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MAGESReviews Music
GUIDE
America’s
most expansive
band — from
kaleidoscopic
psychedelia to
homespun
country rock
to epic live jams
and beyondBy WILL HERMESMust-
Haves
Live Dead
1969
The ultimate live document of
Grateful Dead v1.0, and candi-
date for the best live rock album
ever, is this double LP made
during the distended AoxomoxoaAmerican Beauty
1970
The sister LP to Workingman’s
Dead, released just over
four months later,
rode the songwriting
bonanza, with new
influences digest-
ed. The result is
a slightly fuller
sound, a brighter
vibe, and maybe,
song-for-song, their
strongest set ever.
“Ripple” and Lesh’s
breakout “Box of Rain”
are the Dead at their
deepest, and “Sugar
Magnolia” and “Truckin’,” both
delivered by band young’un
Bob Weir, nailed the noodle-
dance boogie style that
took them from collegiate
cult band to stadium-
filling phenomenon.Further
Listening
Anthem of the Sun
1968
The band’s first attempt to cap-
ture its head-exploding concerts
on tape resulted in this wild ride
— a collage of studio and live
tracks epitomized by “That’s It
for the Other One,” a suite that’s
part tribute to Merry Prankster
bus driver Neal Cassady. Its
coda foreshadows the Beatles’
“Revolution #9,” and its raging
center section would become
a concert staple. Meanwhile,
the kazoo-powered “Alligator”
is a spectacular train wreck of
Pigpen’s earthy electric blues
and his bandmates’ jazzy lunar
spelunking that anticipated the
Allman Brothers, whose debut
dropped the following year.Workingman’s Dead
1970
Leaning into their love of coun-
try music and the harmonies of
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young,
the Dead make the perfect
Americana LP, years before the
genre was coined. In a largely
unplugged set, the songwrit-
ing partnership of Garcia and
lyricist Robert Hunter is at its
peak. “Uncle John’s Band” cele-
brates the group’s persona and
community. And the cokehead
cautionary tale “Casey Jones”
even got them, for the first time,
some significant radio play.Blues for Allah
1975
The Dead’s muso masterpiece,
perhaps their jazziest and most
virtuosic set, was made during
a rare hiatus from the road,
at Weir’s home studio. The
catchiest songs are “Franklin’sGrateful Dead
1971
Another live set (known alter-
nately as Skull-Fuck and Skull
and Roses), this one came with
some overdubs, and furthered
their tradition of introducing
songs they would never bring to
the studio, such as the rollicking
“Bertha” and the soulful pan-
handler’s lament “Wharf Rat.” It
established “The Other One” and
tag-team covers like “Not Fade
Away”>”Goin’ Down the Road
Feelin’ Bad” as beloved jam ful-
crums. And the Kelley-Mouse art
is one of the most iconic album
covers in history.Aoxomoxoa
1969
Recorded after the implosion of
their San Francisco scene, the
peak of the Dead’s experimental
phase mirrored an LSD trip in
miniature. Fittingly, it’s a swirl of
dazzling lights (side-openers “St.
Stephen” and “China Cat Sun-
flower”) and darkness (spooky
denouements “Mountains of the
Moon” and “What’s Become of
the Baby”), driven by Hunter’s
sly, pie-eyed poesy and a play-
ground of cutting-edge 16-track
recording landscapes. Still one
of the most satisfyingly bonkers
rock LPs ever made.Europe ‘72
1972
Having perfected their stage
game, the Dead take it overseas,
with trusty 17-track studio in
tow. The result is that rarest of
things, an essential triple LP.
It mixes reshaped faves (an
exploded “Morning Dew,” the
paradigmatic melding of “China
Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You
Rider”) with top-shelf new mate-
rial (“Jack Straw,” “He’s Gone”),
all with improvisatory fire and
near-studio-quality sound. And
it captures the band’s shift from
hard-tripping psych blues to the
kinder, gentler, dancing-bear-ier
music that would come to define
their shows.sessions. It has the definitive
reading of “Dark Star,” the holy
grail of Dead set lists, along with
“The Eleven,” a head-spinning
Phil Lesh composition in 11/8
time. “Turn On Your Lovelight” is
the consummate document of
Ron “Pigpen” McKernan’s hippie-
biker R&B, and “Death Don’t
Have No Mercy” is Jerry Garcia
at his dark-bluest.Weir, Mickey
Hart, Garcia,
and Lesh
(from left),
1968