Reviews (page 3 of 7)
I've come around a lot more on the dead in recent years. Within the context of this list, pretty excellent album. Great guitarwork, the band's chemistry is phenomenal and these are some great tunes to jam while doing something.
I put Live/Dead on as background music and got annoyed after 5 minutes or so. Later in the day I focused on listening and at times even enjoyed what I was hearing. I'll never listen to this again though.
I would have become a Dead fan significantly sooner had they followed the jazzy space rock thread. I need to steep myself in this era a bit.
decent, feedback track was skipped.
Well, in honor of Bobby let’s do some Dead. Have you ever talked to someone who is really into soccer or hockey? When they tell you the game was incredible- thrilling, intense and you ask what the score was and they say 0-1 final. Welcome to the Grateful Dead. The opening track is exactly what is right and what is wrong with the Dead. It’s about the process, not the product. The journey, not the destination, right. Well on the way you may get bored, you may get sidetracked, you may see something incredible and you may get there with every person who you traveled with recounting different opinions on what the trip was like. What a long strange trip it’s been, right Jer? At their worst they are terrible: noodly, out of tune, out of sync. And that is what makes those moments when it all hits sound so damn great- it’s always darkest right before the dawn. I challenge you to find a time when you can actually set aside 30 minutes- that you will just allow the album to go on around you and be part of the journey with the band. That’s what makes the Dead- and many other live acts- so much better and exciting and addicting than a pop star: they include you. You, the listener, are actually included because you may hear a snippet that half the band misses. You may miss the cue and be shocked when the drummer tightens up. You may feel the highs as if you’re up there playing with them just as much as you may feel the impatient ‘get on with it’ while waiting for someone- anyone- to steer the ship that seems aimless. You are emotionally attached and included as part of the experience. To this day I have to be in the mood for the Dead. This is honestly one of my least favorite live Dead records. They have better. And once again that’s the point. Sometimes watching a 7-3 football gar is more fun than a 28-24 game. I’ve played improvisational music and maybe that lets me hear it differently than someone who hasn’t- maybe it has nothing to do with it. Maybe you just have to be open to the experience just being an experience rather than it having to have a catchy hooky chorus to bring home the bacon and get played million times in rotation.
Not a huge fan but ok background music
It’s good as a background album. I’m not absorbed by it, but it’s not so boring that I forget I’m even listening. I just can’t get super into these bands which break into a 15 minutes jam sesh whenever they want.
The original improvers St stephen Dark star
So many bad reviews, just chill and listen
So nice to listen to this one again, recorded here in my city when I was two years old. Headphones on, it transports you to another time.
It's just a long jam session and for like 90% of the time you had to be there to enjoy it. Live jams almost never capture the feeling in that moment which makes it feel random and often boring. Feedback was probably cool in the moment but listening back on a album it really is just random noise. It is a surprisingly good quality for a live recording but this was not a good live album.
This was an opportunity to listen to a group that many hold in high esteem (one that I have never really explored). I left this massively underwhelmed. This was a compilation of live sauntering jam songs.
First, I will say that if I attended a concert and had to sit through 20 minutes of “Dark Star”, I may have walked out. I’m not much of a fan of drawn out jamming, and this album is full of it. I am not the biggest fan of the Dead anyway, but I just didn’t think this was a very good album…a lot of waste in it. Two stars.
The instruments are fine. The singing is just stupid. why is this an hour and 13 minutes? It just sounds like one extremely basic song. Why is this band popular? I'm mad I had to listen to this.
Almost tolerable.
I was expecting to hate this, in fact I wanted to hate it after reading all the one star reviews but I was surprised. To be fair that opening track is absolute dog shit, it’s like some skanks had broke into a music shop plugged in a tried to play 6 different genres of music. Anyway I struggled through and when I started to hear actual coherent songs I thought, yeah that’s got something there. It did finish a bit weak though. I will probably go on to listen more of the dead on the back of this.
I mean, I guess I respect how this album helped create jam rock. But the songs meander (of course), significantly overstaying their welcome in comparison to the innovation/experimentation they offer.
Nice
There is nothing really remarkable about this album to me. If you're a fan of the Grateful Dead, you will enjoy hearing your band jam and play some obscure songs. If you're like me a not a fan, there doesn't seem to be much here to get excited about.
I just...don't get the appeal
All fine- not memorable
I legitimately felt annoyed listening to this. There were bits here and there that were okay, but only for a few seconds at a time. The longer it went on, the more annoying it got. I feel like albums like this are really only meant for people who are already fans.
Very experimental
I hate life albums and most of this album is just instrumentals and for God sakes, an 67 minute long album with 7 tracks?!?! And the first one is a whopping 23 minutes long and people think Metallica has long runtimes on songs!
This is an awkward one to rate. There's a lot to enjoy here, the core of psychadelic rock goes voyaging through a wide variety of unexpected genre influences, and some of the improvisation is pretty spectacular. But, ultimately, can I imagine myself sitting down and *listening* to this, hardcore, for the full length of a double album? And the answer is no, not really.
1969. Breakthrough album that represents what the Dead stand for. Live album with loads of jamin. But many of their other albums will outshine and give us something more iconic.
Live albums suck. I remember liking Grateful Dead more than any of the stuff in this album, so I'm not giving it a one, but if it were a band I'd never heard of I'd probably give it a one. silly of me.
This album is a lot like golf. Absolutely boring to spectate, but kinda fun when you’re actually there doing it. Maybe more accurate, this album is like drugs. Hearing about someone’s trip is often underwhelming and hard to connect to. But doing drugs? Hooboy. This probably smacked if you were a white 20 something in the crowd, high as all hell. As a headphone listen, it is a bad test of patience at best. I had brief moments of enjoyment with “Death Dont Have No Mercy”, but that’s it. Almost a 1/5
Aight
What a pile of self indulgent twaddle. On the plus side it’s quite impressive that they can play so well with their heads so firmly up each other’s arse. Not quite the worst album I’ve ever heard but really not far off
Annoying
real background music
This is #day558 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… here's to the first live rock album to use 16-track recording, yay. Now, this was a whole lot of late '60s jam rock, I must admit. Well, given the 75-minute runtime, it totally makes sense. Psychedelic, acidic, as time would demand. This is a 3 out of 5. Looking forward to #day559.
Ugh, a live album. I will say this one did not really sound like a live album so I'll give it more than 1 star - very chill - I get why people are so into these guys.
This is what I thought Grateful Dead was. Awful jammy jazz rock. And a song called Feedback that’s just feedback. Wonderfully creative, guys. Robert Christgau can suck one for this recommendation.
Not for me thanks
Got on the bus in 91. The band, culture, and community are an enormous part of my life to this day. Doesn’t change the fact that this album kinda blows. It’s a solid representation of what ya get sometimes, but not the norm.
For mye gitarjokking for min del.
I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this. I’m hit or miss with the Grateful Dead in general, and I don’t love live albums. But wow this was fantastic. I figured a 20+ minute opening track was going to be a struggle to get through, but it was the best song on the album. The instrumentation and musicianship was phenomenal. I could have listened to hours of just them playing music. Admittedly whenever the lyrics came in it kind of killed the vibe of each song. Not quite a 5 star album, but still fantastic.
I have never been a fan of the Dead. Some of their stuff is fine, but when they just start to jam/weedle on the guitars fooooorrrreeeevvveeeerrrrrr....I just tune out and it does nothing for me. I know some people really like it, and they are great musicians, but this is just middle of the road for my tastes.
I guess that I see the appeal, but I do not find it appealing.
I tried. I really did. But no.
Least favorite band of all time?
Over an hour of random noodling that goes nowhere.
Great background noise, some real good moments musically
The original jam band? This live album was a real pleasure. A little funky, with excellent musicality throughout. Easy listening for 99% of it for me.
I didn't like this album. The only reason it's not lower is because it has some decent guitar work and there are some moments where it feels like the get into a decent jam. I'm not a fan of live albums in general, but this one really annoyed me at some points. Between the off-key caterwauling, derivative ad-libs, and a full track of feedback that I'm supposed to sit through like I'm not begging for the whole thing to be over, it was more pain than pleasure to listen to. Yes, I've heard and like Grateful Dead music before this, but this is not the one for me. I hope if I have to listen to another live album from them that it's a little more tolerable, but I don't think I can ever listen to this one again unless it's by accident. 1.5/5
3.5 down, very fun jamming
I've always been aware of the cult following of the Grateful Dead. I knew it was their live music they were famous for rather than their studio work. I was quite excited to give this a go, and was left utterly disappointed. As a fan of prog rock, I'm used to long songs that have virtuoso elements to them, this was not like that at all. There is some talent here, but for the most part it felt like several guys just turning up with their instruments and playing whatever they want individualy with complete disregard for whatever else was going on around them. A 7 minute track called feedback that is just feedback! Absolutely ridiculous, but kinda funny at the same time. I know they are a jam band and not prog rock, but the fact they have 2.7m monthly listeners on Spotify and Kimg Crimson only have 1m is absolutely mental to me. 2/5 It's not quite a 1, there was one bluesy track that was ok that shows they can play, but the rest was over indulgent nonsense that I guess you had to be there with a shitload of drugs for.
Enjoyed it, which was a surprise after reading some of the reviews. It's a great example of capturing a bands live essence.
Altså bra, men mye instrumenter og må være i en vibe for det
I have always been on the outside of Dead fandom looking in. I think this album finally clicked something for me. This was just a really great rock album with some jam jaunts that, despite playing out for longer than I am used to, were entertaining. I liked it.
#851. If I paid money to see this live, I would be upset. 2/5: not grate
a groundbreaking album
I’m pretty inexperienced with Dead compared to their catalogue but I like jamming and I like long songs (big prog fan). The first song is that meme about Radiohead tuning their instruments though, it wasn’t even much of a jam it just kinda existed. The vibes are good on the rest of the album though
Yes
Classic old school Dead. For live albums, I prefer Without a Net
Lowkey meandering.
A bit overrated and sounds all the same
3.5
3.5
I did this for the 1969 deep dive, and it was just inside my top 50. Quite honestly I could probably go higher for this if it wasn't for the "Feedback" song, which I would have only taken as a slight annoyance if it didn't go on for almost eight minutes. But the real strength of this album comes in the St. Stephen/The Eleven/Turn On Your Love Light/Death Don't Have No Mercy run which is practically a five star run right there. "Dark Star" is pretty darn good as well. (8.65) ★★★★
It would have been better if it was les jamming, but they aare really good at it. The only miss is "Feedback". High 4 stars
Unlike the Grateful Dead playing a song live, I'll keep this brief. This was okay. Probably would've gone higher if "Feedback" did not exist and they were slightly less jammy. 3 stars.
Live/Tedium. Would prefer this if it were the Hateful Dead. Make it more Screamo. Get some Pantera riffs in. As jam records go it’s easily more classic and essential than the bloody Quicksilver Messenger Service that’s on this list but I would still rather pay to see a half-dead Shakatak. At least they would keep Night Birds to under fifteen minutes.
This was boring and sometimes even hurtful to listen to. Too incoherent, too long, too uninteresting. I still listened to this live album till the end. A big NO.
The perfect music to smoke that kush and space out to. Easily the most common complaint I see for this album is the fact that every song is "too long." Of course, as someone with an unhealthy obsession with modern-day Swans, a band infamous for constantly releasing songs longer than 20 or even 30 minutes, the length of these tracks don't bother me as much as other people, so I feel more comfortable meeting this record at its level. The Grateful Dead as a band place more emphasis on the vibe of their music rather than any sort of deep lyrics or artistic grandeur, which serves as this album's greatest strength. Instead of creating some grand musical statement, this record is nothing more than guys being dudes and having a jolly ol' time jamming with each other. While I do prefer when my ridiculously long songs feature tighter performances and a sense of progression, the more casual feel of the Grateful Dead is still a worthwhile listen for me. Absolutely underrated by this website in my opinion, and I will most definitely consider myself an honorary Deadhead from this point forward. If this is your first exposure to the Grateful Dead, I'd honestly recommend you just skip the opener "Dark Star" on your first listen and save it for last. It's not terrible by any means, but a 23-minute track that could come across as too relaxed and aimless can definitely leave a bad taste in one's mouth. Meanwhile, the two jams on side B are far more engaging and newbie-friendly. Standout Tracks: St. Stephen, The Eleven, Turn On Your Love Light, Feedback Score: A+
Love it. Such a fun blend of music
God acid rock? Tror jeg. Der er også sådan lidt swing over det, synes jeg. Jeg kan virkelig godt lide live albums det er super chill. Sidder og lytter til det i bussen på vej mod Østrig for at skulle stå på ski første gang. Der er også blues over det med stemmen og instrumenterne og de sådan lidt uforudsigelige sangstrukturer. Det er næsten også lidt soulet nogle gange med vokalen og at det virker sådan intimt. Forestiller mig af en eller anden årsag at jeg sidder på sådan en jazz bar i New York og folk ryger cigarer og der er fuldt af mystiske mennesker.
Turgid
This was a struggle….
Make it stop, FFS…Right down there among the bottom of the one stars. Tom.
Ah, the first track is a chore to listen to that spoiled the rest of the experience. Not the ideal introduction to the band I suppose
Another pointless list entry. Difficult to see anything new that this live offering brings. Long and plodding version. Probably good to have been there but really the recorded albums are more interesting.
So much jamming.
I get that their talented, but this is just excessive.
This was the musical equivalent of a long postponed dentist trip. Painful and overlong. Turn on Your Love Light clocks in at just over 15 minutes, only has two chords and throwaway lyrics, and made me want to lose the will to live. No issues with the musicianship but I'm far too sober to get a vibe out of this.
Need to get back to reading about these albums. My one complaint on the grateful dead is how meandery it is.
good, songs were really long
Painfully long, dreadful music and woeful vocals. The opening track being 23 minutes long felt like a sick joke, but the rest of the album follows suit with the only exception being St Stephen, which at least tries to resemble a song. Overall a pretty awful 1.5/5.
i feel like this is an album that doesnt really take itself seriously cause i dont see a lot of elements that make an album great on this besides its chill but maybe i wasnt in the mood for this but i was just bored at times.
I appreciate that the Dead paved the way for Phish but there’s a lot more noise and cacophony than I might prefer
What an awfull day for my hearing
This is a great live album. But, it would've been of the greatest, were it cut down to a single LP. There are definitely parts of the jams that drag on too long, including the piece Feedback, whuch is mostly, well, feedback. All in all, this is a band that you can hear was having fun while playing. 4/5
Has some good moments but it was a very long and drawn out listen
It's pretty good
This wasn’t too bar. Honestly there were good parts and bad parts but I think it was better than the other Grateful Dead album I had. I felt like I got a better idea of why people like them from this one
Pretty good and interesting, though a bit over long.
I’m not a Deadhead
Sorry I found this boring. 90% of it was instrumental
From all the Dead I listened to this is probably the only stuff Id tell people not to listen to.
not bad, but couldn’t finish the whole thing. jam bands give me a headache lol
Live masturbation
4.5/5
alright I suppose
When you think of great live rock albums, you think of At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers and Live/Dead by the Grateful Dead (I also think of the still under-appreciated Band of Gypsys, but that's another matter). What makes this record so rich is that it teaches you what the 'jam' is and what it isn't, or at least what it oughtn't be. To jam is to improvise w/ an emphasis on extension rather than mere invention, a dangerous game to play if you don't know where or why to lean into the moment, i.e., flow states abased by noodling. But the Dead are tuned in here. Their jamming is a soulful, cerebral, and salubrious piece of the psychedelic puzzle, w/ intimations of the black church on 'Turn on Your Love Light' & modernism on 'Feedback.'
😵💫
oh man. i can imagine this was probably better live, like actually being there but i did not vibe with this by listening to it whilst listening to it at my desk at work. it just never ends lol. 3/10 - did not have any favorite songs.
Leute, ich bin in der SPD und echt abgehärtet. Aber wie langweilig soll es denn noch werden?
Ab und zu okaye Ansätze, ansonsten langweilig bis nervig (insb. natürlich "Feedback").
Habe noch nie verstanden, wieso diese Band so fanatisch abgefeiert wird. Diese Live-Platte hat noch weitere Fragezeichen hinzugefügt. In der Mitte sind ein paar gute Psychedelic-Songs, die auch in spannenden Jams ausarten, aber alles nix, was man anderswo nicht schon besser gehört. Aber dieser 23-Minuten Soundcheck "Dark Star" soll laut Wikipedia der Holy Grail der Dead-Fans, den man unbedingt live erlebt haben muss. Ich kann da beim besten Willen nichts Spannendes dran erkennen und das anschließende "Feedback" ist dann nur noch anstrengend. Ich bin froh, in einer Zeit zu leben, in der King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard deren Rolle eingenommen haben. Deren Songwriting ist wesentlich interessanter.
Fing ganz interessant an und fiel dann irgendwie stark ab.
Sehr schwierig die Bewertung. Stellenweise fand ich das richtig gut und ich mag lange Songs auch tendenziell. Andererseits wirkte es stellenweise auf mich wie ne reine Jam-Session,was ich nicht so spannend finde.
Ein unendlich langes Album bei dem ich den Großteil der Zeit auch die Jams genießen kann. Lediglich der erste Song ist mMn etwas zu ausufernd geraten ud bei Feedback frage ich mich ob das denn sein muss. Ich denke die Pionier Rolle in die Richtung des Psychedelisch Rock und der Jam Bands ist denen definitiv zuzuschreiben und ich denke auch, dass man in dem Rabbit Hole ein ganzes Leben lang versinken kann, aber das ist mir dann doch etwas zu viel. Aber gebe einen Bonusstern, denn ich bin der Überzeugung, Live wäre das absolut mein Ding und ich würde auch 7 Minuten Feedback feiern. Auf Platte streckt es sich dann etwas.
Never really got the hype for Grateful Dead. They're okay.
Ungrateful to be alive.
One of those bands that made a giant cultural impact that just leaves me scratching my head. I guess the drugs were the key to all of those people who made Grateful Dead their life.
hahahah the reviews on this gave me a laugh. The Dead aren't for everyone and that's just ok. I find with a good joint, it's an enjoyable experience. Would I listen to this on the day to day? nope. but I don't think they wanted that either. It's beautiful music when not taken too seriously and certainly moreso with a little intoxication.
This is a good live album, but I just can't give it 5 stars based mostly on the fact that it is a live album, let alone all the jamming and the parts that I think are huge for fans of the band and "genre" but just aren't going to hit or make an impact on the rest of music listeners.
Not a huge jam band guy, but I could appreciate this even in the background -- or maybe because it was in the background? Couldn't imagine going to a concert that was just this.
Jam bands are never going to be my thing, but at least they can showcase ability and skill; it just requires the band being in sync with one another, something no one in the Grateful Dead seems to concern themselves with. Perhaps today wasn't the day to try to find my way into The Grateful Dead, a band animated by excessive, self-satisfied meandering. Despite its origins in counterculture, they're a band that has nothing to say and takes forever to say it, whose obsessive fans give the vibe that the Dead are an end unto themselves. Which, I guess, is what it is, except that nothing about this recording or others I've heard reveals a band worthy of obsession.
Fair
Just last night I was thinking about how I don’t even know what the Grateful Sound sound like, and now I wake up to this? Coincidence? or my phone is listening to my thoughts?? Anyway. Hate live albums in general, but this wasn’t extra bad or anything. I actually quite liked the non-jammy parts.
This was even worse than I expected. It's like a sound check. I think they forgot to do songs. Admittedly I have a deep bias against jam band-type nonsense but this suuuuuuucked.
The Grateful Dead are one of those bands that really divide listeners. Die-hard fans, especially the Dead Heads, treat their live shows as almost sacred, communal experiences that you truly had to be there for, high in the arena with thousands of others, to fully appreciate the magic. I've spent time with Live/Dead and plenty of their other live releases, but personally, I gravitate much more toward their studio work. The live albums, this one included, often feel dragged down by overlong tracks bloated with endless jamming and improvisation. Sure, stretching a strong song to 20+ minutes can work brilliantly if the material and the moment are right, but the Dead sometimes seemed to operate on the principle that longer automatically equals better. That approach shines in the right setting: you're in the crowd, maybe a little altered, riding the collective energy wave. At home, though? Sipping tea on the couch? Those marathon jams lose a lot of their spark and start to feel indulgent rather than transcendent.
What are you doing? Dead is a live band. Recording their concerts like this is dumb.
Noodling wank. Seriously boring slog of an album.
Ok 2/5
Never was a Dead head and this album didn't turn me into one. Either way the album was a nice surprise. Heard it while watching the night sky doing line to a Imperial Triumphant concert and it moved me to a zen state. Going to hear it again and probably going to check more GD live albums. The lyrics of Dark Star are amazing.
In un determinato mood ci sta, ma ieri non ce la facevo
This album was recorded at a live performance in 1969, which means that a live crowd had to sit through the first "song", which was 23 minutes of noises... Anyway, the crowd was probably mainly on drugs and probably didn't have anywhere better to be, so it probably wasn't that bad, and given that the rest of the songs were pretty alright, it's not that bad overall, it's pretty chill.
honestly didn't hate it as much as i expected to
I kind of hate to give this a 2, it has its moments and I do respect the free form improvisation and how they basically created the idea of a "jam band. There are plenty of Dead songs I like in their later eras. But like the Quicksilver Messenger album, there's just too much aimless noodling here. Some cool moments but they are a little to few and far between. I've never gotten the 2 drummers thing and hard to see where that's really super evident in the music here. I dunno, maybe on another more careful listen I'd find more to like but didn't really find myself eager to go back through it.
Good for a live album, great to listen to in the background 2. 75/5
Some good moments, but the long meandering stretches just got boring
FYI!!! WARNING!!!! IF YOU ARE A DEAD NOOB (yes, I said noob) DO NOT LISTEN TO dark star FIRST!!!! YOU MAY VERY WELL HATE THE DEAD IF YOU DO! The reason being is Dark Star is one of their signature jams: a daunting, dark, sprawling, 23 minute excuse to improv experimental psychedelic noise. This one is one of the more infamous renditions. If that sounds good to you, listen as intended. If not, place Dark Star before And We Bid You Goodnight & you may have a better first impression. Jerry, Bobby & Phil are grabbing you by your wrists & ankles & throwing you in the fire by putting it first. Dimery is laughing in the corner. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! "We are like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice." -Jerry Garcia on Grateful Dead Fandom. People like piss on the DEAD due to the whole hippie thing. That's a disservice to an amazing, historical significant band. This is a band that died when Jerry died in 95 but continued on in various versions of the band. With the recent passing of Bob Weir, there are only a couple of original members left. Yet, the band & the MUSIC will carry on. Do have any idea how many bands tour playing the Dead? It is an insane amount both regional & nationally. Probably internationally. To name a few: Dark Star Orchestra Joe Russo's Almost Dead Graciously Departed (local) Grateful Grass Grateful Shred Other than Dark Star, the vast majority of these songs are blues based. Lovelight & St Stephen are great. I have to be in the right frame of mind to truly enjoy Dark Star. -wink- Feedback is just trippy noise. But hey continue to shit on this band because: HIPPIES! 4
Zu alt, das höre ich nicht.
I mean, it's ok. Yeah, some of their stuff is good but I've never been a Deadhead. I'd listen again but it just didn't hit me.
I was pretty bored by the third song
I thought I’d like this, I love psychedelic music, but this was awful, really awful
RIP Bob Weir This is a very nice album - I like the style and atmosphere
chills
Another one that is so hard to judge in one day, I feel there is a lot here, I'm keen to listen more. Obviously have heard of this band, but the couple of times I've tried to engage it hasn't stuck. Did enjoy this tho!
Bob
Not for me ta, too much widdly Jazz. Perhaps good if off your head
Sounds just like any random pub band in the 80's to me. Shite.
Good, even sober.
Frankly, I couldn't tell you what I just listened to. I can't even say I line the band because I tried listening to their other stuff and found it dreadful.
Best track - St. Stephen
Classic Dead!!
another review i can use to scoff at live albums being included on this list! dope.
OK Album Generator, you win. I’ve tried really hard to listen all the way through every album you’ve given me. After 540, I’ve failed less than a dozen times. I’ve struggled through more one stars than I care to remember. But with this tribute to stoned and aimless tonal meandering, you finally broke me. I couldn’t even get through the first track. (Though to be fair, in the amount of time I did force myself to listen I could have gotten through three tracks of most albums.)
Worse one yet👎👎👎🤬😡👿
Wasted my time
If you didn’t like this album you didn’t understand it and should go back and listen again. The message behind this album is sublime.
Is a small bit of structure too much to ask for? This meanders endlessly
Overall great, some bits I didn't like as much as others
If you're reading this before you listen to the album: Just skip Dark Star and Feedback. It's ok, don't feel bad about it. Just skip them. You're not missing anything. You don't need to listen to 30 minutes of that. Just skip them. The rest of the album is actually decent. Just skip them.
This music was made solely for people who enjoy amplified cricket farts. I get why the word on the street was that everyone was high when they went to a dead show. Jammy noodling for extended periods of time would be extremely taxing if you had to stand and be lucid. I’m not sure that I can think of another act where the urge to lie down is so great. I’d normally Telly you about the songs, but I can’t. I’m in a fucking trance and I hear screaming near me. Oh wait. That’s the sound of my own voice. I’m screaming. Seagulls seagulls 2/5
Good
Having heard a lot of bootlegs, I didn’t hear any standout's outside of St Stephen. Solid, not remarkable.
I like The grateful dead, I own both working man’s dead and American beauty and they are both great albums. I love their Americana sound im not keen on elongated live jams. Absolutely not for me
There was so much noodling on this album they could have called it, Live at the Pasta Bar. Enjoyable enough live album, I can appreciate how it could have been an awesome night for the Deadheads in attendance at the Fillmore in 1969. It's a jam album, actually a pretty decent one that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. St. Stephen flowing into The Elven was the standout on the album for me as the jamming on The Eleven pulled me in more than the rest. Not quite a 4 as it ran a little long but still good times 3 stars
Some parts were okay. But a dull, interminable slog of an album to actually get through.
Makes me feel like being kid and going to a restaurant that’s on the river/beach with an outdoor patio and bar because this is the music that plays
I don’t like live albums but this one was alright!
My first Grateful Dead album. It was a nice experience and I'll be checking out more of their stuff in the near future. I heard American Beauty is great so they'll probably be next. My favorite song from the album was Turn on Your Love Light which I was informed was a cover.
A bit too long winded and noodly for my liking. A cool vibe and would have been amazing live as an experience but not gripping enough for me to love it
4.5/10
5/10… psychedelic rock / 60s / *1969
Why would you ever listen to this band noodle for an hour straight on songs you’ve never heard before when you can listen to American beauty which literally came out a year after? I get that live performances are what made the band famous, but I much prefer them when they’re playing songs and not twenty minute solos.
I have avoided the Grateful Dead for most of my adult life, mostly out of the assumption they were a lame hippy band that I wouldn't like anyway. Imagine my surprise when I kind of dig it. I'm no stranger to a long song, so that didn't bother me in the slightest. I actually don't mind the noodling as much as I thought it would, either. This listen actually helped clear up a lot of misconceptions I had about the Dead and the people who like them. I don't know that I would have followed them from town to town, or if I'd ever care enough about them to become familiar with the specific live shows throughout their career, but I'm leaning towards putting this album on again.
Great album that I believe captures the energy of early dead shows. (I was not born yet so I can not say for sure)
it felt empty something is missing
Dark Star
I don’t mind long pieces of music but, they have to have some sort of structure and conclusion when the piece is done. The music on this album went nowhere. That feedback track made me cringe. This album sucked.
This was actually really enjoyable! Definitely had me hyped up at times!
Is the Grateful Dead that generation's Tool? I liked parts of this so much and parts were.... Very meandering. The Gospel breakdown in Love light pushed it up to 4 stars.
My opinion is immediately low due to the 23 minutes song. The other song sounds good, The Eleven caught my good ire crimson king y'know. 1 good song covered in 6 tons of crap
ok I guess...
This isn't a great live representation of this band. Quite a few releases from this time frame are better, and quite a few unofficial releases from this time frame are better, too. I'm absolutely a Deadhead, have been since 1991, but I wouldn't hand this record to anyone who I wanted to expose to the band.
I've never felt called to check out the Grateful Dead and this album did nothing to make me understand their mystique and cultural footprint. It sounded good, but I need more intensity if I'm going to listen to noise.
i knew i wasn't going to like this. it's live. there are 20+ minute tracks by a jam band. it somehow surpassed all my expectations and was even worse than i imagined.
"Feedback - Live at the Fillmore West San Fran 1969" has been my first skipped song in 616 albums. In my defense, this music was not created to copyedit corporate bylaws to. Not sure how i feel about putting a Grateful Dead song as the final hurdle that stands between me and being allowed to embrace death. However, this was, on the whole, way less annoying than cultural osmosis made them seem.
and you know the thing is, I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy the Grateful Dead if I saw them live (maybe less now with John Mayer) but I just don't get it at all via recordings. This felt interminable and without direction (I know, I get it, that's kind of the point, but it doesn't land via recording imo) 1.5 rounding up because at least I could kind of do things while half-listening to it and there was nothing to jar me out of what I was doing
If I was in the mood for an hour and a quarter of musician noodling, this would be an ideal album. However, I rarely am, and this seems like a waste of my ears. Nope.
Probably a classic
I’m not on enough drugs to appreciate this. Individually they all sound great, together it sounds like they’re all playing a different song.
Glædelig jul til mig
Synes faktisk det var ret fedt, selvom der klart var dele af det der var for masturbatory. Giver mening at have et live album fra lige netop the Dead på, de er vel det klassiske eksempel på et band hvor fansene gik mere op i deres koncerter end deres plader. Godt nytår til Sandra, sendte en tanke ud til dig da jeg begyndte på det 8 minutter lange nummer som hed Feedback
Feels like this was a pretty swell show
Grateful Dead live gigs must have sounded amazing if this recording is any indication. I enjoyed some of the jammier parts but the blues noodling was just a little bit too Clapton-adjacent.
there's some decent stuff on here but i am too sober for this album, i think. could have done without the combined 30 minutes of feedback and slow ethereal "jams"
Neat bit of history here, you can hear how the Dead worked the crowd so well!
it was a lot of 25 min songs and tbh idc that much abt this album so i stopped listening
I had heard this before, and so I knew what to expect - a self-indulgent hour of improvisation from the Dead. It's fine if you like that kind of thing, but I can take it or leave it.
Not what I thought it would be...I thought it would be terrible, but it was alright. Am I just getting old?
Tiresome.
Better than Coldplay
Uuvuttavan pitkä livelevy. Vaikka tältä levyltä löytyy hyviäkin hetkiä, en vain taida pitää Grateful Deadista. Löysää hippirockia.
A bit too noodly for my tastes.
Gave up didn't make it through the album. Having 7 songs span 1hr and the first one being 23mins is not fun for me. 1/5
Not for everybody, but love it.
I luv the dead, started rough bc of dark star which I don’t love (I know boo hiss) but I liked the rest bc it was very CCR
I was never really a dead head, I dont have the attention span. No denying Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir? could play. A live album doesnt show the best of them. Thankfully it wasnt the gig with the 46 minute solo. Not too bad but jazz not really my forte
I like the sound. A lot. It's just very stretched out and doesn't do a lot. Some of the guitar is wonderful, I just wish they were actual songs and not extended jams. If it was 1969 and I was off being a hippy I'd probably buy in to it, but I'd likely fall asleep listening to them, miss the bus to the show, and be kicked out of the club for not being committed enough a deadhead. Alas, it's not 1969 so I'm working and sober... this isn't the right fit for today. Maybe next week.
I enjoyed this, especially some of the longer instrumental, quasi-psychedelic songs. I especially liked The Eleven and Turn on Your Love Light. Was a bit existential about rating music in general today but I'll give this as much as a relative rating as possible. 63/100 Score and Rating edited 28/12/25 Score edited 01/01/26 Score edited 11/01/26 Score edited 28/01/26
I have heard of the Grateful Dead before and I understand they are very very good. However I didn't enjoy this introduction to them. I think if I heard this live my opinion would be different, but listening to this was boring. Lots of incessant noodling around, felt like I was getting nowhere. I'm normally a fan of guitar parts but this just felt meaningless. I imagine I'm missing the point. Some parts were enjoyable - Favourite was Death Don't Have No Mercy. Listening to a few of their other songs now, I think they remain a band worth listening to. Perhaps just not this album. 2/5 for the decent ones.
Oh, Grateful Dead. Jam bands in general, really. They just can't get on with it, can they? They just go on and on and on and on. We get it. You play your instruments good. How about writing a memorable song for a change? Not so technically proficient now, are we?
its pretty average - not really anything bad just nothing especially good side note: amazing album cover 3/4 /5
Zoned out so hard while listening almost got in a car accident. Warning: do not operate heavy machinery while listening.
Shit sux 2/5
Fuck off
Yikes, from never having heard Grateful Dead before to two albums in the space of a few days, and I can surely say I won’t be searching them out again. I can’t imagine this would have been terribly exciting in the flesh, however I guess the audience were off their faces. I went and did the hoovering during the second run through when Feedback came on. Something is stopping me giving this a one and I’m not even sure what. There are some glimmers in there I guess, maybe enough for an EP? Onwards and upwards. I’ll take Britpop any day over this
No private session used for Spotify. The Grateful Dead is one of those bands I think I would enjoy more it it wasn't for the cult following...no band can live up to that kind of hype. It's a live album and I don't like jam bands, trying to keep an open mind but the first song is over 23 minutes, so we are not off to a good start. No, its not the hype, I dislike the album sincerely. Jam bands aren't for me..I am begging for this crap to end, which means its a dreaded one star dooming me to spread anger through the cult. To them I give a sincere "put down the pipe, go take a shower and put on some clean clothes."
I expected more, but was pretty disappointed. This album kind of wanders around aimlessly. I didn't find anything profound, which I expected with how renowned Grateful Dead are.
Boring so Boring! Attended back to back nights by the Dead in ATL 1973 and fell asleep both nights! Still feel the same way about them!
This one was solid, glad to hear Grateful Dead finally.
I don't get why I needed to listen to this. I didn't like it.
Not a huge fan of live albums. I love hearing music live, but this doesn't have the same effect. I'm also not a huge fan of the singing. The band plays really well though.
This is the first album on this list that I didn’t finish. I listened to a bit of each track, but then it would become unbearable so I had to stop. My thoughts as I listened to Dark Star: it sounds like a group of amateur musicians who never played in a band got together and one of them said: “ok, when I say go play a solo as long as you can…and…go!” And everyone played whatever they felt like despite being out of tune and not being rhythmically or melodically together. For 23 minutes. It doesn’t get better after that track. The songs also happen to be boring. I gave each track a chance but it’s not for me. Admittedly, I’ve never done drugs (I like being in control of my senses), so I’d imagine this music would sound much better if you were high because you wouldn’t notice how much it sucks.
This is what I feared the other Grateful Dead album we did would be. The first track in particular was really just tuneless purposeless meandering. Not a fun time.
Decent 4
No fajne
Like the Grateful Dead. Not my favorite of theirs but compared to most of the albums on this list?
Fantastic early Dead.
I'm not a big jam-band fan, and not really a live-album fan either. I can definitely see why someone already a big fan would love it, but it's not for me. Not adding to my collection.
I have no doubt that this would be an awesome live experience, and there's some great instrumental work, but long meandering jam band stuff isn't really for me.
I'm sure they are having fun playing their instruments together but nah that said I was prepared to hate this and I didn't entirely. it was a fine, if sometimes tedious, way to spend a little over an hour. (I can't really complain about "Feedback" like everyone else because I have listened to too many type o negative albums and that would make me a hypocrite) not adding to collection
Another example of, it didn’t matter how good of a mood I was in, or how excited I was for the music, I still think the Grateful Dead are the most overrated band of all time. The vocals are worse than mediocre, there are brief moments where the guitar playing becomes interesting but it’s usually pretty short lived and buried under meandering song structure. The amount of time you have to invest to get to the “good” parts is exhausting and I felt for one of the only times while doing this list that this was time I could never get back. Which only leaves one question, is the Grateful Dead the name of the band or the feeling you get when the music is finally OVER?!
Not really my cup of tea.
I had never listened to them, had only read some stories about them. It sounded like something cool in a live setting but a bit tedious on an album
Late 60s psych rock. First official live album. Loads of jamming. The kind of thing you put on when doing LSD. As ever, really not my thing. Gets better after first song.
I couldn't tell if this was bad or if I just couldn't appreciate it because I don't know any of the original music. 2/5??
Biggest shitposters of the 60s and 70s
pleasant
I have heard of the Grateful Dead. But this was my first time listening to them. They were solid!
I don't like jam bands and I hate Americana so I was surprised that I didn't think this was terrible. It is interesting from an improv standpoint and from a recording and engineering perspective. I'm not super into it but I wouldn't be against hearing it again.
Just couldn't get into it.
There were some sections of this where it gets too "experimental" for me, but I love the Dead. St. Stephen is one of my faves and The Eleven and Turn on Your Lovelight jams were full of great energy.
Man, that was tough. I don't mind songs/albums that don't have much vocals to them, but the instrumental has to be actually good for that to work. There were a couple decent sounding moments that prevent this from a 1.
I will be going back to this with a better stereo. There were times this was falling flat to my ears with discordant noise, but mostly I was driving along. I'm wondering if the discordant bits will grow on me in future listening.
23 minutes of noodling on dark star is wild
p183. 1969. A late 60s live album of hippy trippy jazz/rock noodling with no track under 6 minutes and including a 23+ minute monstrosity. Fuck no.
The first live album from the band that is known for live performances. I always assumed that they would be more rock or a little heavier, but they are really more like a psychedelic Americana/Country band.
..
21/11/2025 I don't know how i feel about it being so long, it was good, just very annoying in parts. Spotify listeners: 2.3 million
Fucking hippies
Ikke for mæ. Veldig ikke for mæ med mindre det kan stå på i bakgrunnen og være relativt ignorerbart mens æ gjør nokka anna.
Imma gonna pass
Sorry but the end weirded me out. I hate the feedback noise and I hate that people use it intentionally in their music.
Hippie nonsense. I can sort of get into it for a while but grow bored with it, I need more drugs
Huh. Well that was something different. I really enjoyed the energy from most of this and was leaning towards 5 stars but it lost steam about 2/3 through and I couldn't listen to any more feed back noise :). So I'll go with an overall 4 here.
oof. I like a good jam. I like extended jams. I like really long songs. But a 23 minute jam with limited variation gets tedious. 23 minutes of Miles Davis or Coltrane? Sign me up. 23 minutes of this? No thanks. "Turn On Your Love Light" is both a highlight and a primary example of what's wrong with these jams. The extended solos edge toward something you'd hear from The Allman Brothers. But The Allman Brothers extended jams from this period were far more interesting, I'd much rather listen to 15 minutes of the Allmans doing this song. For the most part, this album didn't actively annoy me but didn't make a case for why I should give The Grateful Dead another chance. Toward the end of the album, however, it was really wearing out its welcome. 2 stars
Aimless
Ok. Not for me though.
I like the Grateful Dead, I like a few of their early songs. I even like a couple of their studio albums. I like it when album size or desired airplay time constraints make them distill a song down to an essence of how they will play it live. I was once told if I don't enjoy Dark Star (which I don't) then I am not a DeadHead and I agree. I can listen to Jimi Hendrix noodles around all day, I can enjoy King Crimson as they do their version of improvisational, jazz based rock, but Dark Star seems like a good opportunity to check out the merch, watch girls dance or maybe get a beverage. Listening to the remastered version only solidified this for me. This is a groundbreaking, poetic and historic album I don't enjoy... except for Death Don't Have No Mercy, which is a good song.
This is the band that effectively started the hippie movement? This band? Seriously? People actually spent their time travelling up and down the country to watch these guys play? The first song (which goes for almost HALF AN HOUR mind you), just sounds like they're doing a fucking sound check before actually playing. It only really perks up in the end, but it's nothing special. I imagine it was groundbreaking at the time, but it's just so dime a dozen now. Turn on Your Love Light was pretty damn good, though. Certainly listenable, but the runtime on this thing is just so long for what is essentially just a bunch of blokes jamming on stage without any real structure other than anything.
Live albums are such a mixed bag and I really don’t get why a lot of them are considered to be must listens compared to studio recordings. Unless the artist is doing significant variation on music that is exclusive to that performance, or that concert is particularly notable or improvised, it’s more of a musical time capsule This album in particular seems to be notable for being one of the first live performances recorded on a 16 track, which explains why it doesn’t sound like garbled shit. I really enjoyed listening to this album, but I don’t know that I’d say it’s a MUST listen.
This is a good album. The real story here is about Owsley Stanley AKA the guy that the Steely Dan song Kid Charlemagne is about. I am not a proponent of great man history but there are undeniably some individuals who have a staggering, profound impact on human history. This guy personally produced MILLIONS of doses of LSD that basically fuelled the whole flower child psychedelic scene that the 60s is known for. He was not trained in chemistry, he just understood the vibe. He did not 'get into' LSD, he manufactured this shit on an industrial scale. Having said that, he definitely was not acting alone. This guy was to LSD what Jeffrey Epstein was to human trafficking. This guy was 100% a tool of the CIA when the cleanshirts at Langley decided they wanted to experiment on people with LSD just to see what would happen. One day when the Empire collapses we will find documents that vindicate easily excitable idiots like me confirming every single half-baked conspiracy theory that’s ever been spouted. He was the Grateful Dead's freaky wizard-vizier companion. Like a DMNPC that you pick up in a tabletop game that just gives you all the answers. Yeah whatever this album is known for pioneering sound engineering technology or something and you can credit that to Mr Stanley and his ingenuity as a sound guy. But more importantly than that, this guy was convinced that the northern hemisphere was going to suffer an ecological collapse due to global warming. So he moved to Australia, but not just anywhere, he went to fucking CAIRNS. I don't know what level of MKULTRA he was subjected to in order to fry his brain enough to move to the most humid, BOILING HOT, storm-battered city in Australia but I commend him. As the unlikely forerunner of the drug-fucked cooker health/sex freak archetype, he became convinced that human beings are carnivores and you could cure diabetes (which is fake and caused by insulin) by having a zero carb diet. Like many intelligence assets, he died in a car crash. Highlights: Reading about Owsley Stanley while listening to a pretty good live set.
The album that arguably legitimized pointless noodling and inspired dozens of copycat jammers. Unlike the tight, focused performance of albums like "Workingman's Dead" or "American Beauty", this is The Grateful Dead at their most meandering and unfocused. There are moments of interest, and the live feel is captured well, but on the whole this just seems unfocused and often boring.
Listenable.
hmmm The Greatful Dead, I know they're like the staple hippie band but I could never really get into them. We'll give it a try. dude that first track was 25 min long!
# 🎸 *Live / Dead* (1969) – An In-Depth Review Released in November 1969, *Live / Dead* was the **first live album** by the Grateful Dead and the **first live rock album** recorded on 16-track tape. Captured over several nights in early 1969 at the Fillmore West, it’s a **psychedelic odyssey** that distills the Dead’s improvisational ethos into a **double-LP suite** of extended jams, blues reveries, and sonic experiments. Below, we break down its **lyrics, music, production, themes, influence**, and weigh its **pros & cons**. --- ## 🎤 Lyrics: Cryptic, Cosmic & Rooted in Tradition | Track | Lyric Focus | |-------|-------------| | **Dark Star** | A **haiku-like mantra** (“Dark star crashes / pouring its light into ashes”) that evokes **cosmic dissolution** rather than narrative. Hunter’s words are **impressionistic**, open-ended, designed as a **launchpad for improvisation**. | | **St. Stephen** | A **mythic American riddle**—part 19th-century outlaw, part spiritual seeker. The **internal rhymes** (“Did he run or did he try?”) create a **sing-song folk lyric** that contrasts with the **odd-meter jam** underneath. | | **The Eleven** | **Wordless** except for the **11-beat chant** “*Eight-sided whisper hallelujah*”—a **phonetic texture** rather than semantic message. | | **Turn On Your Love Light** | Pigpen’s **blues-shouter vocabulary** (“Baby, baby, baby…”)—**no original verses**, just **extemporized exhortations** that turn the song into a **26-minute secular sermon**. | | **Death Don’t Have No Mercy** | A **traditional gospel** borrowed from Rev. Gary Davis; the **repetitive refrain** (“Death don’t have no mercy in this land”) becomes a **meditation on mortality**, delivered in **Garcia’s fragile tenor**. | | **Feedback / And We Bid You Goodnight** | **No lyrics** in the **6-minute feedback collage**; the **a cappella lullaby** that closes the set is a **folk farewell**, sung in **tight harmony**, offering **closure after the chaos**. | **Take-away**: Lyrics function as **ritual incantations** rather than storytelling devices—**minimal, cyclical, and porous** enough to let the music seep through. --- ## 🎶 Music: Improvisation as Composition | Element | What Happens | |---------|--------------| | **Harmony** | **Modal vamps** (Dorian & Mixolydian) in *Dark Star*; **rapid 11/8 meter** in *The Eleven*; **I-IV-V blues** skeleton in *Love Light*. | | **Melody** | **Fragmented motifs**—the *Dark Star* riff is only **four notes**, yet becomes a **universe** through variation. | | **Rhythm** | **Bill Kreutzmann & Mickey Hart** shift from **swing shuffle** to **polyrhythmic pulse**; the **bass-drum conversations** in *The Eleven* prefigure **prog-rock odd times**. | | **Texture** | **Two-drummer stereo field**, **Phil Lesh’s high-register bass melodies**, **Garcia & Weir’s interlocking guitars**, **Tom Constanten’s avant-garde organ drones**. | | **Improvisation** | **Type-II jamming**: they **abandon the chord grid**, exploring **atonality** before **re-composing** the theme—**a jazz approach** rare in rock at the time. | **Signature moment**: The **13-minute mark** of *Dark Star* when Garcia’s **liquid legato** dissolves into **echo-laden shimmer**, the band **whispering** rather than rocking—**ambient before ambient existed**. --- ## 🎛️ Production: Betty Cantor’s 16-Track Breakthrough - **First-ever 16-track live recording** → **spatial separation** of drums, bass, guitars, vocals; **no overdubs**. - **Betty Boards** (engineer Betty Cantor) captured **clarity** without sacrificing **room ambience**—you hear **cymbal splash reflections** and **audience gasps**. - **Mix philosophy**: **instruments are panned** as they stood on stage—**Garcia left**, **Weir right**, **bass center**, **drums stereo spread**—creating a **“you-are-there” hologram**. - **Tape edits** between nights are **seamless**; only **Feedback** was **spliced** from multiple shows to create a **collage of ring-modulator squeals**. --- ## 🌀 Themes & Aesthetics | Theme | Manifestation | |-------|---------------| | **Impermanence** | *Death Don’t Have No Mercy* + *Dark Star*’s **supernova metaphor** → **psychedelic memento mori**. | | **Communal Ritual** | *Love Light*’s **call-and-response** turns the audience into **participants**, blurring **performer/spectator** divide. | | **Technology & Transcendence** | **Feedback** as **electronic prayer**—using **machines** to reach **beyond language**. | | **American Mythos** | *St Stephen*’s **outlaw-saint** embodies the **Dead’s fusion** of **Victorian balladry** with **Haight-Ashbury anarchism**. | --- ## 🌋 Influence & Legacy - **Blueprint for jam-rock**: **Phish, Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident** all adopt the **suite-style continuous set** pioneered here. - **Live album paradigm shift**: Prior to *Live / Dead*, live LPs were **hit-parade cash-ins**; afterwards, they became **art statements** (cf. *The Allman Bros – At Fillmore East*, *Miles Davis – Live-Evil*). - **Bootleg culture catalyst**: The **high fidelity** convinced fans to **tape shows**, birthing the **taper section** and **archive culture** that still fuels the band’s **post-career economy**. - **Ambient & post-rock foreshadowing**: The **textural passages** in *Dark Star* prefigure **Brian Eno**, **Tortoise**, **Godspeed You! Black Emperor**. --- ## ✅ Pros 1. **Historical firsts**: **First 16-track live rock album**; **first seamless live psychedelic suite**. 2. **Peak improvisation**: **Dark Star** & **The Eleven** capture the **quintessential 1969 Dead**—**fearless, telepathic, exploratory**. 3. **Sound quality**: **Betty Boards** remain **reference-grade**; **warm, dynamic, three-dimensional**. 4. **Cultural document**: **Encapsulates** the **cusp** of **’60s idealism** before **Altamont & Manson** soured the dream. 5. **Gateway drug**: For many, the **least intimidating** entry into the **Dead’s 2,000+ show universe**. --- ## ❌ Cons 1. **Accessibility cliff**: **23-minute opener** (*Dark Star*) is **impenetrable** to **casual listeners**; **no hooks, no choruses**. 2. **Vocal limitations**: Garcia & Weir were **never powerhouse singers**; **pitch wavers** during **quiet passages**. 3. **Pigpen’s endurance test**: **26-minute Love Light** can feel like **blues-shouter excess** if you’re not **invested in the ritual**. 4. **Feedback fatigue**: **7 minutes of literal amp squeal** is **avant-garde** for some, **unlistenable** for others. 5. **No songcraft safety net**: Unlike **studio Dead**, there are **overdubs or edits** to **rescue a meander**—**you get the warts & all**. --- ## 🏁 Verdict *Live / Dead* is **not a compilation of songs**—it’s a **single, breathing organism**. If you approach it seeking **tight three-minute singles**, you’ll leave **bewildered**. If you **surrender to its flow**, it becomes a **psychedelic sacrament**, a **time machine** to the **last moment** when **rock & roll** still believed it could **re-invent reality** in real time. > “There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert” — and this is the **closest vinyl equivalent**.
This psychedelic rock album is like watching a campfire almost going dark - loose, glowing, and constantly mutating, pulling you in with its crackles and threatening to leave you cold entirely.
Not enjoyable
Never really messed with Jam Band music before, my previous experience is The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East and the Jam side of All Things Must Pass. I thought those two were - to be frank - a lot better than this. This on the other hand felt a bit underwhelming. Maybe it's because people over-hype the Grateful Dead or maybe because it's just better when you're there in-person rather than at home listening to it, so it doesn't translate as well. Whatever way it is, this album didn't interest me that much. Highlight Song/s: The Eleven
I like the few songs from Grateful Dead that I know, but this I could not finish.
#JazzRock not as many words today, but this was enjoyable. I'd love to listen to this on a really nice sound system, there are a lot of layers
I really don't understand the appeal, half of the time it was almost offensively detached improv and most of the other half was boring
I went into this with seriously low expectations after my last experience with The Grateful Dead, but this was actually some okay jam band music.
While this album is a good represetation of some of the great musicianship that the Grateful Dead could play with as a jam band, some of the tracks are nothing but bloated noise festivals where the band doesnt seem to be playing anything coherent at all. Maybe I am not appreciating it fully do to a lack of ilicit substances. The first song and the last song ruin it for the middle 4 songs which are fairly decent.
I'm just not a jam-band kind of person
Background noise is fine I guess.
Man, this is a crap listen. And its inclusion here doesn’t even merit a creative answer…it’s just dumb. I’m a fan of the Dead and can get behind albums like Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty, etc but this was a slog. I guess I would’ve enjoyed this if hearing it live for the first time back then under the influence of some serious drugs without a care in the world. But damn, when you’re a “jam” band, it’s probably a good idea to have some moments of linking up with your band mates rather than just randomly noodling in your own musical silo which is what each member seems to be doing.
Not nearly high enough for this on a Monday. Not sure how much that would have helped though
Started to have some more appreciation for Grateful Dead after seeing Dead & Co. live but this album kind of reminded me why I never really listened to them. Some good moments but overall not for me. A solid 2.
Dang, even though I have some appreciation for the Dead having seen Dead & Co one time (lol), this album just doesn't hit for me. I'm sure I'd dig a 25 min song live at the Fillmore West in the 60's. Not the same without the ambience. Gotta round down on this one. 2.75/5
The masters of the jam sesh are demonstrating their abilities.
First listen. 2 It was hard for me to get into this, especially with the first track being Dark Star. I did like St. Stephen and The Eleven, and I guess the "feedback" track was interesting. I also think I'm rating this a little higher after listening to the A History of Rock Music in 500 songs episode about the Greatful Dead, since I think there's some aspects of this release I appreciate more with the context. At first I was leaning around a 1, but it's not really that bad, but it has some interesting parts.
Great Songs: Turn On Your Love Light Good Songs: Dark Star, Mid Songs: St. Stephen, The Eleven, Death Don't Have No Mercy, And We Bid You Goodnight Bad Songs: Feedback
Not of importance.
Fucking hell that was awful. Every single song felt like a slog in its own right, let alone the whole album. There was a bit that I quite liked and I wanted to know what song it was that had just started. I was 7 minutes in to a 12 minute song. 30 seconds later it was back to being crap. Skipped through feedback hoping to find some actual music at some point but no. No music. Awful. Should have given up after track 1.
feedback woof, the rest is decent, my bias towards what they inspired and bands i do follow that cover the dead hit them with the 3
Almost comically bad. There was one bit where one of them thought he knew quite a good song but couldn't remember it and another bit where one of them was trying to summon up his memories of the Blues Brothers but couldn't play more than one riff on repeat. I though there was supposed to be something almost mystic about the Dead but this just seemed shambolic.
80/100. A strong live record that captures the essence of the Grateful Dead’s early psychedelic and experimental sound. It’s a vibe heavy album, perfect for zoning out or diving deep.
I’m in a generous mood. It has been a good background to cooking Sunday’s tea. I will never listen to it again.
People seem to love or hate the Grateful Dead. I’m not a fan.
It's a good idea to include a live album by the Grateful Dead -- when most people think "The Dead", they think endless concerts across an almost constant touring schedule. That said, the players are solid, but they might have gone with simple instrumentals, without the bad singing. And the band should have left off "Feedback" ... annoying as hell.
Ahead of it's time. Serious guitar.
Favorite Track: St. Stephen
Meh
4/5
Starts album. Checks timer 2:35 nothing happening. Looks at track duration 23minutes 19, FFS. Just as i was settling in for a very tedious and long instrumental some vocals suddenly appear or at least i think they do, they feel so low down in the mix it’s difficult to be confident that i am not just drifting off to sleep. St Stephen is mercifully shorter but the presence of vocals actually manage to make the listening experience worse and it just feels very dated. The Eleven starts with a good dose of drums. The vocals sound ramshackle and i would believe they were improvised as they struggle to approach anything that could be described as a harmony. Turn on your love light offers a slight improvement, but that is not saying much. Death Dont have no mercy is a durge, but feedback is even worse and does what it says on the tin. And we bid you goodnight is frankly pointless m, but at least it is short
When I saw the opening track was TWENTY THREE MINUTES LONG, I knew there was no way back from the rock bottom score I had a suspicion I’d be giving them before I started listening. I had no idea when the tracks changed. They were all far too long, went literally nowhere, and had nothing to redeem them. Just God awful.
The first track, Dark Star, is 23 minutes long: I entirely see why the Grateful Dead's audience were normally off their tits listening to their gigs as it would presumably be the only way to survive the experience. I didn't hate all of St. Stephen and Turn On Your Love Light but that's my one vaguely positive comment. Frankly, there was no way they were coming back from that first track though, so while I would have considered a 1.5 if half stars were available, it's a: 1/5
See, when Hendrix was noodling non stop on his guitar, and he didn't stop for 10 minutes, I didn't mind that. This though, it just bored me. I never understood the hype they get.
The combination of freeform noodling, extra long tracks and feedback tracks, while not always a problem for me, kinda left me cold.
I like a lot of Dead songs in general, but can often do without the long, meandering jams.
Of all their live albums this cannot be the best. Volume changes make it a challenge to listen to without adjustments, and “Feedback” is not fun to listen to. I do appreciate hearing what their jams were like, but I wanted better.
I'm one of those outliers that likes studio Dead better than the live stuff. I can see the appeal of their live stuff, but the jams just go on too long, for my taste. Probably enjoyed more with an altered state of consciousness. 3.5* rounding up, I guess.
I first loved Grateful Dead's sound when i was studying for history of Rock I. We were talking about the hippie's era and what hippie meant musically.We defined that hippie meant virtuosity for the bands and that's exactly what i get here along with complexity.I think in this album GD embraced the fact that each member can play a different melody which is an almost impossible thing to do,especially live. A very liberal thing yes but it can cost in keeping rhythms tight and pleasure to the listener.It is funny though that this one was the first album recorded in 16 separate channels i think, and the levels of the guitar channel for example was piercing my ears in high notes.CAUTION in Feedback song-hear it low.Foremost i must say that there was bad drumming throughout the whole album. The songs now: Ambitious Dark Star has it's up and downs,detunements and tensions but that's kind of music art,it gave me the feel that they destruct and rebuild again although my ears really hurt at times maybe it's the playing maybe it's the master level,it's like phychedelia reachin experimental jazzy levels though,i wish it had more vocals as well which were few but clear and good. St.Stephen has a more tight band sound and i absolutely loved it.Great vocals and nice trippy lyrics as well. The Eleven has long improvisation but in around 3:40 or so it progresses beautifully,you feel it's getting somewhere,vocals pop up as well a bit later and only for a while again.great and complex improvisation closes the song,kind of. Turn On Your Love Light is absolutely fantastic like an Elvis deeped in phychedelia,like Blues Brothers on LSD! James Brown and Jim Morrisson vibes in the vocals too! The drums though, as in every song,could be better.Don't forward or skip this song as it is groovy as hell ( if you can bear the bad drumming). Death Don't Have No Mercy is a slow,moody,bluesy number with some tensions,the guitar solos and keys are quite good here,the vocals though not so much. Feedback starts off literally with band's feedback so be careful with your ears-don't hear loud at any circumstances like i did.It gives a spacey,trippy feel and an experimental tone which is quite artful but way too long!Makes you feel darkness and despair with some odd otherwordly tones. Some high frequencies left me almost deaf but in the end i find it highly creative. And We Bid You Goodnight is a harmonised accapella Jesus loves you sort of thing. I really enjoyed this album more than i thought i would.Later albums were much better though but not live. 4/5
Just a horrible sound
I’m a jazz guy, so dudes noodling around for extended periods is not a dealbreaker. But this bored me to tears, absolutely nothing going on here
What is it with rock bands from the 60s and 70s, and getting up on a stage, jerking off with their instruments for an hour or two, and thinking they just performed a live album worthy concert.
Well, I like the Dead, so this is an easy 5 for me. I do understand the 1’s it gets though. Certainly not for everyone
My cousins were Grateful Dead fans. I think it was more about the drugs than the music. This album does not change that perspective for me.
Cool.
Why is this album so long?? Maybe being a live album of a jam session explains why. However, it still is incredibly long and boring. Main reason I feel is so lengthy is because I didn't find anything to be interesting except for the song 'Feedback', because they just decide to play noise. All the other songs feel to me like bland improvisation that never achieves any point. I truly don't get it.
This was enjoyable for the most part but a couple songs near the end felt unnecessary.