Customer Reviews

Grateful Dead

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Everyone knows the Dead were a live experience, and that their studio albums are generally thought to be a pale reflection of their concert glory. Well, I never saw the Dead live, but this first album struck a chord with me when I heard it back in 1967, and it's remained one of the most enduring albums to come out of San Francisco during that heady psychedelic era.

Until this reissue was available, the only CD I'd heard was a pale-sounding 1989 release. While adequate, it certainly wasn't up to modern standards, and was way overdue to be remastered.

The new disc sounds incredibly good, particularly when you remember how long it's been since these recordings were made. Not only do the original tracks sound fuller and richer, more alive, but there's some additional material that's actually worth the purchase price. A lot of CD reissues have extra tracks that are mere filler, but these newly issued songs sound good enough to have merited inclusion on the original record. I have some mixed feelings about the long live version of "Viola Lee Blues," which runs more than 22 minutes and is obviously an attempt to capture the famed Live Dead experience. To me, it sounds like you really had to be there. Either there are mistakes by the band, or it's poor editing, but it doesn't add up to a great jam. (Compare it to Fleetwood Mac's live renditions of "Rattlesnake Shake" on the Boston Live discs and you'll see what I mean by a great jam.)

Four of the tracks are extended; instead of fading out as in the original edits. After listening to this record for the past 36 years it's a bit jarring, but the extra minute on "Goodbye Little School Girl" is worth listening to, as is the pyrotechnic close to "Cream Puff War."

It's great to have one of my all-time favorite records brought up to date, sounding fresher and more powerful than ever. Too bad I never caught one of their shows...

Grateful Dead (1967). The Grateful Dead's debut LP.

By 1967 the Grateful Dead had emerged from the bluegrass scene around San Francisco in the early 1960s, and decided to go electric after hearing bands such as the Rolling Stones. They had been around for about two years and had been under previous names such as the Warlocks and the Emergency Crew. They were signed to Warner Brothers Records in 1966 after Joe Smith, Warner Bros. president, saw them in San Francisco. The band at this time consisted of Jerry Garcia (vocals/lead guitar), Bob Weir (vocals/rhythm guitar) Bill Kreutzmann (drums), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (vocals/harp/organ) and Phil Lesh (vocals/bass). This album was released in March 1967, recorded in a marathon time of about 70 hours. The album was very rough and tumble, and only one song hinted torwards the epic jams in their live shows - Viola Lee Blues.

To sum it up, this album is a classic. Since it was relesed right before the Summer of Love, it has important historical value as well as what could be the definition of San Fran psych rock. It is the perfect listen for people studying on the San Fran - Haight Ashbury scene of the mid-late 60s. Some of the tracks are drawn from their old jug-band repertoire, and others are just blues covers. But they do a top job on each cover, and come up with some great early band originals. Pigpen, the infamous ruddy blues singer/harp player, knocks the track Good Morning Little School Girl out of the ballpark. Some of the more poppish tracks establish the Dead's reputation for subpar singing- they certainly weren't on the par with other well-known singers of the time. They also cover Morning Dew, a faster version that isn't as great as their later live versions when they slowed the tempo way down.

Viola Lee Blues closes the album, and it is stretched to the gills with jamming closing out over 10 minutes, a song length unheard of at the time. But this song points torwards what their live shows were like - playing psychadelic ballrooms and free festivals in San Francisco locales such as Golden Gate Park to thousands.

In short, this is a classic album to own, and while it may not be the best Dead album to the newcomer, for the bigger fans and those who revere the San Fran scene, this album is a must own.

In 2001, this album got remastered and repackaged along with all the band's offical albums for Warner Brothers records in a box set by Rhino. In 2003, all of those albums got released seperately in the same format as in the box. Each album is pacakged in a digipak with a booklet glued to the back of the front cover filled with recording dates, pictures, promotions supporting the albums, and great liner notes. The CDs replicate the original olive-drabish dark green color of the original vinyl labels. For their debut, a bunch of bonus tracks are included, including a live version of Viola Lee Blues running over 20 minutes, and some studio tracks not placed on the album. Also, a few of the tracks on the album that had to be edited due to vinyl limitations are now restored and run their full length time.

The fast spontaneous furious speed of this 1st album from the seminal improvisational band is nothing less than a spectacular experience far ahead of it's time.
The Dead were fine musicians, always respected and paid homage to their influences by developing a unique hybrid of traditional blues and country,folk,jug and rock and roll within in a jazz setting.
Creating a new form emulated by so many of their contemporaries within rock may not have been their intention, but that is a defining element of their historical importance.
The sense of immediacy and existential NOW is keenly felt here.
Even the few tracks clocked in at 5 minutes or higher have a primal energy to it and is danceable..The beauty of this album is that it totally debunks the notion that the Dead were a jam band only and were not capable of laying down great songs in time spans under 3 minutes.They knew how to have a good time..

This CD features so many in concert staples later stretched out into what became Dead Head music listening to it again with the extra tracks and hdcd is very refreshing.
The homage paid to their wide musical roots and upping it by creating dynamic interesting music interplaying in 1967 double guitars and later a dual drum attack into some unique synthesis
that is both old and new was and is a rare accomplishment.

This is the Grateful Dead's first album. Like many of the early psychodelic, San Francisco albums, it sounds slightly dated. But it is not as dated (or wierd) as the Dead's second and third albums.

This album contains some of the Dead's best songs of all time, like Cold Rain and Snow. It has the best version of Morning Dew of anyone (even Nazereth).

Rhino (which is now owned by Warner Brothers) has done an excellent job of remastering all of the Warner Brothers' Grateful Dead albums. The sound quality is excellent. On this album, they also used the "full lenghth version" of many of the songs. The tracks around 10 to 20 seconds longer than what was on the original LP.

The other thing Rhino did on these re-issues was to add bonus tracks, using up every second of the CD, so that they are all 79 minutes long. The nice thing about the bonus material, is that there is a long pause between the end of the original material and the start of the bonus material. This allows you to fully take in the original album before being disrupted by the bonus material, which usually doesn't fit in with the flow of the original music.

The bonus material is interesting. A few studio tracks and then a 23 minute live version of Viola Lee Blues. It is a very nice version of the song. The only problem is that they ran out of disc space, and it all doesn't fit, so there is an awkard fade in and fade out.

The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers must have met at one time and shared ideas. There are places here where Garcia sounds like Duane Allman, and there are places on Live at Ludlow's Garage where the Allman Brothers sound like Gerry Garcia.

I love the sound of Garcia on his pre-humbucking '56-'57 Les Paul Custom. all of his specially made axes did not compare. This cd is worth it for that alone.

This debut Grateful Dead CD is oh so fresh. A very good balance of short focused tunes and extended blues jams. Most of it is very good. The exception may be the last track which features a 23 plus minute version of Viola Lee Blues. This is mostly mindless noodling although creative in spots.

Anyway there are many pluses. First of all Pig Pen's organ is much more prominent here than on any future releases. Also like Piggies vocals on Good Morning Little Schoolgirl as well as the two bonus tracks Alice D. Millionaire and Tastebud.

More pluses, well Jerry guitar is certainly in fine form. Love the psychedelic tones on Cream Puff Warm and the light hearted tone on The Golden Road. Bobby Weir's vocals are quite compelling on Beat It On Down The Line as well as New, New Minglewood Blues.

This debut CD is very upbeat and showcases the Grateful Dead's fine instrumental prowess. Definitely one of their stronger studio releases.

In the fall of 1967, I was a college freshman (I know I'm dating myself, but, given it was also the autumn of my first heartbreak, I actually really did date myself!) I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to my meager record collection --- The Blues Project's Projections, J.A.'s Surrealistic Pillow, Moby Grape's intro album, Cream's Fresh Cream, The Amboy Dukes, and this album---Grateful Dead's freshman offering. While all of this wonderful music has a special place in my heart, I've come to be especially attached to The Grateful Dead. From the first Pigpenny organ trill of The Golden Road to the climax of Viola Lee Blues, this album was the one I could count on to always cheer me up. For the record (or C.D.), American Beauty is my favorite Dead studio album, this first one is a very close second. As another reviewer notes, the quality of the vocal performances (as with the Dead's live shows) leaves a great deal to be desired, I can't imagine any song being any different than it is. My favorites: Morning Dew (yes, I know they later slowed down the song's tempo, but I like the upbeat version just fine, The Golden Road, and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl). And, at Amazon's price---you can't
buy music this good at twice that anymore! My son has also taking a liking to the CD and Jerry Garcia's rolling guitar licks...

Thanks to Rhino's excellent Birth Of The Dead 2CD this is no longer the earliest studio evidence of the Grateful Dead's work, but it is still their eponymous debut album, recorded (apart from one track) over four days in January 1967 in Hollywood at RCA's studios. Jerry Garcia had worked there the previous year, helping out on Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow album, with engineer Dave Hassinger, of Rolling Stones fame, who was now producing The Grateful Dead.
Having first joined the Dead's golden road of musical experience around 1969 and not hearing their first album, I had been expecting it to have relatively unformed ideas and only the beginnings of their distinctive character. The first listen was enough to prove me quite wrong, with their ten minute tour de force of Viola Lee Blues in particular instantly dazzling, and each subsequent play has only re-enforced the confidence and subtlety of the playing and the depth to their original pieces. Band compositions mingle with blues, jug band standards and Bonnie Dobson's apocalyptic Morning Dew, all performed much as they would have sounded live in the San Francisco dance halls or at the Golden Gate Park Human Be-In they had played the week before recording the album.
The album produced one single, The Golden Road/Cream Puff War. Early fades necessitated by length restrictions on vinyl album sides have been replaced with the original full-length masters, though most of these also fade, with Schoolgirl gaining almost a minute.
To the original album has been added over 40 minutes of bonus material. Four of these tracks were recorded at RCA as try-outs after the album had been completed, and the final two tracks are versions of Viola Lee Blues. One is a three-minute edit, suggesting it may have been considered as a follow-up single at one time, and the other is an (incomplete) 23 minute live version from Rio Nido Dance Hall in September 1967, quite different to the studio performance but just as magnificent.

It's become a popular trend in the world of Deadheads to bash this album and call it a "disappointing debut." Indeed, the story behind the album has become legendary: The Grateful Dead took handfuls of diet pills prior to recording, thus rushing through the songs and giving them a hopped-up, manic energy. However, it is exactly this energy that makes the album so wonderful. This is the sound of a bunch of kids rebelling against the ultra-economic conformity of the 50s and early 60s. This is the music of Ken Kesey's legendary "acid tests," of a group of outlaws creating magnificent art and painting everything in Day-Glo. I recommend Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" for more on the context of this fascinating music. Now on to the actual songs:

"The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" is certainly one of the most ecstatic pieces of music ever created, and it captures the '67 "Summer of Love" spirit better than anything I've ever heard--it's worth the price of the album alone and makes you wonder why the Dead didn't write more of the songs on the album. Most of the songs are blues standards that they transformed into something new with their shimmering guitars and especially Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's trademark organ playing. Other highlights include "Cold Rain and Snow" and the tender "Morning Dew"--and just try to resist dancing to "Beat It Down the Line."

This is a different Grateful Dead than the one that toured after about 1975--this is the Grateful Dead that performed with riotous energy and was rooted in the blues. If you're new to the band, I would start by checking out "American Beauty," "Workingman's Dead," or "Live Dead" (which remain their crowning studio achievements). If you want to dig a little deeper into their roots, this is where to go next. Don't trust the cynics--you will not be disappointed!

This remastered cd has the full length versions of many of the Dead's first songs!