The Good Ol' Grateful Thread

JohnnyCashFan said:
Don't laugh Dead Heads, but where's good place to start with the Dead ? Recording quality also important. I have Smiling On A Cloudy Day.
☮️
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If you’re looking at studio albums, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty is the best pace to begin.
You would be able to find 50th anniversary pressings of each for a reasonable price.

www.discogs.com

Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2020 Vinyl release of "Workingman's Dead" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

www.discogs.com

Grateful Dead - American Beauty

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2020 Vinyl release of "American Beauty" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com
 
JohnnyCashFan said:
Don't laugh Dead Heads, but where's good place to start with the Dead ? Recording quality also important. I have Smiling On A Cloudy Day.
☮️
Click to expand...

I saw a writer for a local weekly ask this online years ago and the responses that he got were typical. A lot of the time, I see someone give one of 2 suggestions. The first is a bunch of poppy accessible shit that won't really highlight what makes them special. This is Skeletons In The Closet greatest hits / Sugar Magnolia... maybe, Touch Of Grey, material. The other group is going to suggest overwhelming 45 minute jams and weirdo spaced out Darkstars and shit.

I sent him something and he thanked me, because he finally heard something that he enjoyed and could start from. It might not work for you, but it's not even a Dead recording. I sent him the 1982 Cinco De Mayo show of Jerry Garcia and John Khan playing at Oregon State Penitentiary. It's an acoustic show. If you like that, Reckoning also falls into that territory.



As others have said, Europe 72 is another great jump off. If you want more bugged out psych shit, Anthem Of The Sun is great.

When I met my wife, she was convinced she hated the Dead. I tricked her by playing Shady Grove (Jerry with David Grisman) and once she liked it and asked what it was, it was too late. Here's the first video that I think she really connected to, though. It's toward the end of Jerry's life, but it captures some of the indescribable magic of his guitar work.




I think one important thing to remember is that they have eras and range and depth. I think it's easy to hear one thing you might not be into and assume that represents and emcompasses a band entirely, but that's not really the case with the Dead. There's early Pigpen blues material and the more adventurous Terrapin Station stuff. They have so much that, if you don't connect to one thing, you might still connect to something else.

My brother thought he hated them, too, until I caught him checking Shazam when I was playing Two From The Vault, one night. Whatever you wind up listening to, I'm sure members on here would be interested to here what it is and what your response is to it.
 
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Dead C said:
I saw a writer for a local weekly ask this online years ago and the responses that he got were typical. A lot of the time, I see someone give one of 2 suggestions. The first is a bunch of poppy accessible shit that won't really highlight what makes them special. This is Skeletons In The Closet greatest hits / Sugar Magnolia... maybe, Touch Of Grey, material. The other group is going to suggest overwhelming 45 minute jams and weirdo spaced out Darkstars and shit.

I sent him something and he thanked me, because he finally heard something that he enjoyed and could start from. It might not work for you, but it's not even a Dead recording. I sent him the 1982 Cinco De Mayo show of Jerry Garcia and John Khan playing at Oregon State Penitentiary. It's an acoustic show. If you like that, Reckoning also falls into that territory.



As others have said, Europe 72 is another great jump off. If you want more bugged out psych shit, Anthem Of The Sun is great.

When I met my wife, she was convinced she hated the Dead. I tricked her by playing Shady Grove (Jerry with David Grisman) and once she liked it and asked what it was, it was too late. Here's the first video that I think she really connected to, though.




I think one important thing to remember is that they have eras and range and depth. I think it's easy to hear one thing you might not be into and assume that represents and emcompasses a band entirely, but that's not really the case with the Dead. There's early Pigpen blues material and the more adventurous Terrapin Station stuff. They have so much that, if you don't connect to one thing, you might still connect to something else.

My brother thought he hated them, too, until I caught him checking Shazam when I was playing Two From The Vault, one night. Whatever you wind up listening to, I'm sure members on here would be interested to here what it is and what your response to it.
Click to expand...

This is well worth paying attention to. I'm recommending the studio stuff that's Americana and jazzy explorations and the radio stuff. The live stuff I'm pointing out is more jazzy spacy stuff, less so the country or blues and r&b stuff. Pigpen is great but early Dead just doesn't speak to me the way 71 to 77 does, YMMV. I appreciate his jams - who doesn't love a good "hard to handle" ? - but it ain't "help on the way > slipknot! > Franklin's tower" or "dark star". The Dead of 69 are a different band than Dead in 72 than in 74 than in 77. You really got wander around and see what resonates with you
 
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Dead C said:
I saw a writer for a local weekly ask this online years ago and the responses that he got were typical. A lot of the time, I see someone give one of 2 suggestions. The first is a bunch of poppy accessible shit that won't really highlight what makes them special. This is Skeletons In The Closet greatest hits / Sugar Magnolia... maybe, Touch Of Grey, material. The other group is going to suggest overwhelming 45 minute jams and weirdo spaced out Darkstars and shit.

I sent him something and he thanked me, because he finally heard something that he enjoyed and could start from. It might not work for you, but it's not even a Dead recording. I sent him the 1982 Cinco De Mayo show of Jerry Garcia and John Khan playing at Oregon State Penitentiary. It's an acoustic show. If you like that, Reckoning also falls into that territory.



As others have said, Europe 72 is another great jump off. If you want more bugged out psych shit, Anthem Of The Sun is great.

When I met my wife, she was convinced she hated the Dead. I tricked her by playing Shady Grove (Jerry with David Grisman) and once she liked it and asked what it was, it was too late. Here's the first video that I think she really connected to, though.




I think one important thing to remember is that they have eras and range and depth. I think it's easy to hear one thing you might not be into and assume that represents and emcompasses a band entirely, but that's not really the case with the Dead. There's early Pigpen blues material and the more adventurous Terrapin Station stuff. They have so much that, if you don't connect to one thing, you might still connect to something else.

My brother thought he hated them, too, until I caught him checking Shazam when I was playing Two From The Vault, one night. Whatever you wind up listening to, I'm sure members on here would be interested to here what it is and what your response to it.
Click to expand...

Good advice! My suggestion to the Dead curious has always started with American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead. My rational is that both are excellent albums with great songs and might end up being the only two Grateful Dead albums that some folks will ever need. However, if they enjoy those and are intrigued with exploring things further these two albums gives new fans a baseline of familiarity as they begin exploring their live catalog and as they explore The Dead’s live music they will undoubtedly be introduced to other tracks they enjoy and can then seek out the studio albums that those songs appear. So forth and so on. I just feel like establishing a bit of familiarity is important before diving in too deep.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Good advice! My suggestion to the Dead curious has always started with American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead. My rational is that both are excellent albums with great songs and might end up being the only two Grateful Dead albums that some folks will ever need. However, if they enjoy those and are intrigued with exploring things further these two albums gives new fans a baseline of familiarity as they begin exploring their live catalog and as they explore The Dead’s live music they will undoubtedly be introduced to other tracks they enjoy and can then seek out studio albums that those songs appear. So forth and so on. I just feel like establishing a bit of familiarity is important before diving in too deep.
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Definitely. Those are both really good starters. That's what I like about Oregon State Pen, it has those tracks like "Friend Of The Devil," "Ripple," and "Dire Wolf" that I like from those albums and presents them in a really stripped down way, while expanding on that sort of material with the "Been All Around This World," "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie," "Jack A Roe," etc. Plus, if we're dealing with a Johnny Cash fan, you get that Folsom Prison similarity with the prison show.
 
Dead C said:
Definitely. Those are both really good starters. That's what I like about Oregon State Pen, it has those tracks like "Friend Of The Devil," "Ripple," and "Dire Wolf" that I like from those albums and presents them in a really stripped down way, while expanding on that sort of material with the "Been All Around This World," "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie," "Jack A Roe," etc. Plus, if we're dealing with a Johnny Cash fan, you get that Folsom Prison similarity with the prison show.
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Yeah, I think Dick’s Picks Vol. 8 05/02/1970 at Harpur College was that for me. The first set is acoustic and featured some of those familiar tracks and then the second set they plugged and get a bit wild. I came for first set but came back for the second set.
 
JohnnyCashFan said:
Don't laugh Dead Heads, but where's good place to start with the Dead ? Recording quality also important. I have Smiling On A Cloudy Day.
☮️
Click to expand...
Lots of great starting point here, but can I throw one out too? This is one of the best officially released full shows that I think shows off what makes them great.




 
JohnnyCashFan said:
Don't laugh Dead Heads, but where's good place to start with the Dead ? Recording quality also important. I have Smiling On A Cloudy Day.
☮️
Click to expand...
OK,

Appreciate ALL the comments. What an amazing following this band and legacy has!

I started the Amazon Prime Documentary last night, it is thorough! I fell asleep after a hour or so (not the docs fault), will pick back up this week. The parts about the Wall OF Sound PA, and house engineer (Dan Healy, so far) who so carefully recorded EVERYTHING an cared about quality sound is amazing!. I know of Betty Cantor Jackson as well. Is there also a documentary about her and the mass amount of underground tapes out there or is it later in this one ?

I downloaded digital rips of 2014 redbook MFSL's of American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. Will listen to these to start and if I like them look into the 50th's on vinyl.

And am planning on also getting The Very Best of, is it available on vinyl, expensive, redundant to above ?

That should be enough for stage one then I can cheery pick more, and get into Live. Is Live 72' Europe the holy grail for Dead Live recording ?, how is the audio ?
 
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JohnnyCashFan said:
OK,

Appreciate ALL the comments. What an amazing following this band and legacy has!

I started the Amazon Prime Documentary last night, it is thorough! I fell asleep after a hour or so (not the docs fault), will pick back up this week. The parts about the Wall OF Sound PA, and house engineer (Dan Healy, so far) who so carefully recorded EVERYTHING an cared about quality sound is amazing!. I know of Betty Cantor Jackson as well. Is there not also a documentary about her and the mass amount of underground tapes out there or is it later in this one ?

I downloaded digital rips of 2014 redbook MFSL's of American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. Will listen to these to start and if I like them look into the 50th's on vinyl.

And am planning on also getting The Very Best of, is it available on vinyl, expensive, redundant to above ?

That should be enough for stage one then I can cheery pick more, and get into Live. Is Live 72' Europe the holy grail for Dead Live recording ?, how is the audio ?
Click to expand...
Live/Dead, Europe 72, one from the Vault and cornell 5.8.77 are the 4 main contenders imo.
 
JohnnyCashFan said:
OK,

Appreciate ALL the comments. What an amazing following this band and legacy has!

I started the Amazon Prime Documentary last night, it is thorough! I fell asleep after a hour or so (not the docs fault), will pick back up this week. The parts about the Wall OF Sound PA, and house engineer (Dan Healy, so far) who so carefully recorded EVERYTHING an cared about quality sound is amazing!. I know of Betty Cantor Jackson as well. Is there also a documentary about her and the mass amount of underground tapes out there or is it later in this one ?

I downloaded digital rips of 2014 redbook MFSL's of American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. Will listen to these to start and if I like them look into the 50th's on vinyl.

And am planning on also getting The Very Best of, is it available on vinyl, expensive, redundant to above ?

That should be enough for stage one then I can cheery pick more, and get into Live. Is Live 72' Europe the holy grail for Dead Live recording ?, how is the audio ?
Click to expand...
The Grateful Dead Movie is a concert film but goes into the wall of sound as well because it shows concerts from 74. It is fantastic and worth watching. I am pretty sure it is on Amazon Prime too, i know it was when i last watched.
 
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