ALBUM REVIEW: Grateful Dead - Grateful Dead

    There was a long, strange trip ahead for the Grateful Dead, an old folk and bluegrass group that had eventually found itself morphed into a psychedelic rock outfit by 1965. In the midst of the musical scene of San Francisco and the Acid Tests, the Dead had managed to carve themselves a small niche early into their career, especially as they kept seeing repeat gigs at the Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom - quite a few of these gigs, in some form, still survive, and they showcase a primitive psychedelic blues rock group that plays songs quick and fast, but with a real burst of lighting. This primal version of the Dead is also captured in studio on their debut, even as they slowly began to develop their sense of extended rock jams. Really, the Dead's debut bears more resemblance to a Cream album than any of their own work - largely made up of covers, filled with distorted instrumentation, and lacking much of the expansiveness of their later work, it makes for a strange starting group for a group that had many roads ahead of them. Even still, this debut is rightfully hot, filled with explosive renditions and enough high marks to showcase a group brimming with talent. It's not even close to their best studio work, and certainly not up to par with their live shows, but it's a raw dose of the Dead that manages to feel at home all at once.

    It probably helps that, even with this early representation of the Grateful Dead, there's more than a few recognizable songs for dedicated listeners - "Beat It On Down the Line", sung by a then 19-year old Bob Weir, would become a standard for Dead over the years, a fast-paced blues number that showcases the group's early energy. We're also introduced to "New, New Minglewood Blues" for the first time, another mainstay for the group's shows and another display of Weir's powerful ability, pairing nicely with the song's cocksure bravado. The group would eventually hone this song more and more, but this early version doesn't hold any punches, either, and it's a highlight on the backhalf of the album. Another highlight of the second side is a cover of Bonnie Dobson's "Morning Dew", done is a slow and mysterious style and serving as an almost melancholic opening to side B - Jerry Garcia's shaky vocals help sell it. We also get plenty of great early Dead cuts, ones that would not become mainstays. Garcia's own "Cream Puff War" ends off the first half, and it makes for what is probably the best display of his guitar work on the album. It's fast and chaotic, complete with strange time signature changes and bizarre atmosphere. It's a good song, and one that soared high in early performances, along with the album closer "Viola Lee Blues", which is probably the greatest glimpse of what the Dead would morph into - even early live performances of "Viola Lee Blues" would stretch up to the 20-minute mark at points, showing that the early footing of the Dead was well in place.

    One early aspect of the group that's allowed to shine through on here is Ron McKernan (or "Pigpen" as he was lovingly known), who's organ is often just as much the focus as Jerry's guitar ability. It ultimately stinks that his only vocal is a rather slow, dull version of "Good Morning Little School Girl"  - maybe I'm just influenced by my own love of the Yardbirds version, but I can't bring myself to love this version. It's not all bad, though, and given that they churn out a version of "Sitting on Top of the World" that is much better than the Cream version, they at least make up for it. Ultimately, the weakest aspect of the Dead's debut is not necessarily a fault in performance or even some weak moments, but a general homogeneous nature that plagues both the album and the group itself in this early form. For as good as numbers like "Cold Rain and Snow", "Cream Puff War", and "Sitting on Top of the World" are, part of me thinks these faster numbers and slower numbers blend into each other a bit. My comparisons to Cream are also not just to make a point of quality, but also to say how the group, in studio, has yet to develop its own unique sound - Cream is the closest analog I could come to when listening to this album, but I can't help but think about how The Doors' own debut came out two months prior, and some of the slower, brooding blues moments on this album may have hints of their own work in it. The difference there is that The Doors had an already well-developed and captivating sound on their debut, and I'm just not sure I can say the same for the Dead. That being said, quite a few live recordings exist from 1966 to 1967 that help better showcase the real skill of the Grateful Dead - these early performances range a bit in sound quality, but they still help capture the group's early primordial energy very well, and an expanded repertoire of songs that includes songs like "Me and My Uncle" or the occasional "Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)" also helps the group have more of its own voice.

    The Grateful Dead are not particularly acclaimed as a studio group, but even by that metric, this debut leaves a bit to be desired. Some general repetition in sound is not helped by a few weaker moments that ultimately leave the product feeling more like a sum of good individual songs rather than a whole body. Perhaps the album's quick pace of recording affected its cohesion, but plenty of other albums had similarly tight restriction and turned out no worse for wear. Maybe the Dead just needed to warm up a bit more - by 1968, the Grateful Dead that we know were properly born, and it shows everywhere from live performances to studio recordings. By and large, the Grateful Dead's debut is still a fine album, and it showcases a red hot group with plenty of talent, but it's an album that seems to lack its own voice in a year full of unique sounds and voices. Not necessarily for Deadheads only, as I think fans of psychedelic-leaning blues will get a lot out of it, but perhaps Deadheads will be the people who get the most out of it, even if it's just the thrill of seeing the primordial version of the Grateful Dead.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Grateful Dead.