Last week Day of the Dead was released and it’s nearly perfect. This compilation of various artist from every genre putting their own twist on the Grateful Dead is worth a full listen and then another. Curated by The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, this Dead tribute is phenomenal and so is all of the media associated with it. Stream, buy or watch videos at Dayofthedeadmusic.com. I will be listening (again) all day and tweeting my favorites – join the convo on twitter @bluemountainbel
I Know You Rider • The National with Bob Weir (live)
Created and Curated by: Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner ∙ Produced by: Aaron Dessner ∙ Co-Produced by: Bryce Dessner and Josh Kaufman ∙ Music Direction by: Josh Kaufman and Aaron Dessner ∙ Co-Curated by: Scott Devendorf, Bryan Devendorf, Conrad Doucette ∙ Project Manager: Tom Wironen ∙ Co-Executive Producer: Dawn Barger ∙ Executive Producer: John Carlin
There are some real gems here. Dark Star, Help, Bird Song. Playin. Shakedown. Brown-Eyed Women. Jack-A-Roe. King Soloman’s Marbles. Malkmus’ China Cat > Rider is nutty. Wharf Rat. Bid you Goodnight. Here Comes Sunshine. Mountains of the Moon. Candyman and Sugaree. Box of Rain, Cassidy.
It’s a little hit or miss when artists really start to alter the vocals, timing, and rhythm though. Some of these interpretations are completely off the mark. FOD, Peggy-O, New Speedway, Estimated, Me and my Uncle, Stella Blue. Eyes of the World. Truckin (how do you fail on Truckin??). When you mess with delivery that much, you miss the original intent and sound of the song completely. The National, for instance, don’t even come close to conveying the doom and heartbreak in the folk ballad Peggy-O. Not to mention the solos Jerry would take in the Dead’s version of that song were some of the most beautiful he ever did. The National’s version is downright soulless and uninspiring.
The same applies to The Lone Bellow’s Me and my Uncle. It’s a cowboy song with gritty lyrics, but The Lone Bellow’s vocals are all but whimsical.
I understand what they’re trying to do. This isn’t Jazz Is Dead and it definitely isn’t Dart Star Orchestra. They’re putting a different spin on it. But some of them started from scratch with chords and lyrics and totally failed. I think Mumford & Sons’ Friend of the Devil was just horrible, for instance. And, well, Truckin’ was deconstructed and put back together with the musical aptitude of a chimpanzee.
The singing on New Speedway was totally off. I don’t think Courtney Barnett understands that she was singing about the infamous Altamont Free Concert. Wake up, Courtney.
In many cases, you can tell you understands and appreciates this music. Joe Russo and Cass McCombs nailed the Dead’s psychadelic exploration with their Dark Star. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy sang Bird Song with perfect melancholy. Bela Fleck and the Wood Bros put Help on the Way to a super cool, toned-down flow with banjo and acoustic percussion and then find their own jam.
I thought the Althea was one of the exceptions to the “start from scratch” pool.. totally different, and super cool.
And then a lot of these were very close to the originals – like Box of Rain – and they were wonderful, but you find yourself wanting more originality.
Loser, Ripple, Ship of Fools … close to the original, but a bit different, and refreshing. They’ll grow on you.
The vocals and whistling on Jack-A-Roe were beautiful.
Instrumentals like Clementine and King Soloman’s – really really nice.
Just my humble opinion! It’s incredible how this music continues to thrive.
LOVE this! I agree some of them are so off the mark and some even when near the mark lack that soul the dead played with. Truckin – totally miss, like what is going on?? Brokedown Palace is good remake. Still making my way through the playlist…