Grateful Dead Reckoning CD

By late '79, the Dead were beginning a new phase of their existence, with the addition of keyboardist/vocalist Brent Mydland, who added some bluesy grit to the band's sound. This 1980 live document presents the band in a rare acoustic set that finds Mydland settling in nicely, and the other members sounding distinctly invigorated, despite the homey, back-porch arrangements. To complement the stripped down circumstances, the Dead reached into both their folk bag and the more traditional-sounding corners of their own catalog. The traditional "Jack-A-Roe" and "Deep Elem Blues" are given respectful but lively treatments. Beautiful Hunter-Garcia ballads "China Doll" and "It Must've Been the Roses" are rendered with poignancy. "Dire Wolf" and "Dark Hollow" (among others) make a convincing case for the Dead as the godfathers of alt-country.

In the fall of 1980, the Grateful Dead played a series of shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall in New York City (venues considerably smaller than they had grown accustomed to) for the purpose of filming and recording. The group opened these special concerts with a special acoustic set at which Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir played acoustic guitars, Brent Mydland played piano, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart played reduced kits. (Phil Lesh stuck to his electric bass, but at a modest volume.) Also special was the set list, as demonstrated by the track list on this album drawn from the shows. A batch of old folk and country tunes never before included on a Grateful Dead album make up half of the 16 songs, mixed in with originals. (And actually, three of those originals, "Cassidy," "To Lay Me Down," and "Bird Song," only appeared previously on Garcia or Weir solo albums.) The music deliberately harks back to a period most Deadheads weren't around for, the band's origins in the folk, bluegrass, and country groups Garcia led in Palo Alto, CA, in the early '60s, culminating in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, the band that went electric and became the Warlocks, renamed the Grateful Dead. Garcia in particular seems comfortable with this material, and he takes two-thirds of the lead vocals, with Weir spelling him every couple of tracks, usually with a song at least slightly more uptempo (although, for example, his version of "The Race Is On" has none of the breakneck pace of George Jones' original). Of the bandmembers, Garcia is the one who has shown the most affection for the Grateful Dead's folk and country roots, continually reintroducing them either with the band or in his side projects, and his ease with such selections as "Jack-A-Roe" and "Deep Elem Blues" is apparent. At the same time, the juxtaposition of such traditional material with originals by Garcia and his lyric partner Robert Hunter, such as the lead-off song, "Dire Wolf," and the closer, "Ripple," emphasizes the songwriters' deliberate effort to evoke and reshape the folk idiom in their compositions. The Grateful Dead have released numerous live albums, but this one takes a different approach, and it will appeal especially to the many fans of Workingman's D

Recorded live at The Warfield Theater, San Francisco, California between September 25 and October 14, 1980; and at Radio City Music Hall, New York between October 23 and October 31, 1980.

Audio Mixers: Dan Healy ; Tom Flye.

Liner Note Author: Gary Lambert.

Recording information: Club Front, San Rafael, CA (11/17/1978-10/31/1980); Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY (11/17/1978-10/31/1980); Rambler Room, Loyola University, Chicago, IL (11/17/1978-10/31/1980); The Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA (11/17/1978-10/31/1980).

Photographers: Jay Blakesberg; John Werner ; Richard McCaffrey; Larry Hulst; Robert Minkin.

Arrangers: Jerry Garcia; Grateful Dead; Robert Hunter.

Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals); Bob Weir (guitar, vocals); Brent Mydland (keyboards); Phil Lesh (bass); Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (drums, percussion).Mojo (Publisher) (p.153) - "[I]t's the acoustic segment that shines; It's almost a primer, with crowd-pleasing songs from the previous decade and the odd surprise....The band's interaction is magical and intuitive..."