, while Lyle Lovett gives a beautiful version f FRIEND OF THE DEVIL. It akes one wonder why Dead songs haven’t been covered by artists before. TO LAY ME DOWN is a song that takes time to get used to, and the Cowboy Junkies are a band that takes time to get used to too. If one can spare the time than this is the ideal combination to listen to. Midnight Oil knows exactly how to rape a beautiful song and one wonders whoever did invite this woodchoppers group to perform such a delicate song. Fortunately the next artist is Burning Spear, who makes ESTIMATED PROPHET totally his own. Quiet a surprise how good DeaD music can be played in reggae style, especially after the failure of the Dead reggae-like song CRAZY FINGERS. DEAL was made to be performed by the good ol’ doctor John and the 90’s version of RIPPLE leaves one behind in total confusion…. * * * ERIK SCHOTHANS, July 1992
nr. 8 …..It’s such a double-good cause – helping save the Rainforest and and maybe bringing the exquisite spiritual good times of the DeaD to a wider audience – that it would be churlish to come down too critically on the record itself. Suffice it to say that, while not one single interpretation can hold a candle to its original (how on earth could they? there’s only one Garcia, one Lesh… hell, One Dead) there are some game attempts. Jane’s Addicti- on do a real dopey raggedy-arsed RIPPLE, Zevon has a ball with CASEY JONES, Lyle Lovett moseys affectti- onally through FRIEND OF THE DEVIL, Suzanne Vega is brave enough to try and make CHINA DOLL and CASSIDY her own, and Burning Spear’s ESTIMATED PROPHET is a typically moving and mighty experience. Less fortunate are TO LAY ME DOWN given the ice-queen treatment Cowboy Junkies, WHARF RAT butchered by Midnight Oil and UNCLE JOHN’S BAND made skittishly light by Indigo Girls. Trouble is, The DeaD are The DeaD by accident, not design, so even a big fan like Elvis Costello lovingly trying to recreate SHIP OF FOOLS gamely misses the point in facsimile. Still, The Dead are so infamous for their improvisation that, as Costello pointed out in a recent, excellent “Musician” feature, it’s often forgotten what great songwriters they are. If DEADICATED goes some small way to rectifying this, I’ll be the one wearing the Skullf*** tee-shirt and the hefty grin. STEVE SUTHERLAND, MELODY MAKER, April 13, 1991
