Slapped on a new stylus and I can’t think of a better way to kick it off than with this kickass debut. This was the first Dead album that I really latched onto and it really dug its claws into me. My college band played pretty much this whole album and i still find it incredibly inspiring. By the time this album came out, however, they had already moved on and were exploring the long-form suites that would make up their next album, Anthem Of The Sun (which is also incredible).
About half of this album would remain a part of the band’s repertoire until the end, while the album’s two fully original songs - “The Golden Road” and “Cream Puff War” would never be played again. The ones that remained included “Cold Rain And Snow”, “Beat It On Down The Line”, and the epic “Morning Dew”, which was one of the band’s most enduring jam vehicles.
The thing I love the most about this album is how fast everything is played. Legend has it they were totally zipped up on diet pills the whole time which gave the album a far punkier sound than what would follow. This is the sound of an excited young band with big plans and is a perfect culmination of their first two years as an electric unit.
While they may have made albums that were more sophisticated, albums that were more popular, and albums that stand among the most significant American artistic works, the Dead never made an album better than this fiery debut.
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