Today is classic live album Saturday and today classic live album is Live/Dead (1969) by Grateful Dead. Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the San Francisco-based band Grateful Dead. It was recorded over a series of live concerts in early 1969 and released later in the year on November 10. At the time of its release, Robert Christgau wrote that side two of the double album contains the finest rock improvisation ever recorded. A landmark live album that captured the Grateful Deads improvisations at their best—Allmusic would write that Few recordings have ever represented the essence of an artist in performance as faithfully as Live/Dead. It was the final album with keyboardist Tom Constanten. The album was remastered and released with hidden bonus tracks as part of the 2001 box set The Golden Road (1965–1973), and subsequently as a stand-alone album in 2003. Dark Star, St. Stephen, Death Dont Have No Mercy, Feedback and We Bid You Goodnight were later released (with their entire concerts) on the respective February 27, 1969 and March 2, 1969 discs on the Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings box set (the first 1:34 of Dark Star can be found on the previous track, Mountains of the Moon). Feedback and We Bid You Goodnight were also released on the triple disc, highlights release Fillmore West 1969. In 2003, the album was ranked number 244 on Rolling Stone magazines list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The Grateful Deads fourth title was likewise their first extended concert recording. Spread over two LPs, Live/Dead (1969) finally was able to relay the intrinsic sonic magnificence of a Dead show in real time. Additionally, it unleashed several key entries into their repertoire, including the sidelong epic and Deadhead anthemDark Star as well as wailing and otherwise electrified acidic covers of the Rev. Gary Davis blues standard Death Dont Have No Mercy and the R&B rave-up (Turn on Your) Lovelight. Finally, the conundrum of how to bring a lengthy performance experience to the listener has been solved. The albums four sides provided the palette from which to replicate the natural ebb and flow of a typical Dead set circa early 1969. Tomes have been written about the profound impact of Dark Star on the Dead and their audience. It also became a cultural touchstone signifying that rock music was becoming increasingly experimental by casting aside the once-accepted demands of the short, self-contained pop song. This version was recorded on February 27, 1969, at the Fillmore West and is presented pretty much the way it went down at the show. The same is true of the seven remaining titles on Live/Dead. The rousing rendition of St. Stephen reinvents the Aoxomoxoa (1968) prototype with rip-roaring thunder and an extended ending which slams into an instrumental rhythmic excursion titled The Eleven after the jams tricky time signature. The second LP began with a marathon cover of (Turn on Your) Lovelight, which had significant success for both Bobby Blue Bland and Gene Chandler earlier in the decade. With Ron Pigpen McKernan at the throttle, the Dead barrel their way through the work, reproportioning and appointing it with fiery solos from Garcia and lead vocal raps courtesy of McKernan. Death Dont Have No Mercy is a languid noir interpretation of Rev. Gary Davis distinct Piedmont blues. Garcias fretwork smolders as his solos sear through the melody. Likewise notable is the criminally underrated keyboard work of Tom Constanten, whose airy counterpoint rises like a departing spirit from within the soul of the song. The final pairing of Feedback -- which is what is sounds like it might be -- with the lowering down funeral dirge And We Bid You Goodnight is true to the way that the band concluded a majority of their performances circa 1968-1969. They all join in on an a cappella derivative of Joseph Spence and the Pinder Familys traditional Bahamian distillation. Few recordings have ever represented the essence of an artist in performance as faithfully as Live/Dead. It has become an aural snapshot of this zenith in The Grateful Deads 30-year evolution and as such is highly recommended for all manner of enthusiasts. The 2001 remastered edition that was included in the Golden Road (1965-1973) (2001) box set tacks on the 45 rpm studio version of Dark Star as well as a vintage radio advert for the album. The songs were recorded with a mobile 16-track studio. Owsley Bear Stanley also asked Ron Wickersham to invent a mic splitter that fed both into the PA and the record inputs with no loss in quality. Dark Star and St. Stephen pairing was taken from the February 27, 1969 show at the Fillmore West; The Eleven and Turn On Your Lovelight were from the January 26, 1969 show at the Avalon Ballroom; Death Dont Have No Mercy, Feedback, and And We Bid You Goodnight were from the March 2, 1969 show at the Fillmore West. Unlike in later years, in early 1969 the contents of the Deads set lists varied little. They improvised the medley of Dark Star/St. Stephen/The Eleven several times a week, which enabled them to explore widely within the songs simple frameworks. The album was a financial success for the band in the eyes of their label, Warner Bros. Constanten had commented that Warner Bros. had pointed out that they had sunk $100,000-plus into Aoxomoxoa ... so someone had the idea that if we sent them a double live album, three discs for the price of one wouldnt be such a bad deal. The cover art for Live/Dead is by R.D. Thomas. The word Live is seen on the front cover, and the word Dead fills the back cover. The top part of the word Dead on the back cover spells acid, a slang term for LSD. The original Warner Bros. LP included an 8.5 X 11 bi-fold art and lyric book containing the lyrics to Saint Stephen, The Eleven, and Dark Star
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 18:31:19 +0000
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