The Good Ol' Grateful Thread

I need some help from folks more knowledgeable about the Dead than I. My new brother-in-law is a major Dead fan--He wore a Grateful Dead t-shirt to his own wedding--and I can't have him over for some drinks and music without some Dead albums on hand. It'd be a disaster. Can you all recommend some good pressings/albums to picik up? So far, I only have the new Rhino Hi-Fi release of American Beauty on my list. His favourite album is Terrapin Station.

I appreciate any help you can provide. 🍻
There's a few on sale over at Barnes & Noble for $20 ea. Reckoning is a live acoustic album that was out of print for awhile, $20 is a steal for it.


Workingmans Dead is a classic released around the same time as American Beauty. Some of the OG live albums (Europe '72, Skull & Roses, Without a Net) give a good variety of classic live tunes.
 
all of the recent reissues have sounded pretty good to my ears.
Good to know! That should certainly make things easier.

There's a few on sale over at Barnes & Noble for $20 ea. Reckoning is a live acoustic album that was out of print for awhile, $20 is a steal for it.


Workingmans Dead is a classic released around the same time as American Beauty. Some of the OG live albums (Europe '72, Skull & Roses, Without a Net) give a good variety of classic live tunes.
Unfortunately, I'm in Canada and cannot take advantage of those fabulous B&N prices. I'll see if I can find some deals up here on the reissues for Workingman's Dead and those live albums, though.

Cheers!
 
Good to know! That should certainly make things easier.


Unfortunately, I'm in Canada and cannot take advantage of those fabulous B&N prices. I'll see if I can find some deals up here on the reissues for Workingman's Dead and those live albums, though.

Cheers!
If I recall correctly, fellow Canuck and audiophile @Mather swears that the 2xLP 45 RPM MoFi Blues For Allah pressing is one of the best sounding albums he owns.
 
I need some help from folks more knowledgeable about the Dead than I. My new brother-in-law is a major Dead fan--He wore a Grateful Dead t-shirt to his own wedding--and I can't have him over for some drinks and music without some Dead albums on hand. It'd be a disaster. Can you all recommend some good pressings/albums to picik up? So far, I only have the new Rhino Hi-Fi release of American Beauty on my list. His favourite album is Terrapin Station.

I appreciate any help you can provide. 🍻
Of the studio albums, the only ones that are worthwhile are American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Mars Hotel and Wake of the Flood, blues for allah. You might be well served by a compilation best-of.

More essential would be some live albums: europe 72, live/dead, cornell 5.8.77, Steal Your Face, one from the vault

Live dead might be the best case for CD listening over vinyl
 
Of the studio albums, the only ones that are worthwhile are American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Mars Hotel and Wake of the Flood, blues for allah. You might be well served by a compilation best-of.

More essential would be some live albums: europe 72, live/dead, cornell 5.8.77, Steal Your Face, one from the vault

Live dead might be the best case for CD listening over vinyl
Some of us disagree and love the later Dead albums too 🥸
 
Good to know! That should certainly make things easier.


Unfortunately, I'm in Canada and cannot take advantage of those fabulous B&N prices. I'll see if I can find some deals up here on the reissues for Workingman's Dead and those live albums, though.

Cheers!

Halifax represent!

TAZ has a few 50th Anniversary pressings for $40 apiece. Not nearly as sweet as the B&N deals, but a decent price for contemporary record prices in Canada.

Also, this one is a great deal, but other folks here will have to speak to its quality, because I'm only a Dead novice myself:

 
Of the studio albums, the only ones that are worthwhile are American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Mars Hotel and Wake of the Flood, blues for allah. You might be well served by a compilation best-of.

More essential would be some live albums: europe 72, live/dead, cornell 5.8.77, Steal Your Face, one from the vault

Live dead might be the best case for CD listening over vinyl
Terrapin Station rules and they said that's their BIL's favourite album.
 
If I recall correctly, fellow Canuck and audiophile @Mather swears that the 2xLP 45 RPM MoFi Blues For Allah pressing is one of the best sounding albums he owns.
As far as I can tell, this one is OOP, and the used copies are sadly beyond what I'm willing to spend at this time. I'll keep it in mind, though, especially if I end up getting into the Dead myself.

Of the studio albums, the only ones that are worthwhile are American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Mars Hotel and Wake of the Flood, blues for allah. You might be well served by a compilation best-of.

More essential would be some live albums: europe 72, live/dead, cornell 5.8.77, Steal Your Face, one from the vault

Live dead might be the best case for CD listening over vinyl
I'm thinking the Rhino American Beauty, Terrapin Station, and a live album might be good mix to start. I enjoyed streaming American Beauty. Liked the folk rock Cat Stevens vibe. Terrapin Station is his favourite, so it's in there. Le Noise--my usual online store--looks to have a good selection of the live LPs, including Reckoning, Skull and Roses, and Two and Three from the Vault. Three should be a good number to intersperse among other albums.

Halifax represent!

TAZ has a few 50th Anniversary pressings for $40 apiece. Not nearly as sweet as the B&N deals, but a decent price for contemporary record prices in Canada.

Also, this one is a great deal, but other folks here will have to speak to its quality, because I'm only a Dead novice myself:

Good to know! Maybe I can hit the Bedford store this weekend. Any opinions on the pressing quality of the London '72 set?

I'll have to give Workingman's Dead a stream too. I have seen some MoFi's of that kicking around here, and since it and American Beauty were recorded in the same year, I might enjoy it like I enjoyed Beauty. Even if it's not up to Blues for Allah's quality, it'd probably still be worth nabbing.
 
I'm thinking the Rhino American Beauty, Terrapin Station, and a live album might be good mix to start. I enjoyed streaming American Beauty. Liked the folk rock Cat Stevens vibe. Terrapin Station is his favourite, so it's in there. Le Noise--my usual online store--looks to have a good selection of the live LPs, including Reckoning, Skull and Roses, and Two and Three from the Vault. Three should be a good number to intersperse among other albums.
Three from the Vault has an interesting backstory that you can use to impress your brother. Its the first show after Mickey Hart got kicked out (he eventually rejoined after a few years) due to his dads financial mismanagement of the band, if I remember correctly. A few classic songs are debuted here - Bird Song and Wharf Rat Deal.

Its also part of a 6 show run where they did a ESP test as part of every show.

 
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Oh man, one of my all time favorites!!
Way back when I was in college I was listening to a blues show on our college radio station, and they played what I think was the Reverend Gary Davis version of Samson & Delilah. I called in and requested the Dead version, which they played. And followed up with the statement "that's why we don't take requests". :ROFLMAO:
 
Three from the Vault has an interesting backstory that you can use to impress your brother. Its the first show after Mickey Hart got kicked out (he eventually rejoined after a few years) due to his dads financial mismanagement of the band, if I remember correctly. A few classic songs are debuted here - Bird Song and Wharf Rat Deal.

Its also part of a 6 show run where they did a ESP test as part of every show.

I will keep that in my back pocket. Cheers!

one thing to consider is that if you're a lazy bastard like myself, that album's like 30 minutes long and Mofi splits it out over 4 sides
I typically don't mind changing 45s, however, that does indeed sound like a lot of flipping for not much music. A thirty minute runtime also seems like scant return for my $90 plus tax. Perhaps the regular reissue is the way to go.
 
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