Grateful Dead Documentary

AMG Review of Grateful Dead Documentary

Lindsay Planer
All Music Guide

This limited-edition two-disc set was available as a promotional premium in conjunction with the sale of the Golden Road (1965-1973) box set. The offer was extended exclusively through the Grateful Dead's online and mail-order merchandising organization. The days of free-form or underground FM radio are revisited during this two-hour music and interview Grateful Dead Documentary, which originally aired June 8, 1969, on San Francisco's KSAN-FM. The program is co-hosted by Michael Wanger and Vance Frost, who began producing a weekly series of radio documentaries for Stanford University's KZSU-FM in 1968. With the guidance and support of KSAN-FM's program director -- the legendary Tom Donahue -- Wanger and Frost began the six-month process involved in producing this brilliantly executed time capsule of the Grateful Dead's history up through the end of 1968. Not only did the entire band (sans Ronald "Pigpen" McKernan) contribute by revealing an artistic sensitivity rarely captured in their print interviews, they are also open to discussing their immediate artistic concerns regarding their music, their record company, and most tellingly, each other as musicians. The mutual admiration extends into their immediate circle of psychedelic Bay Area contemporaries as well. Interviewees include John Cipollina and David Freiberg from the Quicksilver Messenger Service, as well as Paul Kantner and Spencer Dryden from Jefferson Airplane. Their appreciation is perhaps the most profound, providing unique observations of what appeals to them about the Grateful Dead not only as performers, but most importantly as constituents and friends. Due to the vintage nature of this documentary, vinyl sources were originally all that was available for use. Normally, surface noise and the revealed limitations of the medium on CD would diminish the listening experience. This is the rare exception as the superior mixes used on those initial pressings have yet to be replicated in the digital domain. Notable among these is "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" and the brilliant 45 mix of "Dark Star." Also listen for a special hidden bonus performance.