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Blues for Allah

Grateful Dead - Blues for Allah Audio CD

A fair review of the Grateful Dead "Blues for Allah" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Grateful Dead reviews here, or go back to the Grateful Dead tabs.

Band: Grateful Dead
Title: Blues for Allah
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-03-07
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Help on the Way/Slipknot! 2: Franklin' Tower 3: King Solomon's Marbles 4: Music Never Stopped 5: Crazy Fingers 6: Sage & Spirit 7: Blues for Allah 8: Groove #1 [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] 9: Groove #2 [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] 10: Distorto [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] 11: A to E Flat Jam [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] 12: Proto 18 Proper [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] 13: Hollywood Cantata [Studio Outtake][*] 14: Distorto [*] [*] 15: to E Flat Jam [*] [*] 16: Proto 18 Proper [*] [*] 17: Hollywood Cantata [*] [*]

excellent for a studio outing
perhaps best studio album. . along with Shakedown, American Beauty and some say Anthem. . . maybe Workingmans comes close. Actually Touch of Grey is their truly best studio but that is a different era.

Help Is On The Way And The Dead Are There!!!
Even if that was sometimes just an larger than life cult following,mostly for their live shows they did make some of their greatest music during this period. Whatever it is you chose to call the Grateful Dead:psychedlic,country-rock,jam band they did indeed become one of the biggest rock bands of the 70's. The Dead spent the last albums Wake of the Flood and the excellent From the Mars Hotel looking for new ways to integrate rhythms into their already well established psychedelic country-rock sound. On this album that concept turns the band onto a whole musical about face as rhythm becomes the central focus. The result is one of the finest jazz-funk recordings you will find in the "rock" section of your local record store. Simply speaking the first five songs are part of one long groove,even if they are seperated:on "Help On The Way","Franklin's Tower" and especially the celebratory jam "The Music Never Stopped" you can hear Bill Krutzmann is drumming a lot funkier and Phil Lesh's bass let's up some heavy slaps and pops now and then. I don't think. . . being the sort of band they were the Dead probably hadn't really put the energy into thoroughly understanding funk-it's as deeply rooted a music as psychedelica and their experience was more at rural type sounds. But since a lot of the best funk of the 70's had strong rural roots the Dead made it part of their own sound AND made it work too. The final part of the album,the "title suite" as it were is a full blown return to the bands elongated psychedlic sound. Much as with the brief "King Solomon's Marbles" earler in the album Micky Hart gets a lot to do on the suite as a percussionist but not only that but in terms of the bleeding together of all the sounds typical of the genre even the sound of jazz and funk grooves enter the equation. The bonus tracks are made up of a series of more funky instrumentals. Stevie Wonder once said just because a record has a groove don't mean it's in the groove. And. . . maybe this music isn't as "in the groove" as it should be because of the Dead's lack of familiarity with this style but even still whatever they do with jazz/funk really sounds excellent to me so there's no use picking knits. No matter how you break it down this is one of the finest Grateful Dead experiences you'll have from their mid 70's output. And the fact that funk played a big part in it is very important.

Remarkable
Anything good one can find to say about the Grateful Dead is epitomized in this work. I feel that this album belongs somewhere in the top 25 or so of all time. The playing and vocals are phenomenal. The contributions of Keith and Donna Jean are what I especially enjoy. Keith is just lights out here, and seems to be an extension of Jerry and vice versa. Their parts intertwine and play off of each other. I know so little about Keith, but his proud legacy is thankfully burned into this album. Any detractors of Donna Jean just need to listen to this record, and their complaints should be squashed. Yes, she sang off key live sometimes. . . who cares? Sometimes Jerry sucked, sometimes Bob was terrible. The fact is that on "Blues for Allah," Donna provides that feminine touch, that other voice, that seems to fully complete many of the tracks. Listen to the end of 'Blues for Allah,' the "under eternity," part, and you'll hear just how strong and soulful her vocals could be. .

"Yer' Blues" For A Saudi King[All Apologies John Lennon]
This after physically breaking my new copy of Mars Hotel over my knee in front of my high school friend. I actually bought this album on vinyl on the day it came out. It sat many a year unplayed until sometime in 1981-82 when I dumped the vinyl.

The Grateful Dead were on hiatus when the all conviened in Bob Weir's studio to cobble this album together. Picture Jon Anderson and Co. trying to make Tales Of Topographic Oceans. I own both versions of this CD: Grateful Dead Records/Rhino remaster/reissue.

My musical horizons have exponentially expanded since I consigned this album to non-play status in the late seventies. Hey, I didn't like Deep Purple's Machine Head at first. It took a Gov't Mule album to re-appraise that album.

Admittedly it took a while for me to fully appreciate this album. Bookended between two rather lengthy suites: the concise "Help On The Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower" trilogy and the dense audio-verte' 'Music Concrete' "Blues For Allah. " is "King Soloman's Marbles. " A natural growth out of "Eyes Of The World" jams. See Dick's Picks. A little "pop" confection by Bob Weir called: "The Music Stopped" and the rather oblique Garcia/Hunter composition: "Crazy Fingers. " "Sage & Spirit is a simple Bob Weir instrumental. Effective.

I'm rather perplexed that I still have the Grateful Dead Records 1990s version around. Other then it's a nice 40 min play in a pinch. But the scholarly version is the Rhino remaster/reissue. And the strange outtakes make this CD all the more fun.

I did eventually learn to appreciate this CD for what it is: A closer live Dead attempt to convert their sound in the studio. "Blues For Allah" waxes and wanes by turns. A naseant "Dark Star" replacement? Wake Of The Flood started a whole new re-definition of Grateful Dead improvisation. Blues For Allah takes Wake Of The Flood's enuciations and converts them. And this is stated Grateful Dead dogma. Nothing new here.

The reissue explores some new territory that most of the Grateful Dead afflicted can easily pick out. Hints of "Fire On The Mountain?" After all isn't "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire On The Mountain" the same song with different changes, time signatures, and lyrics? Just like the relationship between "Uncle John's Band" and "Playing In The Band".

Yeah. Buy this CD if you dare!?!

p. s. : Gets three Stars because the live versions of most of this material are far superior to the studio versions presented here. But what does three stars really mean? What is the definition of is?

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How could it not be loved?
It is music. Music. It is great music. Need I say more?.

You can see a complete list of all Grateful Dead discography, or go back to the Grateful Dead tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.