Published on May 22, 1999
I remember well when I first started to get into the Grateful
Dead in 1990. The more I listened to them, the more of their albums
I had to own. During one such trip, I decided to lay my hands on
some of the Dead’s earliest works, so I snagged the tapes for the
first four albums.
To be honest, my emotions about these albums vary with each
listen. There are times that they can put a smile on my face, and
there are times that they can let me down in a big way. But no
matter what, one undeniable fact about the band’s self-titled debut
release from 1967 stands out: It highlighted a band that wasn’t
quite sure what they were about to embark on, and the tentativeness
shows.
Now that I’m guaranteed flame mail for the better part of the
weekend, let me clarify:
The Grateful Dead is not a bad album, but it sure is
different when compared to works like
Wake Of The Flood (or, for that matter,
Aoxomoxoa). With one exception, Jerry Garcia and crew charge
the blues full-tilt, abandon cast aside like so much laundry.
Even in 1967, this was a radical concept; the Dead were plowing
new ground while creating their own niche in the world of
psychedelia. There’s a reason why tracks like “Beat It On Down The
Line” remained popular all throughout their career, and why other
more “traditional” tracks like “Morning Dew” and “Cold Rain And
Snow” were fan favorites. (It is interesting to hear the Dead rip
through “Cold Rain And Snow,” a song I first became acquainted with
as a momentum-building song used to start shows… and never played
that fast.)
But there is something that strikes the listener as being
inherently odd while listening to this album – namely, this is not
your typical Dead album. Now, I’m not saying that this is a bad
thing; hell, everyone needs something to start off with. But
especially for someone coming into the whole Deadhead scene late in
the game like I did, or even after the band’s breakup, it’s a weird
trip to go from the happily jangling tempos to almost breakneck
speed blues.
And while I’m busy alienating fans, might as well drive one more
nail into my coffin: I have
never been a fan of the track “Good Morning Little
Schoolgirl”, no matter who the artist was that performed it. So
even hearing the original Dead version featuring Ron “Pigpen”
McKernan on vocals doesn’t do anything for me.
Despite all of this, at least one or two tracks will end up
growing on you. For me, those tracks are “The Golden Road (To
Unlimited Devotion)” and “Sitting On Top Of The World”. And there
is one connection to the band the Dead were soon to become on
record: the ten-minute workout known as “Viola Lee Blues,” a track
that seems to fly by.
It would be easy for me to sit back and say that
The Grateful Dead is a “for the fans” disc, or is one that
should be approached with caution… but I’m not gonna do that this
time. It still is worth checking out, if only for the historical
interest and to hear how it all began in the development of this
band. Besides, if people got into the Dead thanks to some of the
“best-of” packages, chances are they’re already familiar with a
chunk of this album.
Finally, make sure you don’t get this one confused with the
officially-untitled release from 1971, with the skull and roses on
the cover… we’ll get to that soon.