Live/Dead [Remastered] - Grateful Dead

Advantages: Only the best live music you'll ever hear performed by human beings
Disadvantages: none

Live Dead is as compelling now as it must have been when it was spontaneously created in 1969, and the epic Dark Star is its heart - an utterly compelling, ornate musical conversation by a band at the top of its form.. and at that time taken seriously by its peers. This is music that cannot be easily categorised or imitated but for a brief shining moment the band redefined rock music, because it played as an ensemble, not as a series of soloists. ...
...And Live Dead is without doubt the bands finest album. My favourite track of all- and the most accessable to newcomers - is the dark melancholy blues "Death don't have no mercy". If you want to know what all the fuss about Garcia is about, listen to this performance. Check out, too, the gorgeous Pigpen performance on a churning "Lovelight", the other more earthy side of the band. Pigpen was a blues man, with a gift for enticing a crowd. Quite why ... Read review

Advantages: The first stunning live double album released by the mighty Grateful Dead.
Disadvantages: Not easily accessible to first time "Dead" listeners,especially improvised sections.

This was the first Live Double Album released by these ground-breakers of psychedelic rock. Spawned in the Haight-Asbury area of San Francisco,this music evolved from folk,bluegrass,jazz and blues roots,and has become a powerful and lasting part of American culture. This album features a new direction,and a new line-up in the metamorphosis of the band,in that Tom Constanten came along on keyboards in Nov 1968,and Mickey Hart began his still existent ...
...By the time of it's release on Nov 10th 1969,this unit had played together long enough to be able to flow together,and spark off unique musical conversations hitherto unknown,and taking free-form jazz a step further. The album begins with "Dark Star",starting mid-song.Phil,Jerry and Bob weaving the now familiar improvisational pattern;a quest led by Jerry into realms unknown.In 1969 it was totally uncharted territory! "St Stephen" features the exquisite ... Read review