1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die #166. The Grateful Dead - Live/Dead (1969)

166. The Grateful Dead - Live/Dead (1969)

Label – Warner Brothers
Producer – Betty Cantor and Bob Mattews
Art Direction – Ed Thrasher
Nationality - USA
Running Time – 75:07

Track Listing

Side one
"Dark Star" (Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir, Robert Hunter) – 23:18
Side two
"St. Stephen" (Garcia, Lesh, Hunter) – 6:31
"The Eleven" (Lesh, Hunter) – 9:18
Side three
"Turn On Your Love Light" (Joseph Scott, Deadric Malone) – 15:05
Side four
"Death Don't Have No Mercy" (Reverend Gary Davis) – 10:28
"Feedback" (Constanten, Garcia, Hart, Kreutzman, Lesh, McKernan, Weir) – 7:49
"And We Bid You Goodnight" (Traditional, arr. by Grateful Dead) – 0:35

This is the only Grateful Dead record on the 1001 list. It was their fourth release and was also their first live album released by the San Francisco-based band, something that soon became to define who the band were.
Admittedly I am not a big fan of the Dead, but I did enjoy listening to this record.
Unlike in later years, in early 1969 the Dead's set lists varied very little, but rather then presenting one concert, the record was recorded over a series of live concerts to pick out the best performances. The sidelong epic and future Deadhead anthem "Dark Star" is the standout track with the band improvising widely within the songs' simple framework. It also became the cornerstone of what the band are ultimately know for, being a jam band. With no boundaries of a short, self-contained pop song they were free to experiment as much as they liked. The same is true of the seven remaining titles on Live/Dead. Each one has a basic structure, with lots of room for the band to play whatever comes to mind.
The second ‘record’ begins with a cover of "(Turn on Your) Lovelight," which is another standout tracks.
The album was a financial success for the band in the eyes of their label, Warner Brothers even though on the cover art the word "Dead" fills the back cover, but the top part of the word "Dead" spells "acid", which later pressings removed.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 244 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
As it is a faithfully aural snapshot of what the Grateful Dead were all about, “Live/Dead” is recommended.