Grateful Dead: From The Mars Hotel (1974)

 In 1973 the Dead kicked off their new label with the killer Wake Of The Flood. Around this time they started working on building the biggest sound system ever made, which came to be the Wall Of Sound. It was the most impressive stage accessory any band had yet unveiled. It also cost a fortune, so they dashed into the studio and quickly knocked this record out, to help pay for it. 

Despite being rushed, this album features some of the band’s most treasured material - “Scarlet Begonias”, “US Blues”, and the fragile “China Doll”, as well as the funky “Loose Lucy” (which is another of those songs that was an onstage groover that abruptly vanished from the set for sixteen years, before roaring back like a beast, to become one of their most-played first set numbers, in their last five years.

Bob Weir kinda blows it on his sole contribution, the abysmal, misogynistic “Money Money”. Even in 1974, this shit did not fly and the song was dropped after three performances. Even the best writers have to lay a turd every now and again. 

This album is rare in that it boasts two songs, written and sung by Phil Lesh. “Pride Of Cucamonga” is a fun, goofy kind of song, with some killer pedal steel from Jerry, while “Unbroken Chain” is a masterpiece. It was around this time, however, that Phil stopped singing on stage (he wouldn’t sing again for over a decade), so these songs never got performed on stage. Until 3/19/95, when “Unbroken Chain” suddenly appeared, at the end of the first set. Some considered it to be an omen, as there had long been deadhead “prophecies” that suggested that if that song were ever performed, the end would soon follow. 

“Unbroken Chain” would be played live a total of ten times between its debut and the band’s final show….112 days later. 

The Dead would spend the rest of 1974 playing some of their greatest shows through the best-ever sound system. But they totally beat themselves up to do it. So they played some “farewell shows” and stuck a pin in the Dead as a touring unit, retreated to Weir’s studio, and crafted their greatest album….