Justice for the Dead

 

The band recorded albums designed as "a musical soundtrack to the acid experience"...the sound was obviously not for the mass market....it wasn't going to sell like a Byrds, Love or Buff Spring record, but they put that aside for the music.  They absolutely pushed the limits of what was considered rock music at the time.  This barrier bending is what I consider the definition of prog rock....not John Cage avant-garde minimalism, or late era Coltrane's avant-jazz, or Lenny Bruce's avant-comedy, but rock 'n' roll.  The Grateful Dead shouldn't be limited to the tag of a California psychedelia band in the vien of the Doors, the Airplane or Hot Tuna....they created their own sound by blending everything from jug band music to Coltrane....they expanded so many people's taste in music just by being so adept and versatile.  Damn, man, Phil Lesh was versed in avant-jazz composition and Garcia was fascinated withthe sounds created by Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Coltrane.  Anyone who's ever been to a Dead show understand, the music really took you places....Jerry could play jazzy, spacy, funky, folksy, bluesy, trancey, Zappa-y....you name it, it could be heard at a Dead show.  Their studio LPs are widely known to be let downs after hearing or seeing them live, but we can't allow that to skewer our opinions of the Dead.

 

I know that some fans think that we've blurred the meaning of prog with some of the bands that have been recently added....hell, I'm one of 'em, but if some of that lot can be considered prog... 

I also know a lot of prog fans don't have that much experience with the Dead...I know that it's mainly an American thing, though there are legions of Dead fans all over the world. 

 

I'm typically not one to be so daring as to suggest inclusion of a band to PA, but the Dead are a really special group that deserve more recognition for their spacy, proggy side.

 

The Dead certainly dipped a toe into prog in the 1970s - the excellent Blues for Allah is a prog album in all but name, with its jazzy chord sequences, odd time signatures and Middle Eastern influences. The side long epic Terrapin Station is also more prog than anything else, although the other side of the album is a disappointing grab bag of musical styles.

 

On the other hand, the splendid albums Workingman's Dead and especially American Beauty are country rock in all but name - does it follow that the Dead were a country rock band? The Dead touched many musical bases in their long career, with an uncommon degree of success, but ultimately they were the archetypal West Coast jamming band and belong here no more than they would on a blues database.