A bit hit and miss as an album. Bear's Choice was completed as a contractual obligation and it certainly feels like that when you listen. The tracks themselves are good but put together as one album don't really work. Title is confusing too. Not really a history and there has never been a volume ... Read review
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Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar); Ron Pig Pen McKernan (vocals, harmonica, organ, percussion); Phil Lesh (bass); Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart ...
Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar); Ron Pig Pen McKernan (vocals, harmonica, organ, percussion); Phil Lesh (bass); Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart (drums). Additional personnel: Bill Graham (spoken vocals).Recorded live at Bill Graham's Fillmore East, New York on February 13 and 14, 1970. Released July 13, 1973; the Grateful Dead's ninth album. The album was mastered directly from Bear's stereo recordings. CD mastered by Joe Gastwirt. Includes liner notes by Bear.Released in July of 1973, BEAR'S CHOICE was the third of three consecutive live releases by the Dead. Culled from two legendary (among Deadheads anyway) concerts at the fabled Fillmore East in 1970, it is perhaps their most rustic album: the Dead unplugged. The band sounds genuinely off-hand, with spontaneous stage patter adding to the low-key ambiance. They sound like a bunch of guys just hanging out and making music. The set consists of seven songs, six of them covers. The fiery blues singing of Ron Pigpen McKernan is the highlight here. He sings on the 18-minute workout of Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightning, as well as Otis Redding's Hard to Handle, which was later a hit for the Black Crowes. The earnest, country-tinged vocals of Bob Weir are featured on the Everly Brothers' Wake Up Little Susie and the plaintive folk number Dark Hollow. Jerry Garcia takes an uncharacteristically low-key role here; but he does sing the spooky Appalachian ballad All Around this World and a moving rendition of the one Dead-penned song here, the elegiac Black Peter.n
recorded live at the Filmore East on February 13 and 14, 1970. Originally released in 1973, the album opens with a couple of fairly soulful acoustic numbers--of which "Wake Up Little Susie" (wherein guitar player Bob Weir forgets the lyric halfway through) and Dead original "Black Peter" stand out. Nice to hear some on-stage banter, too. Most Deadheads, though, will prefer the 18-minute, slow-burning blues jam on "Smokestack Lightnin'", which features some fine harmonica playing from original member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan at the fore. (Indeed, this whole album is a tribute to Pigpen-era Dead.) The final number--the growling, blues-y version of "Hard To Handle"--puts latter-day Crowes pretenders in the shade.The History Of The Grateful Dead Vol. 1is not the best of Dead albums, but it's likeable nonetheless.--Everett True
recorded live at the Filmore East on February 13 and 14, 1970. Originally released in 1973, the album opens with a couple of fairly soulful acoustic numbers--of which "Wake Up Little Susie" (wherein guitar player Bob Weir forgets the lyric halfway through) and Dead original "Black Peter" stand out. Nice to hear some on-stage banter, too. Most Deadheads, though, will prefer the 18-minute, slow-burning blues jam on "Smokestack Lightnin'", which features some fine harmonica playing from original member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan at the fore. (Indeed, this whole album is a tribute to Pigpen-era Dead.) The final number--the growling, blues-y version of "Hard To Handle"--puts latter-day Crowes pretenders in the shade. The History Of The Grateful Dead Vol. 1 is not the best of Dead albums, but it's likeable nonetheless. --Everett True
For fans only Review ofHistory Of The Grateful Dead Vol.1 (Bear's Choice - Expanded And Remastered) - Grateful Deadby
pigpen99
Advantages: It's the Grateful Dead Disadvantages: You won't listen to it that much
...confusing too. Not really a history and there has never been a volume 2. The first half of the album is all acoustic with renditions of some traditional American songs plus some covers. Black Peter is the one original in this section and it is done very well. Follwoing the acoustic pieces there are two longer songs - both covers - Hard to Handle and Smokestack Lightning. The latter is a bit long but Hard to Handle is always worth a listen, performed ...
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