01	Dark Star						23:09
	02	Saint Stephen						06:32
	03	The Eleven						09:22
	04	Turn On Your Lovelight						15:10
	05	Death Don't Have No Mercy						10:31
	06	Feedback						07:50
	07	And We Bid You Goodnight						00:34

Jerry Garcia -- Guitar and Vocals
Phil Lesh -- Bass and Vocals
Bobby Weir -- Guitar and Vocals
Mickey Hart -- Percussion
Billy Kreutzmann -- Percussion
Tom Constanten (T.C.) -- Keys
Pigpen -- Vocals, Congas,Organ on track 5


Live/Dead
Date of Release Nov 10, 1969
Styles Rock & Roll, Psychedelic, Folk-Rock

The Grateful Dead's fourth title was likewise their first extended concert recording. Spread over two LPs, Live/Dead (1969) finally was able to relay the intrinsic sonic magnificence of a Dead show in real time. Additionally, it unleashed several key entries into their repertoire, including the sidelong epic and Deadhead anthem"Dark Star" as well as wailing and otherwise electrified acidic covers of the Rev. Gary Davis blues standard "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and the R&B rave-up "(Turn on Your) Lovelight." Finally, the conundrum of how to bring a lengthy performance experience to the listener has been solved. The album's four sides provided the palette from which to replicate the natural ebb and flow of a typical Dead set circa early 1969. Tomes have been written about the profound impact of "Dark Star" on the Dead and their audience. It also became a cultural touchstone signifying that rock music was becoming increasingly experimental by casting aside the once-accepted demands of the short, self-contained pop song. This version was recorded on February 27, 1969, at the Fillmore West and is presented pretty much the way it went down at the show. The same is true of the seven remaining titles on Live/Dead. The rousing rendition of "St. Stephen" reinvents the Aoxomoxoa (1968) prototype with rip-roaring thunder and an extended ending which slams into an instrumental rhythmic excursion titled "The Eleven" after the jam's tricky time signature. The second LP began with a marathon cover of "(Turn on Your) Lovelight," which had significant success for both Bobby "Blue" Bland and Gene Chandler earlier in the decade. With Ron "Pigpen" McKernan at the throttle, the Dead barrel their way through the work, reproportioning and appointing it with fiery solos from Garcia and lead vocal raps courtesy of McKernan. "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is a languid noir interpretation of Rev. Gary Davis' distinct Piedmont blues. Garcia's fretwork smolders as his solos sear through the melody. Likewise notable is the criminally underrated keyboard work of Tom Constanten, whose airy counterpoint rises like a departing spirit from within the soul of the song. The final pairing of "Feedback" - which is what is sounds like it might be - with the "lowering down" funeral dirge "And We Bid You Goodnight" is true to the way that the band concluded a majority of their performances circa 1968-1969. They all join in on an a cappella derivative of Joseph Spence and the Pinder Family's traditional Bahamian distillation. Few recordings have ever represented the essence of an artist in performance as faithfully as Live/Dead. It has become an aural snapshot of this zenith in the Grateful Dead's 30-year evolution and as such is highly recommended for all manner of enthusiasts. The 2001 remastered edition that was included in the Golden Road (1965-1973) (2001) box set tacks on the 45 rpm studio version of "Dark Star" as well as a vintage radio advert for the album. - Lindsay Planer

1. Dark Star (Garcia/Hart/Hunter/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir) - 23:15
2. St. Stephen (Garcia/Hunter/Lesh) - 6:45
3. The Eleven (Hunter/Lesh) - 9:39
4. Turn on Your Love Light (Malone/Scott) - 15:30
5. Death Don't Have No Mercy (Davis) - 10:30
6. Feedback (Grateful Dead) - 8:52
7. And We Bid You Goodnight (Traditional) - :36


Mickey Hart - Percussion, Drums
Jerry Garcia - Guitar, Vocals
The Grateful Dead - Producer
Bob Weir - Guitar, Vocals
Tom Constanten - Keyboards
Merl Saunders - Keyboards
Robert Hunter
Bill Kreutzmann - Percussion, Drums
Phil Lesh - Bass, Vocals
Bob Matthews - Engineer
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - Keyboards, Vocals
Pigpen - Organ, Conga, Vocals

1971 LP Warner Brothers 1830
1988 CD Warner Brothers 2-1830
1970 LP Warner Brothers 2WS-1830
1990 LP Warner Brothers 1830
1988 CS Warner Brothers J5-1830




Dark Star
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Jerry Garcia/Mickey Hart/Robert Hunter/Robert Hunter/Bill Kreutzmann/Phil Lesh/Ron "Pi

AMG REVIEW: "Dark Star" is the defining song of the Grateful Dead. If you appreciate "Dark Star," you appreciate the Grateful Dead, you are "on the bus," in the group's parlance. If you don't, you're not. The fundamental element in the Grateful Dead's music is free-form improvisation, and with "Dark Star" they found a frame for their wildest explorations. In early 1967, the Grateful Dead, newly signed to Warner Bros., recorded and released their debut album, The Grateful Dead, which, though infused with their unusual style, was still a fairly conventional album of songs. After its release, as they began working on material for their second album, guitarist Jerry Garcia contacted a friend of his, poet Robert Hunter, and asked him to submit lyrics for use in the group's compositions. Hunter, then living in New Mexico, mailed three, and he later returned to the San Francisco Bay area, where the group was based, and began working with them on new material. When he heard them rehearsing a jazzy, modal piece that bore some resemblance to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and also recalled Miles Davis' "So What," he began writing. The words were highly abstract, with a haiku-like impressionism, leading into a phrase that was similar to the opening of T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Shall we go then, you and I." The lyrics gave a momentary structure to the improvisations that characterized most of the song. Jerry Garcia later said that they helped shape the direction the song took, noting that "the reason the music is the way it is, is because those lyrics did suggest that to me. That's what happened. They are saying, 'This universe is truly far out.' That's about it. You could take whatever you will from that suggestion. For me, that suggestion always means, 'Great, let's look around. Let's see how weird it really gets.'" (These remarks are quoted in Blair Jackson's biography Garcia: An American Life [New York: Viking, 1999].)
The Dead seem to have recorded a short version of "Dark Star," running less than three minutes, at the sessions for their second album, Anthem of the Sun, and they began playing it in concert, probably premiering it on December 13, 1967, in Los Angeles. They played the song regularly during 1968, but it did not appear on Anthem of the Sun. Instead, the studio version was used as the non-LP B-side of the 1968 single "Born Cross-Eyed," taken from the album. In concert, "Dark Star" continued to develop, and on February 27, 1969, the Dead played a version of the song that ran more than 23 minutes. This performance was recorded and released on the double-LP Live/Dead on November 10, 1969, taking up the entire first side of the first disc. The release helped to educate listeners across the country about what the Dead were trying to do, especially in the case of "Dark Star," which they had been performing frequently during the year - 64 performances out of 145 shows during 1969. To Deadheads, as fans were coming to be called, "Dark Star" was the ultimate Grateful Dead experience, the "trip" the band represented in its fullest form. (An excerpt of the Dead playing "Dark Star" was heard on the soundtrack of the film Zabriskie Point, which opened in early 1970.) The Dead never again performed "Dark Star" as frequently as they had in 1969, though it remained in their repertoire until their temporary retirement from performing in 1974, with a final performance at the Winterland auditorium in San Francisco on October 18, 1974. When they returned to performing in 1976, it was only rarely played, in fact, only five times in the next 15 years, until October 9, 1989, when, at a show at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA, where they were billed as "formerly the Warlocks" (the name they had used before the Grateful Dead), they played it again for the first time in more than five years and then returned it to occasional use, continuing to play it at least a couple of times a year until 1994, the year before the band's demise.

This uneven performance history has tended to enhance the mystique of "Dark Star," its reappearances being greeted with rapture by Deadheads. It has appeared on several Grateful Dead albums since Live/Dead. The Warner Bros. compilation ^What a Long Strange Trip It's Been: The Best of he Grateful Dead contained the original studio version, and live versions have been included in many of the band's archival releases of the 1990s and 2000s. The box set So Many Roads (1965-1995) featured two performances of it. "Dark Star" has been covered by jazz and experimental music performers, as well as performers associated with the Grateful Dead. Henry Kaiser put it on his 1988 album Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It (with Robert Hunter reciting the lyrics), his 1990 album Heart's Desire, and, in a medley with "A Love Supreme," on his 1995 album Eternity Blue; former Grateful Dead keyboard player Tom Constanten put it on his 1989 album Fresh Tracks in Real Time and his 1992 album Nightfall of Diamonds (the record's title a line from the song); Dead Ringers put it on their self-titled album in 1993; David Murray used it as the title track of his 1996 album Dark Star: The Music of the Grateful Dead; jazz group Jazz Is Dead covered it on their 1998 album Blue Light Rain; and Merl Saunders, a frequent musical associate of Jerry Garcia, recorded for his 1998 album With His Funky Friends: Live. - William Ruhlmann


St. Stephen
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter/Phil Lesh

AMG REVIEW: Originally recorded for the studio album Aoxomoxoa in 1968, the definitive version appears on the excellent 1970 album Live Dead. Opening up with a gentle, psychedelic guitar lick from the previous song ( "Dark Star"), it then explodes into a gospel/ bluegrass melody that was indeed close to the band's heart. Highlighting Jerry Garcia, Bob Wier, and Phil Lesh's harmony vocals. The imprecise nature of their voices is what gives the melody its appeal, not unlike the Band's songs of the period. The bridge is a slice of psychedelic balladry, with very strong English folk roots. However, the song then explodes back into the gospel pattern to carry the song to a rocking conclusion. The studio version is excellent, but the Live Dead take is certainly the one to check out. - Matthew Greenwald



Eleven
Composed By Robert Hunter/Phil Lesh

AMG REVIEW: The song's 11/8 time is referenced by the title. A great vehicle for the band's prowess in the live concert theatre, "Eleven" showcases the fabulous interplay between the band's members. The lyrics, as well, have to do with the passage of time, and this mirrors the music perfectly. Odd percussion patterns (the band had two drummers at the time), dueling guitars, and most especially Phil Lesh's bass create a real environment here, and the effect is both funky and scintillating, and in the end, wholly revolutionary and interesting. - Matthew Greenwald



Death Don't Have No Mercy
Composed By Rev. Gary Davis

AMG REVIEW: Although the Grateful Dead were exploring unusual musical forms during the 1970 period (such as "Dark Star" and "The Eleven"), the band's roots laid in gospel and blues, especially vocalist Pigpen's excursions. This traditional, folk blues song gets to the heart of the matter. Like many of Robert Johnson's legendary songs, this song deals in temptation and emotional darkness, and the band delivers the feeling in black, minor-key splendor. Although Pigpen's stay with the band was to be brief, it's obvious after listening to this song and recording that his vocal style was carried on by Jerry Garcia after his death. - Matthew Greenwald



Feedback
Composed By Tom Constanten/Jerry Garcia/The Grateful Dead/Mickey Hart/Bill Kreutzmann/Phil Lesh/Ron "Pigpen" Mc

AMG REVIEW: As the title implies, this cut is a near-ten-minute excursion into feedback and white noise. Like Neil Young's Crazy Horse experiments ( "Weld"), it creates a wild, intoxicating atmosphere that defines the band's psychedelic style. It also acts as a great link between "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and "And We Bid You Goodnight" on the exquisite Live Dead album. - Matthew Greenwald



And We Bid You Goodnight
Composed By Traditional

AMG REVIEW: Thirty-six seconds of gospel singing ends the Live Dead album. Although this is on the surface a mere closing mood piece, it's interesting to note that the band would next explore these very same harmony folk/ gospel vocals on their next album, Workingman's Dead. - Matthew Greenwald