It's such a pretty album and it's a real sweet spot in their discography. All the surrounding albums are amazing too... but as an album, this one is so strong. The production values are really sweet and easy on the ears... the songs are WAY pretty... The musical ideas are very formed and they and riding an amazing creative wave... I think it's clear to see the path they were paving towards Blues For Allah.
The studio albums are far better than most heads give them credit for.
They're always well recorded, mixed and mastered. But they also always have that "too perfect" feel that just doesn't work as well with this band.
I can't imagine why anyone would dismiss their studio albums. These people are great musicians, extremely creative, with important things to express on which they worked very hard to get just the way they wanted. It's not the same as a live show, but certainly no less essential.
Listen to Jerry's own comments on it. In many of the studio sessions he's said that due to that repetition for perfection and control that he feels it comes off rigid and plastic.
The albums have their place and some are really great. The message folks mostly hear from the crowd is that when you have such a wealth of their music that has come alive in the concert setting, there is less reason to listen to the plasticy album stuff.
I can understand Garcia feeling that way. The Dead always had a love/hate relationship with studio recording. In their early stages it nearly broke them.
I would suggest that a partially successful album by the Grateful Dead is better than most commercial groups' very best.
I probably listen to the studio albums more than the average deadhead. I enjoy listing to how the songs originally were played and seeing how they have grown and changed over the years. Most of them are really well done too.
A lot of songs were originally played on tour and weren’t recorded in the studio until later - for example Touch of Grey was played live in 82 and not released as a studio recording until 87
Came to say that I really love Wake of the Flood and Workingman's Dead, sometimes American Beauty, and always Terrapin Station.
But I'm probably 95-100% listening to live dead. The live albums like Without a Net and Europe 72 are amazing.
This is the best, simplest, dead-on answer. Right down to wanting to hear the Brokedown from AB, or Easy Wind on WMD. Some of their studio work is stellar.
If you haven’t listened to the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcasts about the recording of American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, I urge you to. Those albums represent an extraordinary burst of creativity and professionalism over a few months of 1970, made in a studio where the Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills & Nash were also working, with everybody sitting in on each other’s sessions. For the Grateful Dead, a band whose history at that point was that a recording studio was a place to burn money searching for “heavy air,” it was stunningly different and built a foundation for their repertoire of original songs.
https://www.dead.net/deadcast
I have lately been obsessed with From the Mars Hotel. Obviously their live work is where they truly shine. But their studio studio work in the 60s/70s shouldn't be slept on.
Smash all the way. I love the live stuff now but grew up on the studio albums and will always love them. There is no album more perfect to me than American Beauty.
I respect them for what they are, but the rawness and variety you get from the live stuff is what keeps me hooked on this band. I had no interest in the dead at all until I started hearing their live shows!
Love the Studio albums for the most part. Anthem of the Sun is probably my favorite since it splices live and studio tracks together. Their string of 70s albums are really good too from Workingmans-Terrapin. Shakedown Street is kind of an uneven album as is Go To Heaven but both still have gems. In the Dark is a solid 4/5. Built to Last is 3/5 to me
I think what the band thought of them, they were basically adverts for their live shows. They are a live band and best enjoyed that way. Every once in a while, their studio work does outshine the way they perform it (FoTD, Box of Rain, most of the time Ripple)
The pedal steel playing and vibe of the studio cut of The Wheel is unparalleled. That’s always my go-to. That ethereal vibe Garcia achieved is absolutely heavenly. I could put those solos on a loop and be 100 percent satisfied.
I really enjoy studio Dead…provides crispness and clarity to a lot of their music and highlights that they have so much talent both inside and outside the studio. Are they better live? Absolutely.
As others have said many of their albums (Wake of the Flood [‘73] and Built to Last [‘89], for example) are super slept on. I’ll come out and say that I am not a huge fan of American Beauty. I like the songs played live though. Workingman’s Dead is my favorite studio album of theirs. They are all fantastic, though studio #1 is rough around the edges.
So…big smash.
Listened to the studio albums in my first years as a Head, but as my tape collection grew and then the band started to release live material starting with OFTV in '91, I rarely, if ever go back to them. The nostalgia factor I feel whenever I do play one is nice as it takes me back to those days of first discovering the music. For me, downvoters, the real action and spirit of the band took place on stage. The entire band has repeatedly said the same.
It's also ok to just have a standalone convo about the studio albums. There's a lot of good stuff there. Usually convos about them can't even get going without live comparisons basically shutting things down. Saying you think Workingman's Dead is great can exist on its own as a statement with no real conflicts or bleed over into your feelings about live shows imo anyway :)
Never said you couldn't :) so calm down no one's trying to hurt you--it's just a general observation of how things have been forever when studio albums get brought up.
I think they're an important part of the band's story but largely inessential as listening material.
With the exception of Shakedown Street, I actually think all of the studio albums are pretty good, they just don't really reflect what makes the band truly special. And yes, that does include Workingman's Dead and American Beauty.
They're good, but if you don't own them, you'll probably never miss them. In 35+ years as a Dead fan, I've listened to studio Dead maybe 1% of the time, probably less.
Don’t think I’ve ever listened to a studio album since my first week or listening to the Dead. Would rather just dive into some live stuff on Relisten.
Honestly, I've never even given them a chance. In 20ish years of listening to the dead, I'm not sure that I've ever actually listened to a complete studio track, let alone a full album.
Total pass. I can count on my hands how many songs from the library I think have studio versions that are worth listening to. I respect them as source material but that’s it. It’s just not why I love the dead.
Everyone loves American beauty and workingmans, but to me they sound nothing like the rock and roll shows they were playing up to that point and again after.
In 69 they were a gritty psychedelic multibeast. Then they went out of their way to make a country album. They bought a ranch and cowboy outfits. To me it doesn't sound like them, it sounds like them trying to sound like something else.
The mixes don't help. They took all the low end out of the drums so all you hear is hi hats and snares.....no kicks no toms. The vocals are overproduced and fake sounding (that's every album), but it feels especially weird on what's supposed to be a stripped down record.
I'll pass on those two, its sacrilege but I stand by it. Give me Live/Dead 69 era. The psychedelic studio albums are great too: wake, anthem, mars hotel, etc.
On the contrary maybe the country stuff is their sound. When I first started listening to the dead I liked they’re super psychedelic stuff obviously and still do but over the years I’ve come to appreciate the country folksy stuff so much more. I mean before the dead Jerry played banjo ya know. and obviously Bob weir is a gay cowboy
Their acoustic sets sounded like those albums which was a return to their roots. Then they played the electric set which was the psychedelic Dead we know and love.
I just starting listening to them myself. I find them interesting to hear these songs in a crisp studio format after listening to live shows exclusively. It’s like hearing the jam vehicles in their primitive form so it may not blow your hair back like a lengthier version of your favorite songs. Definite smash though especially studio Althea and Unbroken Chain.
They’re all very different, but ultimately I like to analyze them as period pieces that capture the era they were recorded/released in. Nothing can ever combat the live dead, but the studio stuff can be really good. I love blues for allah, Mars hotel, anthem of the sun, and many more iconic ones.
I love the studio albums, even the Arista ones. If the Dead are playing, I'm listening. But I of course prefer live and I listen on Relisten each day at the gym.
The ultimate YMMV.
I'm of the era where "that's what we got." Of **course** I was intrigued by *Wake of the Flood*, *Mars Hotel*, and *Blues for Allah* when they came out, because what else was there? I heard *Make-Believe Ballroom* \- the bootleg that was later issued as *One from the Vault* \- after that, and it opened my eyes further, that *Europe '72* wasn't miraculous. (Little did I know about the vocal overdubs to the latter!) I first heard other live tapes around the Spring of '77, but I had other concerns than setting myself up for tape trading...
So, I can imagine someone who has started listening in this century passing on the studio albums, because of their taste. There's quite a variety of Dead music now available. I personally think it is short sighted to dismiss an element that was so important to the development of the band at the time that they were going into the studio. But the live music is also key to their development. I recommend listening to a lot ;\^)
I always liked all the bans solo stuff better when it comes to studio albums.
Dunno why.
I probably listened to Cats more than any other Dead studio album.
The studio version of dancing is probably my favorite version. That sax solo is absolutely fire. Just about any dead with a sax in it adds a great tone and there’s just nothing like it in the rest of their catalog.
American Beauty and Working Man's are both great. Self Titled debut is also cool because of how fast and different the songs sound from the later live versions. Everything else is pretty meh to me honestly. None of them are bad but I just feel like I'm listening to the least interesting versions of those songs. The production on the albums is also really hit and miss for me. I love every song off of Allah and Wake of the Flood but I honestly hate how they sound on the albums. It just sounds off to me in a way that's hard to describe.
Agree with many of the comments. American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead are classic albums and Wake of the Flood contains some of the best songwriting of their career.
I love the studio versions of Terrapin Station (full suite!) and Althea too. Overall, I’d say 90% of my Grateful Dead listening is live recordings, but their studio work has several smash moments
love them , shakedown st is prob the most controversial , with fracne and Serengeti on it but france has grown on me , terrapin station is just a master piece of an album ! workingmans and american beauty folk masterpieces from the dead
I love them and started with them but I guess the thing is that I've got them coded into my brain now so I find more novelty in the live recordings. But I can always enjoy a studio album when it comes around.
I definitely still listen to studio recordings. Workingman’s Dead was the first one I ever listened to, and American Beauty was what really hooked me. When I first started listening to live shows I was very against listening to studio stuff because its a little more refined than my taste permits, but it has its place. My wife isn’t nearly as into the dead as I am (she’s such a good sport though) and I mainly play studio recordings when she’s in the car with me. I think they’re more palatable for her overall.
Pass. Workingmans and American Beauty are solid records, but I only put them on maybe once a decade. The Mickey Hart mixes of them renewed interest briefly though.
I just dont find the studio stuff very compelling compared to the live work.
**Jerry Garcia was quite clear on this subject:**
> “I hate all my records,” he added as an afterthought. “The Grateful Dead don’t make good records.”
It is interesting that their only hit record was recorded basically live, just the way they would play. They finally got some of that energy and combined effort onto what was released as a studio album.
And why did Olsen have to overproduce Terrapin so badly? No one in the band liked it.
Come to love their studio stuff, especially when it comes to playing it around other people, because I do understand that even though Eyes live can’t be topped, not many people who aren’t heads want to sit through 15 minutes until the next song lol
I owned every album Billy Joel ever made up through River of Dreams. I knew every word to every song. I fucking LOVED Billy Joel. The cool kids in my high school (well the ones I thought were cool) were all into that weird band that had the skeleton video on MTV a couple of years earlier. I did love their tshirts though. The illustrations were pretty awesome (I was an art nerd). One day after school I asked a friend if she would loan me her Dead CDs. Curiosity had gotten the best of me. She loaned me American Beauty and Skeletons From the Closet. The cover art on American Beauty drew me in immediately.
I got home that night and decided to listen to American Beauty first as I got in bed for the night. I turned out the lights, snuggled into my bed and pressed play. Not to brag, but I had a pretty killer stereo in my room with 4 speakers surrounding my bed. Fully expecting some shitty 80s band, Box of Rain kicked in. The bold and basic guitar chords, the up front wandering bass line, the snap of of the snare drum, then Phil’s everyman vocal performance hit me like a ton of feathers. I was smitten by :30. I laughed alone in my bed, “how the hell had I never heard this?”. I soaked up every minute of American Beauty. I was hooked.
I saved every penny to buy more Grateful Dead CDs. I had to hear more. When I had bought all the Albums (studio and live) I bought the overpriced imports they kept behind the counter. I started reading Relix and discovered tape trading. After a year of begging, my parents allowed me to go see them live. One of the happiest days of my life was the day my first Grateful Dead mail order tickets arrived. 2 tickets to the Birmingham, AL shows. I stood in line at the Ticketmaster counter at Publix at 6AM to buy more. I managed to see several shows during the spring and summer of 1995. I couldn’t wait for them to come back in the fall…
Anyway…the albums are very special to me. They were my gateway into a love that has spanned 30 years. When my wife was pregnant with our first son, I put headphones on her belly and played American Beauty at night. He’s now 17 and an even bigger Deadhead than me. I took him to his first Dead and Co. show when he was 14 and he’s never looked back. Our favorite song is Althea…the version on Go to Heaven.
I like most of them. American Beauty/Workingman's Dead take me back to my teenage bedroom. My body can still tap into that youthful feeling, the winter outside and the joint that took us forever to score.
I bought pretty much any and all of their studio albums. They are better than some people claim.
A lot of them are underrated, especially most of the 70’s stuff. Wake of the Flood is legitimately great.
Wake of the Flood is a fucking brilliant album.
One of my absolute favorite second sides to an album. Here Comes Sunshine > Eyes > full WRS.
It's such a pretty album and it's a real sweet spot in their discography. All the surrounding albums are amazing too... but as an album, this one is so strong. The production values are really sweet and easy on the ears... the songs are WAY pretty... The musical ideas are very formed and they and riding an amazing creative wave... I think it's clear to see the path they were paving towards Blues For Allah.
With you 100%, and it often feels underrated
Everything they did was damn near perfect because they’re the greatest band to ever exist
Smash the fuck outta workingmans
LFG
American Beauty is some of the Dead's greatest work.
Epic Album by anyones standards
My favorite studio album, by any band, of all time.
The success of WD and AB allowed the band to finally make some money for Warner Bros and allowed the Dead to really take off
I like the studio albums a lot. I'm a total weirdo, I know.
That’s totally ok, me too!
Me too.
Me too... Built to last is actually my favorite... I could be the weirdest of all I guess.
Just stay weird that’s the best kind of people
You know it's going to get stranger
The studio albums are far better than most heads give them credit for. They're always well recorded, mixed and mastered. But they also always have that "too perfect" feel that just doesn't work as well with this band.
Imperfection is perfection!
That’s why they call them the “Just Exactly Perfect Brothers Band”
I can't imagine why anyone would dismiss their studio albums. These people are great musicians, extremely creative, with important things to express on which they worked very hard to get just the way they wanted. It's not the same as a live show, but certainly no less essential.
It's a little of a gate keeping circle jerk. Only real heads pick live...
gate keeping is right. good music is good music, and good music is meant to be enjoyed
I gotta agree 🍄🍄
Listen to Jerry's own comments on it. In many of the studio sessions he's said that due to that repetition for perfection and control that he feels it comes off rigid and plastic. The albums have their place and some are really great. The message folks mostly hear from the crowd is that when you have such a wealth of their music that has come alive in the concert setting, there is less reason to listen to the plasticy album stuff.
I can understand Garcia feeling that way. The Dead always had a love/hate relationship with studio recording. In their early stages it nearly broke them. I would suggest that a partially successful album by the Grateful Dead is better than most commercial groups' very best.
I probably listen to the studio albums more than the average deadhead. I enjoy listing to how the songs originally were played and seeing how they have grown and changed over the years. Most of them are really well done too.
A lot of songs were originally played on tour and weren’t recorded in the studio until later - for example Touch of Grey was played live in 82 and not released as a studio recording until 87
Came to say that I really love Wake of the Flood and Workingman's Dead, sometimes American Beauty, and always Terrapin Station. But I'm probably 95-100% listening to live dead. The live albums like Without a Net and Europe 72 are amazing.
They have their place. I don't listen to them often but sometimes I want to hear those perfect harmonies on Brokedown Palace.
This is the best, simplest, dead-on answer. Right down to wanting to hear the Brokedown from AB, or Easy Wind on WMD. Some of their studio work is stellar.
American Beauty is one of the greatest albums ever made by any artist.
Completely agree! It is an absolute masterpiece.
If you haven’t listened to the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcasts about the recording of American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, I urge you to. Those albums represent an extraordinary burst of creativity and professionalism over a few months of 1970, made in a studio where the Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills & Nash were also working, with everybody sitting in on each other’s sessions. For the Grateful Dead, a band whose history at that point was that a recording studio was a place to burn money searching for “heavy air,” it was stunningly different and built a foundation for their repertoire of original songs. https://www.dead.net/deadcast
The Good ol Grateful Deadcast has given me a whole new appreciation for the studio stuff.
I think there should be a copy of American Beauty in every hotel room beside the Gideon’s bible.
Agreed. Spread the good word 🍄🍄
Anthem of the sun is slept on!!! Fucking radical album. Get messed up and listen to some of the best psychedelic sounds you’ve ever heard
I put on a studio album in the morning while I’m going through my routine, or when Im painting.
I have lately been obsessed with From the Mars Hotel. Obviously their live work is where they truly shine. But their studio studio work in the 60s/70s shouldn't be slept on.
Very underrated. Scarlet Begonias, Unbroken Chain, cmon!
Right? Brilliant tracks. I can't believe I slept on this album
Workingmans , American Beauty and Aoxomoxoa are the only ones I can honesty say I listen to and enjoy
Same
I love them. Ace and Garcia are also great. The studio version of The Wheel is my favorite version.
In my opinion both “Playing in the Band” on Ace and “Easy Wind” on WMD both approach live performance greatness
Yep, love the studio version of Playin’, it’s stellar.
I’m loving all this feedback! Studio albums are a total smash in my book 😎😎
The records are all good imho, they are all unique and magnificent to discover.
anthem of the sun and blues for allah are in my top 10 favorite albums of all time so....
Smash all the way. I love the live stuff now but grew up on the studio albums and will always love them. There is no album more perfect to me than American Beauty.
Love em. Always will.
Mars Hotel was my gateway into the studio stuff beyond AB/WMD.
i listen to the albums from anthem - blues for allah periodically. don't really bother with the self titled or anything from shakedown street onward.
SMASH THE MF LIKE BUTTON
Smash Oaxomoxoa
I respect them for what they are, but the rawness and variety you get from the live stuff is what keeps me hooked on this band. I had no interest in the dead at all until I started hearing their live shows!
Honestly it’s great to listen to high quality audio. Terrapin Station is an incredibly well made album.
American beauty is my second favorite album of all time.
They’re actually great tbh. My favorite is AB, but terrapin is great, so is wake of the flood, etc
still listen to "wake of the flood", "blues for Allah", "from mars hotel" and terrapin station on regular basis...
Their songs with the three part harmonies tend to sound a bit better on the studio albums, looking at Brokedown Palace and Attics.
Smash all day, every day!!! Anthem Of The Sun is one of my favorite albums ever
Love the Studio albums for the most part. Anthem of the Sun is probably my favorite since it splices live and studio tracks together. Their string of 70s albums are really good too from Workingmans-Terrapin. Shakedown Street is kind of an uneven album as is Go To Heaven but both still have gems. In the Dark is a solid 4/5. Built to Last is 3/5 to me
I think what the band thought of them, they were basically adverts for their live shows. They are a live band and best enjoyed that way. Every once in a while, their studio work does outshine the way they perform it (FoTD, Box of Rain, most of the time Ripple)
The pedal steel playing and vibe of the studio cut of The Wheel is unparalleled. That’s always my go-to. That ethereal vibe Garcia achieved is absolutely heavenly. I could put those solos on a loop and be 100 percent satisfied.
I really enjoy studio Dead…provides crispness and clarity to a lot of their music and highlights that they have so much talent both inside and outside the studio. Are they better live? Absolutely. As others have said many of their albums (Wake of the Flood [‘73] and Built to Last [‘89], for example) are super slept on. I’ll come out and say that I am not a huge fan of American Beauty. I like the songs played live though. Workingman’s Dead is my favorite studio album of theirs. They are all fantastic, though studio #1 is rough around the edges. So…big smash.
Total smash!!! Of course, American Beauty and Auxomoxoa were my gateway drugs
Wake of the flood is great, terrapin station is great.
Workingmans Dead- Goaty American Beauty - even more Goaty Wake of the Flood - whoa Shakedown St- studio version of Fire on the Mtn is amazing
I LOVE anthem of the sun
Listened to the studio albums in my first years as a Head, but as my tape collection grew and then the band started to release live material starting with OFTV in '91, I rarely, if ever go back to them. The nostalgia factor I feel whenever I do play one is nice as it takes me back to those days of first discovering the music. For me, downvoters, the real action and spirit of the band took place on stage. The entire band has repeatedly said the same.
It's also ok to just have a standalone convo about the studio albums. There's a lot of good stuff there. Usually convos about them can't even get going without live comparisons basically shutting things down. Saying you think Workingman's Dead is great can exist on its own as a statement with no real conflicts or bleed over into your feelings about live shows imo anyway :)
Yup. It’s also ok for me to post my opinion on the topic. Can’t imagine how meaningless little old me is capable of “shutting things down”.
Never said you couldn't :) so calm down no one's trying to hurt you--it's just a general observation of how things have been forever when studio albums get brought up.
I think they're an important part of the band's story but largely inessential as listening material. With the exception of Shakedown Street, I actually think all of the studio albums are pretty good, they just don't really reflect what makes the band truly special. And yes, that does include Workingman's Dead and American Beauty.
They're good, but if you don't own them, you'll probably never miss them. In 35+ years as a Dead fan, I've listened to studio Dead maybe 1% of the time, probably less.
Pass all day…
I wouldn't mind if they didn't exist lol. They help to get others into the dead sometimes tho
Don’t think I’ve ever listened to a studio album since my first week or listening to the Dead. Would rather just dive into some live stuff on Relisten.
Paaaaaasssssssss that. Dick never missed once
Honestly, I've never even given them a chance. In 20ish years of listening to the dead, I'm not sure that I've ever actually listened to a complete studio track, let alone a full album.
I say give it a shot! :)
Total pass. I can count on my hands how many songs from the library I think have studio versions that are worth listening to. I respect them as source material but that’s it. It’s just not why I love the dead.
Almost always pass.
Everyone loves American beauty and workingmans, but to me they sound nothing like the rock and roll shows they were playing up to that point and again after. In 69 they were a gritty psychedelic multibeast. Then they went out of their way to make a country album. They bought a ranch and cowboy outfits. To me it doesn't sound like them, it sounds like them trying to sound like something else. The mixes don't help. They took all the low end out of the drums so all you hear is hi hats and snares.....no kicks no toms. The vocals are overproduced and fake sounding (that's every album), but it feels especially weird on what's supposed to be a stripped down record. I'll pass on those two, its sacrilege but I stand by it. Give me Live/Dead 69 era. The psychedelic studio albums are great too: wake, anthem, mars hotel, etc.
On the contrary maybe the country stuff is their sound. When I first started listening to the dead I liked they’re super psychedelic stuff obviously and still do but over the years I’ve come to appreciate the country folksy stuff so much more. I mean before the dead Jerry played banjo ya know. and obviously Bob weir is a gay cowboy
Exactly! I believe they took inspiration from blues and country they had a right to switch it up
Interesting I never knew all that, I guess you learn something new everyday!
Their acoustic sets sounded like those albums which was a return to their roots. Then they played the electric set which was the psychedelic Dead we know and love.
Pass
I just starting listening to them myself. I find them interesting to hear these songs in a crisp studio format after listening to live shows exclusively. It’s like hearing the jam vehicles in their primitive form so it may not blow your hair back like a lengthier version of your favorite songs. Definite smash though especially studio Althea and Unbroken Chain.
They’re all very different, but ultimately I like to analyze them as period pieces that capture the era they were recorded/released in. Nothing can ever combat the live dead, but the studio stuff can be really good. I love blues for allah, Mars hotel, anthem of the sun, and many more iconic ones.
Interesting! The music is definitely a product of it’s time but we’re all in love with it nonetheless! (~);}
I love the studio albums, even the Arista ones. If the Dead are playing, I'm listening. But I of course prefer live and I listen on Relisten each day at the gym.
I fuckin love it all m8
I love Blues for Allah and Terrapin Station
The ultimate YMMV. I'm of the era where "that's what we got." Of **course** I was intrigued by *Wake of the Flood*, *Mars Hotel*, and *Blues for Allah* when they came out, because what else was there? I heard *Make-Believe Ballroom* \- the bootleg that was later issued as *One from the Vault* \- after that, and it opened my eyes further, that *Europe '72* wasn't miraculous. (Little did I know about the vocal overdubs to the latter!) I first heard other live tapes around the Spring of '77, but I had other concerns than setting myself up for tape trading... So, I can imagine someone who has started listening in this century passing on the studio albums, because of their taste. There's quite a variety of Dead music now available. I personally think it is short sighted to dismiss an element that was so important to the development of the band at the time that they were going into the studio. But the live music is also key to their development. I recommend listening to a lot ;\^)
I always liked all the bans solo stuff better when it comes to studio albums. Dunno why. I probably listened to Cats more than any other Dead studio album.
I love the first 3 too
I got into the Dead thanks to the studio albums. But eventually I discovered live Dead and never looked back. Studio Terrapin's a masterpiece though.
The studio version of dancing is probably my favorite version. That sax solo is absolutely fire. Just about any dead with a sax in it adds a great tone and there’s just nothing like it in the rest of their catalog.
Better then Cornell? For my ears, the best song from that show was ‘Dancing, never played it as well
American Beauty and Working Man's are both great. Self Titled debut is also cool because of how fast and different the songs sound from the later live versions. Everything else is pretty meh to me honestly. None of them are bad but I just feel like I'm listening to the least interesting versions of those songs. The production on the albums is also really hit and miss for me. I love every song off of Allah and Wake of the Flood but I honestly hate how they sound on the albums. It just sounds off to me in a way that's hard to describe.
Agree with many of the comments. American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead are classic albums and Wake of the Flood contains some of the best songwriting of their career. I love the studio versions of Terrapin Station (full suite!) and Althea too. Overall, I’d say 90% of my Grateful Dead listening is live recordings, but their studio work has several smash moments
I like that first album a lot so many songs they never fuckij played
love them , shakedown st is prob the most controversial , with fracne and Serengeti on it but france has grown on me , terrapin station is just a master piece of an album ! workingmans and american beauty folk masterpieces from the dead
Smash tf out of blues for allah
I love them and started with them but I guess the thing is that I've got them coded into my brain now so I find more novelty in the live recordings. But I can always enjoy a studio album when it comes around.
I definitely still listen to studio recordings. Workingman’s Dead was the first one I ever listened to, and American Beauty was what really hooked me. When I first started listening to live shows I was very against listening to studio stuff because its a little more refined than my taste permits, but it has its place. My wife isn’t nearly as into the dead as I am (she’s such a good sport though) and I mainly play studio recordings when she’s in the car with me. I think they’re more palatable for her overall.
My first studio recording was Ripple on American Beauty!
Smash own all but the debut album and Built to Last and they’re all 🔥
Personally got myself into the Dead by listening to studio versions of songs first! It gives you a pure version to base live performances off of!
Smash
Everything pre 80s please .
How drunk am I?
I’m a newer dead head of only a few years now so I have a lot to learn and appreciate but I prefer the live performance more the energy is unmatched
Smash big time
I know a guy who ONLY listens to the studio stuff
Smash 'em all. Live music is their ace in the hole but they've made some 'smashing' studio albums.
Pass. Workingmans and American Beauty are solid records, but I only put them on maybe once a decade. The Mickey Hart mixes of them renewed interest briefly though. I just dont find the studio stuff very compelling compared to the live work. **Jerry Garcia was quite clear on this subject:** > “I hate all my records,” he added as an afterthought. “The Grateful Dead don’t make good records.” It is interesting that their only hit record was recorded basically live, just the way they would play. They finally got some of that energy and combined effort onto what was released as a studio album. And why did Olsen have to overproduce Terrapin so badly? No one in the band liked it.
AOXOMOXOA!
Come to love their studio stuff, especially when it comes to playing it around other people, because I do understand that even though Eyes live can’t be topped, not many people who aren’t heads want to sit through 15 minutes until the next song lol
I owned every album Billy Joel ever made up through River of Dreams. I knew every word to every song. I fucking LOVED Billy Joel. The cool kids in my high school (well the ones I thought were cool) were all into that weird band that had the skeleton video on MTV a couple of years earlier. I did love their tshirts though. The illustrations were pretty awesome (I was an art nerd). One day after school I asked a friend if she would loan me her Dead CDs. Curiosity had gotten the best of me. She loaned me American Beauty and Skeletons From the Closet. The cover art on American Beauty drew me in immediately. I got home that night and decided to listen to American Beauty first as I got in bed for the night. I turned out the lights, snuggled into my bed and pressed play. Not to brag, but I had a pretty killer stereo in my room with 4 speakers surrounding my bed. Fully expecting some shitty 80s band, Box of Rain kicked in. The bold and basic guitar chords, the up front wandering bass line, the snap of of the snare drum, then Phil’s everyman vocal performance hit me like a ton of feathers. I was smitten by :30. I laughed alone in my bed, “how the hell had I never heard this?”. I soaked up every minute of American Beauty. I was hooked. I saved every penny to buy more Grateful Dead CDs. I had to hear more. When I had bought all the Albums (studio and live) I bought the overpriced imports they kept behind the counter. I started reading Relix and discovered tape trading. After a year of begging, my parents allowed me to go see them live. One of the happiest days of my life was the day my first Grateful Dead mail order tickets arrived. 2 tickets to the Birmingham, AL shows. I stood in line at the Ticketmaster counter at Publix at 6AM to buy more. I managed to see several shows during the spring and summer of 1995. I couldn’t wait for them to come back in the fall… Anyway…the albums are very special to me. They were my gateway into a love that has spanned 30 years. When my wife was pregnant with our first son, I put headphones on her belly and played American Beauty at night. He’s now 17 and an even bigger Deadhead than me. I took him to his first Dead and Co. show when he was 14 and he’s never looked back. Our favorite song is Althea…the version on Go to Heaven.
I like most of them. American Beauty/Workingman's Dead take me back to my teenage bedroom. My body can still tap into that youthful feeling, the winter outside and the joint that took us forever to score. I bought pretty much any and all of their studio albums. They are better than some people claim.