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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 35 no. 8. 27 April 1972

record

page 18

record

"It's us man. It's the prototype Grateful Dead. Basic Unit. Each one of these tracks is the total picture, a good example of what Grateful Dead really is, musically. The new album is enough of an overview so people can see we're like a regular "shoot em up saloon band." -So says guitarist Jerry Garcia of the new double live L.P., Grateful Dead. Some may find the title befuddling, as the first L.P. (remember those gas tunes Morning Dew, Cold Rain & Snow) had the same title but you're not going to have any ordering problems as some lonely man in Godzones H.M.V. factory has seen fit to delete every Dead L.P. to date, so that the only ones currently available are this new one, and American Beauty.

Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia

The Grateful Dead was the idol of America's hip generation — they were the motivation behind the Haight Ashbury scene — they were around Kesey and Oursley's acid games, they have been hyped, busted and run-down, yet have managed to come thru it all comparatively unscathed. They have transcended their period of being an experimental music group, and think of themselves more as a "good ol' band"

Apart from also playing with New Riders of the Purple Sage, and cutting of solo L.P's, Jerry Garcia does not look like becoming an up-his-own-arse-prick like, for example, John Mayall. He lives a quiet unassuming existence on California's coast with his old lady. Mountain Girl of the Kool Acid Scenario.

Being a deadhead of old and grooving on Ripple and Truckin for the past six months — I was really stoked to hear of a new L.P. — tho' I was a little daunted upon discovering it was to be a live set. Live Dead was released here around the middle of 1970 - however it was cut in 1967 and to be appreciated properly should really be heard in conjunction with Aoxomoxoa.

The new L.P. is a pleasant combination of the 'C&W' Crosby influenced vocal style found on Working Man's Dead and American Beauty, As well as laying down the well known psychedelic Dead sound; in particular on one side/track entitled — The Other One (which features the best drumming Bill Kreutzman has ever done) where they dip back into Anthem of the Sun for a little revitalised inspiration.

Apart from the brilliant set of Hunter/Garcia tunes Dead fans have come to love, there is a great diversity of material ranging from Kris Kristofferson's Me and Bobby McGhee to the old Stone's classic Not Fade Away. The fact that the L.P. is live does little to detract from the recording. The stereo reproduction is excellent — audience noise minimal, mistakes non-existent. Alongside Live Dead it is incomparable, both in material choice and in technical excellence. Whereas Live Dead may have dragged on a little, with Grateful Dead there does not seem to be enough. But as Garcia himself says "There's no point in going back to the past — for one reason or another those performances weren't meant to stand around forever. They were for that night - and if you were stoned and there that night, that was probably exactly what was happening - but it's not what s happening now. It's just a source of embarrassment". It is said that Pigpen is slowly dying from alcohol poisoning - this has no apparent effect on his playing - especially on tracks such as Merle Haggards Mama Tried (Can you imagine good ol' Okie Merle doing a Hunger/Garcia omposition?) and his subtle organ blends in well with Garcia's Freddie King influenced bar-room country style guitar, on John Phillips song Me and my Uncle. On the sides with the shorter tracks, they intersperse country with rock and roll — Willie Dixon's Big Boss Man and Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode not only stand the test of time - but receive a treatment which is inimitably Dead.

Inside the Rick Griffin cover is a plea, to Deadheads to write telling about themselves - not an address to pull in a world wide cross section of spunkrats, but a hope to employ the people who are talented and trying to do what the Dead is trying to do. Jefferson Aeroplane has formed Grunt Records, but it's still handled by R.C.A. "We're trying to guide ourselves into a place where we can play more music, and have it get to higher places and express finer and subtler things — the Grateful Dead should be sponsored by the Government - a public service, and they should set us up to play at places that need to get high". If Chicago can tour the world on a U.S. Govt. grant, why not? The latest L.P. fortifies an opinion I've had for a long time. Grateful Dead is one of the worlds best bands.