Fillmore East: April 1971

Performer: Grateful Dead
Artist: Tom Constanten
Producer: David Lemieux (Compilation)
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pigpen" McKerman (vocals, harmonica, organ, percussion); Phil Lesh (vocals, bass); Tom Constanten (organ); Bill Kreutzmann (drums). Engineers: Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor-Jackson. Recorded live at the Fillmore East, New York, New York in April 25-29, 1971. Includes liner notes by Blair Jackson. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. Distilled from a weeklong series of concerts celebrating the shuttering of Bill Graham's counter-cultural mecca, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN showcases the original five-piece Grateful Dead operating at pretty much peak form. Former keyboardist and John Cage fan Tom Constanten, who lent the group considerable avant-cachet on ANTHEM OF THE SUN and AOXOMOXOA, guests here on a few songs, including wonderfully lysergic versions of "Dark Star" and "St. Stephen." LADIES AND GENTLEMEN is also a document of the band in transition to a more country and roots rock orientation; it's doubtful, for example, that they would have played songs like Marty Robbins' "El Paso" or (especially) Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" in the days of the Acid Tests. In any case, as always with the Dead, there are moments of complete musical transcendence (as well as, to be honest, moments where they're just sort of noodling around), but this set is worth having for both musical and historical reasons.

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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