The Grateful Dead went into a state of latent activity in the fall of 1974 that lasted until the spring of the following year when the band reconvened at guitarist/vocalist
Bob Weir's
Ace Studios to record
Blues for Allah. The disc was likewise the third to be issued on their own
Grateful Dead Records label. When the LP hit shelves in September of 1975,
the Dead were still not back on the road -- although they had played a few gigs throughout San Francisco. Obviously, the time off had done the band worlds of good, as
Blues for Allah -- more than any past or future studio album -- captures
the Dead at their most natural and inspired. The opening combo of
"Help on the Way," "Slipknot!," and
"Franklin's Tower" is a multifaceted suite, owing as much to
Miles Davis circa the
E.S.P. album as to anything
the Grateful Dead had been associated with.
"Slipknot!" contains chord changes, progressions, and time signatures which become musical riddles for the band to solve -- which they do in the form of
"Franklin's Tower." Another highly evolved piece is the rarely performed
"King Solomon's Marbles," an instrumental that spotlights, among other things,
Keith Godchaux's tastefully unrestrained Fender Rhodes finger work displaying more than just a tinge of
Herbie Hancock inspiration. These more aggressive works contrast the delicate musical and lyrical haiku on
"Crazy Fingers" containing some of lyricist
Robert Hunter's finest and most beautifully arranged verbal images for the band.
Weir's guitar solo in
"Sage & Spirit" is based on one of his warm-up fingering exercises. Without a doubt, this is one of
Weir's finest moments. The light acoustic melody is tinged with an equally beautiful arrangement. While there is definite merit in
Blues for Allah's title suite, the subdued chant-like vocals and meandering melody seems incongruous when compared to the remainder of this thoroughly solid effort. [In 2004,
Rhino released a remastered, expanded edition of
Blues for Allah as part of the exhaustive 12-disc box
Beyond Description (1973-1989); in 2006, this expanded CD was released separately. The expanded disc contained six bonus tracks, and all but one are rather dull instrumental studio outtakes recorded at the tail end of February 1975: the band jams
"Groove #1" and
"Groove #2," the
Jerry Garcia-credited
"Distorto," "A to E Flat Jam," and
"Proto 18 Proper." The final bonus track is a studio outtake of
Robert Hunter and
Bob Weir's
"Hollywood Cantata."] ~ Lindsay Planer
![Desire [Remastered]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0827969239322_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Desire [Remastered]")
