Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 24 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
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.
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13 of 15 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
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.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
New Grateful Dead fans should not start out with this one!, July 10, 2002
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.
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