>Saw Dick's Picks Volume Three in South Pasadena library and thought - remembering that great New Yorker piece on Deadheadism - "oh, I'll give 'em another try".>Listening, it struck me that the problem with the Grateful Dead is:>They're shit at song writing.>They're shit at singing.>As a groove band, they're ain't that hot either.>Really it's only the noodle, and those moments, few and far between, when the noodle takes off, that just about redeem them... To get to those moments involves waiting through protracted stretches of shit-song and shit-sing .... >But the remarkable thing about the Dead is that so shit are they at singing, they can take someone else's song and make it their own in the worst possible sense, i.e. make it as bad as something they wrote themselves.>Viz, this - one of the greatest pop songs ever, turned to shite... https://youtu.be/6pHZ7UgEWys?si=ItV64nxiYoooXDrr>I quite like the disco-ish groove here, the glinting meshwork of the guitar lines and the keyboard. But is it enough to make up for the enshitenment inflicted upon Martha and the Vandellas?
As the child of 2 deadheads, I have intrinsically known this my entire life
I would rather listen to every dead bootleg back to back then listen to Phish ever again
>>131085144my favorite dead songs in a holistic sense are bobby's cowboy songs. keith is at his best and jerry always has great fills and solosme and my uncle and mexicali blues in particular
>>131085234>I quite like the disco-ish groove here, the glinting meshwork of the guitar lines and the keyboard. But is it enough to make up for the enshitenment inflicted upon Martha and the Vandellas?Could also apply to:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opRRax4ph3E
>>131085435I only like their debut concept album (the college project one), but I rate that pretty highly. The rest of their output is just directionless memewanking>>131085560OK that's fucking cursed
>>131085144Reconstruction grooved thoseeing that as their root opens the door into them a bit
i never got deep into themi only really have interest in the jam stuff like dark star cant get into the hokey hippie folk uncle johns band stuffif i were to dive into the dead what album/live bootleg should i check for that sorta thing?
>>13108660573-74 shows have a lot of great jamshttps://youtu.be/6zwupO1u0Ggthose hippie songs often turn into extended jams, including uncle john (often paired with playing in the band)https://youtu.be/rvk0beSlydodick's picks and dave's picks are good official releases to look through
>>131086675thanks
>>131086675These Niggas Sick
>>131085144Hm. Due respect to Reynolds because he's written a lot of really great stuff, and I agree with him on a lot... but I just really don't agree with this take I don't quite know what more to say though than that I just basically feel the inverse on most of these points; and if our conclusions are so polarized it's probably just down to whatever ineffable personal factor that makes the Dead work for a person or not (and it's so binary, usually)But, I mean, I think they're incredible at songwriting; among the very best. And the best American band ever, even. Their singing can be spotty, but I love Jerry's voice and I think he's incredibly soulful. Bob developed a very profound, personal way of singing over the years too. This still would maybe be the biggest hurtle and I understand how the singing overall, especially together, might sound subpar if you haven't adjusted to themI also think they're one of the best groove bands. Maybe it's a feel you develop a taste for dancing to on drugs, with a crowd, sort of a liquid boogie - THE LSD sound imo. But if one is coming at it having your expectations set by really tight electrofunk bands etc it could seem off. The groove is more of a down-home country feel that's so soulful and played behind the beat it verges on a hip hop. And there's also a weaving, polyrhythmic aspect to it that you have to get used to, that is very much related to the logic of LSD. It's one of my favorite sensations in music ever but it's very much a particular taste maybe one grows to love, or doesn'tcont
>>131089564contThe noodling/jamming... hm... sure the really profound moments arrive at certain moments, but as you develop a taste for them, what's interesting starts to register and swirl at the level of the gestalt. And it's teaming with wells and portals of intrigue, there is a depth to them I've rarely heard in other bands. I almost want to compare the oceanic depth in Jerry's notes to the spiritual portals opened in Liz Frazer's singing, which is probably why the Dead and Cocteaus are my two favorite bands everI'll concede that they're truly a cult band. Maybe time will eventually somehow have the effect of revealing their beauty and imo almost classical status to more ears... I feel like I've seen a lot more people start to get it over time. But being culty, not just in the sense of their nicheness, but in like there literally being a hidden mystery experience within their music (I'm not exaggerating, that's what it is; a mystery cult), something about it by its nature means it has a faculty or vehicle in it that only works for certain people, who are then very decidedly in the cult, but most just aren't drawn to this marginal practiceLast note is they are obv just more an American vehicle for this niche impulse/market; hippie and spiritual scenes in other countries seem to package their equivalent phenomenon in different tropes and techniques. It's a mystical scene but yes, the signal is transmitted via Americana and that just might not hit as deeply or resonantly if you're from Europe where it's a cousin culture but different enough for these traits to seem more arbitrary and unnecessary or relativeAnyways, not even trying to convince anyone, nobody is right or wrong about the Dead. I can just say they genuinely do work for many people in a profound way, but it's just as true that they really don't work for so many others
