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Originally Posted by Dessalines
Really? Go listen to the harmonies on Gene Clark's "No Other" and tell me if the dead every approached that? Stack that up against "Working Man's Dead" or the truly execrable "Anthem Of The Sun".... "Alligator running round my door" indeed, and the kazoo what was up with the kazoo, is that supposed to be funny?!!! Hello, that is junk. If I want funny I'll put on a George Carlin record.
Never ever on their best day did they sing what could be called good, much less excellent. Passable at times but not in the league of good harmony groups. The Byrds had harmonies, the dead had people trying to sing. Jerry's voice was thin and reedy, just like his guitar tone. People rave about his guitar playing when all he did was wander around the fret board without much phrasing. He was terrible. But people love it because they got high and it sounded good to them.
As for Wow, it was a ruined album. Ruined as the original band was torn apart by drug abuse and mental illness, What a loss. BTW, I thought Moby Grape 69 was a pretty solid record.
My point wasn't that the Grape were a more long lived band than the dead but they were head and shoulders better musicians and every guy in the band could actually sing.
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I think you`ve missed the point about the Grateful Dead, They were basically a happy-go-lucky hippy band who concocted up a hodge-podge of musical sounds (blues, folk, psychedelia, country and later jazz) and just churned them out in they`re own hippy style. They were competent players and adequate singers that specialized in improvisation and they were made even more interesting due to the stark contrast at times between their studio material and live sets. Also their loyal and fanatical fanbase and their large amount of drug and booze related deaths of band members made them interesting as well.
They`re is no point comparing them to say Moby Grape as top notch musicians (even though I think the style of Jerry Garcia is very good) and there is also no point comparing them to the Byrds either, for me the Byrds were in the same league as the Beatles as song writers. I just look at the Grateful Dead as a fun group to listen to with some really great songs and albums to boot.