Skeletons in Closet: Best of

Grateful Dead | Format: Audio Cassette

Product Details

• Audio Cassette (October 17, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KF9
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #273,048 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)

2. Truckin'

3. Rosemary

4. Sugar Magnolia

5. St. Stephen

6. Uncle John's Band

7. Casey Jones

8. Mexicali Blues

9. Turn on Your Love Light

10. One More Saturday Night [Live]

11. Friend of the Devil

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For The Casual Grateful Dead Fan (If Such A Thing Exists), February 2, 2000

By 

Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skeletons From The Closet: The Best Of The Grateful Dead (Audio CD)

Knowing, working with Dead heads having bureaus of Grateful Dead concert tapes (including some from the group's Warlocks origin), how do you justify, let alone buy, a rarities/greatest hits collection like this? Easy...these are the songs that made the Dead's radio and songwriting reputation before the live traveling circus show became the entire show.

"Skeletons" succintly proves the Dead's abilities as harmony singers ("Uncle John's Band" is tighter than anything CSNY did then), rustic new folk-rockers ("Sugar Magnolia," "Mexicali Blues" and "Friend of the Devil" feel like they were created in Death Valley in July) and live blues-boogie jammers (a strained Bob Weir vocal on "One More Saturday Night" and some Pigpen grease on Bobby Bland's "Turn On Your Love Light" represents what they did so well for so long).

Now that the fair has moved on, Dead Heads would do well not to dis this collection completely. It is often discounted at music stores, and younger listeners may buy it as the first step on the long, strange (now recorded) trip.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Likely Album To Turn A Novice Into A Deadhead, January 9, 2003

By 

Eric R. Last "misterrockobscurities" (San Bruno, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skeletons From The Closet: The Best Of The Grateful Dead (Audio CD)

The criticism from the Deadheads over this album just doesn't wash. This is unquestionably the best single disc of studio music in the Dead catalog. It is by far the best place to start for the uninitiated. Of course the live albums are more representative of what the whole Dead scene was/is all about, but someone who is not already a fan will almost certainly be more impressed with this than with any of the Dead's live albums. Once they fall in love with these classic songs, they most likely will seek out more. Some may (like me) explore quite deeply without ever becoming a major Deadhead. Others will be won over completely, and still others will be satisfied to stop fairly early in their journey. But the point is, no other Dead album will whet the appetite of a newcomer more effectively than "Skeletons From The Closet". Not "American Beauty", not "Workingman's Dead", not "What A Long Strange Trip It's Been", and certainly not any of the live albums. As tight as the Dead could be in concert at times, the vocal sound is just never as good as the studio recordings. If you really want a non-believer to understand why you love the Dead so much, start them with this one.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Contrary Opinion, January 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Skeletons From The Closet: The Best Of The Grateful Dead (Audio CD)

Contrary to other statements, I feel that this cd contains all of the songs necessary, and then some, to be called "the best of". "Mexicali Blues" is one of my favorite Dead songs. I believe that it entails a musical background seperate from that of the other songs, but is just as catchy. The lyrics are incredible as well. I think that anyone who likes this cd should go onto albums. American Beauty is a good starting point. It contains some songs found here and other classics such as "Ripple" and "Box of Rain". This is definitly an incredible cd.