"Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" by SANDY DENNY – October 1973 UK Third Studio LP on Island Records (May 1974 USA on Island) - featuring Ian Armit of John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, Dave Pegg of Mr. Fox, Danny Thompson of Pentangle, Alan Skidmore of Centipede and Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath, John "Rabbit" Bundrick of Free, Crawler and The Who, William "Diz" Disley with Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson, Trevor Lucas, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay (May 2005 UK Island Masters Single-Disc Extended Edition CD Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks - Denis Blackham Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"…The Real Thing Comes Along…"

Sandy Denny's 1971 debut album "The North Star Grassman And The Ravens" was a patchy start (moments of brilliance with others that just didn't work). But her second outing simply called "Sandy" emblazoned her gorgeous brand of Folk and Folk-Rock into music-loving hearts like nothing before. A flowing river singer-songwriter masterpiece, that's been revered ever since.

Which brings us to this gorgeous sounding CD of solo album number three – "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" from October 1973 (again on Island Records originally). Part of a whole 2005 'Fairport Convention and their Solo Acts' reissue campaign (Sandy Denny, Richard and Linda Thompson, Fairport Convention etc) – each of these single-disc CDs are on the Island Remasters Series.

And this bad boy features a stellar cast of UK Folk-Rock heroes as well as R&B and Jazz players that could compliment her vision f stretching out musically - Ian Armit of John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, Dave Pegg of Mr. Fox, Danny Thompson of Pentangle, Alan Skidmore of Centipede and Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, John "Rabbit" Bundrick of Free, Crawler and later The Who, William "Diz" Disley with Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson, Trevor Lucas, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay.

And as the album title indicates, bedded alongside the seven original SD tunes, the ex Fairport Convention and Fotheringay singer even tackles the old Doris Fisher and Sammy Cohen standards "Whispering Grass" and "Until The Real Thing Comes Along" (famously associated with The Inkspots and Fats Waller) with such subtle loveliness that you wish there was a whole album of the same. Here are the friends of old...

UK released 2 May 2005 - "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" by SANDY DENNY on Island Remasters IMCD 315 / 982 802-3 (Barcode 602498280232) is a Single-Disc Expanded Edition CD Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks that breaks down as follows (65:53 minutes):

1. Solo [Side 1]

2. Like An Old Fashioned Waltz

3. Whispering Grass

4. Friends

5. Carnival

6. Dark The Night [Side 2]

7. At The End Of The Day

8. Until The Real Thing Comes Along

9. No End

Tracks 1 to 9 are her 3rd solo album "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" – released October 1973 in the UK on Island ILPS 9258 and May 1974 in the USA on Island Records SW-9340. Engineered and Produced by JOHN WOOD and TREVOR LUCAS (of Nick Drake fame) – it didn’t chart in either country in either year

BONUS TRACKS:

10. At The End Of The Day (Alternate Take Without Strings)

First issued 11 October 2004 in "A Boxful Of Treasures", 5CD Box Set on Fledg'ling Records NEST 5002

11. King & Queen Of England (Home Demo)

Recorded December 1974 by Trevor Lucas, first issued June 1988 in the vinyl-only 7LP Box Set "Island Life: 25 Years Of Island Records" on Island Records IBX 25

12. Like An Old Fashioned Waltz (Live with Fairport Convention)

Recorded by John Wood live at The Troubadour, Los Angeles, February 1974

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. No End (Solo Piano Version)

Recorded by John Wood at the Walthamstow Assembly Halls, London, 3 December 1972. First issued January 1986 in the 4LP Sandy Denny UK Vinyl Box Set "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" on Island SDSP 100. 

As do all four of the albums in this Sandy Denny Island Records output - it comes in a fetching outer card wrap (slipcase) and the 12-page booklet features original artwork, lyrics, photographs and January 2005 liner notes by expert and long-time devotee DAVID SUFF (of Fledgling Records). It's tastefully done and the DENIS BLACKHAM Remaster from original master tapes is truly gorgeous – warm, atmospheric and full of presence. The only blip is the CD label colouring that sports the black and orange eye Island Records logo from the late 60ts instead of the pink-rim palm-tree variant it was actually released on in 1973. Other than that, it reeks of class...

Broken hearts and the open wounds of love lost are never far from the surface when Sandy sings – and as the stunning crescendo of voices that make up the chorus of the Side One opener "Solo" touches you so deeply – its hard not to be tearful as she aches – I've just gone – Solo. The song also contains the lyric "I've Always Kept A Unicorn" that gave an Acoustic Sandy Denny 2CD set in April 2016 its title (see separate review). Fans are divided on the strings overload laid thick on "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" – orchestral arrangements by Harry Robinson. I've learned to just roll with it, wallow in the old world romance. It's quickly followed by the Doris Fisher standard made famous by The Inkspots - "Whispering Grass" – brass arrangements by Bob Leaper. I love this song and Sandy feels so at home with the piano plinking and high-hat shuffles – whispering grass don't tell the trees because the trees don't need to know (dig that Danny Thompson double-bass long note).

But then comes one of the album's true masterpieces – the and-you-feel-all-right-now but for how long "Friends". And this is one song where the string arrangements feel complimentary and not intrusive – even if that guitar solo stills feels somehow lost in the mix. "Friends" is gorgeous even in its quiet please leave anger (time to leave and you know the way). She'll be just fine now – so long. Side 1 ends with another original, the acoustic lovely "Carnival" – as warm a melody as she ever penned and in my books one of her catalogue's hidden gems (good day to you sweet Autumn, so gently you appear).

After the lush romance/melancholy of Side 1 and its slow songs - "Dark The Night" opens Side 2 with an uneasy upbeat drumbeat. Quickly joined by strings and oboes and layered vocals – I've never really been convinced by its neither here nor there vibe (cool electric keyboard solo though). Far more convincing is the Jackson Browne-sounding piano love song "At The End Of The Day" – a "you're the one I'm thinking of" tune as I bring my love home to you. And again the strings work adding an epic feel to the centre passage of the long song accompanying a Mike Oldfield-sounding guitar solo. Cover number two comes in a fabulous shuffle – the Fats Waller famous "Until The Real Thing Comes Along". You might as well be on the set of Boardwalk Empire as gorgeous gals entertain the well-heeled gentlemen before they get too liquored-up to do any performing of their own (and if that isn't love, it'll have to do).

It comes to an end with 6:37 minutes of "No End" – another hugely moving epic. But what is astonishing is the Bonus Track "Solo" version of "No End" recorded in February 1974 at the Walthamstow Assembly Hall with just Sandy on piano – haunting and mesmerizing. The demo of "King & Queen Of England" is the same – a piano demo recorded by Trevor Lucas at her home in December 1974 with what you can only describe as audiophile skill (stunning remaster). It was tucked away on the scrappy-doo "Island Life" 7LP Box Set in 1988 and how good is it to see it finally a CD release. For many the idea of a Previously Unreleased track by Sandy with Fairport Convention is enough to make them lose what little hair they have left – but while "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" is nice – its live and hissy – but still worth having.

We would lose her in 1978 aged only 31. I remember meeting John Walters when I was working at Reckless (he was John Peel's legendary producer and we bought his extensive record collection) and we were in a pub discussing gigs he'd seen that blew his mind. John was told by Bernie Andrews (another legendary BBC producer) to go see this young girl in a bar that he'd heard about who was causing a stir. It was Sandy Denny before she'd joined the ranks of Fairport Convention. The purity of her English Folk voice left him shaking and stunned. I can still see his smile to this day and the memory of it etched into his face.

It's nice to know that all their memories have been given a Folk Royalty nod by this fab little reissue from The Real Thing…

"Black Moses" by ISAAC HAYES – November 1971 US 2LP Set on Enterprise Records and February 1972 UK 2LP set on Stax Records – featuring backing bands The Isaac Hayes Movement and The Bar-Kays with Backing Vocals by Hot Buttered & Soul featuring Pat Lewis and Arrangements by Johnny Allen and Dale Warren (April 2009 UK Universal Music Group/Stax/Concord Music Group, Inc. Deluxe Edition Reissue With Repro Foldout Cross Card Sleeve – 2LPs onto 2CDs - Bob Fisher Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Ike's Rap..."

There was industry discussion in the October 1971 issue of Billboard Magazine as Stax/Enterprise prepped for the release of Isaac Hayes' second double-album "Black Moses" in the same year ("Shaft" had been issued in July 1971). Stax had locked down all promotion of his new November 1971 opus. This was because some DJ had reputedly been offered $300,000 for his Promo Copy with the aim of bootlegging it.

Why would someone offer an A&R employee such a huge amount of cash in 1971?  Because his previous effort "Shaft", as a Movie and 2LP Blaxploitation Soul Music Soundtrack, was massive – an absolute phenomenon and in a way that few had ever seen before. The handsome sex symbol lead actor Richard Roundtree, the bespectacled and impossibly cool musician Isaac Hayes with his beard and bling, the wah wah guitar theme he composed that just slaughtered all in its path worldwide - this bad mother was everywhere. Stax was even then claiming that such was the demand for Isaac’s fourth release, that nearly 40% of copies of "Shaft" in American circulation were bootlegs - gazillions of them.

Few now remember (or even know) that November 1971's "Black Moses" was going to be Isaac Hayes' fifth No. 1 US R&B LP in a row – a feat no one had ever achieved (he would nab another two R&B number one albums in 1974 with "Truck Turner" and the 1976 double "Live At The Sahara Tahoe"). Seven No. 1 R&B albums – wow!

Which brings us via a reissue circuitous route to this 2009 foldout love-in and Remaster for the slightly forgotten "Black Moses" splurge – and tis a wee bit sexy thing too if you ask me. Time to get down brothers and sisters with the man with the plan - Ike's Rap...

UK released 6 April 2009 (24 February 2009 in the USA) - "Black Moses" by ISAAC HAYES on Universal Music Group/Stax/Concord Music Group, Inc.  0888072312388 (Barcode 888072312388) is a Deluxe Edition offering the full 2LP Set Remastered onto 2CDs with repro foldout cross packaging (like the original vinyl double-album) and plays out as follows:

CD1 (50:06 minutes):

1. Never Can Say Goodbye [Side 1]

2. (They Long To Be) Close To You

3. Nothing Takes The Place Of You 

4. Man's Temptation

5. Part-Time Love [Side 4]

6. Medley: Ike's Rap IV/A Brand New Me

7. Going In Circles

CD2 (43:36 minutes):

1. Never Gonna Give You Up [Side 2]

2. Medley: Ike's Rap II/Help Me Love

3. Need To Belong To Someone

4. Good Love 6-9969

5. Ike's Rap III/Your Love Is So Doggone Good [Side 3]

6. For The Good Times

7. I'll Never Fall In Love Again

The studio double-album "Black Moses" was released 15 November 1971 in the USA on Enterprise ENS-5003 and February 1972 in the UK on Stax 2628 004. Produced by ISAAC HAYES and featuring THE BAR KAYS, THE ISAAC HAYES MOVEMENT and HOT BUTTERED & SOUL as backing bands – the double-album peaked at No. 1 on the US R&B charts (entered 18 December 1971), No. 10 on the Pop LP Charts (entered 11 December 1971) with a No. 38 placing on the UK LP charts in February 1972. CD1 contains Sides 1 and 4 while CD2 contains Sides 2 and 3, aping how the original American LPs were issued.

The first thing that hits you is the packaging – aping for the first time since its 1971 US release - the huge foldout cross with Isaac looking like a Bedouin preacher asking for rain in the desert. The story by Chester Higgins of Jet Magazine that was done in ye old Biblical style typeface across the inside of the cover is present and accounted for too, "...And so it came to pass that 28 years ago Isaac (Black Moses) Hayes was born in the town of Covington, Tenn., a snoozing little hamlet... " Yeah brother.

Once unfolded, three flaps at the end of the cross house the two CDs and 12-page booklet. I have to say though that once out of its shrinkwrap – the thing is a bit of a beast to handle or get back into a shape that doesn't easily crumple. The 12-page colour booklet is a pleasingly in-depth affair with November 2008 liner notes from ROB BOWMAN, author of the acclaimed label tome "Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story Of Stax Records". There are three black and white photos of our hero in full-on pimpmobile dude attire complete with fur coats, glasses and bling - while the final more humble shot shows Ike at an organ in a record store surrounded by admiring brothers. The snap of Ike outside Soulsville USA studios is so damn cool – stripped trousers and all. A good read then and despite its unwieldy nature, I love that packaging.

The ROB FISHER 24-Bit Remaster was done at Pacific Multimedia and really lifts the splurge of cover versions – all that Dolby Systems production full and punchy as Hell. While "Shaft" was famous for its legendary Funky theme song, like its predecessor, "Black Moses" is surprising mellow throughout – a seducer really.

The musical landscape of this sprawling double album is a veritable river of f cover versions with five bits of new material amidst its sixteen tracks. Hayes does contemporary songwriters like the Bacharach and David classic "(They Long To Be) Close To You" made a monster number one Billboard smash by The Carpenters and the Kris Kristofferson love song "For The Good Times" from his 1970 debut album on Monument made a Country No. 1 single in 1970 by Ray Price - to older R&B and Soul heroes like Toussaint McCall and his 1967 Ronn Records hit "Nothing Takes The Place Of You", the Curtis Mayfield B-side gifted to Gene Chandler in 1963 on Vee Jay Records "Man's Temptation" and another from 1963, the Clay Hammond song "Part-Time Love" recorded by Little Johnnie Taylor.

Soul legends Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Jerry Butler had written "Never Give You Up (Never Gonna Give You Up)" for Shirley & The Shirelles on Bell Records in 1969 – here Ike calls it simply "Never Gonna Give You Up". He preambles his own "Ike's Rap II" into a two-song medley attaching it to the Luther Ingram, Johnny Baylor, Tommy Tate and Mickey Gregory song "Help Me Love". Ingram would eventually do his own version of "Help Me Love" on his fabulous album "If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right" issued October 1972. It was in turn coupled with "Always" (as the A-side) from the same LP and released as a KoKo Records 45 in February 1973.

The covers keep coming. After his own "Ike's Rap III" – Hayes tagged on a Whispers song called "Your Love Is So Doggone Good" – a tune that was a current May 1971 hit while the Movement was recording "Black Moses". Hayes then dipped backwards to "Going In Circles" – a No. 15 Billboard Pop hit for The Friends Of Distinction in October 1969 on RCA Victor Records. And for the final song, he slinked into a deadringer to his style of Soul-ifying easy listening pop songs – the Bacharach and David smash "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" made immortal by Dionne Warwick in 1970.

It's a lurve-thing baby. I guess you could say that in June 2020, this relic of Soul Music's flashier history is a bedroom swinger that's past its woke sell-by-date. But I love it and the Audio on this has only made me want to rant and rave about the deep-voiced one.

Chester Higgins finishes his "Black Moses" liner notes on the original double-album by saying, "...Black Moses of the famous "Memphis Sound" is indeed a soulful prophet of the Chosen People, a willing servant of the Lord, and one helluva entertaining genius, to boot..." Well, on the renewed evidence presented here – you have to say that da Higster had a point...

"The Family Of Apostolic" by THE FAMILY OF APOSTOLIC [aka THE FAMILY] – April 1969 US 2LP Studio Set on Vanguard Apostolic Records (July 1969 in the UK) featuring John Townley [ex The Magicians], Jay Ungar of Cat Mother, Robert Berkowitz and Travis Jenkins of Archie Whitewater, Jerry Burnham of The Fifth Avenue Band, Lyn Hardy [nee Ungar] of Rude Girls with Deirdre and Gilma Townley and David Ames (April 2016 US Light In The Attic/Future Days Recordings – 2LP Set onto 1CD – John Baldwin Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Lone Pilgrims..."

The Sixties - God help us all!

Recorded towards the end of 1968 at Vanguard's Apostolic Studios in New York (often home to Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention) and finally released April 1969 in the USA (July 1969 in the UK) - this completely forgotten Americana Folk-experimental double-album by THE FAMILY OF APOSTOLIC is the very definition of the hippy-dream in all its best and worst components.

Featuring a heady mix of Band-like Folk and Folk Rock, Acoustic Blues and World Music influences stretching from the fiddlers of the Appalachian Mountains to the oud-droning Middle East and sitar-swirling rice fields of Pakistan - Vanguard Apostolic VDS 79301/2 did no business anywhere (God knows who bought it in Blighty). So of course top-quality American reissue label 'Light In The Attic' couldn't wait to put it out again using their 'Future Days Recordings' label imprint. And actually in parts I can hear why. Let's get naked in the river me boys...

US released 22 April 2016 - "The Family Of Apostolic" by THE FAMILY OF APOSTOLIC [aka THE FAMILY] on Light In The Attic/Future Days Recordings FDR 613 (Barcode 826853061322) offers the full 22-Track Double-Album from 1969 Remastered onto 1CD in gatefold card-sleeve packaging and plays out as follows (58:37 minutes):

1. Redeemer [Side 1]

2. Zoo Song

3. Spring Song

4. Down The Road

5. Please Be Mine

6. Don't You Like The Party?

7. Fiddler A Dram [Side 2]

8. Bubbling Brook

9. I Won't Be Sad Again

10. Old Grey House

11. Dholak Gheet

12. Doin' A Stretch [Side 3]

13. The Lone Pilgrim

14. Water Music [Instrumental]

15. Grotesque Silly Bird

16. Taking Me Home

17. O Splendour [Side 4]

18. Lilting Lil

19. Mabel's Umbrage

20. Devil's Yard

21. Personality

22. Saigon Girls

Tracks 1 to 22 are the debut double-album "The Family Of Apostolic" (their only release) – released April 1969 in the USA on Vanguard Apostolic VSD 79301/2 and July 1969 in the UK on Vanguard SDVL 1. Produced by JOHN TOWNLEY – it didn't chart in either country

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 4, 6, 9, 14 and 21 written by John Townley

Tracks 15, 18, 19 and 20 written by Gilma Townley

Tracks 6 and 10 written by Robert Berkowitz

Tracks 7, 8 and 11 co-written by John Townley and Jay Ungar

Tracks 4 and 13 are cover versions of Blues and Folk Traditionals

Track 12 is co-written by Gilma and John Townley

Track 15 written by Gilma Townley

Track 16 written by Deirdre Heather Townley

Track 17 written by David Ames

Track 22 is an instrumental written by Alan Gordon and Gary Bonner of The Magicians

Tracks 8, 14, 19 and 22 are instrumentals

The gatefold card sleeve features an outside Obi strip with details of the album and adverts for other FDR releases. The chunky 28-page booklet with new liner notes from ALEX STIMMEL of New York features recent interviews with Townley that explain how Apostolic Studios imploded under financial messes thereby dooming any real effort to promote the sprawling double. It's a fascinating read but the real deal is a stunning Remaster from 12-track original tapes by JOHN BALDWIN – a top notch done – up to a point where the listen feels like this could have been recorded in 2008 as US Indie Folk – instead of 1968.

With a full cast of 19 musicians – principals included John Townley [ex The Magicians], Jay Ungar of Cat Mother, Robert Berkowitz and Travis Jenkins of Archie Whitewater (Cadet Concept Records), Jerry Burnham of The Fifth Avenue Band, Lyn Hardy [nee Ungar] of Rude Girls with David Ames, Deirdre and Gilma Townley and many more.

Those expecting wild Psych passages or even Avant Garde free form trip outs can very decidedly look elsewhere. There is nothing Zappa or Mothers or even Quicksilver Messenger Service about this. Imagine the Americana side of "Music From Big Pink" by The Band got drunk with Scotland's The Incredible String Band and England's The Amazing Blondel and then had a baby with Judy Henske and Jerry Yester of "Farewell Aldebaran" fame – and you 'kind of' get there. The double–album is mostly short two-minute Folk and Americana orientated songs with the occasional drivel like "Taking Me Home" where a child sings. In-between you stumble on surprising moments of prettiness like the Scottish instrumental "Mabel's Umbrage" which feels like it should be on a Boys Of The Lough LP.

With its doubled-vocals, droning oud-sitar-sounding organ and plinking guitar - the opening "Redeemer" could be an outtake from anything on the Straight label including "Farewell Aldebaran". That is unfortunately followed by animal noises in "Zoo Song" – an insufferable off-key vocal too. Things go into where the album's real heart lies – rolling Folk – the acoustic guitars and mandolins of "Spring Song" making Townley sound like Iain Matthews of Matthews Southern Comfort at times. The knocked-out-loaded junco-partner acoustic Blues of the Traditional "Down The Road" sounds so damn good – beautiful remaster virtually minus any hiss and yet full of air around the duet vocals and guitar string rattles. 

Townley had been with The Byrds-sounding sixties band on Columbia called The Magicians and it seems some of that songwriting hitsville had remained. Sporting a weirdly comforting sax solo, pretty female vocals and very CSYN organ - "Old Grey House" could have grabbed radio play as a commercial single. Even more impressive though is the reinterpretation of a Pakistani structure in the superb "Dholak Gheet" – all Tabla beats with Karen Dalton-like vocals. We then go all Leon Redbone drunk-piano up-the-river-daddy in "Doin' A Stretch" - itself followed by another album highlight in the lovely old-world way-out-West Folk feel to "The Lone Pilgrim" (gorgeous audio too).

In a bizarre move, Vanguard dragged two 45s from the album before its release in the spring of 1969. Both apparently issued 24 December 1968 (and in picture sleeves) – they coupled the trippy Side 1 opener "Redeemer" with "I Won't Be Sad Again" from Side 2 and issued it on Vanguard Apostolic VRS-35084 credited to a made-up band name called THE GOSPEL. Weirder again was the album ending instrumental "Saigon Girls" (a thrown-over song by Alan Gordon and Gary Bonner from Townley's time at The Magicians) put out as an A-side with the drossy "Water Music" as the flip-side. But this time the sleeve credits the fictitious group as THE SPIRIT OF KHE SAHN while the label tells us their real name – THE FAMILY. Whatever someone was thinking, if I was a DJ of the time, I would have viewed both not just as terrible, but the A-side "Saigon Girls" as downright confrontational - and in all the wrong ways.  

Banjos and tambourine shakes introduce the short but menacing "Devil's Yard" – the doubled lady vocals feeling like The Incredible String Band. Far better is the (again short) but still gorgeous guitar-and-oud combo of "Personality" – a 'won't somebody please tell me who I am' song. And it ends on the decidedly unfinished instrumental "Saigon Girls" where angular guitars play over giggling Vietnam ladies and a radio broadcast about occasional gunfire and bombings (its both disturbing and horrible).

Mad, crap, brilliant, touching – this blast – this double-album urge-splurge of creativity – won't be for everyone for sure. But those Folk-beauty moments and all those instrumental merges make me know why FDR wanted it back out there after 50 years in obscurity. The Sixties man...oh yeah...

"The Best Of The Grateful Dead" by THE GRATEFUL DEAD – Including Tracks from "The Grateful Dead" (March 1967 Debut), "Anthem Of The Sun" (July 1968), "Aoxomoxoa" (June 1969), "Workingman's Dead" (June 1970), "American Beauty" (November 1970), "Wake Of The Flood" (October 1973), "From The Mars Hotel" (June 1974) and more – Featuring Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreuetmann (March 2015 Rhino 2 x HDCD – David Glasser and Jamie Howarth Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 310 Others Is Available In My

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CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

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"...A Long Strange Trip..."

It seems strange that there hasn't been a proper "Best Of" to cover the Dead’s astonishing career (1993 was the last and that was a single disc I believe).

Unremarkable title aside – and forgiving the complete absence of live material (a domain every fan acknowledges they excel in) – what you do get here is 31 tracks from their thirteen studio albums between 1968 and 1989 on Warner Brothers, Grateful Dead and Arista Records as well as a rare 7" single version of 1968's "Dark Star" – all of it remastered into HDCD in 2015. Here are the not-so-skeletal details...

UK released March 2015 – "The Best Of The Grateful Dead" by THE GRATEFUL DEAD on Rhino 081227955984 (Barcode 081227955984) is a 32-track 2 x HDCD set of new Remasters and breaks down as follows (the letters [A] to [N] after each LP represent personnel codes for the Band - see list):

Disc 1 (79:54 minutes):

1. The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)

2. Cream Puff War

Tracks 1 and 2 from the debut LP "The Grateful Dead" – released March 1967 in the USA on Warner Brothers W 1689 (Mono) and WS 1689 (Stereo). Stereo mix used. [A]

3. Born Cross-Eyed

Track 3 is from their 2nd studio LP "Anthem Of The Sun" – released July 1968 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1749 (Stereo only). [B]

4. Dark Star (Single Version)

Track 4 was released October 1968 in the USA as a 7" single on Warner Brothers 7186 ("Born Cross-Eyed" was the B-side). Note: the UK variant on Warner Brothers WB 7186 reversed the sides and had "Born Cross-Eyed" as the A [C]

5. St. Stephen

6. China Cat Sunflower

Tracks 5 and 6 are from their 3rd studio album "Aoxomoxoa" – released June 1969 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1790 [D]

7. Uncle John’s Band

8. Easy Wind

9. Casey Jones

Tracks 7 to 9 are from their 4th studio album "Workingman's Dead" – released June 1970 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1869 [E]

10. Truckin'

11 Box Of Rain

12. Sugar Magnolia

13. Friend Of The Devil

14. Ripple

Tracks 10 to 14 are from their 5th studio album "American Beauty" – released November 1970 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1893 [F]

15. Eyes Of The World

Tracks 15 is from their 6th studio album "Wake Of The Flood" – released October 1973 in the USA on Grateful Dead Records GD-01 [G]

16. Unbroken Chain

17. Scarlet Begonias

Tracks 16 and 17 are from their 7th studio album "From The Mars Hotel" – released June 1974 in the USA on Grateful Dead Records GD-102 [H]

18. The Music Never Stopped

Track 18 is from their 8th studio album "Blues For Allah" – released September 1975 in the USA on Grateful Dead/United Artists GD-LA494-G [I]

19. Estimated Prophet

Track 19 is from their 9th studio album "Terrapin Station" – released August 1977 in the USA on Arista AL 7001 [J]

Disc 2 (79:08 minutes):

1.Terrapin Station

Tracks 1 is from their 9th studio album "Terrapin Station" (at 16:10 minutes this is the whole of Side 2) – released August 1977 in the USA on Arista AL 7001 [J]

2. Shakedown Street

3. I Need A Miracle

4. Fire On The Mountain

Tracks 2 to 4 are from their 10th studio album "Shakedown Street" (album Produced by Lowell George of Little Feat) – released November 1978 in the USA on Arista AB 4198 [K]

5. Feel Like A Stranger

6. Far From Me

Tracks 5 and 6 are from their 11th studio album "Go To Heaven" – released May 1980 in the USA on Arista Al 9508 [L]

7. Touch Of Grey

8. Hell In A Bucket

9. Throwing Stones

10. Black Muddy River

Tracks 7 to 10 are from their 12th studio album "In The Dark" – released July 1987 in the USA on Arista AL 8452 [M]

11. Blow Away

12. Foolish Heart

13. Standing On The Moon

Tracks 11 to 13 are from their 13th studio album "Built To Last" – released November 1989 in the USA on Arista AL-8575

THE GRATEFUL DEAD Band Members:

GERRY GARCIA [A to N] – Lead Guitar, Vocals, Pedal Steel and Piano

BOB WEIR [A to N] – Guitar and Vocals

RON "PIGPEN" McKERNAN [A to F] – Organ, Harmonica, Vocals, Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar, Congas and Percussion

PHIL LESH [A to N] – Bass, Vocals, Guitar and Piano

BILL KREUETZMANN [A to N] – Drums and Percussion

TOM CONSTANTEN [B and D] – Keyboards and Piano

MICKEY HART [B to F and I to N] – Drums and Percussion

KEITH GODCHAUX [G to K] – Keyboards, Piano and Vocals

DONNA GODCHAUX [G to K] – Vocals

BRENT MYLAND [L to N] – Keyboards and Vocals

GUESTS:

DAVE GRISMAN - Mandolin on "Friend Of The Devil" and "Ripple"

HOWARD WALES – Organ on "Truckin'"

STEVE SCHUSTER – Saxophone on "The Music Never Stopped"

TOM SCOTT – Lyricon and Saxophone on "Estimated Prophet"

DAVID LEMIEUX produced the compilation with the Tapes and Remasters handled by both DAVID GLASSER and JAMIE HOWARTH. It’s housed in a fetching three-way foldout card digipak with two see-through trays holding Grateful Dead skeleton logo CDs (discography info beneath each). The 16-page booklet features new song-by-song liner notes by BLAIR JACKSON (it’s almost entirely text) with pictures of the band on the last and rear pages only. Blair’s insights into each song are suitably detailed and fun – pointing out who played on what and how the track happened. Provided by Jim Marshall - the booklet is also fronted by a gorgeous black and white photo of the boys hanging out by the Haight/Ashbury Road Sign in the late Sixties. And the embossed Skull Logo on the front is gorgeous - the whole thing feels classy and shows that Rhino are back on reissuing form...

But the best news is the new 2015 remasters. Comparing a few tracks to the 2003 Rhino HDCD remasters for the individual albums – I must confess that the earlier cuts from say "Grateful Dead" to "American Beauty" on Warner Brothers sound roughly the same if not a small bit improved. But the Grateful Dead Records and Arista Records stuff is 'so' much better than CDs I had in the Nineties. For that alone – and the extra breath of material Disc 2 brings (over 2 and half hours of music) – this is a bit of a stunner Audio-wise and its available beneath a ten-spot in many places too.

Disc 1 sticks to favourites – the "hey hey" jaunt of "The Golden Road (To The Unlimited Devotion)" from the debut segues into Jerry Garcia's lone credit on "Cream Puff War" – a sort of Garage Pop chugger. The 7" single 2:42 minute edit of "Dark Star" and "Born Cross-Eyed" (a Bob Weir song) was issued in the USA and UK as a seven-inch single on Warner Brothers in the spring of 1968 (funny now to see "Dark Star" as a 'single' when it is always been associated with 25 to 30-minute jams). "Dark Star" is the most un-commercial of singles and has a bit of spoken poetry/banjo in the fade out! Both of the cuts from "Aoxomoxoa" introduced Funk into the Dead’s Psychedelic swagger with Organ and Guitar fighting it out. Both the LPs "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty" are surely everyone’s faves – both introducing a musicality and warmth to their sound that can't be denied. I would have loved to have had "New Speedway Boogie" from "Workingman's Dead" included – but you can’t have everything (check out Marc Cohn's great cover of it on his "Listening Booth: 1970" CD album from 2010).

David Grisman adds wonderful Mandolin strums to the witty "Friend Of The Devil" and the lovely "American Beauty" Side 2 opener "Ripple" – as pretty a song as they've ever written (gorgeous audio on it). I always thought "Eyes Of The World" terribly weedy fare – far better is the acoustic "Unbroken Chain" with Donna Godchaux providing really sweet duet Vocals. Things go a bit Funky for the "...mosquitos on the river..." song "The Music Never Stopped" where Donna gives it some vox yet again (nice Sax too from Steve Schuster). Speaking of that great instrument - Tom Scott adds Saxophone to the LA reggae-ish sway of "Estimated Prophet" (from their first album for Arista "Terrapin Station"). Its (dare we say it) 'commercial' for the Dead – but I actually love that rhythm (remaster is superb too). The full 16:02 minute/seven-part "Terrapin Station" that took up the whole of Side 2 of the LP may test your patience – but I love the Eastern mysticism vibes and the Prog parts with those mad string flurries in the final section of the suite.

Lowell George of Little Feat fame stepped up to the Producer Chair for "Shakedown Street" and the band returned from Prog to straight-up Rock 'n' Roll with "I Need A Miracle". The disco-funk of the title track probably brings out a rash in hardcore fans and the soft-shoe commercial cod-reggae shuffle of "Fire On The Mountain" probably elicits the same reaction – but they both sound incredible in these new remasters. Far more accomplished is "Feel Like A Stranger" where new Keyboard player Brent Myland really makes his presence known in those tasty fills (fabulous remaster too). His vocal lead on “Far From Me” sounds almost “Rumours” in its sophisticated Rock way and you can hear that Bob Weir hip influence – Funky one moment – pretty the next – and those Queen layered vocals (a bit cool actually). "I will survive!" they sing on their unlikely hit single "Touch Of Grey" – Garcia having fun. We get a bit more downhome boogie on the excellent "Hell In A Bucket" where that motorbike growl travelling across your speakers still takes me by surprise (enjoying the ride). And that's what's so cool about Disc 2 – it surprises you – and in many ways is actually better than the later Seventies stuff in some ways.

So there you have it – a "Best Of" that finally does the band justice (in the studio anyway). What’s needed now is a "Best Of LIVE DEAD" but we’re probably looking at a 3-disc minimum or more. In the meantime – dig in here and remember what those Robert Crumb cartoon teeshirts used to say...Keep On Truckin'...