Workingman's Dead [Remaster]

Performer: Grateful Dead
Engineer: Alembic
Producer: Bob Matthews; Betty Cantor; Grateful Dead
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Contains the hidden track "Workingman's Dead Radio Spot" which follows "Uncle John's Band," live version. Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia (vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar); Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (harmonica, keyboards, background vocals); Tom Constanten (keyboards); Phil Lesh (bass instrument, background vocals); Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (drums). Additional personnel: David Nelson (acoustic guitar). Recording information: Pacific High Studio, San Francisco, California (02/1970). The Grateful Dead's first four albums reinforced their stature as a performing group, with a loose improvisational feel rooted in the blues, rock & roll, and modern jazz. But with the 1970 release of WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, Garcia, Weir, Lesh, McKernan, Kreutzmann, and Hart reined in their many spatial musical elements and found their true stylistic niche in the studio with an engaging blend of country, blues, and folk. Where earlier studio releases strove to recreate the kind of freeform group improvisations that won the Dead a fanatical cult following in the Bay area, WORKINGMAN'S DEAD drew upon a rural American vernacular that was in many ways analogous to that of the Band. The resulting music has a rootsy, timeless quality, with tight instrumental arrangements, concise solo breaks, and a carefully wrought style of vocal harmonizing. The Dead won extensive airplay with tuneful songs like "Uncle John's Band" and "Casey Jones," while expanding their following well beyond San Francisco. Garcia's slithering pedal steel counterpoint and twangy banjo rolls make for a charismatic new style of bluegrass on "Dire Wolf" and "Cumberland Blues," while "New Speedway Boogie," featuring some of Robert Hunter's best lyrics, is a pointed personal metaphor for the tragic chaos at Altamont the summer before. This remains one of the legendary band's most concise and beautifully executed records.

Rolling Stone (7/23/70, p.32) - "...an excellent album....'Uncle John's Band', which opens the album, is, without question, the best recorded track done by this band..." Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.95) - 5 Stars (out of 5) - "...a modest, even penitent look back, not for nostalgic reassurance but for wisdom and perspective....maps the crises of the present onto the past and offers solace only in the ability of human virtues...to survive the most harrowing chaos." Mojo (Publisher) (p.153) - "Inspired by the first two Band albums and the harmonies of Crosby Stills & Nash....Homespun folk and frontier songs played and sung in a loose, lived-in manner and sung as an old tie-dye T-shirt."

The Grateful Dead were right there at the birth of the 1960s West Coast psychedelic scene, but they handily incorporated simple folk, blues, and country sounds into their swirling, jam-oriented style. With an endless touring schedule and a huge following of devoted fans, the group fueled hippie visions well into the '90s and sparked the jam-band movement that would eventually fill the void left by the dearly departed Grateful Dead after the passing of guitarist Jerry Garcia. Since Garcia's passing, surviving members of the band have participated in various musical projects, including a reunion tour in 2003 under the shortened name of "the Dead."

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