History Of The Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice)

Sound DNA

• Rock
• Blues Rock

• raw
• hypnotic
• psychedelic

About

This compendium of two 1970 concerts—curated by the Dead’s soundman Owsley “Bear” Stanley—displays the band's back-porch folk side as well as their more rocking tendencies. It's partly a memorial to singer/keyboardist Pigpen, who died months before its 1973 release; he delivers a moody, solo-acoustic take on Lightnin' Hopkins' "Katie Mae" and fronts some stinging harmonica workouts on Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightnin'" and Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle." It all adds up to a bluesy, bittersweet live document of the Dead entering a new decade.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits