GRATEFUL DEAD
View From The Vault IV Soundtrack (Grateful Dead Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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This is the audio companion to the fourth View From The Vault concert DVD release from Grateful Dead Productions. While the soundtrack doesn't include all the pretty pictures, it does include some music that was excised from the DVD version due to space limitations. The shows, at Oakland Stadium on 7/24/87 and Anaheim Stadium on 7/26/87, are from the Dead's first stadium tour, during which they played a third set backing Bob Dylan at each venue. The tracks here don't include the Dylan sets, but truth be told, neither the band nor Dylan were particularly inspired on those occasions.

The band on its own was another story. Working on the heels of their hit album, In The Dark, and its top ten single, "Touch Of Grey," they were playing to much larger crowds than they were accustomed to, and they both derived and delivered new energy in the presence of stadiums filled with 50,000 fans, old and new.

All four discs contain memorable moments, and I would have been happy to see Disc Two released as an album in its own right. This is an excellent aural picture of the world's best live band playing some of the biggest crowds of their storied career, and no Deadhead can afford to overlook it.

Track Lists:

Disc One: Funiculi Funicula * Jack Straw>Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo * My Brother Esau * Friend Of The Devil>Big River * When Push Comes To Shove * Far From Me * Cassidy>Deal

Disc Two: Hell In A Bucket>Scarlet Begonias * Playing In The Band>Drums>Space>Uncle John's Band>Dear Mr. Fantasy>I Need A Miracle>Bertha>Sugar Magnolia

Disc Three: Iko Iko * New Minglewood Blues * Tons Of Steel * West L.A. Fadeaway * When I Paint My Masterpiece>Mexicali Blues * Bird Song>Promised Land

Disc Four: Shakedown Street>Looks Like Rain>Terrapin Station>Drums>Space>The Other One>Stella Blue>Throwing Stones>Not Fade Away

© 2003 - Shaun Dale