Grateful Dead Blues For Allah: Expanded & Remastered CD

The Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Keith Godchaux (vocals, keyboards); Phil Lesh (vocals, bass); Donna Godchaux (vocals); Bill Kreutzmann (drums, percussion); Mickey Hart (percussion).
Additional personnel: Steve Schuster (flute, reeds).
Originally released on Grateful Dead (4001) on September 1, 1975.
Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Phil Lesh (vocals, bass guitar); Keith Godchaux (keyboards, background vocals); Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (drums, percussion); Donna Jean Godchaux (background vocals).
Additional personnel: Steven Schuster (flute, reeds).
The Grateful Dead went into a state of latent activity in the fall of 1974 that lasted until the spring of the following year when the band reconvened at guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir's Ace Studios to record Blues for Allah. The disc was likewise the third to be issued on their own Grateful Dead Records label. When the LP hit shelves in September of 1975, the Dead were still not back on the road -- although they had played a few gigs throughout San Francisco. Obviously, the time off had done the band worlds of good, as Blues for Allah -- more than any past or future studio album -- captures the Dead at their most natural and inspired. The opening combo of "Help on the Way," "Slipknot!," and "Franklin's Tower" is a multifaceted suite, owing as much to Miles Davis circa the E.S.P. album as to anything the Grateful Dead had been associated with. "Slipknot!" contains chord changes, progressions, and time signatures which become musical riddles for the band to solve -- which they do in the form of "Franklin's Tower." Another highly evolved piece is the rarely performed "King Solomon's Marbles," an instrumental that spotlights, among other things, Keith Godchaux's tastefully unrestrained Fender Rhodes finger work displaying more than just a tinge of Herbie Hancock inspiration. These more aggressive works contrast the delicate musical and lyrical haiku on "Crazy Fingers" containing some of lyricist Robert Hunter's finest and most beautifully arranged verbal images for the band. Weir's guitar solo in "Sage & Spirit" is based on one of his warm-up fingering exercises. Without a doubt, this is one of Weir's finest moments. The light acoustic melody is tinged with an equally beautiful arrangement. While there is definite merit in Blues for Allah's title suite, the subdued chant-like vocals and meandering melody seems incongruous when compared to the remainder of this thoroughly solid effort. ~ Lindsay Planer
As any Deadhead will tell you, the magic of the Grateful Dead was always better captured in a live setting than in a recording studio. Still, while they've probably released more live records than any band ever, their career has been punctuated by solid studio efforts featuring songs that would become staples of their live sets. BLUES FOR ALLAH, released in 1975, was rich in future nuggets. It marked a return to the studio after a string of mostly live releases, and it was an accomplished and varied record.
BLUES FOR ALLAH begins with a jazz-tinged song cycle: the astringent funk groove of "Help on the Way" seguing into the flowing instrumental "Slipknot!" which, naturally enough, slips effortlessly into future concert classic "Franklin's Tower," with its enigmatic but irresistible refrain, "roll away the dew." High points include the sleek, backbone-loosening "The Music Never Stopped" and the languid, psychedelic reggae of "Crazy Fingers." The record is not without its unsettling moments, especially the ominous title track, which probably caused a few freak-outs in its heyday.Mojo (Publisher) (p.153) - "This is pure Dead music, performed and created as one, and is a complete assimilation of styles that goes beyond recognized genres."