Track Listing

1. Help On The Way/Slipknot
2. Franklin's Tower
3. King Solomon's Marbles
4. Music Never Stopped
5. Crazy Fingers
6. Sage And Spirit
7. Blues For Allah
8. Sand Castles And Glass Camels
9. Unusual Occurences In The Desert
10. Groove #1
11. Groove #2
12. Distorto
13. A To E Flat Jam
14. Proto 18 Proper
15. Hollywood Cantata

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39923 in Music
• Released on: 2006-04-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .16 pounds

Customer Reviews

Give it a few decades....
Flippin' 'eck, listening to the Dead makes you come over all pretentious, doesn't it?? Well, I'm not a Deadhead so hopefully I can avoid the purple prose of the previous reviews.

I used to read about the Dead in NME in the early Seventies. I'd see pictures of them with their huge "Wall of Sound", playing in front of the Pyramids, Garcia looking like a bear of a man with his big beard and big, well, self. I'd read about their marathon shows and think "Man, this must be the loudest, heaviest, most kick-ass band on the planet!" but I never actually got to hear any of their music - music on TV and radio was severely limited in those days (and we're getting back to that again now).

Blues For Allah came out shortly after I started my first job, so I decided to treat myself, still sight unseen, as it were. I just LOVED the cover, and still do - one of the finest pieces of music art ever. (Imagine my joy at discovering an animated version of it in the Grateful Dead movie, years later). But when the needle hit the vinyl, boy was I disappointed! Where were the power chords, the screaming heavy metal and crashing drums? What was this spindly guitar playing and these reedy vocals? Surely that big bear of a man didn't have a voice like Kermit the Frog? As for side two, I don't think I listened to it more than three times. It sounded like aimless, drifting, pretentious drivel. I can't remember how I disposed of my copy, but I did.

The decades roll by, I flirt with punk (but not with the New Romantics) but remain faithful to my beloved Seventies rock - Glam, West Coast, Hard Rock - and, after years of adulthood and child rearing decide to give "Blues" another try.

What has happened to me? Have I blanded out? It sounds great to me now! That spidery, intricate guitar work, the genuine, affecting vocals, the seamless musicianship - what a piece of work! Side two (as was) also sounds great - music to immerse yourself in and float (oops, I'm getting pretentious!)

The extras are great as well - despite titles like "Groove 1" and descriptions like "Instrumental studio jam" - they're much better than the sleeve makes them sound (I was expecting turgid Allman Bros style workouts, but these are deft and highly listenable). Maybe the vocal "Hollywood" song at the end is a bit of an afterthought, but otherwise this is a great package - the famous artwork transfers well and the booklet is a great read.

If I can dip my pen in the purple inkwell just once - PJ O'Rourke said that age and guile beat youth, innocence and a bad haircut. Well, my hair is shorter and I'm not so innocent any more - I grew up and the Dead waited for me.

For the UnDead
The most avante garde Jazz influenced of the Dead studio albums.

This is not typical jam and is extremely tight.
Mind you, I haven't heard the new alternate takes yet but I have good expectations.

More Buddha, than Allah.

Sophisticated space exploration music for multiple toe-tappers.

Can't believe it, but there it is...
This is so good, it may be impossible. The Dead bundled into a studio and turned out a masterpiece. And on an eight traack too by the rumours. And these were days when the recording engineers were wise and knew their craft well. Days of yore.

And truly it is; remarkably, for in fact very few of their studio recordings sounded even remotely like the live recordings, some of which shook the walls of the city, but for some reason, the Dead and Robert Hunter somehow contrived what up to that time had simply never really happened.

One thing that this recording contains is an example (and a very, very good one at that) of their famous transitions - a sudden movement from one song to another. This, coming between Help on the way, Slipknot, and Franklins Tower is amazing, not that though, scintillating and brilliant. Never have I witnessed anyone listening to this without breaking out into a broad grin; it is a beautiful music joke that any of the classical composers would have recognised at once. For any of them may have fallen silent and smiled like we did, infamous Cheshire cats, dancing in defiance, all together, unfallen. And all is rainbow and splintered, defying geometry, measure and syntax. The music lasts so long, but time is undermined and betrayed somewhat.

Next time I'm not drinking that stuff before I write a review and I don't care. I've worn out 4 copies of this, so here we go again...