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Long Strange Trip - Swingin' And Pickin' On The Grateful Dead (CMH Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
My name is Shaun. I'm a Deadhead.
With that bit of confession out of the way, I have to say that I've always parted ways with most of my Deadhead compatriots. It wasn't the shows, really. It certainly wasn't the sometimes interminably drifty solos. It was the songs, dammit. While the Grateful Dead created one of the most legendary scenes in the history of popular music, without the songs there would have been no scene.
That's why I welcome tribute efforts like this one. The focus is purely on the songs themselves, without the accompanying soap opera that was so often the baggage of the Grateful Dead. And the songs hold up just fine, even when reshaped as string band or swing band vehicles, as they are on this three-disc set.
Long Strange Trip is a compilation of the two volumes of Pickin' On The Grateful Dead from CMH Records, who have carved out a significant niche producing bluegrass flavored tributes of bands from a variety of genres, and Swingin' To The Grateful Dead, similar in concept except banjos and mandolins are replaced by brass and reeds. In truth, most of the tracks on the two volumes of Pickin' are better described as string band than as bluegrass in a pure sense, but the pickers assembled are all terrific and the material is, well, it's one of the best collections of songs around.
This isn't material likely to please purists of any stripe, but it's sure fun to listen to, and it sure proves my point. It's the songs, dammit. And they're just as good here as they are anywhere.
Track Lists:
Disc One (Pickin' On The Grateful Dead Vol. 1): Althea * Scarlet Begonias * Friend Of The Devil * Bird Song * Truckin' * Lady With A Fan * Casey Jones * Samson And Delilah * Touch Of Grey * Cumberland Blues * Ripple * Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad * Dark Star
Disc Two (Pickin' On The Grateful Dead Vol. 2): Till The Morning Comes * The Wheel * Cassidy * Box Of Rain * I Know You Rider * Sugaree * Uncle John's Band * China Cat Sunflower * Dire Wolf * Eyes Of The World * Sugar Magnolia * Deal
Disc Three (Swingin' To The Grateful Dead): Touch Of Grey * Friend Of The Devil * Bertha * Scarlet Begonias * Wharf Rat * U.S. Blues * Eyes Of The World * Truckin' * Cumberland Blues * China Cat Sunflower * Casey Jones * Ship Of Fools
© 2002 - Shaun Dale