The Grateful Dead: Golden Gate Studios 1965 (Rare Studio Outtakes)
Reading Crock Tock’s review of the Dark Star Orchestra show in San Francisco has gotten me in a Dead sort of mood. To get my fix before I see DSO this coming Saturday at the El Rey, I’ve been listening to The Dead’s Golden Gate Studio’s Autumn demos, recorded on November 3rd, 1965, in the final month of their pre-Kesey, pre-Acid Test days.
What’s most strange about these sessions, recorded under the Warlocks name, is how little they sound like the band the Dead would become. Just six songs and 18 minutes, the cuts are far from the the experimental wankery that you’d expect, and more like lost lost gems from a Nuggets compilation.
This is still Pigpen’s band and the raw lo-fi tracks are filled with squiggling harmonicas, garage rock riffs and creaky organs that sound like a hybrid of the Seeds and the 13th Floor Elevators. For anyone with even a passing interest in the Dead, it comes highly recommended.
Tracklist:
1. Can’t Come Down-3:05 2.Mindbender-2:42 3. The Only Time is Now-2:52 4. Caution-3:21 5. I Know You Rider-2:42 6. Early Morning Rain-3:21
Download:
ZIP: Grateful Dead (Warlocks)-Golden Gate Studios 1965
October 9th, 2007 at 8:59 am
DSO, eh? Man, every time someone mentions them I feel compelled to write about how much I miss the good old days of $5 at Martyr’s in Chicago; or how I saw Fake Jerry right before I vomited up all the mushrooms in my system next to the ketchup/mustard dispenser at the 11/9/98 Phish show. Good times. Enjoy, Weiss.
In any event, mid to late ’60s Dead is a fucking trip. Good spot.
October 9th, 2007 at 10:45 am
The link to Crock Tock goes to some other webpage