Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead: Live Dead

Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, February 1970

Live Dead explains why the Dead are one of the best performing bands in America, why their music touches on ground that most other groups ...

Grateful Dead: Dawn of the Deadheads

Report and Interview by David Gans, Headliner, August 1983

THE PSYCHEDELIC era is ancient history, and LSD is so far out of fashion that it probably doesn't even need to be illegal any more. ...

The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (1969)

Interview by Michael Lydon, Rock's Backpages Audio, May 1969

Recorded during the Dead's 1969 peak, Garcia looks back to the early days of the Warlocks, the Acid Tests, goes through the albums to date (including the soon-to-be-released Live/Dead) and expounds on the music.

File format: mp3; file size: 57.6mb, interview length: 1h 02' 57" sound quality: ****

The Grateful Dead (and the New Riders), part 1 (1970)

Interview by Ted Alvy, KPPC-FM 106.7 Pasadena, December 1970

Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir from the Dead, plus New Riders David Nelson and Marmaduke, talk about Workingman's Dead and the birth of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, while DJ Ted Alvy spins tunes and tries to keep order. Originally broadcast on KPPC-FM Pasadena in December 1970.

File format: mp3 File size: 24.5mb Interview length: 26 minutes 43 seconds Sound quality: ****

The Grateful Dead (and the New Riders), part 2 (1970)

Interview by Ted Alvy, KPPC-FM 106.7 Pasadena, December 1970

...in which Garcia, Weir, David Nelson and Marmaduke break out the guitars and have themselves an impromptu hootenanny hosted by DJ Ted Alvy, playing some of your country-gospel favourites amidst much studio chaos. Originally broadcast on KPPC-FM Pasadena in December 1970.

File format: mp3 File size: 30.7mb Interview length: 33 minutes 31 seconds Sound quality: ****

San Francisco Bay Rock

Guide by Gene Sculatti, Crawdaddy!, 1966

The San Francisco rock scene is a complex one. It is a plentiful jumble of hard rock, folk-rock, blues-rock, bubble-gum, and adult bands that have ...

The Golden Road: A Report on San Francisco

Overview by Paul Williams, Crawdaddy!, June 1967

SITTING IN THE window. Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village, flirting with the girls going by, the Grateful Dead very loud on 4X speakers somewhere in the ...

Miles' Trip: New York

Report by Miles, International Times, June 1967

"Two persons were shot dead and several others injured in a gun battle between shoplifters and store detectives in a Bronx supermarket today." ...

The First European International Pop Festival: Pigpen To Meet Pope?

Report by Michael Lydon, Rolling Stone, February 1968

THE FIRST EUROPEAN International Pop Festival, a resounding name for a still rather mysterious event, is being planned for Rome's huge Palazzo dello Sport February ...

Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead: Melodyland, Anaheim CA

Live Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Long Beach Press-Telegram, March 1968

San Francisco Bands Shortchange Anaheim Audience ...

The Grateful Dead: Burnout Sets In

Special Feature by Michael Lydon, Rolling Stone, August 1969

But I reckon l got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilise ...

The Grateful Dead: Hollywood Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Guardian, The, May 1970

Disgracing The Grateful Dead ...

The Grateful Dead: Dead on Arrival

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, May 1970

The Grateful Dead fly into Britain ...

An Evening with the Grateful Dead

Report and Interview by Michael Lydon, Rolling Stone, September 1970

WE CHANGE and our changings change, a friend said once. It sounded true, but it seems too that through it all we stay the same. ...

Grateful Dead: American Beauty (Warner Bros)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, January 1971

THE BEST adjective I can think of to describe the Grateful Dead is "disarming." They're beautiful because, unlike so many bands, they never overwhelm you. ...

Grateful Dead: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, April 1971

Grateful Dead Draws Far-Out Fans ...

The Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead (Warner Bros.)

Review by Jon Tiven, Phonograph Record, November 1971

I APPROACHED THIS album with mixed feelings; one side of me saying "Well, you love the Dead don't you?" and the other half repeating "They ...

The Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead (Warners)

Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, November 1971

To avoid any possible disappointments for those who once had visions of saving the world through the music on Anthem of the Sun and any ...

The Grateful Dead: Dead Come Alive

Interview by Danny Holloway, NME, April 1972

IT'S TAKEN a long time for the Dead to get themselves back over here. They probably made it more by good luck than good judgment. ...

The Grateful Dead: Empire Pool, Wembley

Live Review by Mick Farren, International Times, April 1972

"The trouble with a lot of kids who come to our concerts is that they can't see beyond the drugs. They get so ripped that ...

The Legend Of The Dead

Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, June 1972

ALTHOUGH THE GRATEFUL DEAD are a rock band, they've almost been turned into an institution, a way of life over, the years since they came ...

Grateful Dead et al: Bickershaw Festival, Lancashire

Report by Nick Kent, Frendz, June 1972

BICKERSHAW, A SLEEPY little Northern town, had certainly never seen anything like it before. Coronation St had been invaded by the day glow kids and ...

Grateful Dead: Vintage Dead; Historic Dead

Review by Simon Frith, Cream, June 1972

I THINK I liked it better when rock didn’t have a history. These days record companies seem to be the victims of some Tutankhamen-like curse, ...

Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Keith Altham, NME, June 1972

I SAW the first night of the Dead's four concerts at the London Lyceum last Thursday. where they were ever so good for ever so ...

The Grateful Dead: Europe '72

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, February 1973

THE DEAD have never ceased to feed off their origins as a performing band in order to avoid the danger of becoming marooned in a ...

Grateful Dead: Europe '72 (Warner Bros.)

Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, February 1973

I'VE BEEN TO THREE Grateful Dead concerts in my life, and at each one I fell asleep. Oh, everybody else was pretending to be shimmying ...

The Grateful Dead on Long Island

Live Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, April 1973

IT HAD TO HAPPEN: even the Dead have gone glitter. Resplendently suave in Nudie-type sequined suits, the group appeared on the stage of this comfortably-sized ...

Pipeline

Column by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, September 1973

"GREAT ALBUMS are hard to find these days," I once wrote in my definitive book on the subject, Great Albums Are Hard To Find These ...

The History of the Grateful Dead

Retrospective by Andy Childs, ZigZag, October 1973

"weird, black satanic weird, white archangel weird. As weird as any thing you can imagine, like some horror comic monster who, besides being green and ...

West Coast Rock: Get Your Wooden Noses 'Ere

Review by Nick Kent, NME, November 1973

Grateful Dead: In the Wake of the Flood (Grateful Dead records, Import) New Riders Of The Purple Sage: The Adventures of Panama Red (CBS, Import)America: ...

Lookin' Back: The Grateful Dead

Retrospective by Nick Kent, NME, April 1974

Whatever happened to the Cosmic Dream? Part 45 (13th Hexagram) ...

The Exhumation of The Dead

Essay by Mick Farren, NME, August 1974

They've been slagged, slated, abused, and misused – most often in these very pages. But Hell hath no Fury like a Dead fan scorned, and ...

A Conversation with Phil Lesh

Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, September 1974

Some of you out there probably think that ZigZag has just about OD'd on the Grateful Dead recently, which is a fair criticism considering that ...

Grateful Dead - How the hell do ya play them five-hour sets without slinkin' off for a leak?

Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, September 1974

Yes, it's an interesting one isn't it? I mean, five hours...that's a long time, and well...camels are different of course, so really it must be ...

Robert Hunter

Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975

ROBERT HUNTER is the resident lyricist for the Grateful Dead, rock eminences of the San Francisco scene. An underground poet with a solo album, Tales ...

Grateful Dead: Blues For Allah (United Artists / Grateful Dead Records)

Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, September 1975

The first Dead album to be distributed by United Artists contains everything we’ve come to expect from the latter-day group and its offshoots: tuneless songs, ...

Grateful Dead - Blues for Allah

Review by Chas de Whalley, NME, September 1975

DEPENDING ON WHERE you part your hair, the Grateful Dead are either the finest rock'n'roll band in the world bar none... or else they are ...

Grateful Dead: Blues For Allah

Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, January 1976

AS ONE WHO has been frequently criticised for my unlimited devotion to the Grateful Dead and my continued belief that they are still one of ...

Grateful Dead: Steal Your Face

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, July 1976

ON STAGE the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia is not quite the superslick guitarist you might imagine him to be from their recordings. ...

The Grateful Dead: Steal Your Face

Review by Max Bell, NME, July 1976

SURPRISE, SURPRISE. THE new Dead album is coming in for the most monumental panning. Seems that for the past four years (at least) they've been ...

Grateful Dead: Dead Slay Wembley

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, August 1976

JUST LIKE Woodstock. Even before the New Riders of the Purple Sage kicked off Bill Graham's imported California Jam, bad acid circulated the main stand ...

The Grateful Dead

Book Excerpt by Lenny Kaye, David Dalton, Rock 100, 1977

THE GRATEFUL DEAD ARE A LIVING HIPPIE monument, lysergic storm troopers who have carried "the Message" across continents and psychic thresholds, oblivious of all laws ...

Grateful Dead: Wake Of The Flood/From the Mars Hotel

Review by Mick Farren, NME, March 1977

THE GRATEFUL DEAD have always been a band whose work formed into waves and troughs. Wake Of The Flood is unfortunately one of the low ...

Grateful Dead: My Night With The Dead

Report and Interview by Mick Farren, NME, May 1977

IT'S LIKE GOING back home."Acid!""Acid, black beauties!""Acid!""You got any pot to sell?""No, man, all I got is acid and black beauties."What else could it be ...

The Grateful Dead: Terrapin Station

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, July 1977

TEN YEARS and twelve-odd albums on from when they first hit the streets of San Francisco, the good ol' Grateful Dead present us with their ...

Grateful Dead: Terrapin Station (Arista)

Review by Max Bell, NME, July 1977

Dead Still Riding The Rods of the Celestial Train ...

Moon Jasmine: The Night Jerry Garcia Forgot To Tell Me Something And I Forgot To Ask

Interview by Al Aronowitz, Blacklisted Masterpieces of Al Aronowitz, The, 1978

1. San Francisco Jerry Garcia wanted me to write a story about him. That was the deal. I was managing this folksinger who needed ...

The Grateful Dead's First Annual Pyramid Prank

Report and Interview by Max Bell, NME, September 1978

"There were no sets. Sometimes we'd get up and play for ten minutes and all freak out and split. We'd just do it however it ...

The Grateful Dead: Shakedown Street

Review by Paul Rambali, NME, December 1978

Sorry to interrupt your reverie, Jerome. But then, this far along, not much could. ...

The Grateful Dead: Live at The Rainbow, London

Review by Chris Bohn, NME, 1979

SO LET'S suspend time and disbelief for a moment and stare through the haze at the West Coast's longest running institution called The Grateful Dead. ...

The Grateful Dead: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 1979

"THERE'S NOTHING like a Grateful Dead concert." This oft-quoted statement from past hand-out material was going through my head as I stumbled over the attendant ...

Grateful Dead: What A Long Predictable Trip It's Become

Interview by Paul Morley, NME, March 1981

This Week The Grateful Dead trucked back into Britain. In America they're more successful than ever – and even Jerry Garcia can't work out why. ...

Grateful Dead: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, NME, October 1981

IT MUST be a resurrection year if the San Franciscan pensioners come over twice to play. No danger of saturation for the faithful, though. Saturday ...

The Grateful Dead: Meadowlands, New Jersey

Live Review by Richard Gehr, Village Voice, April 1987

‘S FUNNY. Today the Grateful Dead can’t capture the attention of the so-called alternative audience, just as they couldn’t the so-called straight audience in the ...

Grateful Dead: Deadheads!

Report and Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, February 1988

OUTSIDE THE LONG BEACH Arena, south of Los Angeles on the California coast, there is a massive field. Reserved for recreational activities throughout the rest ...

Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead: Dylan and The Dead

Review by Edwin Pouncey, NME, February 1989

THIS COULD be a marriage made in heaven or hell, depending on which side of the critical fence you might be sitting. The majority of ...

Reporting Live from Deadland

Essay by David Gans, KPFA Folio, July 1990

I'M DANCING with my notebook in my hand at the Shoreline Amphitheater on Friday, June 15, 1990. I've been avoiding this Folio article for two ...

The San Francisco Sound

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, August 1990

"My eyes were opened. There's a new world and a new society and a new spirit." ...

The Grateful Dead: Dead But Unburied Dreams of the Sixties

Profile by Mark Cooper, Independent on Sunday, October 1990

After 18 years of making magic music, the Grateful Dead – who return to Britain this week – still remain true to their legendary spontaneity. ...

Grateful Dead

Report and Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, January 1991

OUTSIDE THE Grugahalle, a monstrous concert erection in Essen, Germany, a bearded fellow bearing more than a passing resemblance to the young Charles Manson is ...

Grateful Dead: One From The Vaults

Review by Edwin Pouncey, NME, June 1991

FOR DEVOTED Dead Heads, this release is a dream come true as (not to be outdone by Dylan) the Grateful Dead open up their tape ...

An Interview with Jerry Garcia

Interview by Richard Gehr, Newsday, September 1991

IT WAS THE first thing that happened to the Grateful Dead when they arrived in New York City on June 1, 1967, and Jerry Garcia ...

Bill Graham: Tribute Concert, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Live Review by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, December 1991

ON SUNDAY, November 3rd, more than 300,000 people showed up at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park for the biggest rock concert ever held ...

Grateful Dead: Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY

Live Review by Richard Gehr, Newsday, March 1992

ICY WINDS RIPPED ACROSS Long Island Wednesday night as the Grateful Dead launched the first of three sold-out Uniondale evenings with the meteorologically inspired 'Cold ...

Deadheads

Report by Frank Broughton, i-D, 1994

A snapshot of the deadhead scene and how it was feeding US rave ...

Grateful Dead: Land of the Dead

Report by Ben Fong-Torres, Rolling Stone, 1995

WHEN IN THE MID-SIXTIES San Francisco came to represent nothing left to lose, there was a handful of identifiable pioneers who changed the face, the ...

Private Funeral For Garcia

Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, August 1995

MEMBERS OF THE Grateful Dead and the widow of Jerry Garcia spent yesterday making plans for a funeral, while tributes continued to roll in and ...

Jerry Garcia: The Last Post

Obituary by Joel Selvin, MOJO, October 1995

Serenity Knolls lies at the bottom of a dead end road in northern Marin Country, California. The main building stands above a parking area surrounded ...

The Last Great American Adventurer: Jerome John Garcia 1942-1995

Obituary by Tom Hibbert, Q, October 1995

On August 9, Jerry Garcia, leader of the Grateful Dead, the most successful live group of all time, died in a Californian rehab center. To ...

The Grateful Dead: Hundred Year Hall and the '72 European Tour

Interview by David Gans, The Grateful Dead Hour, October 1995

The Album Network Special: Hundred Year HallPhil Lesh and Bob Weir interviewed 9/7/95 by Marty Martinez and David Gans ...

The Grateful Dead: Europe ’72, Hundred Year Hall, Grayfolded 1969-1996 (with John Oswald)

Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, December 1995

Far out, too much: people still sneer at The Grateful Dead, using these phrases as a kind of sardonic shorthand to dismiss high-‘60s ideals. But ...

Dead End: The Grateful Dead Call It Quits

Report and Interview by David Gans, Rolling Stone, January 1996

Surviving members focus on solo projects ...

The Burden of Being Jerry

Retrospective and Interview by David Gans, San Francisco Focus, November 1996

Two writers – both insiders in the Grateful Dead community – discuss the trouble behind the late Jerry Garcia. ...

Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia

Interview by David Gans, The Grateful Dead Hour, January 1997

Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia was victorious in her lawsuit against the estate of her late ex-husband, Jerry Garcia. Following the guitarist's death in August 1995, ...

Haight-Ashbury

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Independent on Sunday, December 1997

The times they have a-changed, but not without a certain irony. Or a certain continuity, come to that. ...

The Grateful Dead: An Interview With Donna Jean (Godchaux) MacKay

Interview by David Gans, The Grateful Dead Hour, March 1998

David Gans: Well, here I am in Philadelphia with Donna Jean MacKay. Hello! ...

Carol Brightman: author of Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead's American Adventure

Interview by David Gans, Grateful Dead Hour, January 1999

Carol Brightman was an anti-war activist in the '60s and later the biographer of the writer Mary McCarthy. She sometimes wondered why so many of ...

Fables Of The Deconstruction

Essay by Edwin Pouncey, Wire, The, July 1999

ONE MAY evening in 1967 at San Francisco's Matrix club, Steppenwolf's bass player Nick St Nicholas got up on stage, plugged his guitar into an ...

Kesey Rides Again

Report by Gavin Martin, Independent, The, August 1999

THE MAGIC BUS pulls up at the Peace Monument late on Friday afternoon, bringing a blaze of colour and a blast of noise to the ...

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Grateful Dead

Review by Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, April 2001

This week sees the 30th anniversary of the Dead's final run at the New York's Fillmore East. RBP's resident Deadhead Mark Pringle reviews the 4 ...

Bob Dylan: Life Among The Dead

Comment by Richard Williams, MOJO, June 2001

I SUPPOSE you would have to say that 1987 was not a great year for Bob Dylan, or for Bob Dylan's fans. He played harmonica ...

The Golden Road

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, November 2001

Reconsidering the Grateful Dead ...

Grateful Dead: The Golden Road (1965-1973)

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, January 2002

Mammoth 12-CD overview of Haight-Ashbury's finest, featuring improved sound, thorough annotation, extra tracks and hidden bonuses. All together: "Shall we go, you and I, while ...

The Grateful Dead: The Golden Road (1965-1973) (Rhino/Warner Bros) *****

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, January 2002

THE GRATEFUL DEAD are probably the most puzzling enigma in rock history. ...

The Grateful Dead: Rockin' the Rhein with the Grateful Dead (Rhino triple CD)

Review by Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, May 2004

DO I DETECT the dead hand of Phil Lesh lurking here? Is there some kind of agenda, to portray the Dead as much more than ...

Choo Choo Ch’Boogie: Festival Express 1970

Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, September 2004

IT WAS THE Lollapalooza of its day – a week-long, three-date circus of a rock and roll tour featuring The Band, Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin, ...

For The Unrepentant Patriarch Of LSD, Long, Strange Trip Winds Back To Bay Area

Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, July 2007

THE SMALL, barefoot man in black T-shirt and blue jeans barely rates a second glance from the other Starbucks patrons in downtown San Rafael, although ...

The Grateful Dead

Retrospective by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, Summer 2007

WE ARE GETTING ahead of ourselves slightly, but we are in New York at the tail end of 1967, late December in the Village, in ...

Frisco, Where Art Thou: Reassessing the Musical Legacy of the '60s Psychedelic Capital

Retrospective by Gene Sculatti, Rock's Backpages, September 2010

LAST SATURDAY, paging through an article on Robert Plant in the September issue of MOJO, I learned that, upon their initial meeting in a Dublin ...