Review:
This is definatley my favorite best of album of by The Grateful Dead. I find almost every thing great about it except it lacks A Touch Of Grey.
1. The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion):This was the opening track for The Grateful Dead's debut album. As said by The Grateful Dead's original manager Rock Scully, "At this point in time you had two choices as a band. Make songs resembling The Beatles or make Blues/Bluegrass songs." Well, aparently The Grateful Dead mixed those and came up with a more psychedelic Beatles song. 3.5/5
2. Truckin': This song is probably on the top 3 most popular Grateful Dead songs. Probably because of how careless it sounds. I find the lyrics to be great, like "What in the world ever became of Sweet Jane, she lost her sparkle you know she isn't the same. Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Cocaine. All a good friend could say is isn't it a shame." The rythm guitaring and bass fit in with the drums great. And the lead guitaring fills in very nicley, and of course it gives the famous line "What a long strange trip its been". 5/5
3. Rosemary: Not a favorite of mine. Maybe because it really short (1:59), just the slow feeling and the vocal effects. I can't go against the lyrics though. Not that great instrumentally though. 1/5
4. Sugar Magnolia: Probably my favorite song by The Grateful Dead. The lyrics by Bob Weir seem like they have a great meaning to them and are stacked great, like "Saw my baby down by the river!!, knew she'd have to come up soon for air". I think the guitaring and cymbal patterns are extremley unique. And the bass and organ give it a great psychedelic and relaxing feeling. 5/5
5. St. Stephen: Not my favorite, but still a great song. It has a great build up and once again the drums, bass and guitar go together great. The lyrics tell a great story. I don't like the slower part it contains, which is closer to the middle, but I love how it comes out of it. 4/5
6. Uncle John's Band: A great song. I love the guitaring, both lead and rythm. The lyrics are good, but at sometimes in the song don't fit with the timing. Not much more to really say. 4/5
7. Casey Jones: Definatley one of top 3 songs from The Grateful Dead. Probably because of its use of the word Cocaine and just the fun flow of it. The guitaring and drumming go great together, and of course lyrics are fantastic. Casey Jones is actually a song about a song written a long time ago about a train crash in Illinois. You'll never really relise how out of place this song is, untill you listen to all of
Workingman's Dead, which the song closes. 4/5
8. Mexicali Blues: This is probably my 2nd favorite song by The Grateful Dead. For the reason that how great it tells this story. And the way the lyrics are sang. The piano and the drums go great together and the guitaring and bass are okay. Plus, they actually use trumpets in this song. I actually believe this song was not on a Grateful Dead album, but on Bob Weird's first solo album,
Ace. 5/5
9. Turn On Your Love Light: A live version of a cover The Grateful Dead did. I don't particularly like this song because the vocals. But I do like the lyrics. The song is also classic, and I'm sure everyone has heard a version of it many time. 2/5
10. One More Saturday Night: I do not like this song at all. The way its sang and the lyrics, just don't appeal to me. It just doesn't seem like The Grateful Dead, but it is, it's too, non emotional. The solo doesn't seem like a Garcia solo either which I'm pretty sure it is. I do like the piano playing though. 2.5/5
11. Friend Of The Devil: Another one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs. The way the two acoiustic guitars intersect in the beginning, and how the drums kick in, are just fabulous. The lyrics seem to have great meaning to them. They are supposebly about, either a man running from the devil's hell hounds, because he is a soul that excapted from hell. Or about a man who excapted from prison and is on the run from the police and the devil keeps trying to convince him that if he gives the devil his soul the devil will help him out. 5/5
I give this album a 4.5/5 :)
Band:
Lead Guitar/Vocals: Jerry Garcia
Organ/Harmonica/Vocals: Ron "Pigpen" Mckernan
Bass/Vocals: Phil Lesh
Rythm Guitar/Vocals: Bob Weir
Drums: Billy Kreutzmann
Drums: Mickey Hart
