Frogtoon Music

Blues For Allah (Album) by Grateful Dead

Artist Biography For Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead Was An American Rock Band Formed In 1965 In Palo Alto California. The Band Is Known For Its Eclectic Style Which Fused Elements Of Rock Folk Country Jazz Bluegrass Blues Gospel And Psychedelic Rock For Live Performances Of Lengthy Instrumental Jams And For Its Devoted Fan Base Known As "Deadheads." "Their Music " Writes Lenny Kaye "touches On Ground That Most Other Groups Don't Even Know Exists." These Various Influences Were Distilled Into A Diverse And Psychedelic Whole That Made The Grateful Dead "the Pioneering Godfathers Of The Jam Band World". The Band Was Ranked 57th By Rolling Stone Magazine In Its The Greatest Artists Of All Time Issue. The Band Was Inducted Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame In 1994 And A Recording Of Their May 8 1977 Performance At Cornell University's Barton Hall Was Added To The National Recording Registry Of The Library Of Congress In 2012. The Grateful Dead Have Sold More Than 35 Million Albums Worldwide. The Grateful Dead Was Founded In The San Francisco Bay Area Amid The Rise Of The Counterculture Of The 1960s. The Founding Members Were Jerry Garcia Lead Guitar Vocals Bob Weir Rhythm Guitar Vocals Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Keyboards Harmonica Vocals Phil Lesh Bass Vocals And Bill Kreutzmann Drums . Members Of The Grateful Dead Had Played Together In Various San Francisco Bands Including Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions And The Warlocks. Lesh Was The Last Member To Join The Warlocks Before They Became The Grateful Dead He Replaced Dana Morgan Jr. Who Had Played Bass For A Few Gigs. Drummer Mickey Hart And Non-Performing Lyricist Robert Hunter Joined In 1967. With The Exception Of McKernan Who Died In 1973 And Hart Who Took Time Off From 1971 To 1974 The Core Of The Band Stayed Together For Its Entire 30-Year History. The Other Official Members Of The Band Are Tom Constanten Keyboards 1968–1970 John Perry Barlow Nonperforming Lyricist 1971–1995 Keith Godchaux Keyboards 1971–1979 Donna Godchaux Vocals 1972–1979 Brent Mydland Keyboards Vocals 1979–1990 And Vince Welnick Keyboards Vocals 1990–1995 . Bruce Hornsby Accordion Piano Vocals Was A Touring Member From 1990 To 1992 As Well As A Guest With The Band On Occasion Before And After The Tours. The Name "Grateful Dead" Was Chosen From A Dictionary. According To Phil Lesh " Jerry Garcia Picked Up An Old Britannica World Language Dictionary ... And ... In That Silvery Elf-Voice He Said To Me 'Hey Man How About The Grateful Dead?'" The Definition There Was "the Soul Of A Dead Person Or His Angel Showing Gratitude To Someone Who As An Act Of Charity Arranged Their Burial". According To Alan Trist Director Of The Grateful Dead's Music Publisher Company Ice Nine Garcia Found The Name In The Funk & Wagnalls Folklore Dictionary When His Finger Landed On That Phrase While Playing A Game Of Fictionary. In The Garcia Biography Captain Trips Author Sandy Troy States That The Band Was Smoking The Psychedelic DMT At The Time. The Term "grateful Dead" Appears In Folktales Of A Variety Of Cultures. Live Performances
The Grateful Dead Toured Constantly Throughout Their Career Playing More Than 2 300 Concerts. They Promoted A Sense Of Community Among Their Fans Who Became Known As "Deadheads" Many Of Whom Followed Their Tours For Months Or Years On End. Around Concert Venues An Impromptu Communal Marketplace Known As 'Shakedown Street' Was Created By Deadheads To Serve As Centers Of Activity Where Fans Could Buy And Sell Anything From Grilled Cheese Sandwiches To Home-Made T-Shirts And Recordings Of Grateful Dead Concerts. In Their Early Career The Band Also Dedicated Their Time And Talents To Their Community The Haight-Ashbury Area Of San Francisco Making Available Free Food Lodging Music And Health Care To All. It Has Been Said That The Band Performed "more Free Concerts Than Any Band In The History Of Music". With The Exception Of 1975 When The Band Was On Hiatus And Played Only Four Concerts Together The Grateful Dead Performed Many Concerts Every Year From Their Formation In April 1965 Until July 9 1995. Initially All Their Shows Were In California Principally In The San Francisco Bay Area And In Or Near Los Angeles. They Also Performed In 1965 And 1966 With Ken Kesey And The Merry Pranksters As The House Band For The Acid Tests. They Toured Nationally Starting In June 1967 Their First Foray To New York With A Few Detours To Canada Europe And Three Nights At The Great Pyramid Of Giza In Egypt In 1978. They Appeared At The Monterey Pop Festival In 1967 The Woodstock Festival In 1969 And The Festival Express Train Tour Across Canada In 1970. They Were Scheduled To Appear As The Final Act At The Infamous Altamont Free Concert On December 6 1969 After The Rolling Stones But Withdrew After Security Concerns. "That's The Way Things Went At Altamont—so Badly That The Grateful Dead Prime Organizers And Movers Of The Festival Didn't Even Get To Play" Staff At Rolling Stone Magazine Wrote In A Detailed Narrative On The Event. Their First UK Performance Was At The Hollywood Music Festival In 1970. Their Largest Concert Audience Came In 1973 When They Played Along With The Allman Brothers Band And The Band Before An Estimated 600 000 People At The Summer Jam At Watkins Glen. They Played To An Estimated Total Of 25 Million People More Than Any Other Band With Audiences Of Up To 80 000 Attending A Single Show. Many Of These Concerts Were Preserved In The Band's Tape Vault And Several Dozen Have Since Been Released On CD And As Downloads. The Dead Were Known For The Tremendous Variation In Their Setlists From Night To Night—the List Of Songs Documented To Have Been Played By The Band Exceeds 500. The Band Has Released Four Concert Videos Under The Name View From The Vault. In The 1990s The Grateful Dead Earned A Total Of $285 Million In Revenue From Their Concert Tours The Second-Highest During The 1990s With The Rolling Stones Earning The Most. This Figure Is Representative Of Tour Revenue Through 1995 As Touring Stopped After The Death Of Jerry Garcia. In A 1991 PBS Documentary Segment Host Buck Henry Attended An August 1991 Concert At Shoreline Amphitheatre And Gleaned Some Information From Some Band Members About The Grateful Dead Phenomenon And Its Success. At The Time Jerry Garcia Stated "We Didn't Really Invent The Grateful Dead The Crowd Invented The Grateful Dead You Know What I Mean? We Were Sort Of Standing In Line And Uh It's Gone Way Past Our Expectations Way Past So It's We've Been Going Along With It To See What It's Gonna Do Next." Furthermore Mickey Hart Stated "This Is One Of The Last Places In America That You Can Really Have This Kind Of Fun You Know Considering The Political Climate And So Forth." Hart Also Stated That "the Transformative Power Of The Grateful Dead Is Really The Essence Of It It's What It Can Do To Your Consciousness. We're More Into Transportation Than We Are Into Music Per Se I Mean The Business Of The Grateful Dead Is Transportation." One Of The Band's Largest Concerts Took Place Just Months Before Garcia's Death — At Their Outdoor Show With Bob Dylan In Highgate Vermont On June 15 1995. The Crowd Was Estimated To Be Over 90 000 Overnight Camping Was Allowed And About A Third Of The Audience Got In Without Having Purchased A Ticket. Their Numerous Studio Albums Were Generally Collections Of New Songs That They Had First Played In Concert. The Band Was Also Famous For Its Extended Musical Improvisations Having Been Described As Having Never Played The Same Song The Same Way Twice. Their Concert Sets Often Blended Songs One Into The Next Often For More Than Three Songs At A Time. Tapes
Like Several Other Bands During This Time The Grateful Dead Allowed Their Fans To Record Their Shows. For Many Years The Tapers Set Up Their Microphones Wherever They Could And The Eventual Forest Of Microphones Became A Problem For The Sound Crew. Eventually This Was Solved By Having A Dedicated Taping Section Located Behind The Soundboard Which Required A Special "tapers" Ticket. The Band Allowed Sharing Of Their Shows As Long As No Profits Were Made On The Sale Of The Tapes. Of The Approximately 2 350 Shows The Grateful Dead Played Almost 2 200 Were Taped And Most Of These Are Available Online. The Band Began Collecting And Cataloging Tapes Early On And Dick Latvala Was Their Keeper. "Dick's Picks" Is Named After Latvala. After His Death In 1999 David Lemieux Gradually Took The Post. Concert Set Lists From A Subset Of 1 590 Grateful Dead Shows Were Used To Perform A Comparative Analysis Between How Songs Were Played In Concert And How They Are Listened Online By Last.Fm Members. In Their Book Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead What Every Business Can Learn From The Most Iconic Band In History David Meerman Scott And Brian Halligan Identify The Taper Section As A Crucial Contributor To Increasing The Grateful Dead's Fan Base. After The Death Of Garcia In 1995 Former Members Of The Band Along With Other Musicians Toured As The Other Ones In 1998 2000 And 2002 And The Dead In 2003 2004 And 2009. In 2015 The Four Surviving Core Members Marked The Band's 50th Anniversary In A Series Of Concerts That Were Billed As Their Last Performances Together. There Have Also Been Several Spin-Offs Featuring One Or More Core Members Such As Dead & Company Furthur The Rhythm Devils Phil Lesh And Friends RatDog And Billy & The Kids.

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Frogtoon Music Album Info: Blues For Allah

Blues For Allah Is The Eighth Studio Album By The Grateful Dead. It Was Recorded February 27 – May 7 1975 And Released September 1 1975. It Was The Band's Third Album On Their Own Grateful Dead Records Label And Their Third Studio Album In A Row. Blues For Allah Was The Group's Highest-Charting Album Until 1987's In The Dark Reaching No. 12 During A Thirteen-Week Stay On The Billboard Album Chart. Blues For Allah Was Recorded After The Dead Began A Band Hiatus In October 1974. Conscious Of Needing A New Album Release For Their Independent Label The Band Initiated The Project In January 1975. In Contrast To The Commercial Studios Employed For Their Previous Studio Albums The Band Used The Studio That Rhythm Guitarist Bob Weir Had Built At His New Home In Mill Valley California. Rather Than Their Usual Approach Of Recording Studio Versions Of Songs That Had Matured On Stage The Tracks Were Developed In The Studio Setting. According To Manager Rock Scully This Was In Part An Attempt By Lead Guitarist Jerry Garcia To Ensure More Involvement In The Writing Process From Other Band Members. In Creating Material From Scratch The Band Were Able To Progress Beyond The Previous Genres In Which They Had Played. Garcia Explained "We're Working On Creating Styles Rather Than Just Being Eclectic Or Synthesizing Other Styles. Thus It's A Little Bit More Difficult And Considerably More Experimental." The Main Riff Of "Franklin's Tower" Was Partly Inspired By The Chorus Of Lou Reed's 1973 Hit "Walk On The Wild Side." A Discernable Middle Eastern Theme Emerged Supported By Robert Hunter's Lyrics. Non-Western Time Signatures On Some Of The Material Added To The Concept As Well As Experiments With Instrumentation Such As Flute On The Bach-Inspired "Sage & Spirit" Named For Scully's Daughters . Garcia Said He Was "creating Scales That Generated Their Own Harmony In Ways That Weren't Symmetrical In Regular Classical Major-Minor Relationships." Bassist Phil Lesh Recalled "Jerry Brought In A Strange Almost Atonal Melodic Entity That Would Evolve Into The Title Song And Sequence For The Album And I Had Sketched Out A Little Latin-Flavored Seven-Beat Instrumental Number Inspired By Shelley's Poem 'Ozymandias' Called 'King Solomon's Marbles'. Besides 'Crazy Fingers ' His Marvelous Essay In Smoky Ambiguity Jerry Also Contributed A Triptych Of Already Written Tunes "Help On The Way" "Slipknot" And "Franklin's Tower" That Would Become In Live Performance One Of Our Finest Exploratory Vehicles. Bob Had A Beautiful Guitar Instrumental 'Sage And Spirit' And One Of His Stompin-Est Self-Congratulatory Rockers 'Music Never Stopped' To Round Out The Album." "Crazy Fingers" Sets Music To Hunter's Series Of Haiku. "The Music Never Stopped" Began Life As "Hollywood Cantata" A Weir-Hunter Composition. Weir Later Used Lyrics Composed By His Main Writing Partner John Barlow. Original Credits List "King Solomon's Marbles" And "Stronger Than Dirt Or Milkin' The Turkey" As Individual Songs. However Later Credits List "Stronger Than Dirt" And "Milkin' The Turkey" As Composed In Two Parts And Combined To Make "King Solomon's Marbles". The First Section Was So-Named By Lesh Because Like The End Of The Doors' "Touch Me" A Four-Note Cadence Was Reminiscent Of A Contemporary Advertisement Jingle Unlike The Doors Track The Dead Did Not Vocalize The Slogan . Describing The Atmosphere Lesh Said "Bob's Home Studio Was Just Large Enough To Hold All Of Us … With Various Guests Notably Mickey Hart David Crosby And John Cipollina Coming And Going. We Managed To Finish The Recording Of Allah To Our Satisfaction And Took The Tapes Into Artisan Sound Recorders San Francisco For The Final Mix." Band Soundman Dan Healy Engineered The Project Assisted By Robbie Taylor. Percussionist Mickey Hart Who Had Sat In At The Band's "farewell" Concert On October 20 1974 Was Invited To The Sessions By Garcia And Lesh. Hart Had Left The Band In February 1971. He Contributed To The Songwriting Of "King Solomon's Marbles" And Played Occasional Percussion Parts Including The Recording Of Crickets Heard On The Three-Part Title Suite . Following The Release Of The Album He Was Officially Reinstated As A Band Member Shortly Before The Group Resumed Touring In 1976. Along With Contributing As A Background Singer Donna Godchaux Emerged As A Co-Vocalist On "The Music Never Stopped" And The Vocal Sections Of The Title Suite "Blues For Allah" And The Two-Pieced "Unusual Occurrences In The Desert" . The Guest Flutist Was Steve Schuster A Former Equipment Manager For Quicksilver Messenger Service Who Also Played Saxophone In The Contemporaneous Keith & Donna Band. Though They Had Not Toured Since September 1974 The Grateful Dead Performed Intermittently In San Francisco During The Recording Period. Testing The Main Suite From The Album They Performed As "Jerry Garcia & Friends" At The Bill Graham-Produced SF SNACK Benefit Students Need Athletics Culture And Kicks At Kezar Stadium In Golden Gate Park San Francisco California On March 23 1975. The Set Which Also Featured Merl Saunders Organ And Ned Lagin Electric Piano Was Subsequently Released On The Bonus Disc Of Beyond Description . Consideration Was Given To Naming The Album After King Faisal Of Saudi Arabia Who Was Assassinated After Recording Began. The Band Had Been Told That He Was A Fan Of The Grateful Dead. Ultimately Hunter Considered His Lyrics For The Title Track A Requiem For The Ruler. The Song Also References One Thousand And One Nights.