Deadheads... would like Grateful Dead recommendations.

[Morbo]

I’ve recommended a few Dick’s Picks volumes to friends of mine who were beginners and wanted to get into them. The most accessible IMO are Vols. 1, 2, 11 and 14.

I would also recommend the concert DVD The Closing of Winterland to get a feel of their concerts in their heyday. Great show.

[Algernon]

So many albums, so many opinions.

Based on the feedback so far, it appears that the following might be good for me to check out (in release order):

Anthem of the Sun
Workingman’s Dead
American Beauty
Wake of the Flood
Blues for Allah

Providing another point of view, I found this interesting site where some guy has reviewed most of the Dead albums. His opinions seem to match the Doper opinions in this thread.

Time to go sample a few. I’m intrigued by some specific songs.

Thanks for the advice.
By the way plnnr, these two comments of yours made me grin.

@plnnr

As you may be able to tell, I spent entirely a whole bunch of time driving to GD shows, listening to their music, and generally living in a skull and roses universe.
…
You HAVE to listen to “Seastones.” It’ll change your DNA.

[silenus]

The* essential* albums are Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Europe '72 is a good intro to the Dead live. But yeah, you can’t go wrong with the ones you’ve chosen.

[plnnr]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

[aside]
FWIW, I don’t know where they got the skull-and-roses iconography, but I read in an old tourists’ guidebook to Rome that there is a St. Valentine’s Church where they keep the skull of the real St. Valentine. Every year on his feast day, February 14, they display his skull surrounded by roses.

If anyone knows how the Dead came to take up this image, I’d be glad to know.
[/aside]

The band didn’t come up with the image - it was provided for them by Mouse Studios, which did the graphics for concert posters for a number of San Francisco-based bands. The original skull and roses graphics were done as an illustration to the Rubyiat of Omar Khayyam, and I assume it was in the public domain by the time it made its way into the Dead iconography.

[plnnr]

@Algernon

So many albums, so many opinions.

Based on the feedback so far, it appears that the following might be good for me to check out (in release order):

Anthem of the Sun
Workingman’s Dead
American Beauty
Wake of the Flood
Blues for Allah

Providing another point of view, I found this interesting site where some guy has reviewed most of the Dead albums. His opinions seem to match the Doper opinions in this thread.

Time to go sample a few. I’m intrigued by some specific songs.

Thanks for the advice.
By the way plnnr, these two comments of yours made me grin.

I was actually joking about “Seastones” - I’ve never been so high as to have it make any sense to me at all.

[The_Chao_Goes_Mu]

@Hoops

The album that got me into the Dead was the 1990 live album Without A Net. Sure, this is well past what most consider their prime, but they playing is really quite tight and the song selection favors their more complex, suitelike material.

And I think that the keyboardist at that time, Brent Mydland, was the best for the Dead–his backing vocals as well as playing–but I’m probably in the minority here.

Put me in your camp. I loved all the keyboardists for each of their unique styles but Brent really stood out. He seemed possessed when he played and it came out in the tunes. I have to admit, I wasn’t all that fond of Keith though and (dare I say this), Donna’s voice grated on me.
Algernon, all the suggestions you received are definitely spot on. However, I personally feel the best measure of their music is the live stuff. Back in my tape trading days, I would pretty much only listen to those rather than any of the studio or even live recordings released commercially. I actually enjoyed the crowd “chatter” and the off key singing of deadheads that could be heard on the tapes. (but who would notice since, god love em, the dead really couldn’t sing ) It was great to get a tape of a show I had been to and I definitely saw my my share of shows.
Ooh ooh! A really great song to check out is “That’s it for the Other One” Your brain will explode.

[Baggins111]

It really depends on what you like with the Dead. Camps are divided on so many fronts - Studio vs. live; who vs. who on the keyboards / piano / vocals, etc. But we all still get along. Don’t let any perceived dissention among the ranks dissuade you from listening to any particular thing that you want. It’s all Dead and it’s ALL GOOD.

There are so many different styles that they have played, but all are uniquely the Dead, and that’s what makes them all special.

Listen to what you like, don’t listen to what you don’t.

I have “Dead Moods” that I go through when sometimes the thing that scratches that itch is something Pigpen, or Keith on the piano, or sometimes it’s a whole week of nothing but “Dark Star” or “Me and My Uncle” performances from all years.

Take your pick, sit back and enjoy the Dead.

[silenus]

OK…thanks to the last poster, I now have “Me and My Uncle” blasting at full volume. A small revenge for all the mariachi music I’ve had to listen to all day.

[Baggins111]

silenus - follow it up with “Deal.”

If I had a gun for every Ace I’ve drawn / I could arm a town the size of Abiline

Rinse and repeat.

Maybe add a touch of “El Paso” or “Mexicali Blues” as conditioner.

[Baggins111]

Um, that would be “Abilene.”

[Ukulele_Ike]

@Dooku

I’ve recommended a few Dick’s Picks volumes to friends of mine who were beginners and wanted to get into them. The most accessible IMO are Vols. 1, 2, 11 and 14.

I’ve always been partial to 15 – the September 1977 open-air show at Englishtown, NJ. Best damn “Eyes of the World” I’ve ever heard, and a very nice “Terrapin” as well. (You can compare a good live version to the studio recording.)

Dick’s Picks is, IMHO, the best way to go for satiating yourself with the Dead. The best live music in very economical packages (each CD in each set averages out at 6-8 bucks).