One of my favorite artists other than the Grateful Dead is Bob Dylan. I think he has an amazing sound that he combines with interesting and deep lyrics. Dylan’s voice is also super unique and fits his folky country-ish sound that a lot of his songs have. Dylan is also an amazing harmonica player and often plays harmonica and guitar at the same time. This is extremely difficult and is very impressive to see. Finally, Dylan has a great live personality. I have watched a lot of his live performances at festivals in the 60’s and 70’s and he engages and jokes around with the crowd in a funny and creative way that doesn’t come off as gimmicky or fake. Because of this he is near the top of the list of artists that i want to see in my life time before its too late.
Bob Dylan was friends with and respected many members of the Grateful Dead. Because of this in 1989 a live album titled “Dylan and the Dead” was released. I had high expectations for this album; two of my favorite artists who make amazing live music collaborating on a live album. Before listening to it I believed that this album had the potential to become my new favorite album. Unfortunately, this was not to be. This album was a major disappointment to me. The album is only made up of only Dylan songs. There are no Dead songs on the album, a major disappointment. The Grateful Dead are basically just Dylan’s band. This does allow for some cool Dead jams which Dylan enhances with his harmonica and guitar, but doesn’t capitalize on all the potential this album had. I mean Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir providing nothing but backup vocals, what a waste of talent. I had high hopes for this album, and i have to say it disappointed me.
It’s still a good album that is worth a listen, but don’t have your hopes up too high. It’s basically just a Dylan live album. This being said the live versions are still pretty good. In fact it does contain my favorite live version of “Knockin on Heavens Door”. However it is impossible to find a video of them performing that song so I’m going to put a link to “Tangled up in Blue” by Dylan and the Dead, and a live version of “Knockin on Heaven’s Door” by just the Grateful Dead.
It’s cool how you can relate bob dylan and the grateful dead. From an outside audience who does not really listen to this music, they seem contradictory. Bob Dylan appears a “classic” to me but I didn’t really realize until now that he’s associated with the same kinds of inspirations like the Grateful Dead. I adore the song “Times are a changing” by Bob Dylan so maybe this relation you’ve noted is something I can draw upon and listen to the dead too.
As far as I know, I’ve never listened to either of these bands. I would’ve been under the same impression as you that the album would’ve had a mixture of both bands. It seems like kind of a let down that such a popular band took the back seat when they could’ve worked together.
I never knew that Dylan and the Dead collaborated! I knew they were from the same era, but I never herd of them working together. I listened to a lot of Dylan this summer, and it amazes me how few songs I recognized, since they dont play so many on the radio.