Reckoning

by Grateful Dead

Overview

In the fall of 1980, the Grateful Dead played a series of shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall in New York City (venues considerably smaller than they had grown accustomed to) for the purpose of filming and recording. The group opened these special concerts with a special acoustic set at which Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir played acoustic guitars, Brent Mydland played piano, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart played reduced kits. (Phil Lesh stuck to his electric bass, but at a modest volume.) Also special was the set list, as demonstrated by the track list on this album drawn from the shows. A batch of old folk and country tunes never before included on a Grateful Dead album make up half of the 16 songs, mixed in with originals. (And actually, three of those originals, "Cassidy," "To Lay Me Down," and "Bird Song," only appeared previously on Garcia or Weir solo albums.) The music deliberately harks back to a period most Deadheads weren't around for, the band's origins in the folk, bluegrass, and country groups Garcia led in Palo Alto, CA, in the early '60s, culminating in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, the band that went electric and became the Warlocks, renamed the Grateful Dead. Garcia in particular seems comfortable with this material, and he takes two-thirds of the lead vocals, with Weir spelling him every couple of tracks, usually with a song at least slightly more uptempo (although, for example, his version of "The Race Is On" has none of the breakneck pace of George Jones' original). Of the bandmembers, Garcia is the one who has shown the most affection for the Grateful Dead's folk and country roots, continually reintroducing them either with the band or in his side projects, and his ease with such selections as "Jack-A-Roe" and "Deep Elem Blues" is apparent. At the same time, the juxtaposition of such traditional material with originals by Garcia and his lyric partner Robert Hunter, such as the lead-off song, "Dire Wolf," and the closer, "Ripple," emphasizes the songwriters' deliberate effort to evoke and reshape the folk idiom in their compositions. The Grateful Dead have released numerous live albums, but this one takes a different approach, and it will appeal especially to the many fans of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	07/05/2024
Label:	Grateful Dead / Wea
UPC:	0603497827558
Rank:	4399

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Grateful Dead   Primary Artist
Bill Kreutzmann   Primary Artist,Drums
Bob Weir   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Phil Lesh   Primary Artist,Bass,Vocals,Guitar (Bass)
Jerry Garcia   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Brent Mydland   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals,Harpsichord
Mickey Hart   Primary Artist,Percussion,Drums
Donna Jean Godchaux   Vocals
Keith Godchaux   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Mickey Hart   Composer,Arranger
Barbara Anne Hawkins   Composer
Billy Rothschild   Assistant Engineer
Alan Trist   Coordination
Bill Graham   Producer,Producer
Shelly Diamond   Producer
John Werner   Illustrations
Michael Peri   Assistant Engineer
John "J.T." Thomas   Equipment Technician
John Perry Barlow   Composer
Peter Barsotti   Producer
Rock Scully   Coordination
Willy John Cashman   Producer
Rosa Lee Hawkins   Composer
James McGrath   Producer
Rick Griffin   Illustrations
Richard Loren   Music Coordinator,Project Coordinator
Bob Barsotti   Producer
John Scher   Producer
Traditional   Composer
Bob Hall   Producer,Producer
Betty Cantor   Producer,Recording
Betty Cantor-Jackson   Engineer,Producer,Recording
Bill Kreutzmann   Arranger,Composer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Bob Weir   Arranger,Composer
James "Sugar Boy" Crawford   Composer
Joe Gastwirt   Digital Remastering
The Delmore Brothers   Composer
Gregg Mann   Assistant Engineer
Frank Warner   Composer
John Cutler   Engineer
Don Pearson   Engineer
Greg Fulginiti   Mastering Engineer
Dennis Leonard   Engineer
Jerry Garcia   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Donna Jean Godchaux   Composer
Grateful Dead   Group,Arranger
Dan McInerney   Sound Technician
Jim Welch   Artwork
Harry Popick   Equipment Technician
Joan Johnson   Composer,Composer
Joan Marie Johnson   Composer
Steve Parish   Equipment Technician
Sue Stephens   Music Coordinator,Concert Coordinator,Project Coordinator
Jeffrey Boden   Equipment Technician
Rudy House   Producer
John Thomas   Equipment Technician
Sherry Wasserman   Producer
Scott Ferry   Producer
Willy Legate   Equipment Technician
Phil Guiliano   Producer
Amy Polan   Producer
Frank Stetler   Producer
Bettike Barsotti   Producer
Ann Hawkins   Composer
Mo Morrison   Producer
Francis Carr   Music Coordinator,Project Coordinator
Don Rollins   Composer,Composer
Elizabeth Cotton   Composer
Laurence Shurtliff   Equipment Technician
Jan Rasmussen   Producer
Jeff Hellman   Sound Technician
Paul Roehlk   Equipment Technician
Peter Michelini   Producer
Drew Holmes   Producer
Shelley Diamond   Producer
Jesse Fuller   Composer
Alan Lomax   Composer
Brent Mydland   Arranger,Composer
Grandpa Jones   Composer
Dan Healy   Mixing,Concept,Producer,Mixing Engineer
Bob Matthews   Sound Technician
Bill Browning   Composer
Billy Candelario   Equipment Technician
Keith Godchaux   Composer
Elizabeth Cotten   Composer
Charlie Monroe   Composer
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan   Composer
Robert Hunter   Composer
Phil Lesh   Arranger,Composer
Marty Robbins   Composer