Audio CD review:
Grateful Dead - Without a Net

Grateful Dead - Without a Net

Band: Grateful Dead Title: Without a Net Rating: Release Date: 31 August, 2004 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Feel Like a Stranger 2: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo 3: Walkin' Blues 4: Althea 5: Cassidy 6: Bird Song 7: Let It Grow 8: China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider 9: Looks Like Rain 10: Eyes of the World 11: Victim or the Crime 12: Help on the Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower 13: One More Saturday Night 14: Dear Mr. Fantasy

Customer Reviews The best live Dead album I've heard.... I come back to this one quite a bit, and it has some of the greatest live Dead recordings ever. This is my favorite live Dead album, and I have quite a lot of them (Live Dead, "Skull and Roses", One from the Vault, Reckoning, Dead Set). Feel Like a Stranger has a punch that is sorely lacking in the lame studio version. Bird Song is beautiful here, running around 12 minutes or so and much better than any previous recorded versions. The version of China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider is the best one, along with Help on the Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower. Help on the Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower is full of joy, energy, and soul, and it sounds like the Dead are really enjoying themselves. The grand prize of this collection has to go to Eyes of the World. Branford Marsalis joins in on this song (even though he didn't know any of the Dead's material), and it's one of the greatest live songs that the Dead has ever done. Branford blends in perfectly, and there isn't one lull in the 16 1/2 minutes of the song. The performance is first rate, and the lyrics are some of Robert Hunter's best. For those who don't like long Dead jams might like this album. The jamming never seems like noodling (like it can on other albums). . For completists only. It's been that long since I heard it (since I sold it after only three listens) so I warn you that I'm going on memory here. I bought this CD when it was first released. . . I remember actually being surprised at the lack of cohesiveness on this set. It seemed to me that the band struggled and never really gelled into a groove. At the risk of sounding harsh, I'd say that this set runs a close second to "Steal Your Face" as the "Least Greatest GD Live Release Ever" (although I admit, I've never heard the Dylan collaboration). No, WOAN is not "horrible" by any stretch; It's just missing too much of that ethereal something that makes the Dead special. Espeacially with all the great live material available these days, I'd advise fans to buy almost everything else before this one. . Great, Especially if you're not big on drawn out jams... " Oh, and the other songs are good too. That may be oxymoronic for a deadhead, but this album is stellar! "I Know You Rider" is probably the best version I've heard, as is "Looks Like Rain" and "Eyes of the World. . You can see a complete list of all Grateful Dead discography, or go back to the Grateful Dead tabs