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Sunny slices of Americana
Grateful Dead: Workinman’s Dead (Warner Brothers)
Suddenly this album arrived, just as Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young were the biggest thing around and singer-songwriters went
Americana. It was all guitar strumming, long hair, hats, suede fringe
jackets, cowboy boots and pass that joint, will you.
The hippie heads were discovering roots music, and so was everybody
else. And whad’ya know, Grateful Dead hit the Top 30 in the USA. Had
they sold their souls to the devil? Not quite. They just showed the
world that a Grateful Dead tune didn’t necessarily last for 37 minutes.
It was the same music, but a structured and disciplined version of it.
“Workingman’s Dead” contained songs that were immediate, warm and
likeable, tightly arranged and yet true to the band’s ideals. The guitar
work is simply stunning. Sunny slices of Americana, front porch stuff,
easy to digest, a prefect audio dish for people in summer mode.
They had one more bullet in this gun, the peerless “American Beauty”,
before they started stretching out again. By then they had become a
household name for thousands who didn’t mind the improvisational side of
the Dead at all. It was the same music, only taking a bit longer to get
there, and giving you a mighty good time as the musical scenery
unfolded.
“Workingman’s Dead” opened the doors. A whole generation deadheads began
their life long journey approximately here. And if I were you I’d buy
this album and its sequel “American Beauty” right away. The latter’s got
“Box Of Rain”, “Friend Of The Devil”, “Candyman” and “Truckin’” on it.
You need them.
Released: June 14, 1970
Produced by: Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor, Grateful Dead
(All songs written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter except where noted)
Side One
1.”Uncle John’s Band” 4:42
2.”High Time” 5:12
3.”Dire Wolf” 3:11
4.”New Speedway Boogie” 4:01
Side Two
5.”Cumberland Blues” (Garcia/Hunter/Lesh) 3:14
6.”Black Peter” 5:41
7.”Easy Wind” (Hunter) 4:57
8.”Casey Jones” 4:24
Grateful Dead:
Jerry Garcia – lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, vocals
Bob Weir – guitar, vocals
Pigpen (Ron McKernan) – keyboards, harmonica, vocals
Phil Lesh – bass, vocals
Bill Kreutzmann – drums
Mickey Hart – drums
Additional musicians:
David Nelson – acoustic guitar on “Cumberland Blues”
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