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Silver Dagger
Graham Nash - Songs For Beginners
David Crosby - If Only I Could Remember My Name
Jefferson Starship - Blows Against The Empire
Kantner, Slick, Freiberg - Baron Von Tollbooth
Grace Slick - Sunfighter
All great albums with Garcia slide guitar on them.
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rbk
Unlike most band vs solo members the 'Dead brought their solo songs into the Dead repertoire which allowed the songs to grow and become more interesting. It should be noted that The Wheel, Greatest Story Ever Told, They Love Each Other, Me And My Uncle, Cold Rain and Snow, Sunshine Daydream, Sugaree, Lazy Lightning, Cassidy and Alabama Getaway, among others, were regulars in the Dead the expansive songbook.
If Mick had ever suggested the Stones do "Just Another Night" Keith would have cold-cocked him.
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rbk
Unlike most band vs solo members the 'Dead brought their solo songs into the Dead repertoire which allowed the songs to grow and become more interesting. It should be noted that The Wheel, Greatest Story Ever Told, They Love Each Other, Me And My Uncle, Cold Rain and Snow, Sunshine Daydream, Sugaree, Lazy Lightning, Cassidy and Alabama Getaway, among others, were regulars in the Dead the expansive songbook.
If Mick had ever suggested the Stones do "Just Another Night" Keith would have cold-cocked him.
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Maindefender
Grab any Legion of Mary you can't go wrong.
Weird but fun project was Reconstruction in '79.
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RollingFreak
I'm a novice Deadhead as well, the way I see it as they all had a very open relationship with that stuff. Jerry's first solo album is as good if not arguably the better than any Dead album. And they played those songs a lot. I always wondered if that bothered them but I guess it didn't. Like, wouldn't they have wanted to pull the best parts of Garcia and the best part's of Weir's Ace and make an unbelievable record? Just wasn't their scene, they just did what they wanted.
I definitely think his constant playing was just a need to do different things. Slash from Guns N Roses loves to tour. Just in one form or another. Some guys adore that. I don't think he felt restricted in the Dead as it got bigger, but I think after awhile its hard to find new avenues you haven't explored with those songs. If you're playing it with different guys, in different arrangements, I can see it being very liberating. I mean, I have a kid's album with Jerry Garcia! I think the guy just wanted to pick up a guitar and play, literally all the time.
Again, I'm far from a massive Deadhead, but even at a small level I can appreciate and see what a talent Garcia was. It doesn't mean to overshadow the band, it just sort of naturally does. They're all incredible, but he's a beast in a different way. I don't know if there was resentment, and there are a lot of bands like that where it just seems to be ok for members to do that and no one minds. I'd think its weird, but I'm also not in a band. It never seemed to have a negative affect on the band from what I've seen. Regardless of whether they meant to or not, they all basically followed him live it seems. If he learned new things or wanted to try different styles, they did.
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Maindefender
Garcia was 99.9% musician. Robert Hunter was the Dead's primary lyricist and all of Garcia's side projects were Hunter songs or covers. He loved to play......top on my wish list along with seeing every Stones gig in their first year would be to see him perform every Keystone gig he ever played
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Hairball
Like LongBeachArena, I saw them once and was bored, but for me it was '77 or '78 at UCLA's Royce Hall. Being 15 or 16 at the time, I only knew of and really liked some their "Greatest Hits", but in a live setting it was a bit over my head. Never took the time after that to dig too into all of their history, but I did gain a better appreciation of their musicianship. Some aquanintances of mine in High school got really into them around 1980, and followed the band around the country...they took so much acid that each time they came back from a trek they were actually further away. I saw Phil Lesh and Friends co-headline with Dylan at the Ventura Fairgrounds in 1999 (or 2000?), and really enjoyed the extended jams, but again not something I could fully relate to.
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LongBeachArena72Quote
Hairball
Like LongBeachArena, I saw them once and was bored, but for me it was '77 or '78 at UCLA's Royce Hall. Being 15 or 16 at the time, I only knew of and really liked some their "Greatest Hits", but in a live setting it was a bit over my head. Never took the time after that to dig too into all of their history, but I did gain a better appreciation of their musicianship. Some aquanintances of mine in High school got really into them around 1980, and followed the band around the country...they took so much acid that each time they came back from a trek they were actually further away. I saw Phil Lesh and Friends co-headline with Dylan at the Ventura Fairgrounds in 1999 (or 2000?), and really enjoyed the extended jams, but again not something I could fully relate to.
Might have been this one, HB, on 12/30/78 on campus at Pauley Pavilion:
[archive.org]
Doesn't look like they ever played Royce Hall but they played Pauley bunches of times over the years. The soundboard above is from the date closest to your 77/8 memory. Looks like a good show!
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Hound Dog
Dead are right up there with the Stones for my wife and I. And I think Jerry's work outside the Dead is amazing. I really feel like outside of the Dead is where Jerry shined because he could play so many different styles of music.
Just got the complete Keystone recordings box set and it is fantastic.
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bob r
I thought the Dead were good when they were 'reigned in"-- Workingmans Dead, American Beauty, Terrepin Station, etc--
I lost the plot when they would drift off into those jams....I saw them once and its seemed like they only played two songs and the show went on for hours....I know they were into improvisation like Jazz musicians, but boy it could really get boring-- but I do have to say, they are and were talented musicians...Garcia especially
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rbk
Unlike most band vs solo members the 'Dead brought their solo songs into the Dead repertoire which allowed the songs to grow and become more interesting. It should be noted that The Wheel, Greatest Story Ever Told, They Love Each Other, Me And My Uncle, Cold Rain and Snow, Sunshine Daydream, Sugaree, Lazy Lightning, Cassidy and Alabama Getaway, among others, were regulars in the Dead the expansive songbook.
If Mick had ever suggested the Stones do "Just Another Night" Keith would have cold-cocked him.
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Hairball
When I was still at the young age of 12 or 13 exploring different types of music, I bought the Grateful Dead's Blues for Allah album (which was their latest release at the time) based on the cool cover art alone.
It was dreadful listening experience at the time , and never made that mistake of buying something without a clue again. Still have the album though, and still think it's a cool cover!
I did like the albums Terrapin Station and Shakedown Street quite a bit more. The former had the great reggae-ish Estimated Prophet with the "California...." refrain, while the latter had I Need a Miracle which seemed to get a lot of radio airplay at the time.
I loved In The Dark - the tunes Touch of Grey, Hell in a Bucket, and West L.A. Fadeaway are still some of my favorite songs by any band.
That album, along with the Skeletons in the Closet compilation have always been enough Grateful Dead for me (give or take some other tunes), but maybe someday I'll dig deeper.
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Hound Dog
Long Beach yes that is the one.
One thing I also wanted to mention is that Dead & Company with John Mayer is absolutely awful to me. His vocals ruin such great songs.
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LongBeachArena72Quote
Hairball
When I was still at the young age of 12 or 13 exploring different types of music, I bought the Grateful Dead's Blues for Allah album (which was their latest release at the time) based on the cool cover art alone.
It was dreadful listening experience at the time , and never made that mistake of buying something without a clue again. Still have the album though, and still think it's a cool cover!
I did like the albums Terrapin Station and Shakedown Street quite a bit more. The former had the great reggae-ish Estimated Prophet with the "California...." refrain, while the latter had I Need a Miracle which seemed to get a lot of radio airplay at the time.
I loved In The Dark - the tunes Touch of Grey, Hell in a Bucket, and West L.A. Fadeaway are still some of my favorite songs by any band.
That album, along with the Skeletons in the Closet compilation have always been enough Grateful Dead for me (give or take some other tunes), but maybe someday I'll dig deeper.
I can honestly say that I have never heard a single Grateful Dead song that was better in its original studio incarnation than in its best live version. They were a pretty meh band in the studio, in my opinion ... although as you point out, HB, they did have some great covers!
As the band developed songs over the years they found new avenues of exploration and emphases, new ways in ... the songs' true hearts revealed themselves in time and the tunes emerged deeper, more soulful and funky.
(They are almost the antithesis of the Stones in this respect: to my ears, other than "Midnight Rambler" from 69-73, and "I'm Free" and "Sympathy for the Devil" in 69, no other Stones live version has ever topped its studio original.)
BTW, "Terrapin" and "Shakedown" are favorites of mine, too. And the "Help on the Way/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower" that kicks off Blues for Allah became a monster suite in concert.