CD Review: The Grateful Dead “Reckoning”
Arista Records
ASIN: B000002VF3

If the name the Grateful Dead brings up images of beautiful hippy women dancing in front of speakers that are blearing out ‘spacey’ improvisations. If you envision 45 minute jam sessions followed induced by LSD. Than this album is sure to bust your image of the great band that was the Grateful Dead. Some people call “Reckoning” the oddity of Grateful Dead albums, I believe this album displays the dexterity and musicianship that was the Dead.

“Reckoning” is commonly considered the ‘country’ album of the Grateful Dead. It is filled not only with Dead classics such as “Dire Wolf,” “Cassidy,” “Bird Song,” and “Ripple.” It also contains such traditional folk songs as “Been all Around this World,” “Jack-a-Roe,” and “On the Road Again.” This album contains some of Jerry Garcia favorites that appear commonly on Jerry’s acoustic albums such as “Deep Elem Blues.”

This album was recorded live in 1980 at the Warfield Theater, San Francisco and at the Radio City Music Center New York. The album is an acoustic album from a time when the Dead used to perform an acoustic set before concerts. A time when acoustic was not ‘unplugged.’

The track list is:

1. Dire Wolf
2. The Race is On
3. It Must have been the Roses
4. Dark Hollow
5. China Doll
6. Been All Around This World
7. Monkey and the Engineer
8. Jack-a-Roe
9. Deep Elem Blues
10. Cassidy
11. To Lay Me Down
12. Rosa Lee McFall
13. On the Road Again
14. Bird Song
15. Ripple

This album is full of great acoustic guitar play and strong vocal harmonies. Bill and Mickey provide interesting rhythms. It is one of the first albums with bringing Brent onboard and you can hear how much Brent added to the vocals of the Dead. Give this album a try, even if you are not a ‘deadhead’ it will add a lot to your music collection.