STACK NZ Magazine April 2015 Issue 61

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THE ACID TEST
Graham Reid offers up a buyer’s guide to the legendary Grateful Dead
MUSIC
APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi
FEATURE
Welcome to a long strange trip . . .
Anthem of the Sun (1968): Although the Dead
have a reputation for psyched-out concerts
brought to life by Garcia’s guitar, for this – their
second album, first with longtime drummer Mickey
Hart and lyricist Robert Hunter – they embraced
acoustic-into-psyche (the multi-part opener
That’s It), country blues, and were not averse to
economic pop (the “feelin’ groovy” of Born Cross
Eyed). It’s out-there, but not so far you won’t be
hooked. Critically acclaimed, buyers stayed home.
Live/Dead (1969): Their first live album (a double,
of course) which opens with their masterpiece,
the 23 minuteDark Star which became their
signature tune, and later you can hear a band in full
command of its improvisational powers. Aside from
the 35 second “we bid you goodnight” nothing is
fewer than six minutes and most average around
10. But they are mesmersing extrapolations. You
gotta like guitar solos (you will). If you decode the
cover you can read the word “acid” in there. All
you needed to know, really.
Workingman’s Dead (1970):Not the best intro
for rock people because back in the studio the
band tuned down the psyche-trips in favour of
more mellow country (their pals Crosby Stills and
Nash were big at the time and – before the Dead
– Garcia had played SanFran coffee-houses as a
country-folk player). Steel guitars more than stoner
grooves. But given the rise of alt.country this has
aged well and sounds more contemporary than
their more . . . ummm . . . expansive exercises.
American Beauty (1970): In a typically SanFran
psychedelic poster cover (which can be read as
American Reality) they delivered a summation of
their early years and influences, and there was a
remarkable economy at play, although you never
doubted the subtle genius of guitarists Garcia
and Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, the percussive
duo of Mickey Hart and Bob Kreutzmann or
Hunter’s lyrics.Contains the lovelyRipple.
An essential Dead album.
RAISING THE DEAD
For more reviews, overviews and
interviews by Graham Reid see:
The word is oxymoron: it means
when words put together seem to
contradict each other. Like “honest
politician” or “skinny bass player”.
Or “The Best of the Grateful Dead”,
the title of a new double CD.
Most people would say there can’t
be a “best of” a band which started its career half
a century ago and has divided rock people ever
since. A “Best Of” of the Grateful Dead is either
just about every album if you’re a Deadhead
(around 100 if you include Dick’s Picks and Road
Trips collections of live material) or none at all if
you only ever heard of them as some tripped-out
hippie jam-band that outstayed their welcome.
So, the Grateful Dead. All or nothing?
Neither, actually.
The 32-song double disc Best Of is an excellent
introduction (although their often marathon
effort Dark Star is reduced to a paltry 2.41 single
version) because it includes cornerstone Dead
material like Casey Jones, Box of Rain, Ripple and
Terrapin Station.
But it’s also possible to steer a middle path
between all-or-nothing and a “Best Of” like this
– and previous items like a Very Best Of and the
appropriately entitled comp What a Long Strange
Trip It’s Been, now well out of print.
So where to start on a band which had a
debut so long ago they probably did have honest
politicians and skinny bass players back then?
Below is your intro, using just the seminal
albums. Maybe get all of these as a tribute to the
Dead’s great guitarist and most iconic
figure of the hippie era, Jerry Garcia,
who has been dead -- probably not
gratefully – for 20 years this August.
After these stakes in the ground
came live albums (fair enough),
quieter classics ( Blues for Allah
a personal favourite for its quieter mood,
jazzy textures), the return of Mickey Hart
and then solo albums.
The thing about the Dead’s long strange trip
is that – despite membership changes, shifts
of direction, their almost folkloric reputation
and ability to seduce people who should know
better (young and old alike) to wear tie-dye
– the music is almost always rewarding.
If I’d never heard a note of them I’d get
that double The Best of Grateful Dead
just out of curiosity. No question.
There’s a lovely couplet in The Music
Never Stopped on Blues for Allah: “There
are bands beyond description, like Jehovah’s
favourite choir . . .”
Whether Jehovah thinks the Dead are
his favourite choir is a discussion Garcia
has probably been having for a while.
But here’s the fact, Jack: The great
Grateful Dead are a band beyond description.