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Originally released in 1970, Workingman's Dead remains one of the Dead's best loved albums. Gone for the most part were the band's take on the blues along with the long psychedelic jams (which I confess I miss since I was lucky enough to hear the band live around the Bay Area in the late '60s-early '70s), but in it's place was something new, something different.
This is the first time that the band really focused on their vocals (after hearing what Crosby Stills and Nash were doing) and it paid off in a big way. Along with the American Beauty album (with cover graphics that can also be read as "American Reality"), the band went in a different direction with a more relaxed kind of sound and feel. And each of the eight tracks on the original album stand alone as some of the nicest sounding music the band ever made.
Disc 1 is the original album in cleaner remastered sound. If you're reading this then you're no doubt familiar with the album, so not much has to be said about how good it is. And while I wish that the accompanying extra music represented more of the original album, this show from '71 is pretty darn good, with four songs from Workingman's Dead and three from American Beauty. Throughout this show are tunes from those albums along with other songs that represent where the band was starting to head. Good versions of "Bertha", "Ripple", "Sugar Magnolia", and other tunes help lay out the band's newer sound. But also here are songs from earlier days like the band's nod to the blues with "I'm A King Bee", plus early stuff like "Cold Rain And Snow", "Beat It On Down The Line", and their take on rock 'n' roll with "Johnny B. Goode". There's a great almost ten minute version of "Wharf Rat", a nice "Truckin'", plus 17 minutes of the dance tune "Good Lovin'". The show ends with a good version of "Uncle John's Band". Taken as a whole this is a great snapshot of the band live in '71.
The discs snap into trays inside the four-fold cardboard package that has a slot for the 14 page booklet plus a track list for each live disc. There's a fairly lengthy essay by noted rock writer David Fricke, a note from producer David Lemieux, and small period photos of the band. Everything fits into a cardboard slipcase which has a really nice looking lenticular graphic of the original cover photo on the slipcase like previous 50th Anniversary editions. And look for the 50th Anniversary edition of of "American Beauty" coming in late October.
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Workingman's Dead (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
WORKINGMAN’S DEAD: 50th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION is available as a three-CD set and digital equivalents featuring the original album with newly remastered sound, plus an unreleased complete concert recorded on February 21, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. The show was mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Bob Weir’s Marin County TRI Studios, David Glasser, along with restoration and speed correction by Plangent Processes. 2/21/71 delivers a plethora of songs from both Workingman’s Dead and the band’s follow-up album, American Beauty. Some highlights include Weir’s moving vocal take on “Me and Bobby McGee,” Pigpen’s whiskey-seasoned growl on “Easy Wind” and a stellar run through “Uncle John’s Band” to close out the show.
