So Many Roads: 1965-1995
Deadhead collecting has come a long way. An experience that was once based in haphazard bootleg tape trading of complete single shows has graduated to this: a fancy, cloth-covered, lovingly annotated five-disc box set of live recordings, oddities, outtakes, and rehearsals spanning 30 years. The live cuts comprise the heart of this package, and they put you right in the thick of things, presenting the Dead in pure, undiluted fashion, warts and all. The Dead intelligentsia who produced the package--David Gans, Blair Jackson, and Steve Silberman--have boldly chosen the most interesting improvisations and most riveting examples of group synergy: the Dead at their least accessible, but most ambitious and compelling. There are moments where you'll cringe at off-key harmonies or flubbed chords, but there is always a payoff. At times, you can hear the band desperately struggle through the verses just to get to the jam, where redemption always awaits. Jerry Garcia's wounded off-key moans on a 1984 version of "Shakedown Street" eventually give way to a wonderful in-the-pocket funk workout; on a 1988 reading of "Playing in the Band," Bob Weir's botched lyrics are long forgotten when the band intensely teeters at far-off edges just moments later. The problem with this approach is that you lose context by considering performances outside of their natural environment--the specific concerts that spawned them--but this approach also opens up many options as well. For instance, there are sparkling fusion-based jams from the early 1970s, examples of Garcia sparring withBranford MarsalisandBruce Hornsbyin 1990, and an assortment of eye-opening transitional instrumental passages and impromptu creations. These moments of splendid spontaneity are what the band is all about. Welcome rarities include early recordings driven by Pigpen's searing blues harp; a pair of studio outtakes from the Dead's landmark 1970 sessions featuring acoustic instruments and lovely harmonies; Pigpen's R&B-flavored; "Chinatown Shuffle" and an arresting version ofMerle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" from 1972; keyboardist Brent Mydland leading the crew through theMeters' "Hey Pocky Way" in 1989; and Garcia launching into the Irish folk tune "Whiskey in the Jar" at a 1993 rehearsal, much to the delight of his bandmates. A few of the oddities offer only historical value and the final disc bogs down a bit by focusing on the Dead's newest unrecorded material, which, despite some worthy additions, can't match the intensity of the live cuts. For courageous newcomers, the amazing trajectory of the band is here to behold--from psychedelic blues and folk to free-form odysseys to country-rock to jazz and funk to gritty heavy rock. For those only familiar with the Dead's radio-friendly songs, this is the other side of the spectrum.--Marc Greilsamer