Tue, 20 November 2018
I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's first official live album, Live/Dead. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Live/Dead was released in 1969 - There weren't a lot of live albums released then - The band did it as a make-good to the label after some poor-selling albums - Recorded at the Fillmore West - Songs evolved in live setting - At the time, it was unusual to play extended jams - Music fans really focused on albums back in the heyday of vinyl - The first thing you hear on the album is 23-minute "Dark Star" - Now for the tuning section - Phil: Have listened to 250-300 Dead bootlegs - Bootleg tape trading was huge in the '70s and '80s - Archive.org, Nugs.net have tons of Dead shows - On a lot of '70s-era live albums, bands went in and re-recorded songs or parts of songs - Some bands perfectly recreate their studio sound - "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is reminiscent of Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" - When this album came out, FM radio was in a very experimental place - Some stations would play album sides or even entire records - "St. Stephen" is a standout - Jay: I've been impressed so far - Phil explains the Dead to his kids - Seeing a dude doing coke off his dashboard at a Dead show Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Mon, 12 November 2018
I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's third album, Aoxomoxoa. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Aoxomoxoa was released in 1969 - A big year for rock music - Tons of legendary albums came out: Zeppelin, Who, Beatles, Neil Young, Stooges, MC5, Stones - First two Dead albums were commercial failures - Went way over budget in studio, stuck to their guns - Very experimental sound - Robert Hunter contributed lyrics to most of the album - Songs featured eccentric characters, way out lyrics - Plenty of drugs were part of the process - The old West, the devil, the rose were recurring themes - First album ever recorded using 16-track technology - Band spent $180k on the album - Jay: A lot to like about this album - "Dupree's Diamond Blues" sounds like a Kinks song - "What's Become of the Baby" is 8 minutes of weirdness that should have been left off album - When bands release unnecessary hits compilations - There was a definite '60s resurgence in the mid-80s that led to growth in popularity of the Dead at colleges - And then jam bands really caught on: Phish, Allman Brothers, Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic - Iconic Dead skull and lightning bolt logo was released in '69 - Phil: Band was very good at mobilizing fanbase - Dead merch is so unique and well-known - The confounding popularity of "Africa" - "China Cat Sunflower" is a Dead classic - Some songs evolve in concert, some don't get played at all - Aoxomoxoa sounds like the Dead - Jay: Jams can be fun, but you don't necessarily want to put them on a record - We'll listen to more live stuff vs. studio albums going forward - Next up: Live/Dead Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Mon, 5 November 2018
I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's second album, 1968's Anthem of the Sun. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Anthem of the Sun was recorded in 1967, released in '68 - Very experimental, similar to Zappa's song splicing in the '70s - Studio and live performances mixed together - An early concept album - Songs would evolve through the years in performance - Robert Hunter makes his first appearance as a lyricist on this album - Producer grew frustrated with the band and left during the recording - The sound of "thick air" - Triple kazoo attack - The Dead must have been a shock to fans of bubblegum pop - Live, the Dead mixed up their shows every night - This album sounds more jammy, like you would expect a Dead album to sound - A lot of covers of bluegrass, country, jug bands, blues - Pearl Jam adopted the Dead practice of releasing official bootlegs of shows - The Dead used to do more audience banter, but recent incarnations of the group just play with minimal talking - Anthem of the Sun was the next step in the evolution of the band's sound - Next up: Aoxomoxoa Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |