Track Listing

1. The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
2. Beat It On Down The Line
3. Good Morning Little School Girl
4. Cold Rain And Snow
5. Sittin' On Top Of The World
6. Cream Puff War
7. Morning Dew
8. New, New Minglewood Blues
9. Viola Lee Blues
10. Alice D. Millionaire
11. Overseas Stomp (The Lindy)
12. Tastebud
13. Death Don't Have No Mercy
14. Viola Lee Blues (Edited Version)
15. Viola Lee Blues (Live)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27264 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

CD Description
The Grateful Dead's self-titled first album contains the main ingredients of the unique musical stew the band would brew over the coming years. Upon its release in March 1967, it brought the musical and philosophical ideals of the freak counter-culture out of the Bay Area and into the ears of mainstream America.
"The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" is a Summer Of Love anthem nonpareil. "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" shows off the Dead's ability to reinterpret the blues, and Pigpen's natural front-man qualities. The hyperactive rockabilly of Jesse Fuller's "Beat It On Down The Line" and the rearranged traditionals "Sitting On Top Of The World" and "Cold Rain And Snow" are proof that, despite the group's anti-establishment fashions, their lyrical symbols and musical forms were as time-honoured as the English folk-tale that provided their name. While the cover of Bonnie Dobson's eerie anti-war epic "Morning Dew" and the women-and-wine rocker "New, New Minglewood Blues" are energetic portrayals of hippie values, the closing number, Noah Lewis's "Viola Lee Blues", is the album's grand, mind-blowing concoction and a highlight. The remastered version's live bonus tracks includesome never-recorded garage-rock and blues cuts and a 23-minute "Viola Lee Blues" bearing the first hints of the modal riff at the foundation of Dead milestone "Dark Star".

Customer Reviews

Fully-formed debut
Thanks to Rhino's excellent Birth Of The Dead 2CD this is no longer the earliest studio evidence of the Grateful Dead's work, but it is still their eponymous debut album, recorded (apart from one track) over four days in January 1967 in Hollywood at RCA's studios. Jerry Garcia had worked there the previous year, helping out on Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow album, with engineer Dave Hassinger, of Rolling Stones fame, who was now producing The Grateful Dead.

Having first joined the Dead's golden road of musical experience around 1969 and not hearing their first album, I had been expecting it to have relatively unformed ideas and only the beginnings of their distinctive character. The first listen was enough to prove me quite wrong, with their ten minute tour de force of Viola Lee Blues in particular instantly dazzling, and each subsequent play has only re-enforced the confidence and subtlety of the playing and the depth to their original pieces. Band compositions mingle with blues, jug band standards and Bonnie Dobson's apocalyptic Morning Dew, all performed much as they would have sounded live in the San Francisco dance halls or at the Golden Gate Park Human Be-In they had played the week before recording the album.

The album produced one single, The Golden Road/Cream Puff War. Early fades necessitated by length restrictions on vinyl album sides have been replaced with the original full-length masters, though most of these also fade, with Schoolgirl gaining almost a minute.

To the original album has been added over 40 minutes of bonus material. Four of these tracks were recorded at RCA as try-outs after the album had been completed, and the final two tracks are versions of Viola Lee Blues. One is a three-minute edit, suggesting it may have been considered as a follow-up single at one time, and the other is an (incomplete) 23 minute live version from Rio Nido Dance Hall in September 1967, quite different to the studio performance but just as hypnotic.

Dawn Of The Dead
Superb debut from the Grateful Dead. Speedy, adrenaline-fueled rhythm and blues covers and sparkling, summer-of-love originals such as "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)". This classic album has been wonderfully remastered and expanded - some of the original tracks are actually in their complete versions so instead of an inappropriate fade you get to hear the song played right to the end. Excellent choice of tracks for the bonus selections and wonderfully packaged.

My Favourite Grateful Dead album.
I admit to being a Grateful Dead fanatic and I have just about everything they and Jerry Garcia ever produced. This is my favourite of their albums although I was slightly torn between this and "The Birth Of The Dead." I know alot of fans would disagree with my choice but I think this album shows their versatility and has something for everyone.