WTF: The Grateful Dead's - 'Wall Of Sound'

I love Jerry's voice. Brokedown Palace, Ship of Fools, Black Peter.
Its imperfect, but the emotion is there.
Listen to his version of Ralph Stanleys the Stanley Bros "The Fields Have Turned Brown" on the Herb Peterson "Bluegrass Reunion" album.

(And that last little lead break @3:12. Classic Garcia on an acoustic )
 
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1) The wall of sound was at least as much about fidelity as volume. Bands like Cream were still relying on stacks of guitar amps, with only vocals and drums through the PA, until long after this was obviously stupid. (The entire iconography of hard rock is based on Obviously Stupid Amplification. Well done hard rockers!)

2) I love the Dead, but Pigpen was the last singer they had who could actually sing.
 
335clone said:
Yeah, but first you have to listen, and in most cases enjoy the original performer before they can be an influence.
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I would argue that Rod Stewart's version of Downtown Train has been enjoyed by a much wider audience than the Waits original.
 
I truly understand that the Dead are not for everyone; it took me a long time to come around. The level of dislike always amazes me, though. I don't care for metal or too much of anything "heavy" (including 60's icons like Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix), but I recognize that that is my personal taste and not a reflection on the music or musicians. idn_smilie
 
Gary Blanchard said:
I truly understand that the Dead are not for everyone; it took me a long time to come around. The level of dislike always amazes me, though. I don't care for metal or too much of anything "heavy" (including 60's icons like Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix), but I recognize that that is my personal taste and not a reflection on the music or musicians. idn_smilie
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The best example I can give is to talk about Lynyrd Skynyrd. I loathe Skynyrd. They represent every negative cliche or stereotype about the South that you could come up with. They're the soundtrack for every asshole driving around with a Confederate battle flag and a gun rack in the rear window of his pickup. They're the music of every inbred POS who wants to roll a [insert slur here] in the parking lot or who feels personally victimized by that [slur] in the White House. They're the dull-witted swagger behind every prick who's going to go home and crack a cold one and beat his wife. "Sweet Home Alabama" is blasted from the windows of every useless, racist, entitled fraternity you can find. They're the setup for every moron at a concert who thinks he's being hilarious by yelling for "Free Bird." They're inextricably linked to a multitude of awful cultural phenomena and I don't need to hear another Skynyrd song as long as I live.

But I would never presume to argue that they were a lousy band. The original lineup was as tight as it gets, they wrote some great songs, and sadly, they deserved much better than they ultimately got.

But the Dead were just fucking terrible. Every criticism leveled at that band sticks for a reason. Flashes of inspiration were the exception rather than the norm. 90% of the time it's interminable, unlistenable dreck.
 
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dmn23 said:
The best example I can give is to talk about Lynyrd Skynyrd. I loathe Skynyrd. They represent every negative cliche or stereotype about the South that you could come up with. They're the soundtrack for every asshole driving around with a Confederate battle flag and a gun rack in the rear window of his pickup. They're the music of every inbred POS who wants to roll a [insert slur here] in the parking lot or who feels personally victimized by that [slur] in the White House. They're the dull-witted swagger behind every prick who's going to go home and crack a cold one and beat his wife. "Sweet Home Alabama" is blasted from the windows of every useless, racist, entitled fraternity you can find. They're the setup for every moron at a concert who thinks he's being hilarious by yelling for "Free Bird." They're inextricably linked to a multitude of awful cultural phenomena and I don't need to hear another Skynyrd song as long as I live.

But I would never presume to argue that they were a lousy band. The original lineup was as tight as it gets, they wrote some great songs, and sadly, they deserved much better than they ultimately got.

But the Dead were just fucking terrible. Every criticism leveled at that band sticks for a reason. Flashes of inspiration were the exception rather than the norm. 90% of the time it's interminable, unlistenable dreck.
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QFT.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
dmn23 said:
The best example I can give is to talk about Lynyrd Skynyrd. I loathe Skynyrd. They represent every negative cliche or stereotype about the South that you could come up with. They're the soundtrack for every asshole driving around with a Confederate battle flag and a gun rack in the rear window of his pickup. They're the music of every inbred POS who wants to roll a [insert slur here] in the parking lot or who feels personally victimized by that [slur] in the White House. They're the dull-witted swagger behind every prick who's going to go home and crack a cold one and beat his wife. "Sweet Home Alabama" is blasted from the windows of every useless, racist, entitled fraternity you can find. They're the setup for every moron at a concert who thinks he's being hilarious by yelling for "Free Bird." They're inextricably linked to a multitude of awful cultural phenomena and I don't need to hear another Skynyrd song as long as I live.

But I would never presume to argue that they were a lousy band. The original lineup was as tight as it gets, they wrote some great songs, and sadly, they deserved much better than they ultimately got.

But the Dead were just fucking terrible. Every criticism leveled at that band sticks for a reason. Flashes of inspiration were the exception rather than the norm. 90% of the time it's interminable, unlistenable dreck.
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I defend your right to be oh so very wrong on both counts. You hate Skynyrd because of what some fans do nearly 40 years later ?WTF ?
 
With what little I know about sound reinforcement (comb filtering, blah, blah blah), I bet it was more impressive looking than sounding.
 
Knock Knock!!!...
Who's there?

A man in his eighties that sells out stadiums....

Hallelujah!!
 
If anyone knew how to take something simple and make it over thought to the point of collapsing under its own weight but never any good, it's those guys. Maybe they should have put some of that energy toward learning the lyrics to their own songs. At leas Phish sound like they care enough to rehearse.
 
tompetty said:
Knock Knock!!!...
Who's there?

A man in his eighties that sells out stadiums....

Hallelujah!!
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I love Cohen, but it doesn't matter to me in the slightest whether he sells out stadiums or coffee houses. None of that will matter in a hundred years.
 
Dudeman1967 said:
With what little I know about sound reinforcement (comb filtering, blah, blah blah), I bet it was more impressive looking than sounding.
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From all accounts, it sounded incredible. For the time period, the Dead were way out in front when it came to innovation in live sound.
 
It was an experiment that ran for a few years before it was supplanted by more conventional and more modern sound reinforcement.
 
Hauling it around bankrupted the band. Course that was no big deal. The Dead were always nearly bankrupt no matter how big the cash river.
 
I don't know if I told this story here before but we drove to Hartford from Phila the night before to get a good general admission spot. As we were hanging outside of Dillon Stadium, my friends and I were asked to help set up the huge stage they needed for the Wall of Sound. Which of course we did. :thu:
 
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