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keefriffhard4life

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baxlap
The Dead were generally not so well served by recording studios or anthologies. But there are lots of live recordings that capture that thing they did. Having said that I'd start with two of the basics (Workingman's Dead and American Beauty), then work my way to their live stuff, starting with Live/Dead. From there, I'd look for top-shelf live sets from '72 (Steppin' Out) '74 (Dick's Picks 12), '77 (To Terrapin), and '89 (Crimson White and Indigo).

i agree with this post

it's sorta the "common wisdom" about the GD, but i know many deadheads (including myself) who would vehemently disagree. their studio work was often brilliant. many excellent studio albums to choose from: american beauty & workingman are the two most cited examples, but i would also recommend: mars hotel, allah, wake of the flood, terrapin and go to heaven......

Dead Set has some good R&R type tunes. Passenger,Samson & Delilah, Deal, New Minglewood Blues. Also included are Little Red Rooster & a good Friend of the Devil.

American Beauty & Workingman's Dead (wh. sounds a lot like Let It Bleed to me). You'll really like them as they are Beggar's Banquet/Let It Bleed-esque.

In the studio only 3-4 albums:Axomoxoa,American beauty, Workingman's dead and Anthem of the sun...Live...Everything!!!

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baxlap
The Dead were generally not so well served by recording studios or anthologies. But there are lots of live recordings that capture that thing they did. Having said that I'd start with two of the basics (Workingman's Dead and American Beauty), then work my way to their live stuff, starting with Live/Dead. From there, I'd look for top-shelf live sets from '72 (Steppin' Out) '74 (Dick's Picks 12), '77 (To Terrapin), and '89 (Crimson White and Indigo).

Yep, at least through '77

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BluzDude
Why did Frisco bands from the 60's always give their worst performances purposely in L.A.? (Jefferson Airplane first comes to mind) I don't think L.A. bands were so rude.

Please don't refer to San Francisco as "Frisco". Locals don't like it.

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mccparty

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BluzDude
Why did Frisco bands from the 60's always give their worst performances purposely in L.A.? (Jefferson Airplane first comes to mind) I don't think L.A. bands were so rude.

Please don't refer to San Francisco as "Frisco". Locals don't like it.

Herb Caen is now rolling over in his grave.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

"I've been huge on buying box sets"

Save the money for the kids and get for free one the 17235 shows that float around on the Net... Don't like one gig? Discard it and get another one or burn only the few tracks where the band was on that night.
The possibilities are infinite, what you wanna do seems a bit narrow imho.

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sweetcharmedlife

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mccparty

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BluzDude
Why did Frisco bands from the 60's always give their worst performances purposely in L.A.? (Jefferson Airplane first comes to mind) I don't think L.A. bands were so rude.

Please don't refer to San Francisco as "Frisco". Locals don't like it.

Herb Caen is now rolling over in his grave.

I will stop calling San Francisco "Frisco" when they start showing Los Angeles some respect.

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sweetcharmedlife
Here's another good place to start. [www.archive.org]

It begins and ends there, that site is a gold mine.

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BluzDude

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sweetcharmedlife

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mccparty

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BluzDude
Why did Frisco bands from the 60's always give their worst performances purposely in L.A.? (Jefferson Airplane first comes to mind) I don't think L.A. bands were so rude.

Please don't refer to San Francisco as "Frisco". Locals don't like it.

Herb Caen is now rolling over in his grave.

I will stop calling San Francisco "Frisco" when they start showing Los Angeles some respect.

You want some.....Come get some.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

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The Sicilian

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sweetcharmedlife
Here's another good place to start. [www.archive.org]

It begins and ends there, that site is a gold mine.

Yeah I have to actually thank Bingo for first turning me on to that site.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Saint Stephen with a rose..in and out of the garden he goes

Actually, any self-respecting Dead fan's collection should begin- and end- with the Shakedown Street album.

Hippie disco at it's finest ><

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bustedtrousers
Actually, any self-respecting Dead fan's collection should begin- and end- with the Shakedown Street album.

Hippie disco at it's finest ><

Your hilarious aren't you?

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

When you want the Dead you have to go Live Dead.

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sweetcharmedlife

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bustedtrousers
Actually, any self-respecting Dead fan's collection should begin- and end- with the Shakedown Street album.

Hippie disco at it's finest ><

Your hilarious aren't you?

In this instance I thought so.

To reiterate, start with:

Working Man's Dead
American Beauty
Europe '72
Wake of The Flood

These are the essence of all that is Grateful Dead. All of their other albums, including the '68 and '69 psychedelic stuff, have great tunes that are more than offset by unabashed clunkers. The above four albums are near perfection.

With archives.org you can get The Grateful Dead, Rat Dog, Phil and Friends, Further, The Other Ones... It's as close to jamming heaven as is allowed...
Amoxoma also has alot of good stuff on it...Mountains of The Moon was one of Jerry's best...

When I'd said Blues for Allah, I was meaning the LP, and yes, the first half DOES have it all! But if you want a good start for their live stuff...

'One From the Vault'.
It was a live 2CD set from 1991, but the material is from August 3rd, 1975. This is the first time the band ever released a complete show commercially, and the first time the whole album Blues for Allah was played (with other stuff thrown in of course).

[thepowergoats.com]

Their best imo,...don't shoot me.

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Slick
^^^
exactly, dicks picks up thru 1979 are the way to start, save the studio and 80s-90s live for much later.

i take part of this back, since donna jean on back-up is very much an acquired taste lol... any of the live stuff thru 72 before she joined is where you want to start.

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Amsterdamned
Their best imo,...don't shoot me.

I've always liked Terrapin Station LP since I first heard it back in the eighties. Also In The Dark is a great album + some early ones. But mainly, The Dead's live bootlegs are the main thing. Especially those soundboard bootlegs. And there's a huge amount of them available.

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R
To reiterate, start with:

Working Man's Dead
American Beauty
Europe '72
Wake of The Flood

These are the essence of all that is Grateful Dead. All of their other albums, including the '68 and '69 psychedelic stuff, have great tunes that are more than offset by unabashed clunkers.

Sounds like a good description of a lot of their concerts too!

some extended jams work like for example the live/dead version of darkstar or the hartford '77 sugaree but other times the jams are just noodling but overall i enjoy the long tunes

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BluzDude

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sweetcharmedlife

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mccparty

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BluzDude
Why did Frisco bands from the 60's always give their worst performances purposely in L.A.? (Jefferson Airplane first comes to mind) I don't think L.A. bands were so rude.

Please don't refer to San Francisco as "Frisco". Locals don't like it.

Herb Caen is now rolling over in his grave.

I will stop calling San Francisco "Frisco" when they start showing Los Angeles some respect.

I grew up in LA and now live in SF and I always call it "Frisco" just to piss the locals off 'cause they're so uptight about it. Plus, the first few Dead albums, and the Airplane's Pillow and Baxters albums, and the first Moby Grape album were recorded in Los Angeles. And some of those records were produced by Dave Hassinger who worked with another band from England. Is it the Rolling Stones by any chance?

5/8/77
One of the crown jewels of Grateful Dead bootlegs...

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jeff14
5/8/77
One of the crown jewels of Grateful Dead bootlegs...

Some believe that 1977 was the their peak,or, the year of their best playing, their most consistent quality of playing. The concert at Cornell University's Barton Hall on 5/8/77 is regarded as one of the best shows or the best from 1977.

It is a well played show.

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deadegad

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jeff14
5/8/77
One of the crown jewels of Grateful Dead bootlegs...

Some believe that 1977 was the their peak,or, the year of their best playing, their most consistent quality of playing. The concert at Cornell University's Barton Hall on 5/8/77 is regarded as one of the best shows or the best from 1977.

It is a well played show.

it's a great show, but i think there a better ones from that tour. 69, 72, and 73 were their best live years - which is kinda cool, cos those were the best three live years for our beloved stones.

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StonesTod

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deadegad

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jeff14
5/8/77
One of the crown jewels of Grateful Dead bootlegs...

Some believe that 1977 was the their peak,or, the year of their best playing, their most consistent quality of playing. The concert at Cornell University's Barton Hall on 5/8/77 is regarded as one of the best shows or the best from 1977.

It is a well played show.

it's a great show, but i think there a better ones from that tour. 69, 72, and 73 were their best live years - which is kinda cool, cos those were the best three live years for our beloved stones.

While 1977 was a fine year, there was great playing, great shows, throughout their career. Even in the last few year there were great shows although Jerry's health and addiction were taking their toll (he was in rehab trying to get clean when he passed away).

To answer the original question: the studio recommendations are all good next just add in some live shows from their official releases. Perhaps a dozen shows spanning from 68-69 through the early 90s?

I would also recommend seeing them live in their various incarnations. Currently Phil Lesh and Bob Weir are playing as Furthur with other musicians and in true GD spirit they are pushing the music furhtur in an ever changing experiment in what is possible. they are very, very good.

Likewise the "Dead' tour o 2009 with the great Waren Haynes was excellent. They played as the Dead with Haynes, Jimmy Herring, and Joan Osbourne earlierie in this decade with Steve Winwood opening. There was some fine playing on those tours. Steve W's band was great as well and they joined the Dead for a few songs. This was a rare opportunity to see some outstanding musicians 'in the moment.'

Phil and Bob's other bands Phil and Friends and Ratdog are simply wonderful live and bootleg.