I’ve chosen not to rate Garcia’s appearances on other people’s records with a star system. (Would I be rating Garcia’s performance? The album as a whole? Too confusing.) However, I’ve noted my favorites in that category with a .
In each grouping, the albums are listed chronologically by performance, not by release date. Space does not permit a full listing of all the songs on each disc, but that information is on my Web site, www.blairjackson.com.
GRATEFUL DEAD
The Grateful Dead (1967, Warner Bros.)
A fun and fast-paced glimpse of what the Dead were like in their ballroom days. The most successful cuts are the extended ones—“Viola Lee Blues,” “Morning Dew” and “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.” “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)” almost sounds like a mainstream rock track, circa ’67, and though Garcia didn’t like “Cream Puff War,” I do. “Beat It on Down the Line” and “Sitting on Top of the World” are manic but still effective. “Cold Rain and Snow” is also faster than the group played it in later years.
Anthem of the Sun (1968, WB) 1⁄2
A wild, ambitious, hallucinatory mixture of live and studio tracks. Some of the editing and layering of tracks is a bit messy, and it sounds dated today, but the playing is fiery all the way through. There are better versions of “That’s It for the Other One” and “New Potato Caboose” on Two for the Vault, but the “Alligator” > “Caution” jam has yet to be topped on CD. Thirty years later, I’m still puzzled by Weir’s odd “Born Cross-Eyed,” but “New Potato Caboose” remains one of my favorite Dead tunes.
Two from the Vault (August ’68 performances, released 1992, GDR) 1⁄2
A potent mixture of mature, fabulously played renditions of some of the Anthem material (“That’s It for the Other One” and “New Potato Caboose”) and early versions of four of the songs from Live Dead—“Dark Star,” “St. Stephen,” “The Eleven” and “Lovelight.” “Dark Star” isn’t the monster it would become just a few months later, but “The Eleven” is particularly inspired, possibly even topping the epic Live Dead version. Pigpen struts his stuff on fine versions of “Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl” and “Lovelight.” The “Morning Dew” encore gets cut when the police pull the plug on the concert! Highly recommended! Two CDs.
Fillmore East: 2/11/69 (Released 1997, GDR)
Two complete sets, each about an hour, from a series when the Dead opened for Janis Joplin. Concise playing (at least for the Dead) is the order of the day here. There’s a strong “That’s It for the Other One,” graceful acoustic versions of two songs from Aoxomoxoa (then a work in progress)—“Dupree’s Diamond Blues” and “Mountains of the Moon”—and a surprisingly strong (if slightly shortened) “Dark Star” > “St. Stephen” > “The Eleven.” The unexpected gem in the collection is the always underrated “Doin’ That Rag.” Pigpen has a number of strong tunes here, though his version of “Hey Jude” is much better in concept than execution; Wilson Pickett he’s not. Two CDs.
Aoxomoxoa (1969, WB) 1⁄2
Quirky but nicely recorded and performed versions of early Hunter-Garcia songs, including “St. Stephen,” “China Cat Sunflower,” “Cosmic Charlie,” and others. Garcia sings lead throughout and dominates the instrumental sound, as well. This is the early ’70s remixed version of the album, so we get the uncluttered “Mountains of the Moon.” The downside of the remix is that the otherwise excellent “Doin’ That Rag” doesn’t have its grand a capella ending: “Everywhere I go / The people all know / Everybody’s doin’ that raaaaag!” “What’s Become of the Baby” stands as a noble failure.
Dick’s Picks Vol. 16: Fillmore Auditorium 11/8/69 (Released 2000, GDR) 1⁄2
The fall of ’69 was an interesting time for the Dead because they still played magnificent, jammy, seriously psychedelic versions of their great late ’60s triumverate—“Dark Star” > “St. Stephen” > “The Eleven”—but they were also beginning to integrate some of the shorter, countrified tunes that would reshape their sound to a degree through 1970. This show, on three discs, includes big jamming tunes plus early (and at points tentative) versions of five songs that would appear on Workingman’s Dead in the spring of ’70—“Casey Jones,” “Cumberland Blues,” “Dire Wolf,” “High Time” and “Easy Wind.” A sixth Workingman’s song, “Uncle John’s Band,” is played as an instrumental during a sensational “Dark Star” sandwich (the two verses are split by other songs and jams) that also includes a percolating section of “The Other One,” which was rarely played outside of the full “That’s It for the Other One” suite in those days. The first disc is ragged in places and there are times when I wish the there was greater definition of the instruments (it’s quite an aural assault!). Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find another show on CD that better demonstrates the spellbinding telepathy between Garcia and Lesh; indeed, the whole band is on fire. A nice bonus on disc three is the “Lovelight” from the previous night’s show at the Fillmore.
Live Dead (1969, WB)
The Dead’s first live album, culled from two early ’69 shows, is the greatest psychedelic record ever made, in my opinion. The sequence of “Dark Star” > “St. Stephen” > “The Eleven” > “Lovelight” hits so many peaks and visits so many interesting spaces that I still hear new things in it three decades after I first bought it. “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” is one of Garcia’s finest blues performances. The CD packs all four sides of the original double-album onto a single CD. A must!
Dick’s Picks Vol. 4: Fillmore East 2/13–14, 1970 (Released 1996, GDR) 1⁄2
There’s lots to like on this three-CD set. The “Dark Star” is widely considered one of the band’s best (I agree); “Dancing in the Streets” contains some wonderful R&B-flavored jamming and grooves, and the entire third disc is phenomenal, particularly the sequence of “Not Fade Away” > “Mason’s Children” > “Caution.” The version of “Lovelight” sags in places, and the “Alligator” doesn’t match most late ’60s versions. Still, that’s nit-picking and not enough to prevent me from heartily recommending this superb three-CD set.
Bear’s Choice: History of the Grateful Dead Vol. 1 (1970 performances, released 1974, WB) 1⁄2
A single disc, also taken from the same February ’70 Fillmore East run as Dick’s Picks #4. Until Dicks Picks #8 (see below) was released, this was the only “official” record documenting the Dead’s ’70 acoustic sets, though it didn’t even do that very well. The highlight is definitely the electric “Hard to Handle,” intended as a tribute to Pigpen when it came out. Pig and the Dead’s meandering “Smokestack Lightning” is less successful, but also contains some hot moments.
Workingman’s Dead (1970, WB)
A flawless studio album with no weak cuts and at least three acknowledged classics: “Uncle John’s Band,” “Casey Jones” and “Cumberland Blues.” Mostly it’s country-flavored folk and rock, quite a departure from their previous release, Live Dead. The most jammed-out tune here is “Easy Wind,” sung by Pigpen. “Black Peter” stands as a wildly original country blues by Garcia. This album and American Beauty are many Deadheads’ favorite studio albums. Essential.
Dick’s Picks Vol. 8: Harpur College 5/2/70 (Released 1997)
A favorite show among tape collectors for many years, this three-CD package contains a lively acoustic set—probably the best from beginning to end I’ve ever heard—and two powerhouse electric sets. Standouts include one of the last versions of “Viola Lee Blues,” a twenty-nine-minute voyage through “That’s It for the Other One,” and stellar jams on “Dancing in the Streets” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s World.” The vocals are fairly rough in spots (no surprise there), but the playing is the Dead at their best. The version of “St. Stephen” is cut at the beginning (the master tape was incomplete) and both electric sets are in mono, while the acoustic set is stereo, for reasons unknown. Mono or stereo, it’s awesome.
American Beauty (1970, WB)
The most poetic and musically lyrical album to come from th
e Hunter-Garcia partnership, it includes “Ripple,” “Brokedown Palace,” “Friend of the Devil” (at its original fast clip), and “Attics of My Life,” as well as Phil and Hunter’s beautiful “Box of Rain” and the rockers “Sugar Magnolia” (with a great pedal steel guitar line by Garcia) and “Truckin.’” “Till the Morning Comes” is the only less-than-great song on the record, and it ain’t bad. Much of it is positively transcendant. Definitely a soul-lifting desert island pick. Essential.
Grateful Dead (“Skull & Roses”) (1971, WB) 1⁄2
A double-LP when it came out, it’s now a single CD that has some of the contour of a real Dead show from that era, with the short songs up front and longer pieces toward the end. The second half, with “The Other One,” “Wharf Rat,” and “Not Fade Away” > “Goin’ Down the Road,” captures the lean, post-Mickey, pre-Keith band at a peak. Some of the shorter pieces are less impressive, and the long drum solo has never done much for me. When it came out I played it constantly, in part because it contained the only versions of “Bertha” and “Playing in the Band” up to that point, but it’s been eclipsed by better discs since. Sonically it’s very impressive, capturing Phil’s bass especially well.
Dick’s Picks Vol. 2: Columbus, Ohio, 10/31/71 (Released 1995, GDR) 1⁄2
The lone single-disc release in the Dick’s Picks series features a powerful second set that includes a fantastically variegated and high-energy “Dark Star” which, after a zillion twists and turns, rolls into “Sugar Magnolia,” and is then followed by “St. Stephen” > “Not Fade Away” > “Goin’ Down the Road” > “Not Fade Away”; outstanding versions all. Though it’s one of Keith Godchaux’s first shows, he’s barely audible on most of the disc, so a lot of it sounds like the nimble GD Quartet—Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann.
Europe ’72 (1972, WB) 1⁄2
Originally a three-album set, now on two CDs, Europe ’72 offered the first recorded versions of a number of fine tunes, such as “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Tennessee Jed,” “He’s Gone,” “Jack Straw,” and “Ramble on Rose,” as well as muscular workouts on “Truckin’” and “China Cat” > “I Know You Rider.” Tight, well-executed performances throughout (actually they sound as if there might have been a little cosmetic tweaking, particularly in the vocals, here and there), though the two lengthy jams are not among my favorites. I loved this album in the ’70s, but it hasn’t worn as well as some others for me.
Hundred Year Hall: Frankfurt, Germany, 4/26/72 (Released 1995, GDR)
This two-CD set is almost like a combination of “Skull & Roses” and Europe ’72, but it’s better than either. Crackling with energy from beginning to end, it contains a nicely circuitous “Playing in the Band,” a ferocious “Lovelight” that is unlike any other I’ve heard (it’s heavy on the jamming and light on Pigpen’s rapping), and superb versions of “Truckin,’” “Comes a Time,” and “Goin’ Down the Road.” I love the section where Garcia and Weir battle over whether to play “Not Fade Away” or “Goin’ Down the Road”! At over thirty-six minutes, “The Other One” is a jam-lover’s delight, alternately spacey and driving; a remarkable ensemble piece. A winner from top to bottom.
Dicks Picks Volume 11: Jersey City, NJ 9/27/72 (Released 1998, GDR)
This full-concert CD from the beloved Stanley Theater is further proof that 1972 was one of the best years ever for the Dead. With Keith Godchaux fully comfortable in the keyboard chair and Billy K. playing “like a young God,” as Phil put it, this edition of the band swings confidently. This is three discs with virtually no down spots at all. Opening with “Morning Dew” is the first tip-off that there was magic in the air this night. All the songs are performed with power and verve. The first set offers the relatively rare fast electric version of “Friend of the Devil,” a magnficently exploratory “Bird Song,” a solid “China Cat > Rider,” and fifteen minutes of growling, propulsive jams through “Playing in the Band.” The still-new (and peppy) “He’s Gone” provides a mellow entry into a second set dominated by a long, typically dissonant (classic ’72) “Dark Star,” which then skitters beautifully into “Cumberland Blues.” “Attics of My Life” is a great late-set choice, delivered with considerable emotion, and from there it’s a mini-set of rockers, including a fine “Uncle John’s Band.” There are shows with more continuous threads running through them (like the second set the following night at the Stanley), but this one definitely has the goods in spades, and shows the Dead at a peak.
Wake of the Flood (1973, GDR)
The Dead’s first album on their independent label is full of strong tunes, including “Mississippi Half-Step” (with Vassar Clements on fiddle), “Here Comes Sunshine,” “Eyes of the World,” “Stella Blue,” and Weir’s “Weather Report Suite” (augmented by horns). A worthy follow-up to American Beauty and still one of the best Dead studio records, even though all of the songs sounded much more developed live—See Dick’s Picks Vol. 1 below.
Dicks Picks Vol. 14: Boston Music Hall 11/30 and 12/2/73 (Released 1999, GDR)
As good as much of this two-CD set is, it seems somewhat redundant with other Dicks Picks to me, and it breaks very little new ground. Still, there are many high moments here, including one of those smoldering, twisted, dissonant “Playing” jams that completely melts down at one point (actually not my favorite style of “Playing” jam for repeated listenings); an excellent “Here Comes Sunshine,” somewhat similar in style to the epic Tampa version on Dick’s Picks Vol. 1 (below) recorded a couple of weeks later; a fine “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” jam following “Truckin’”; and an interesting “Dark Star” jam that comes out of one of the two versions of “Weather Report Suite.” There are also two versions each of “Morning Dew” and “Playing in the Band”; in each case they’re different enough from each other to warrant their inclusion. All things considered, my favorite tracks are probably “Wharf Rat” (a second set opener!) and “Eyes of the World”; both are exceptional. But a lot of what’s on these four discs is a tad slow and “soft” for me. Perhaps it will grow on me more, as other Picks have, over time.
Dicks Picks Vol. 1: Tampa, Florida, 12/19/73 (Released 1993, GDR) 1⁄2
The fourteen-minute version of “Here Comes Sunshine” that opens this set is one of my all-time favorite Dead performances, a masterpiece of mellow but incredibly focused jamming loaded with masterful interplay by Garcia, Lesh and Weir. Disc one of the two-CD set also includes an excellent “Weather Report Suite” and a spacey twenty-one-minute “Playing in the Band” that meanders in some very interesting directions, with Garcia’s wah-wah guitar leading the charge. I don’t listen to the second disc as often, but it’s every bit as potent, with a fine combination of “He’s Gone” and “Truckin’,” the rarely played “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” (an old Blind Willie Johnson tune from the ’20s), “The Other One” and “Stella Blue.” An auspicious start to the Dick’s Picks series, to say the least!
Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel (1974, GDR) 1⁄2
One of the Dead’s best-recorded studio albums, with excellent, live-sounding performances of “Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship of Fools,” “U.S. Blues,” and “China Doll.” It also contains “Unbroken Chain.” I’ve never liked “Money Money” or “Pride of Cucamonga” much. This was one of Garcia’s favorite studio albums.
Best of (Skeletons from the Closet) (1974, WB)
Useless single disc containing some bona fide “hits,” such as “Casey Jones,” “Truckin’” and “Uncle John’s Band,” as well as inexplicably odd choices such as “Rosemary,” “Black Peter,” “Mexicali Blues” and an edited version of the Live Dead “Lovelight.” The Dead’s bestselling record! It’s the only Dead record I’ve never owned.
Dicks Picks Vol. 12: Providence 6/26/74 and Boston 6/28/74 (Released 1998, GDR)
There’s an awful lot to love on this three-CD set, which combines most of a second set from a Providence Civic Center show and the entire second set two nights later from the Boston Garden. Disc one opens with the
band snaking its way into a lovely melodic jam that eventually rolls into a full-on “China Cat” jam followed by “China Cat” itself; as far as I know it’s a unique jam. The other jewel here that undoubtedly had Dick Latvala going ga-ga is the twenty-eight-minute romp that erupts after a sparkling “Weather Report Suite.” The jam moves through all sorts of different musical landscapes, from deep space to unusual chordal progressions that almost sound like familiar songs but are still somehow elusive. The group moves from one idea to the next with seeming ease, never losing the forward momentum for a second. Finally, the jam chugs into a passage that foreshadows “U.S. Blues” for more than three minutes before arriving at that tune. There are many other high points on this set, too, including a beefy “Eyes of the World” (the encore of the Providence show), “To Lay Me Down” (always a rarity), a smokin’ “Goin’ Down the Road,” and another unusual encore choice—“Ship of Fools,” which ends the set with class. There’s a tiny bit of distortion on the vocals of the Boston material, but the recording of the instruments is exceptional.
Dick’s Picks Vol. 7: London, England, September ’74 (Released 1997, GDR)
A three-CD composite from three shows at the Alexandra Palace in London, this set shows the full range of the mid-’70s Dead, from concise rock ‘n’ roll to ballads to spectacularly inventive jams that defy categorization. Fans of the Dead’s spacey side will love “Playing in the Band,” the combo of “Truckin’” and “Wharf Rat,” and the out-of-this-world “Dark Star.” Other hot selections are “Not Fade Away,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Weather Report Suite,” and a stirring, highly emotional “Morning Dew.” Though a number of songs here also appear on Vol. 12 (above) the overall feeling of the shows is completely different and each is worth owning on its own merits. This sure doesn’t sound like a band that was thinking about retirement in the fall of ’74. Spectacular!
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