The Grateful Dead...a group that escaped me !

[SteveO]

There seems to be a fairly healthy admiration for the Grateful Dead here at MD ! ...Tiggi and Gater come to mind instantly...if there are others ..I had no intention to overlook you !

I was never by any means a Deadhead ! Perhaps because the Dead were really not a Radio AM group and never really considered a single record hits band !

I didn't ignore the Dead, they sort of "slipped between my fingers" ...always there but never listened to a lot. I should have listened to them a lot more considering their gigantic discography and tremendous history of Live recordings which is my favorite format. I didn't know where to post this since the Dead played so many styles of music !!!!! I settled on the generic Rock section.

I have Workingman's Dead, Live at Filmore East, the Arista Years, In the Dark, and one that doesn't really count...the Jerry Garcialess live album with the Phil Grech led band Further. A shameful paltry collection IMO...lol. Rolling Stone ranked the Grateful Dead as the 57th greatest band of all time ????...shouldn't it be higher ?

I am looking once again for recommendations and advisement from the great music afficionados at Music Discussion. What are some of your favorite Grateful Dead recordings, studio or live !!!!...I noticed today that the Dead played a lot of covers....The Beatles et all,,,!!!!

Also what artist or band sort of "slipped through your fingers'' so to speak and now you're trying to revisit them more intently ?

A wise Kentuckian friend says - "so many albums, so little time"

[gater]

I may have experienced The Grateful Dead live for the first time when I has in elementary school, but to be honest SteveO, a voracious appetite for the Dead did not develope in me until fairly late in life. It was when I began to look back into what music came from what other music... various genre and styles, that I began to really pay attention to them. As I did listen, I first noticed Bobby's guitar work, which often makes me wonder just how many ways are there to play a particular chord or progression. And Garcia... well, he's Garcia!

For most of my life I loved it loud, saw shows at CBGB's and other lesser known dives. KK Downing and Glen Tipton... now there was some guitar noise damn it! And I saw Maiden at least ten times... with Di'anno! More with Bruce. That was rockin' baby!

Then I grew up, or at least my musical ear did. The Dead were no longer country sounding. Hell, they were so free when they played live that they were the embodiment of rock and roll! The more I listen to them, the better I like them, and there is a ton to listen to. They were/are truly a people's band.

On Edit: Go to http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead where you will find people's recordings of a butt-load of shows. Some of the recordings suck, some do not. Dead stuff is defined by eras, which may or may not overlap. One very simple partition would by by dividing up the years and albums by who was playing keybords, Pigpen, or Keith, or Brent... Anything from 1972's Europe tour was a great period, as was 1977 and "Terrapin Station". Or the late 80's into 90's after Jerry had his illness and relearned guitar. That site I gave the URL to will let you see how their sets progressed over years.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

only really just heard a full studio album for the first time....courtesy of Tiggi, thanks man!

[SteveO]

Which album was that Crazy ?...American Dream wasn't it ?

Were there any groups you have gotten into more than you did in the past ?

Funny how some groups come into focus or vogue when they were somewhat overlooked twenty or more years ago !!!!

only really just heard a full studio album for the first time....courtesy of Tiggi, thanks man!

[SteveO]

Great post Gater !!! thanks for the link!

So as far as listening to a group today that you sort of ignored in the past...it's Grateful Dead like myself ! I always knew about their Live catalogue so now I have days of listening ahead !..lol

I may have experienced The Grateful Dead live for the first time when I has in elementary school, but to be honest SteveO, a voracious appetite for the Dead did not develope in me until fairly late in life. It was when I began to look back into what music came from what other music... various genre and styles, that I began to really pay attention to them. As I did listen, I first noticed Bobby's guitar work, which often makes me wonder just how many ways are there to play a particular chord or progression. And Garcia... well, he's Garcia!

For most of my life I loved it loud, saw shows at CBGB's and other lesser known dives. KK Downing and Glen Tipton... now there was some guitar noise damn it! And I saw Maiden at least ten times... with Di'anno! More with Bruce. That was rockin' baby!

Then I grew up, or at least my musical ear did. The Dead were no longer country sounding. Hell, they were so free when they played live that they were the embodiment of rock and roll! The more I listen to them, the better I like them, and there is a ton to listen to. They were/are truly a people's band.

On Edit: Go to http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead where you will find people's recordings of a butt-load of shows. Some of the recordings suck, some do not. Dead stuff is defined by eras, which may or may not overlap. One very simple partition would by by dividing up the years and albums by who was playing keybords, Pigpen, or Keith, or Brent... Anything from 1972's Europe tour was a great period, as was 1977 and "Terrapin Station". Or the late 80's into 90's after Jerry had his illness and relearned guitar. That site I gave the URL to will let you see how their sets progressed over years.

[SteveO]

And yes my friend, when you mentioned how Grateful Dead on American Dream reminded you of Buffalo Springfield, and the box sets that Tiggi and Gater owned, then I had to investigate and now I am exploring the Dead !!!! thanks, ,,a band that "passed through my fingers" and now I am listening to a new group as far as I am concerned ....MD certainly is a fountain of music knowledge !!!!....the list gets longer !!!!

As a side bar, another group I am not at all familiar with is Big Star ? Do you have an opinion of them, I hear them mentioned from time to time !

only really just heard a full studio album for the first time....courtesy of Tiggi, thanks man!

[Music Head]

Nick Cave for me on the original question.

I have 2 Big Stars which I bought because I loved the Box Tops
was disappointed in both of them
just a few songs that I thought were ok

[Tiggi]

And yes my friend, when you mentioned how Grateful Dead on American Dream reminded you of Buffalo Springfield, and the box sets that Tiggi and Gater owned, then I had to investigate and now I am exploring the Dead !!!! thanks, ,,a band that "passed through my fingers" and now I am listening to a new group as far as I am concerned ....MD certainly is a fountain of music knowledge !!!!....the list gets longer !!!!

As a side bar, another group I am not at all familiar with is Big Star ? Do you have an opinion of them, I hear them mentioned from time to time !

I have # 1 Record, & Radio City on a twofer. Both decent albums, but they don't deserve the collosal reputation they have, IMV.

[Tiggi]

Regarding the Grateful Dead, I tend to think the experience is by far the best on their live albums. If ever there was a band that changed their setlist more or less every night, and then hardly ever played a song the same way twice, it has to be the Dead. They improvised extensively, and although none of them were ever very strong vocally, the way they played together was something special.

There are a number of live albums in their standard output, but their archive recording output has really kicked into overdrive over the last couple of decades:

- The Dick's Picks series consists of 36 volumes, mostly over 3 or 4 discs.
- The Vault series is only three volumes
- The Europe '72 series originated as a 72-disc limited edition box set containing every gig they played on their 1972 European tour. These are now being released by individual shows.
- There are also about 25 further live box sets

As far as I'm aware, all the above are taken from individual gigs, with many being complete recordings of the gigs. But there's also:

- The Road Trips series, which I believe compile live tracks from different dates on specific tours. There's 17 volumes of these.

Obviously there's a huge number of these I haven't heard, but I can honestly say that of the fifteen live box sets I have, there's not a mediocre one amongst them.

As Gater says, the Europe '72 material is very highly regarded.

The acoustic set Reckoning (recorded 1980) is a favourite of mine, along with So Many Roads (5-discs, which samples their entire live career), Nightfall of Diamonds (Recorded 1989), The Closing of Winterland (1978 recording), Dick's Picks Vol 4 (1970 recording), Dick's Picks Vol 29 (1977 recording), Ladies & Gentlemen: Live at Fillmore East (1971 recording), & Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings (1973 recording...Doh !!) are all excellent sets.

[Music Head]

I have # 1 Record, & Radio City on a twofer. Both decent albums, but they don't deserve the collosal reputation they have, IMV.

same thing I have sir
sounds like you might even like it better than me