2019-09-01 Rolling Stone

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September 2019 | Rolling Stone | 89

FURTHER READING

Loose Joints

Highlights from the rest of

the band’s massive catalog

“BIRD SONG”

Garcia, 1972

This eulogy for Janis Joplin on

Garcia’s debut solo LP doesn’t

feature the full band. But it

would become a gorgeous sta-

ple of Dead sets henceforth.

“PLAYING IN THE BAND”

Ace, 1972

Weir’s solo debut is a Dead LP

in all but name, and this

would be a familiar second set

jam-launchpad for the rest of

the band’s career.

“HARD TO HANDLE”

The History of the Grateful

Dead, Vol. One (Bear’s Choice),

1973

A roaring Otis Redding cover

delivered by Pigpen, recorded

live in 1970 and released on this

tribute-of-sorts to the singer-

keyboardist, who died in 1973.

“STELLA BLUE”

Steal Your Face, 1976

An aching, eight-minute-plus live

reading of this ruefully rumina-

tive Wake of the Flood gem.

“SHAKEDOWN STREET”

Shakedown Street, 1978

The pinnacle of what fans and

critics alike dubbed “disco

Dead,” aided by crisp production

by Little Feat linchpin Lowell

George.

“ALL ALONG

THE WATCHTOWER”

Dylan & the Dead, 1985

The highlight of an inexplicably

pale document of this marvelous

curveball tour.

“MASON’S CHILDREN”

So Many Roads, 1999

This outtake from the Working-

man’s Dead sessions alludes

obliquely to the horror show of

Altamont, according to Hunter.

“STANDING ON

THE MOON”

Built to Last, 1989

A weary blues about the follies

of man, and with specific refer-

ences to Southeast Asia and El

Salvador; one of the band’s more

political songs.

“DAYS BETWEEN”

Los Angeles Sports Arena,

12/19/94, archive.org

The last Garcia-Hunter master-

piece: a dark, gorgeous

meditation on life’s arc.

So Many Roads:

The Life and Times

of the Grateful Dead

By David Browne

This authoritative book by

ROLLING STONE senior writer

Browne brings the band’s

epic story into the 21st cen-

tury with a vivid narrative

rooted in specific gigs,

where the heart of the

band’s story ultimately

resides. For an insider’s

account, see Long

Strange Trip, by the

band’s publicist

Dennis McNally.

Garcia

in London,

1972

Tower” (whose central riff may or

may not be an intentional echo

of the signature “doo-doo-doo”

reprise on Lou Reed’s “Walk on

the Wild Side”) and “The Music

Never Stopped,” a funky

strut with duet vocals by

new band member Donna

Jean Godchaux. But half

the fun is the LP’s spate

of instrumentals: the

curlicue speed trial “King

Solomon’s Marbles,” the

twining “Help on the Way”

coda “Slipknot!” and the

pastoral “Sage & Spirit.”

From the Mars Hotel

1974

Unusual for not one but two

songs written and sung by

bass magician/AWOL classical-

music student Lesh — the

woozy “Unbroken Chain,” with

its spaceships-landing synths,

and the swaggering “Pride of

Terrapin Station

1977

Veteran hitmaker Clive Davis

signed the Dead to his Arista

label, and this was the first fruit:

a polished LP built on a sidelong

title suite, an epic fireside tale

penned by Hunter and crooned

sweetly by Garcia, and buoyed

by the Aaron Copland-esque

orchestrations of Paul Buckmas-

ter and gleaming production

by Fleetwood Mac wingman

Keith Olsen. Even Garcia’s guitar

morphed, via burbling enve-

lope-filter effects, on “Estimated

Prophet,” a sound that would

become a latter-day staple.

Going

Deeper

Grateful Dead

1967

At their label’s behest, the Dead

cut their debut at RCA Studios

in Hollywood, instead of their

San Francisco home base, and

the result was a set of electrified

folk-blues covers that suggest

a band gulping amphetamines.

(They were.) Standouts are a

roaring reboot of the 1930 Mis-

sissippi Sheiks single “Sitting on

Top of the World”; the soon-to-

be-signature cover of “Cold Rain

and Snow”; a 10-minute unpack-

ing of Gus Cannon’s 1928 disc

In the Dark

1987

The Dead’s Arista deal was in

part a band-endorsed attempt to

“sell out.” They succeeded with

the irresistibly avuncular “Touch

of Grey.” The writing is solid

throughout, with the Hunter-Gar-

cia ballad “Black Muddy River”

being the downtempo standout.

It channels a recurring nightmare

of Hunter’s with a tapestry of

Dead symbology: mountains,

moons, stars, sunshine, ripples,

and “the last rose of summer.”

Cucamonga.”

Skirt-twirling fave

“Scarlet Begonias” would

be the keeper. Other highlights:

the post-Watergate “U.S. Blues,”

which still feels timely, and the

shade-throwing “Ship of Fools,”

soulfully covered years later

by Elvis Costello.

“Viola

Lee Blues”;

and a couple of

almost-there originals: “Cream

Puff War” and “The Golden Road

(To Unlimited Devotion).”

Cornell 5/8/77

2017

The various Dead archival series

— including Dick’s Picks, Dave’s

Picks, and From the Vault — are

a universe unto themselves. On

the basis of a widely circulat-

ed bootleg, this midlife show

in Ithaca, New York, was for

years considered by some the

greatest-ever Dead concert. That

standing is debatable, but there’s

no arguing with the immolative

“Scarlet Begonias”>“Fire on the

Mountain,” or the phoenix-rising

majesty of “Morning Dew.”

Wake of the Flood

1973

The band’s self-produced

debut release on its own label

is laid-back, occasionally to a

fault. But the songs are largely

primo, many already concert

highlights. Foremost is the

dilated dance-jam supreme

“Eyes of the World.” Runners-up:

“Mississippi Half Step Uptown

Toodeloo,” with Vassar Clements’

swinging hot-club fiddle, and the

exquisite stoner-philosophical

reverie “Stella Blue,” namesake

of innumerable boats, bars, and

puppies.