Customer Reviews

Blues for Allah (Dig)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can't think of any recording that seemed to give more to me than this one. Many albums are cherished by me from many a great band, but this one is what I most remember from the days of my youth in the 70's. I played guitar to this endlessly, I cycled it over and over some days (the music literally never stopped). It carried me off to the sand castles on many an evening. This GD studio album is about as good as any of their best material in my opinion (I love many other albums of theirs, of course, but this one captured my imagination the most for the journey it takes you on). I was going to their concerts in the late 70's and this is the highlight material if it made it onto the show any particular evening. What more intricate material does the Dead have to work with than this? Older Dead was great, but for this period of their journey, this is a crown jewel. They really get the collaborative energy going like it may be their last adventure. Again, what more beautiful instrumental is there than Sage & Spirit in their whole repertoire? Is there a sweeter and more expressive guitar lead than the Crazy Fingers tearjerker on any studio album? The build-up of Help/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower into the Roll Away Mantra is like coming out of a dream! And that jazzy but powerful feedback lead that punctuates the trip is heavenly. They are on a tear on King Soloman's Marbles, Mahavishnu might fall behind! All of side one (or even the first six songs) was a perfect transition. Marbles scattered on a vortex coming together at the end to complete the experience. Feels like an concept album that flows over you like a wave (it might have been the wind). This album is inspired to say the least. Everybodies dancin'! I will vouch for the weirdness of BFA/Sand Castles, and I like it. It always feels like that end of a trip feeling when you start noticing all of the sounds around you - you've gone through the vortex to the new space on the other side (with crickets)! What a trippy little treat The Dead had up their sleeve here. Like an epiphany and gift for the fans during this wave of the dead story...Let's get to the studio cause we've got somethin' to say!

I got this Rhino remastered version of my favorite Dead studio album from the box set (identical to this), and it is the highlight of the bunch! Not only does the sound quality sparkle, but the extras are really fun, many extended jams featuring Jerry having fun grooving on this or that, or having fun with texture or effects (check out Distorto). Get out your guitar or whatever and play along, these are a blast - and thoughtful addition to the material available from this great but kind of obscure period. There's a band out on the highway, they're HIGHsteppin' into town, it's a rainbow full of sound...the stars were spinnin' dizzy, the band kept us so busy, we forgot about the time...WAS IT EVER HERE AT ALL (The Music Never Stopped)? Enjoy this treasure, FEEL IT, DON'T ANALYZE IT!

The Dead emerged from their mid 70's break from touring with this powerhouse of jazzy, spacey soon-to-be classic tunes. Many remained in their repertoire throughout the remainder of their touring career. Help On The Way/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower was the trio that first grabbed my ear, and embodied a wholly new sound for the Dead. The Music Never Stopped became mainstay, and Crazy Fingers was an occasional treat that always made the trip worthwhile. King Solomon's Marbles displayed another spurt of growth in the bands new sound, and the beautiful Sage and Spirit carries you like a breeze through the rushes. Blues for Allah is leap for even some hardcore heads, but well worth an occasional listen when playing the rest of the collection. Irecommend this title hands down over just about any other Dead studio album out there.

album has a flow of continuity. This, Mars Hotel and Wake of the Flood are the Dead's three strongest improvisational studio albums. Crazy Fingers is absolutely beautiful. Help On the Way> Slpiknot! are the Dead at their jazziest and I dare you to try to not smile during Franklin's Tower. The Music Never Stopped is a great rocker with great intro bass and guitar licks. Sage & Spirit is a lesser known Bobby instrumental that mimics children's laughter. King's Solomon's Marbles is an innovative number adding more credibility to the Dead's jazzy side. And Blues For Allah closes out the album with studio weirdness and sound effects. Give it a try, you won't regret it.

Of all the bonus tracks appearing on this remaster, all but one are
instrumentals; and all these instrumentals are far better than very good; so if you (as I do) like to collect Grateful Dead instrumentals, the remaster of Blues for Allah has a generous selection.

I'll betray my age right from the beginning by saying the strength of this CD lies in its first "side" -- referring to the old LP format, of course. From "Help on the Way" to "The Music Never Stopped," the Dead blast away with an energy they rarely found in the studio; the best of these songs are no less than NIMBLE, and that's saying something for this band. The "Help on the Way"/"Slipknot"/"Franklin's Tower" axis alone would be enough to recommend this disc -- and that medley of tunes became an absolute monster in concert. But "King Solomon's Marbles" weighs in to show off a band that was feeling its rhythmic oats, thanks in part to the return of Mickey Hart to the fold after an absence of about three years. And the Weir/Barlow "Music Never Stopped" really works as a summation of everything the Grateful Dead stood for: Individual identity flourishing within committed community.

And then we come to ... Side Two. Arrgghhh. "Crazy Fingers" has not worn well musically for me, though Robert Hunter's haiku lyric construction still intrigues. "Sage & Spirit" is, in my opinion, a somewhat tepid instrumental, though with some beautiful melodies. But I think the "Blues for Allah" suite almost redeems the second side; it's challenging music, to be sure, with all the Middle Eastern sounds and atmospheres. Yet the closing "under eternity blue" motif is one of the most uplifting, purely spiritual pieces this band ever did.

To sum it up: I'll take this album over anything else the band did in the studio in the 1970s. If you're not that into the Dead but want one great disc from each of the band's three decades when they were making studio recordings, buy this for the 1970s, "Workingman's Dead" for the 1960s and "In the Dark" for the 1980s.

This is the result of the Grateful Dead playing shows for 10 solid years and perfecting their songcraft with the help of other musicians, themselves, and the otherly world of creative process. This is a Master's Thesis of music, the greatest album the Dead ever recorded. It has the power of a tremendous live show juxtaposed with the fragility of flower petals. The intimacy that weaves through the songs is the big surprise and you may find that the relaxed mellow with surge into a huge amount of energy while listening. You'll dance in the dark. This is the Dead's smoothest, most exciting and powerful studio recording ever.

Get it for the songs. Keep it for how it will grow with you for a long, long time.

This is the CD for the deadhead who has peace with their old, useless, and passive listening style and seeks true artistic beauty to dance in their brain.

Unusual Occurrences in the Desert indeed....

This remastered album is what I expected when I first heard they were adding bonus tracks to the boxset. I don't really want live versions of songs taken out of context, unless it's something really rare. What I want are intimate studio jams from the time when they were recording, and boy does this deliver! Don't get me wrong, the "Mars Hotel" remaster has some extra gems, like "Wave that Flag", but if I already have the entire show with that performance I'm not interested. However, NOBODY, as far as I know, has any of the jams that are featured here, and that's certainly saying something. So thank you, because we all know the tapes were always rolling.

I can't think of any recording that seemed to give more to me than this one. Many albums are cherished by me from many a great band, but this one is what I most remember from the days of my youth in the 70's. I played guitar to this endlessly, I cycled it over and over some days (the music literally never stopped). It carried me off to the sand castles on many an evening. This GD studio album is about as good as any of their best material in my opinion (I love many other albums of theirs, of course, but this one captured my imagination the most for the journey it takes you on). I was going to their concerts in the late 70's and this is the HIGHlight material if it made it onto the show any particular evening. What more intricate material does the Dead have to work with than this? Older Dead was great, but for this period of their journey, this is a crown jewel. They really get the collaborative energy going like it may be their last adventure. Again, what more beautiful instrumental is there than Sage & Spirit in their whole repertoire? Is there a sweeter and more expressive guitar lead than the Crazy Fingers tearjerker on any studio album? The build-up of Help/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower into the Roll Away Mantra is like coming out of a dream! And that jazzy but powerful feedback lead that puntuates the trip is heavenly. They are on a tear on King Soloman's Marbles, Mahavishnu might fall behind! All of side one (or even the first six songs) was a perfect transition. Marbles scattered on a vortex coming together at the end to complete the experience. Feels like an concept album that flows over you like a wave (it might have been the wind). This album is inspired to say the least. Everybodies dancin'! I will vouch for the weirdness of BFA/Sand Castles, and I like it. It always feels like that end of a trip feeling when you start noticing all of the sounds around you - tension and release brain flexing. You've gone through the vortex to the new space on the other side (with crickets)! What a trippy little treat The Dead had up their sleeve here. Like an epiphany and gift for the fans during this wave of the dead story...Let's get to the studio cause we've got somethin' to say!

Released in 1974, this is the Grateful Dead's eight studio album and 12th album release overall. The original CD was 44 minutes long but the bonus material gets it up close to 80 minutes.

Like all of the remastered Grateful Dead CD's, the sound quality is excellent. It is enhanced by with HDCD sound. I just bought a CD player with a HDCD decoder, and this sounds stunning. HDCD is a 24 bit recording vs. the normal 16 bit of a regular CD. It can be played back on a normal CD player, and sounds better than a normal CD. But, you get the best improvement if you have a CD player that does HDCD.

Like all of the remastered Grateful Dead CD's, this has bonus material to take it up to 80 minutes. The quality of the bonus material has been hit and miss. For instance, it is poor on American Beauty. On Blues For Allah, the bonus material compliments the original music and enhances the whole disc. If there were any doubts before, with the bonus material, this is definitely a five star disc. I also like that there is approximately a 10 second gap between the original and bonus material, to seperate the two.

This comes in a nice cardboard case, and unlike most cardboard cases, the plastic tabs that hold the CD are sturdy and do not snap off. This part of the second boxset of remastered Dead CD's. Unlike the first set, this CD does not have a booklet and extensive liner notes. The extensive info on the CD is contained in a book that comes in the boxset, but is not available if you buy the individual CD's.

Blues For Allah is a complex work that really flows together from start to finish. Although there are seperate and distinct songs, it all plays like one long suite. The bonus material is mostly instrumentals that follows the same music flow. This along with Terrapin Station are the Dead's foray into a quasi progress rock style. But, at the same time, it has that mellow but bright sounding atmosphere, similar to Wake of the Flood.

After this album was recorded, the band went to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and played a live show that included all the songs from this album. It is captured on the double CD, One From the Vault. Unlike what another has said, I don't think that live version is as good as this tight and wonderfully recorded studio version. Also, I have heard other live versions of Blues For Allah that are really spacy and go on for an hour. I would like to an official CD release of one of those shows.

"Blues for Allah" heralded the Grateful Dead's return after their legendary concert at the Winterland. They hadn't been in a winter land for long--the music on "Blues for Allah" is an oasis for the spirit. Sonic help is indeed on the way! You'll be smiling and tapping your toes. It's like a delicious North African stew blending the sweet and savory.

"Blues for Allah" is as mesmerizing as the sights and smells of the Marrakesh night market. The opening,"Help is on the way" is at once anthemic and easy-going. It's as reassuring as a cup of Moroccan mint tea. "Franklin's Tower" is majestic. The King Solomon's Marbles sequence is remarkable acid jazz. It's like finding the ancient city of Petra,the "rose red city,half as old as time." "The Music Never Stopped" is an ode to the joy of making music. "Crazy Fingers" is exuberant reggae. "Sage and Spirit" (which sounds like the perfect name for a Southwestern New Age store) is New Agey jazz,evoking the desert. One can imagine seeing the red Sangre de Cristo Mountains,the last of the Rockies, becoming the flat purity of the desert. Finally,the "Blues for Allah/Sand Castles&Glass Camels/Unusual Occurrences in the Desert" sequence is at once mysterious and melancholy. It's a mournful desert lament.

The reissue has six bonus tracks worth the price. Five are jazzy jam band instrumentals,pure improvisation. "Hollywood Cantata" is a clever look at the price of fame and celebrity.

"Blues for Allah" won't leave you feeling blue. Venture into the sands,and feel the desert power...