Best Dead albums?

rajacat · « **on:** 17 Mar 2016, 06:10 pm »

I'm interested in bulking up my Grateful Dead collection with sound quality being a top priority. The quality of the performance is also important but I'm not particularly interested in cd/vinyl that doesn't meet a relatively high standard.
I'm only interested in vinyl if it is the only option available for a specific recording otherwise CDs' are my preference.
I recently purchased one of the GarciaLive Volumes and thought the the SQ was fairly good but not great. What are the best GD remasters nowadays?

Thanks,
Roy

bentconvert · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 06:25 pm »

Reckoning is probably the best sounding GD album I have. Mine is original vinyl so I don't know about CD SQ. It will be nice to here what people think about the remasters.

rbbert · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 06:25 pm »

Are you into hi-res digital? Wake Up to Find Out may be the best combination of sound quality and performance they ever managed. For CD, One From The Vault is another great combination. Of course there are literally hundreds of albums available, many now available only as downloads (typically 16/44.1, HDCD encoded). All the Europe '72 tour is at Pono; lots of discussions about where to start with that.

rbbert · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 06:26 pm »

Quote from: bentconvert on 17 Mar 2016, 06:25 pm

Reckoning is probably the best sounding GD album I have. Mine is original vinyl so I don't know about CD SQ. It will be nice to here what people think about the remasters.

I hate vinyl, but no question the best sounding version of Reckoning is the LP.

zybar · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 07:08 pm »

I have more than 300 GD albums in my collection and even the ones that are less than outstanding sonically can be incredibly enjoyable musically!

That said, for the studio albums, I would start with the hi-rez versions of "American Beauty", "Workingman's Dead", and "Wake of the Flood".

You can get these on hdtracks.com

George

rajacat · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 09:25 pm »

Thanks guys, keep them coming.
Yes, I will be into hi-rez for special albums but I have to get a new DAC first.

bummrush · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 12:35 am »

Europe 72 is darm good in all ways.music and sound quality.Of course th venue makes a difference. Fair amount of money up front, but 8 or 10 a disc. The end.Same with 30 trips around the sun. Money up front but fair when you break jt down.One of the earlier groups to pay attention to sq.

zybar · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 01:09 am »

Quote from: bummrush on 18 Mar 2016, 12:35 am

Europe 72 is darm good in all ways.music and sound quality.Of course th venue makes a difference. Fair amount of money up front, but 8 or 10 a disc. The end.Same with 30 trips around the sun. Money up front but fair when you break jt down.One of the earlier groups to pay attention to sq.

While I agree that Europe 72 sounds good, I would caution somebody about jumping to such a large box set that covers such a confined period of time.

I would suggest checking out live shows from different time periods and deciding what you like best. You could pick up various Dick's Picks to achieve that.

George

rbbert · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 02:58 am »

As I posted earlier, though, most of the live albums are out of print in physical media, but still available as equivalent (or better) quality downloads. www.livedownloads.com has lots (including the hi-res studio albums cheaper than HDTracks), Pono also has lots. I'm not sure if either retailer has exclusive content or if they both have the same. As regards Europe '72, the shows are available individually, no reason to buy a bunch if you only want one or two. Be warned that the sound quality on some Dick's Picks and Road Trips is sub-standard, although the overhwelming majority are very good.

Rusty Jefferson · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 03:00 am »

I think the best place to start is with the 4 CD set Ladies and Gentlemen: The Grateful Dead http://www.amazon.com/Ladies-Gentlemen-The-Grateful-Dead/dp/B0002VETHC

One of the best performances of the band AND sound quality ever recorded. Closing of the Filmore East. Great lineup in the band with just 1 drummer, and Pigpen still sounding good. Just before the Keith and Donna phase. I don't have all the Dick's Picks, but many. This is a superior recording to all (or almost all) others.

Most of the Dick's Picks come with HDCD encoding if you have a player, that layer sounds a little nicer. I have a Cary CD (and HDCD) player that I use just for listening to these CDs.

I appreciate the importance of the classic studio albums like American Beauty but lets face it, they're a concert band.

RPM123 · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 03:42 am »

Any recording that does NOT have Donna (Godawful) Godchaux on it...avoid!

zybar · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 11:24 am »

Quote from: RPM123 on 18 Mar 2016, 03:42 am

Any recording that does NOT have Donna (Godawful) Godchaux on it...avoid!

Couldn't disagree with you more!!!

I love what she added and my favorite year of the Dead is 1977.

George

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 11:37 am »

Aoxomoxoa

zybar · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 11:53 am »

You can also take a peek at allmusic.com

Quickly looking at their ratings, I think that they are in the ballpark.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/grateful-dead-mn0000988440/discography/compilations

George

jriggy · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 01:11 pm »

Quote from: RPM123 on 18 Mar 2016, 03:42 am

Any recording that does NOT have Donna (Godawful) Godchaux on it...avoid!

Theres a Dona hater in every crowd. Lol.
Personally I never understood it. She did fine harmonies and besides a couple "wailings" hear and there, her classic screeching howl in Playin', and her ONE song, Sunrise, from 'Terrapin Station', which was only played 30times in a two year period ('77 and '78). She hardly 'ruined' any show she is on. If anything, any wonky "donna moment" is good for a laugh mid set or wherever.

rajacat,
Grab the forthcoming 7/8/78 Red Rocks show (Hell, grab the whole July '78 box set before it sells out!). It is the first of [hopefully] many Betty Boards to be released. Her recordings of Dead shows are known to be some of the best and this Red Rocks show (also being a standalone release, if one doesn't want the whole boxset) has quite a special energy.

sts9fan · « **Reply #15 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 03:52 pm »

The Dead made studio albums?

I guess I would say "Workingman's Dead"

rajacat · « **Reply #16 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 04:26 pm »

Blues For Allah is a studio album.

rbbert · « **Reply #17 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 05:47 pm »

I'm sure that was a joke...

pconley2 · « **Reply #18 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 06:34 pm »

The San Francisco Bay Area Audio Society had a great meeting a month or so ago, where we listened to MoFi's 45 RPM versions of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. The stereo systems was amazing and the sonic qualities of the two albums, which I know quite well, was simply outstanding. it is always interesting when you hear new stuff on an album that you know quite well. David Gans, of the Grateful Radio Hour, was there and he read from his most recent book "This is all a dream we dreamed: an aural history of the Grateful Dead". He seemed delighted to hear these two albums reproduced so well. I am halfway thru his book and very much enjoying it--especially good on the early years.

I have a number of Concert CD's, I prefer the single drummer years (72-74) and from those years two Concerts stand out for me, Steppin' out with the Grateful Dead, recorded in UK on the '72 tour, and Ladies and Gentlemen: The Grateful Dead, recorded, I think, in New York. It has a stellar Dark Star with Tom Constanten sitting in/returning. I know everyone will have their favorites, and I would love to hear suggestions, but of my 12 or so "official" concert CDs, these are my two favorites and provide a great deal of the content for my ever evolving Best Dead Concert Ever compilation that I have been working on for months.

Phil

bummrush · « **Reply #19 on:** 18 Mar 2016, 08:34 pm »

George if i remember right Euro 72 is limited timeframe,but one thing is thats it really is a hell of alot of vrry good music.At least you get quite a bit of very good Pigpen tunes,that i as a relitively newer fan only started listening to Dead 16 yrs ago.And im pushing 60.
But yes good choices would be the Dicks picks,and releases along those lines.