Workingman's Dead
| Workingman's Dead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Grateful Dead | ||||
| Released | June 14, 1970 February 23, 2003 |
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| Recorded | February 1970 | |||
| Genre | Country rock, folk rock, rock | |||
| Length | 35:33 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | The Grateful Dead, Betty Cantor, Bob Matthews | |||
| The Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [1] |
| Robert Christgau | (A) [2] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
| Sputnikmusic | [4] |
Workingman's Dead is the fourth studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded in February 1970 and originally released on June 14, 1970.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 262 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The album was reissued in 2003 in three different ways: as part of the The Golden Road (1965-1973) 12-CD box set, as a remastered and expanded CD, and as a DVD-audio release. The first two contain eight exclusive tracks not found on the original 1970 release while the latter contains just the original tracks rendered in DVD-audio.
Contents |
[edit] Making of the album
The title of the album comes from a comment from Jerry Garcia to lyricist Robert Hunter about how "this album was turning into the Workingman's Dead version of the band," [5]
The band returned to the Pacific High Recording Studio in San Francisco to record the album and spent just nine days there. Garcia noted that "let's do it all in three weeks and get it the hell out of the way."[6] Besides the weight of their debt in producing their previous album, Aoxomoxoa, the band was also dealing with the stress of a recent drug bust in New Orleans—which could have possibly resulted in jail time—and their manager Lenny Hart (father of drummer Mickey Hart) skipping town with a sizable chunk of the band's wealth. "In midst of all this adverse stuff that was happening ... [recording the album] was definitely an upper," said Garcia in an interview.[7]
Garcia has commented that much of the sound of the album comes both from his pairing with Hunter as well as the band's friendship with Crosby, Stills and Nash. "Hearing those guys sing and how nice they sounded together, we thought, 'We can try that. Let's work on it a little,'" commented Garcia.[8]
Songs such as "Uncle John's Band," "High Time" and "Cumberland Blues" were brought to life with soaring harmonies and layered vocal textures that had not been a part of the band's sound until now. According to the 1992 Dead oral history, Aces Back To Back, in the summer of 1968, Stephen Stills vacationed at Mickey Hart's ranch in Novato. "Stills lived with me for three months around the time of {CSN's} first record," recalls Hart, "and he and David Crosby really turned Jerry and Bobby onto the voice as the holy instrument. You know, 'Hey, is this what a voice can do?' That turned us away from pure improvisation and more toward songs."
Warner Bros. released "Uncle John's Band" backed with "New Speedway Boogie" as a single, but it received limited airplay. This was neither, as earlier postulated, because of length issues nor concerns about profanity, since the single issue had been edited to a very radio-friendly three minute length and the word "goddamn" removed. Still, it would become the band's biggest U. S. hit single from the time of their inception until "Touch of Grey" more than fifteen years later. "Casey Jones" was also released as a single, but did not chart in the U. S.
Lyricist Robert Hunter appears as the seventh member on the cover of the album.
The album was voted by readers of Rolling Stone as the best album of 1970, in front of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Déjà Vu and Van Morrison's Moondance.[5]
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter unless noted otherwise.
- Side one
- "Uncle John's Band" – 4:42
- "High Time" – 5:12
- "Dire Wolf" – 3:11
- "New Speedway Boogie" – 4:01
- Side two
- "Cumberland Blues" (Garcia, Hunter, Lesh) – 3:14
- "Black Peter" – 5:41
- "Easy Wind" (Hunter) – 4:57
- "Casey Jones" – 4:24
- Unreleased tracks included on the 2003 reissue
- "New Speedway Boogie" (alternate mix) – 4:10
- "Dire Wolf" (live) – 2:31
- "Black Peter" (live) – 9:07
- "Easy Wind" (live) – 8:09
- "Cumberland Blues" (live) – 4:52
- "Mason's Children" (live) (Garcia, Hunter, Lesh, Weir) – 6:32
- "Uncle John's Band" (live) – 7:57
- "Radio Promo" – 1:00
[edit] Personnel
- Grateful Dead
- Jerry Garcia – guitar, banjo, pedal steel, vocals, songwriter
- Bob Weir – guitar, vocals, co-lead vocal on "Cumberland Blues"
- Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – keyboards, harmonica on 6 and 7, lead vocals on 7
- Phil Lesh – bass, vocals, co-lead vocal on "Cumberland Blues"
- Bill Kreutzmann – drums, percussion
- Mickey Hart – percussion
- Additional performers
- Robert Hunter – lyricist
- David Nelson – guitar (acoustic)
- Production
- Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor – producer
- Greg Allen, David Singer – design
- Stanley Mouse, Henry Diltz, Amalie R. Rothschild – photography
- Tom Flye, Jeffrey Norman, Rudson Shurtliff, Alembic – engineers, mixing
- Scott Heard, Ramrod – equipment technicians
- Robin Hurley – audio production
- Andrew McPherson – authoring
- Bonus tracks production details
- "Dire Wolf" recorded at Santa Rosa Veteran's Memorial Hall on 6/27/1969
- "Black Peter" recorded at Golden Hall Community Concourse in San Diego on 1/10/1970
- "Easy Wind" recorded at Springer's Ballroom in Portland on 1/16/1970
- "Cumberland Blues" recorded at the Oregon State University Gym on 1/17/1970
- "Mason's Children" recorded at the Civic Auditorium in Honolulu on 1/24/1970
- "Uncle John's Band" recorded at Winterland on 10/04/1970 (incorrectly listed in sleevenotes as recorded at Winterland, 12/23/70)
- Reissue production credits
- David Lemieux, James Austin – reissue producers
- Vanessa Atkins – editorial supervision
- Gary Peterson – liner note coordination
- Jo Motta – project coordinator
- Jimmy Edwards – product manager
- Joe Gastwirt – mastering, production consultant
- Daniel Goldmark – editorial research
- Eileen Law – research
- Rachel Gutek, Hugh Brown – design, reissue art directors
- Michael Wesley Johnson – associate producer
- Steve Silberman – liner notes, project assistant
- Bill Belmont, David Gans, Jeff Gold, Bill Inglot, Blair Jackson, Gary Lambert, Steve Lang, David McLees, Hale Milgrim, Jeffrey Norman, Randy Perry, Janette L. Simmons, Owsley "Bear" Stanley – project assistants
[edit] Sales chart performance
| Chart | Position |
|---|---|
| Pop Albums | 27 |
| Certification | Date |
|---|---|
| Gold | July 11, 1974 |
| Platinum | October 13, 1986 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Ankeny, Jason. Workingman's Dead at Allmusic
- ^ Grateful Dead album ratings at RobertChristgau.com
- ^ Grateful Dead album ratings, Rolling Stone
- ^ Workingman's Dead at Sputnikmusic
- ^ a b Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip . Jake Woodward, et al. Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2003, pg. 108.
- ^ Garcia: An American Life by Blair Jackson, Penguin Books, 1999, pg. 181.
- ^ Garcia: An American Life by Blair Jackson, Penguin Books, 1999, pg. 189.
- ^ Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip . Jake Woodward, et al. Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2003, pg. 119.
- ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum database-Workingman's Dead". http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Workingman&artist=grateful%20dead&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
