Grateful Dead (album)

:"The informal titles for this album, "Skull and Roses" and "Skull Fuck", redirect here."Infobox Album |
Name = Grateful Dead
Type = Live album
Artist = The Grateful Dead


Released = October 1971
Recorded = Early 1971
Genre = Country rock, folk rock, rock and roll
Length = 70:12
Label = Warner Bros. Records
Producer = David Hassinger
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:q1uj6joh71r0 link]
*Robert Christgau (B+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1445&name=Grateful+Dead link]
*"Rolling Stone" (mixed) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thegratefuldead/albums/album/141599/review/6211496/the_grateful_dead link]
|
Last album = "American Beauty"
(1970)
This album = "Grateful Dead"
(1971)
Next album = "Europe '72"
(1972)

"Grateful Dead" is an eponymous live double album by the Grateful Dead, released in 1971. Also known as "Skull & Roses" (due to its iconic cover art) and "Skull Fuck" (the name the band originally wanted to give to the album, which was rejected by the record company). [http://www.deaddisc.com/disc/Skull_And_Roses.htm "Grateful Dead (Skull and Roses)" on DeadDisc.com] ]

While it is mainly a live album, there were a few overdubs performed by the band including lead and background vocals that are doctored up over the original live recordings, as well as adding an organ track played by Garcia associate Merl Saunders to the tracks "Playing In The Band" and "Wharf Rat" and burying Pigpen's organ in the mix of some of the other tunes such as "The Other One" and "Big Railroad Blues".

"Playing in the Band" received a good amount of airplay, and became one of the Dead's most played songs in concerts. The closing segue of "Not Fade Away" into "Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad" also received airplay and became a fan favorite. "Wharf Rat" provided the name for the Wharf Rats, a group of Dead concert-goers who remain drug and alcohol free.

The album's cover art, composed by Alton Kelly, is based on an illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for an old edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Track listing

ide one

#"Bertha" (Garcia, Hunter)
#"Mama Tried" (Merle Haggard)
#"Big Railroad Blues" (Noah Lewis)
#"Playing in the Band" (Weir, Hunter)

ide two

#"The Other One" (Grateful Dead)

ide three

#"Me & My Uncle" (John Phillips)
#"Big Boss Man" (Smith, Dixon)
#"Me & Bobby McGee" (Kristofferson, Foster)
#"Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry)

ide four

#"Wharf Rat" (Garcia, Hunter)
#"Not Fade Away" (Holly, Petty)
#"Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" (Traditional)

2003 reissue

#"Bertha"
#"Mama Tried"
#"Big Railroad Blues"
#"Playing in the Band"
#"The Other One"
#"Me & My Uncle"
#"Big Boss Man"
#"Me & Bobby McGee"
#"Johnny B. Goode"
#"Wharf Rat"
#"Not Fade Away/Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad"
#"Oh Boy!" (live)
#"I'm a Hog For You" (live) (Leiber/Stoller)
#"Grateful Dead" radio spot"

Personnel

* Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, vocals
* Bob Weir - rhythm guitar, vocals
* Phil Lesh - bass guitar, vocals
* Bill Kreutzmann - drums
* Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - organ, harmonica, vocals

with

* Merl Saunders - organ

Recording dates

*"Johnny B. Goode" recorded at Winterland Arena, San Francisco on March 24, 1971
*"Big Railroad Blues" and "Not Fade Away/Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" recorded at Manhattan Center, New York on April 5, 1971
*"Playing In The Band", "Oh Boy!" and "I'm A Hog For You" recorded at Manhattan Center, New York on April 6, 1971
*"Mama Tried", "Big Boss Man" and "Wharf Rat" recorded at Fillmore East, New York on April 26, 1971
*"Bertha" and "Me & Bobby McGee" recorded at Fillmore East, New York on April 27, 1971
*"The Other One" recorded at Fillmore East, New York on April 28, 1971
*"Me & My Uncle" recorded at Fillmore East, New York on April 29, 1971

Charts

Album - Billboard

Notes