I've been writing about instrumental, experimental, and electronic music for over a decade. In 2017 I decided to chronologically go through the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" list, taking individual notes on each one, whether I liked it or not. So besides my regular recommendations of the modern marvels, you may see a few cringe words on some albums that I wish I'd never heard. Follow the journey along!
Really struggled through this one, folks. I don't know what it was. I think maybe it was about expectations again? I mean, I know about Grateful Dead and their lengthy jamming sessions, and I was actually looking forward to this first appearance on the 1001 list. And remember, I love instrumental music. But upon my first, second, and even third listen, I just couldn't feel, whatever it was I supposed to feel. Maybe I had to be there and hear this live? But then the other live recordings have transported the energy and emotion from the 60s into my self-isolated lifestyle, while the "Live/Dead" is just... meh. I mean, I know I'm going to get a bunch of Deadheads angry at me, but on this performance, the Dead are not even playing *together*. They're just all over the place, like drunken and bored high-school dropouts who decided to make music in their spare time. The drummer runs away in one direction, the organ is a quarter step behind, the guitars just step all over each other, without a coherent path. At least, on this first 16-track recording the engineers were able to pan the instruments apart to make them stand out a bit. If this was in mono, it would be a muddy, incoherent, and intolerable album. I think the biggest problem with this jam is that the musicians are not giving each other space, and are just ploughing all over each other. And I don't want to hear any excuses, because up until now all other live and improvised jam sessions were top notch. This is just sub-par on every level. I think this record is more historically significant (for the Deadheads) than it is musically important. Couldn't wait to get through it so that I can move on. Sorry...