Customer Reviews

Skeletons in Closet: Best of

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This review is mainly for new fans who are tempted with the budget price on this one, while offering quite a few of the popular radio songs presented from 1967 to 1974. I bought this one on vinyl about twenty something years ago, thinking that this record was all that I really needed. Well, it sat there collecting dust through the years, as I only recently found out that this one is the worst place to start off with if one is to appreciate this great American band. Sure, the songs are great. But the problem is that the Grateful Dead have always been a live band. Their studio efforts were mostly like what happens when you take a park ranger and place them in a new job in high rise office building. The results are like what a caged animal must feel like. So, for those who want to start with this one on a budget: DON'T DO IT!!!!!

After tremendously exhaustive research and listening, here are the live discs that are all recommended as excellent starting places for new Grateful Dead fans. The year of the recording is also given, as some of the release dates came after 1995. Thanks to modern technology, many old tapes have been brought to sparkling life on CD. Now for the recommendations: Two From The Vault (1968); Dick's Picks 16 (1969); Grateful Dead (aka live Skull & Roses from 1971); Hundred Year Hall (1972); One From The Vault (1975); Dick's Picks 10 (1977); Dick's Pick's 18 (1978). One can try to find these in the used bins, but the problem is that anyone who would want to trade in these great CD's is one who liked to party hearty and spill things all over them. Still another great place to start would be Ladies And Gentlemen: The Grateful Dead (1970). As for the time period from 1976 to 1990, the good collection called Arista Years will suffice, as not enough live material is yet available from the best of these studio songs. All of these CD's are available here at Amazon (except Dick's Picks 10, which may be available as used or through the Grateful Dead website).

This band is American as apple pie, as nearly every form of American roots music is covered throughout their history. Long live the music of the Grateful Dead and other jam bands who carry on with the torch! I hope this information helps.

This is the first Grateful Dead CD that I purchased and I almost quit listening to them because of it. It's quite good, but doesn't contain any of the aggressive (and sometimes 20 minute long) jam sessions that you'll find on their live albums. This is an excellent collection of songs, but most of the songs included here (Sugar Magnolia, Truckin',...) are much more fun on live recordings. Europe '72 is a great starting point for live Dead.

If you're looking for more concise studio songs, Mars Hotel has some great ones that didn't make it on to this album.

It was the last day of school my junior year of high school and me and my best friend at the time rode our bikes quite a ways to the mall. I came home with this tape after being intrigued by the deads popularity at the time, touch of grey was all the rage on radio and mtv and thats all the exposure I had until getting this tape. Skeletons from the closet really impressed me, much more then I expected and I highly recommend it to people who aren't familiar with the band and are daunted by the huge number of releases out there. I thought there were TONS back in 1988 which was nothing compared to amount of stuff available now but luckily I made the right choice with this. The songs on this are what the title says, truly the best studio tracks, whoever put this together really put themselves in the shoes of the casual listener. My favorite tracks at the time were the golden road and rosemary, in retrospect it's a bit odd rosemary was included but it works like the rest of the album. A couple weeks after getting this I got the American Beauty cd which I got just because it had some songs that were on this album so I figured it's probably good :)I really recommend American Beauty as well, in fact, I'd say that these two albums are the perfect starting point for the dead curious ppl out there. Skeletons from the closet brings back fond memories of a time when I was completely clueless about the dead but it all started with that tape which I still have :) 5 stars because as a "Best of" studio album it truly deserves it.

These guys could write music. One of the most if not the most prolific, innovative, and influential of American bands, this band offers song after song whose appeal spans generations.

This album is great for someone who just wants an overview of the Grateful Dead's catalogue but doesn't want to buy all the albums individually. This album is practically all studio and no live cuts, so it misses out on an important aspect of the Dead, which was their touring.

Of the songs on this album, "Truckin'" is my personal favorite, but there's also "One More Saturday Night," "Sugar Magnolia," "Casey Jones," "Uncle John's Band," and "Friend of the Devil." These are classic Grateful Dead songs, and they were performed and recorded with the soulfulness that is a Grateful Dead staple.

This collection of songs never gets old, and the album only falls short because it doesn't have room for some key Grateful Dead songs such as "Ripple," "I Need A Miracle," "Touch of Grey," "China Doll," and "Dark Star."

Don't waste your time and money with this set. Buy,instead, "The Very Best of The Grateful Dead" which presents many of the songs on this set plus more (17 vs 11 songs). It is also remastered for better sound quality and is a better intro for those entering "The Dead Zone" for the first time.

I'm one of the biggest Deadheads you can meet. I have countless GD bootlegs and shows (my favorite being the Spectrum show from October 17, 1994 in Philadelphia or the Madison Square Garden show from September 16, 1990 which was released as 'Dick's Picks Vol. 9' -- see my review for that one), so you could say I'm a devoted fan. I own this disc. Why? I don't know. It's not remastered, I have no use for it, and it basically sits on my CD rack collecting dust.

But, as previous reviewers stated, 'Skeletons in the Closet' is a fine place for the new Deadhead to begin their journey with this band. It was the original compilation, having been released in 1974 as the band were departing Warner Bros. Records to create their own label, Grateful Dead Records (they would dissolve that and sign with Arista Records in late 1976, where they would stay until 1995, when Jerry died).

So, with that being said, how does this collection measure up 37 years later?

Well, the truth is, not very well. At the time, for the casual Deadhead, this was quite comprehensive. It featured many essentials from their classic Warner Bros. albums (which you could now call the "Pigpen era"), and also has one of the coolest album covers on a GD album. However, the Dead did not disband after 1974 (obviously), and released some of their finest work AFTER 1974, as a matter of fact.

What's here is wonderful. Don't get me wrong. But why not make this more comprehensive? Where is 'Cream Puff War'? Or how about 'New Speedway Boogie'? Or 'Cosmic Charlie'? COME ON WARNER!!! You can do better than this!!!

Yeah, what's here is great. In fact, all of it is worthy of a million stars (including the two live essentials; 'Turn On Your Lovelight' from 1969's 'Live Dead' still remains my favorite version of this, and believe me, I have heard MANY). But the point is, it's out of date. So my complaint is not that this was reissued on CD. Back in 1990, when the CD market was starting to pick up on reissues, this was a great idea. Many Deadheads who had all of the Dead on vinyl started their CD collection with this disc.

But, why is it still in print in 2011? The Dead have hundreds and hundreds of shows on CD, and every true Deadhead knows the Dead really came alive in concert. The studio stuff was great ('In the Dark,' 'American Beauty,' 'Workingman's Dead,' 'Aoxomoxoa' and 'Terrapin Station' especially, although 'Wake of the Flood' could easily be put in that list as well), but live Dead is where it is really at.

My advice: if you see this for $3 or less and you don't have much exposure to the Dead, pick it up. It could potentially make you a lifelong Deadhead; otherwise, skip this and buy a live album ('Egypt 1978' and 'Hundred Year Hall' are good picks for starters, as well as 'Truckin' Up to Buffalo' or even 'Live Dead,' the classic 1969 live album). Or, hopefully Warner Bros. can reissue this and *at least* make this a little more comprehensive so the casual fan can get more exposure.

What's here is great. But there is SO MUCH more to the Dead than what's on this skimpy (and quite out-of-date) collection. You can do better than this set.

When the vinyl version of this record was released in '74, there was almost no way I would have picked up on it. I had a fair amount of Dead albums already (although I wasn't quite the completist some of my friends were). But in principle, I objected to buying "best of" albums in general, especially of artists I basically admired. That was for dilettantes. Or for people on a very limited budget.

Of course, as a poor college student, I probably should have been on a budget and was sort of on a de facto one, always INTENDING to pick up this or that record eventually. There were any number of Dead albums I never did manage to buy. Still, I at least got to hear pretty much all the Dead I wanted in friends' apartments or dorm rooms. It was like the wallpaper. Getting a "Best Of" release seemed kinda redundant.

But a lot can change in 34 years. All these format changes (to say nothing of real life budgetary issues) have forced me to look at "best of" and "greatest hits" packages in a new light. And even if I were a much harder core Deadhead than I am, there's so much other Dead product out there now to sample (I've only heard a fraction of Dick's famous Picks, for instance) that maybe I really DON'T want to repurchase every single pre-74 release on CD quite yet.

Besides I got this one on sale for just a couple of bucks. And what a treat it is. I love the fact that it's not sequenced chronologically. It begins with "Golden Road" from the very first album but then proceeds on to "Truckin'" from AMERICAN BEAUTY. When I was a kid, I might have been upset that over six years of musical history was seemingly blithely ignored in this sequencing. Now I see it as quite canny marketing (in a good way). The entire album's strategy seems to be to wrap the more experimental stuff around the much more accessible tracks from BEAUTY and WORKINGMAN'S. That might have offended me back when I was a 22 year old purist. In my 50s, I'm a heck of a lot cooler with it.

Some might find that too much emphasis is placed on the more "commercial" early 70s Dead product. But there's live stuff too--which is important for any accurate representation of the Dead. AND bits of weirdness like "Rosemary" from AOXOMOXOA. It would have been nice to see a selection or two from MY own personal favorite Dead LP, ANTHEM OF THE SUN. But that album is pretty much all of a piece, and it'd be next to impossible to isolate a single representative track from it.

In fact, the album seems to have an almost "concert like" flow--as opposed to "historical." Whoever sequenced it seems to have been thinking, "What works best with what?" They chose well. It all keeps truckin' along rather nicely and makes for a rather nice "nostalgia trip" (for some of us--albeit a "short and not all THAT strange a one." And, of course, it could serve as an effective introductory Grateful Dead course for others, especially given since it has so much from the most "tuneful" era.

Win-win, I guess. Veterans will understand--and newbies should keep in mind--that this collection just scratches the surface. But what a surface.