set at The Winterland than a polished record. The low-energy playing following the opening “Alabama Getaway” sounds more like a 5 a.m. As the odometer rolled over to 1980, the Grateful Dead were beginning to become slaves to their vices, and that came across on the record. Unfortunately, the Dead came into the studio in what would turn out to be the beginning of a mid-career slump. With such live staples as “Alabama Getaway”, “Althea”, “Lost Sailor”, “Saint of Circumstance”, “Feel Like A Stranger”, and “Don’t Ease Me In”, one would think that the work had already been done for this album. The true casualty of this album, besides the erosion of the band members’ septums, is the track listing. But plenty of great albums have terrible covers, including many by the Dead. With a cover that smells of more baby laxative than a maternity ward, this album epitomized a pronounced mainstream tilt from the countercultural icons that many could not bear. Go To Heaven (1980)Ĭoming in at Dead last is 1980’s Go To Heaven. This list quantifies the “goodness” or “badness” of a given record in terms of its impact on the musical development of the band. Some records showcase a great blues band, some highlight the best psychedelic group around. The band evolved a lot over the years, from a psych-surf/blues band to the stadium giants of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It’s important to note that with a seminal band boasting a 30-year tenure, the ideas of “worst” and “best” are even more subjective than usual. Plenty has been written about the live experience of a Grateful Dead show, and much more will be written in the future, but for now it’s time to examine the 13 Grateful Dead studio albums, ranked from worst to best. The Grateful Dead were pioneers both on the stage and off. Then, they have a song like “Unbroken Chain”, which appeared on wax in 1974 but wasn’t played live until 1995, when its appearance became a momentous occasion for fans in the audience. “Loose Lucy” ( From The Mars Hotel) hit the stage in its original studio form only to drop off the face of the Earth for 16 years before returning in a slower, more chilled-out form for a band that was a little more weary from the road. The songs would have their kinks worked out live, in front of an audience, night after night, until they were in their final form and ready for the record. The band set what has become a standard for many bands in the jam scene of road-testing songs on tour for months or even years before finally pressing them onto vinyl. This phenomenon, however, does a disservice to the symbiotic relationship between the time the Dead spent in the studio and under the lights onstage.
The unfortunate downside of such a legendary live legacy is that the band’s studio albums often get left in the dark. Making each concert different from the one that preceded it was a revolutionary concept that gave birth to a legion of followers who tracked the band all over the country, seeing every show on months-long tours. Their commitment to experimental improvisation every single night made them one of the top-grossing live acts in the country by the end of their 30 year reign. The Grateful Dead are regarded as one of the greatest live bands in the history of rock music.
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