Grateful Dead

Agree on Unbroken Chain, ALWAYS loved that cut. That long whistling sound that moves from left to right :-)
Great imagining on that bad boy,,,,, truley great studio work.

Also hard to beat the studio work on Terrapin.

Thanks for the pointer towards Bill Grahams vault. That's a lot of shit!!!

I will need time to examine.

I'll take the plunge on GD records and re-issues.

I'm an Anthem thru Blues for Allah man. Never bought another studio album after Blues. Full disclosure: I've made road CD setlists of the very best post-Blues albums.

Wake of the Flood is a special one for me because I tripped out heavily from fall '72 to fall '73 on the songs from that album played live at -- let's see -- seven shows in that period. Not a big number, but a heavy impact of the band's live prime on a 15-16 year old fan who hitchhiked hundreds of miles for many of those shows. I acknowledge that the production on Wake is not as powerful as, say, Mars Hotel -- wonder if a remix/remaster might put a bit of muscle into the sound?

In any case, I never get into rankings or desert island choices because the album I'm listening to at the moment is the best and I don't do cruises, and if I did, what would I be doing with records in my luggage? If you're taking records to a desert island, ya bettah have a generator and a killer sound system, eh?

Also, as pointed out by my fellow sages here, WotF will be re-released this year no matter what we say. The only questions are: will it be remixed? will there be related studio jams released? what will the live companion tracks consist of? And, of course, what's the price tag?

Here we are, 50 years later, and I'm eagerly awaiting answers to these questions. (As well as, what's in the new box, Dave?)

Fantastic show to end an incredible run. I wonder when the record is coming out.? Thank God that these tapes didn't get erased like some of the 1980 Warfield tapes did.

It's obviously very subjective, our liking of certain albums. For me, the ones between and including the First album and Europe 72 are all massively underrated. Anthem and American Beauty are my favourites - but they are all excellent. Blues For Allah too. Many of those albums have the best versions - or should I say my personal favourite versions of songs that I have ever heard. Live Dead and American Beauty both contain many all time best versions of songs for me.
But after that, although some albums may contain great songs, they are nearly always surpassed by live versions of those songs. Wake of the Flood - I think all that was better played live.
Mars Hotel is more interesting for the Phil Lesh songs-especially Unbroken Chain. And I liked the spooky feel of China Doll. But it's also got a couple of howlers on it. I never feel like listening to it. Or Wake, or the post Blues For Allah ones.

I guess we are discussing what albums deserve a special re-release (or 50'th) party? I don't think we get to choose. It's really just marketing mumbojumbo, buy it if you like.. or not..

But perhaps there is a historical perspective that could or should be recognized.

They were a live band, but their albums, I think, are historically under-rated and worthy. Some are even classics but rarely did well at the box office on release day. Perhaps their weakness was their leaderless approach.. Keith and Donna both have a song, Brent has several, Garcia and Weir have the most but with few exceptions (Anthem comes to mind) their albums lack a cohesive story because everyone had their finger in the pie. And so it is, that's who they were and why their live jams soared so high, they listened to each other.

To me, their creative peak was 67 through 69 maybe into 1970, but I think their song writing peak came after that, certainly including WMD and AB, but add all the 'GD records' albums to that list (Wake through Blues for Allah) and I would extend that into the Arista period. I really do like Anthem though; it might just be my fav. I don't know man, Eyes of the World comes to mind, Stella Blue, WRS, Wake might or might not be a great album but it's an album thjta has great songs on it. It's really been decades since I listened to it start to finish, but songs come on the radio and that's enough for me.

Unbroken Chain might just be one of the best album songs they ever wrote and released. It took them another 20 years to figure out how to play it live (and by then, it was really too late).

I treat their albums like kids.. no favorites, but from day to day we enjoy some more than others. Even albums I used to loath surprise me sometimes. No, sadly.. (or perhaps gladly), the Grateful Dead did not produce Steely Dan or Beatles type albums. But they sure did make my jaw drop to the ground live and their albums, I believe, are a tad under-rated.

No offense meant, just a counter point. As you were.

....and Go To Heaven is a grate album.
Where am I?

The bean counters don’t care about releasing “anniversary editions” on time for significant albums. Even when they attempt to do that, it seems something always ‘comes up’ that delays the release. Pink Floyd Animals ring a bell??
As long as they get their sales, they don’t give a flying crap about a ‘commemorative release’.

I’m kind of with DAVEROCK about the Dead titles. Mars Hotel & Go To Heaven get NO play in this house. Of course, if they came with a complete concert as ‘bonus material’, the Dead will get my money. I’m all in for Wake, Allah, & Terrapin. I’m 1/2 in for Shakedown.
Right now, I’m ready to get my latest Zappa release on Friday. Mudd Club/Munich, 1980. No matter how much music I own, I ALWAYS need more!!

I found a grateful dead TI 3 cd-33 track set, shipping is only 4 clams. I'm sure most of you have it already.

I’ve sometimes thought that 1972 might’ve been the Greatest Year in the History of Rock. Several of the greatest bands and artists made their greatest albums: The Stones’ Exile, Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, Sabbath’s Vol 4, Can’s Ege Bamyasi, not to mention Lou Reed’s Transformer, Neil Young’s Harvest, Rundgren's Something/Anything. Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, the Allmans Eat a Peach. And of course Europe ’72. And they were all touring.

But then there’s 1973: Dark Side of the Moon, Houses of the Holy, Quadrophenia, Stevie’s Innervisions, King Crimson Larks Tongues in Aspic, the Stooges Raw Power, Sextant AND Chameleon from Herbie H, Birds of Fire from Mahavishnu, Toots and Maytals Funky Kingston. And Bear’s Choice and Wake of the Flood.

I mean, holy shit. There’s a reason people say music was better back in the day. And being as I was just then getting into music, I just assumed it would always be that way. Little did I know ...

I have to admit having a soft spot for Wake. I admit it’s not that great of a record, but man did I love it when it came out. I’m assuming they’ll do some sort of anniversary release, hopefully with a live show. I think Blues for Allah is really the one to look forward to: given that it was basically put together entirely in the studio (and given that it’s one their very best studio albums, IMO) there’s probably a fair number of outtakes and jams they could release.

And Daverock’s totally right: you don’t HAVE to wait for an anniversary to release this stuff. Other bands and artists with extensive archival release programs (Allmans, Neil, Crimson, to name a few) just release stuff whenever the hell they want. So what I’m saying is: Hey, Dave? Just go nuts, OK?