20 years from now, the fact the Dead were the most notorious jam band ever will just be a curious side note to their amazing studio accomplishments. But for the time being American Beauty and Workingman's Dead still seem to be lost in the haze of hundreds of booters. I'm glad I got to see them live a couple times but I'm much happier still I can listen songs like Saint Stephen , Black Peter, Uncle John's Band, Dark Star, and Ripple anytime I like. I get the irony of including Dark Star but hey the original was under 3 minutes. Even Kiss had some good studio work but to confuse the Dead with Kiss is to overlook some best song writing of the 20th century. The backbone of the Dead was melody not Drums/Space.
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