5 Outstanding Album-Openers by The Grateful Dead

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that The Grateful Dead were only worth hearing when they played live. We’ll grant you that their live excursions, where they’d take songs off into wild realms with their improvisational skills, were something special.

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But none of that would have been possible without the excellent foundations delivered by their studio material. These five album openers provide outstanding evidence that the Dead could soar even without thousands watching.

“Uncle John’s Band” from ‘Workingman’s Dead’ (1970)

Those who fixate on the Dead as live artists might argue till the cows come home about which performances are elite. But in terms of their studio repertoire, the consensus holds that the one-two punch of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, both released in 1970, represents their pinnacle. That’s when they focused on songwriting and vocal harmonies, tightening up the structure of the songs even as they sounded invitingly loose. And “Uncle John’s Band”, depicting a fictional group that might as well have been the Dead’s alter ago, set the tone for all that.

“Box Of Rain” from American Beauty (1970)

There’s a touching story behind this song. Bassist Phil Lesh started writing “Box Of Rain” with his terminally ill father in his head and heart. But he didn’t know just what the lyrics should be. To make the song happen, he sang wordless syllables within the melody to the band’s lyricist, Robert Hunter. Hunter translated all that into a touching ode to the connection between souls that not even the grave can disrupt. “A box of rain will ease the pain,” Lesh sings in an emotion-wracked warble. “And love will see you through.”

“Alabama Getaway” from ‘Go To Heaven’ (1980)

After the two albums we mentioned above, it felt like the Dead started to view their LPs as vehicles for the live shows. And, as such, inconsistency started to reign. It probably didn’t help that the lineup started to change a few times outside the core members. Nonetheless, the changes meant that you’d get some surprises from the band in terms of their style. “Alabama Getaway” is a fun one, combining the lyrical sensibilities of Basement Tapes-era Dylan with a country-soul groove that could have come from Little Feat.

“Touch Of Grey” from ‘In The Dark’ (1987)

The Dead were coming off a six-year hiatus since their last studio album when they released In The Dark. But the song that would help turn the album into an unexpected hit had been road-tested for quite some time. As early as 1982, the band was trotting “Touch Of Grey” out for concertgoers, many of whom quickly warmed to the singalong qualities of the simple refrains. The band sealed the deal for the song’s success with a tongue-in-cheek video. Luckily, thanks to Jerry Garcia’s twinkly vocal performance, this one holds up well for an oft-played hit single.

“Foolish Heart” from ‘Built To Last’ (1989)

Fate robbed music fans of the opportunity to hear this band grow gracefully into their golden years in the studio. You can hear what that might have sounded like with the elegiac “Foolish Heart”, one of the truly underrated songs in their catalog. Brent Mydland’s fluttering keyboard riff creates a lovely foundation. It allows Jerry Garcia’s guitar to play counterpoint to it in richly melodic fashion. Robert Hunter’s lyrics suggest that irreverence and iconoclasm are the best paths in life. But they can’t make you impervious to heartache.

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