Grateful Dead - Bird Song (2006)



Video: PAL, MPEG-2 at 6 000 Kbps, 720 x 576 at 25.000 fps | Audio: AC-3 6 channels at 384 Kbps, 48.0 KHz
Genre: Rock | Label: Allstar | Copy: Untouched | Release Date: 26 May 2006 | Runtime: 73 min. | 3,51 GB (DVD5)

Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most
beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors,
spreading their message of peace, love, and mind-expansion across the
globe throughout the better part of three decades. The object of
adoration for popular music's most fervent and celebrated fan following
the Deadheads, their numbers and devotion legendary in their own right
they were the ultimate cult band, creating a self-styled universe all
their own; for the better part of their career orbiting well outside of
the mainstream, the Dead became superstars solely on their own terms,
tie-dyed pied pipers whose epic, free-form live shows were rites of
passage for an extended family of listeners who knew no cultural
boundaries. The roots of the Grateful Dead lie with singer/songwriter
Jerry Garcia, a longtime bluegrass enthusiast who began playing the
guitar at age 15. Upon relocating to Palo Alto, CA, in 1960, he soon
befriended Robert Hunter, whose lyrics later graced many of Garcia's
most famous melodies; in time, he also came into contact with aspiring
electronic music composer Phil Lesh. By 1962, Garcia was playing banjo
in a variety of local folk and bluegrass outfits, two years later
forming Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions with guitarist Bob Weir and
keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan; in 1965, the group was renamed the
Warlocks, their lineup now additionally including Lesh on bass as well
as Bill Kreutzmann on drums.
the Warlocks made their electric debut that July; Ken Kesey soon tapped
them to become the house band at his notorious Acid Tests, a series of
now-legendary public LSD parties and multimedia "happenings" mounted
prior to the drug's criminalization. As 1965 drew to its close, the
Warlocks rechristened themselves the Grateful Dead, the name taken from a
folk tale discovered in a dictionary by Garcia; bankrolled by
chemist/LSD manufacturer Owsley Stanley, the band members soon moved
into a communal house situated at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco,
becoming a fixture on the local music scene and building a large fan
base on the strength of their many free concerts. Signing to MGM, in
1966 the Dead also recorded their first demos; the sessions proved
disastrous, and the label dropped the group a short time later.
As 1967 mutated into the Summer of Love, the Dead emerged as one of the
top draws on the Bay Area music scene, honing an eclectic repertoire
influenced by folk, country, and the blues while regularly appearing at
top local venues including the Fillmore Auditorium, the Avalon Ballroom,
and the Carousel. In March of 1967 the Dead issued their self-titled
Warner Bros. debut LP, a disappointing effort which failed to recapture
the cosmic sprawl of their live appearances; after performing at the
Monterey Pop Festival, the group expanded to a six-piece with the
addition of second drummer Mickey Hart. Their follow-up, 1968's Anthem
of the Sun, fared better in documenting the free-form jam aesthetic of
their concerts, but after completing 1969's Aoxomoxoa, their penchant
for time-consuming studio experimentation left them over 100,000 dollars
in debt to the label.
The Dead's response to the situation was to bow to the demands of fans
and record their first live album, 1969's Live/Dead; highlighted by a
rendition of Garcia's "Dark Star" clocking in at over 23 minutes, the LP
succeeded where its studio predecessors failed in capturing the true
essence of the group in all of their improvisational, psychedelicized
glory. It was followed by a pair of classic 1970 studio efforts,
Workingman's Dead and American Beauty; recorded in homage to the group's
country and folk roots, the two albums remained the cornerstone of the
Dead's live repertoire for years to follow, with its most popular songs
"Uncle John's Band," "Casey Jones," "Sugar Magnolia," and "Truckin'"
among them becoming major favorites on FM radio.
Despite increasing radio airplay and respectable album sales, the Dead
remained first and foremost a live act, and as their popularity grew
across the world they expanded their touring schedule, taking to the
road for much of each year. As more and more of their psychedelic-era
contemporaries ceased to exist, the group continued attracting greater
numbers of fans to their shows, many of them following the Dead across
the country; dubbed "Deadheads," these fans became notorious for their
adherence to tie-dyed fashions and excessive drug use, their traveling
circus ultimately becoming as much the focal point of concert dates as
the music itself. Shows were also extensively bootlegged, and not
surprisingly the Dead closed out their Warners contract with
back-to-back concert LPs a 1971 eponymous effort and 1972's Europe '72.
The latter release was the final Dead album to feature Pigpen McKernan, a
heavy drinker who died of liver failure on March 8, 1973; his
replacement was keyboardist Keith Godchaux, who brought with him wife
Donna Jean to sing backing vocals. 1973's Wake of the Flood was the
first release on the new Grateful Dead Records imprint; around the time
of its follow-up, 1974's Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel, the group
took a hiatus from the road to allow its members the opportunity to
pursue solo projects. After returning to the live arena with a 1976
tour, the Dead signed to Arista to release Terrapin Station, the first
in a series of misguided studio efforts that culminated in 1980's Go to
Heaven, widely considered the weakest record in the group's catalog so
weak, in fact, that they did not re-enter the studio for another seven
years.
The early '80s was a time of considerable upheaval for the Dead the
Godchauxs had been dismissed from the lineup in 1979, with Keith dying
in a car crash on July 23, 1980. (His replacement was keyboardist Brent
Mydland.) After a pair of 1981 live LPs, Reckoning and Dead Set, the
group released no new recordings until 1987, focusing instead on their
touring schedule despite the dearth of new releases, the Dead continued
selling out live dates, now playing to audiences which spanned
generations. As much a cottage industry as a band, they traveled not
only with an enormous road crew but also dozens of friends and family
members, many of them Dead staffers complete with health insurance and
other benefits. Still, the Dead were widely regarded as little more than
an enduring cult phenomenon prior to the release of 1987's In the Dark;
their first studio LP since Go to Heaven, it became the year's most
unlikely hit when the single "Touch of Grey" became the first-ever Dead
track to reach the Top Ten on the pop charts. Suddenly their videos were
in regular rotation on MTV, and virtually overnight the ranks of the
Deadheads grew exponentially, with countless new fans flocking to the
group's shows. Not only did concert tickets become increasingly tough to
come by for longtime followers, but there were also more serious
repercussions the influx of new fans shifted the crowd dynamic
considerably, and once-mellow audiences became infamous not only for
their excessive drug habits but also for their violent encounters with
police.
Other troubles plagued the Dead as well: in July 1986, Garcia a year
removed from a drug treatment program lapsed into near-fatal diabetic
coma brought on by his continued substance abuse problems, regaining
consciousness five days later. His health remained an issue in the years
which followed, but the Dead spent more time on tour than ever, with a
series of dates with Bob Dylan yielding the live album Dylan & the
Dead. Their final studio effort, Built to Last, followed in 1989.
Tragedy struck in October of that year when a fan died after breaking
his neck outside of a show at the New Jersey Meadowlands; two months
later, a 19-year-old fan on LSD also died while in police custody at the
Los Angeles Forum.
As ever, the Dead themselves were also not immune to tragedy on July 26,
1990, Mydland suffered a fatal drug overdose, the third keyboardist in
group history to perish; he was replaced not only by ex-Tubes
keyboardist Vince Welnick but also by satellite member Bruce Hornsby, a
longtime fan who frequently toured with the group. In the autumn of 1992
Garcia was again hospitalized with diabetes and an enlarged heart,
forcing the Dead to postpone their upcoming tour until the year's end;
he eventually returned to action looking more fit than he had in years.
Still, few were surprised when it was announced on August 9, 1995, that
Garcia had been found dead in his room at a substance abuse treatment
facility in Forest Knolls, CA; the 53 year old's death was attributed to
a heart attack. While Garcia's death spelled the end of the Dead as a
continuing creative entity, the story was far from over. As the
surviving members disbanded to plot their next move, the band's
merchandising arm went into overdrive in addition to Dick's Picks, a
series of archival releases of classic live material, licensed products
ranging from Dead T-shirts to sporting goods to toys flooded the market.
Plans were also announced to build Terrapin Station, an interactive
museum site. In 1996, Weir and Hart mounted the first Furthur Festival, a
summer tour headlined by their respective bands RatDog and Mystery Box;
in 1998, they also reunited with Lesh and Hornsby to tour as the Other
Ones. In spirit if not in name, the Grateful Dead's trip continued on.

Tracklist:
01. Bird Song
02. My Brother Esau
03. On The Road Again
04. Far From Me
05. Ripple
06. When Push Comes To Shove
07. Me And My Uncle / Mexicali Blues
08. Not Fade Away
09. Iko Iko
10. Tons Of Steel
11. Ramble On Rose
12. West L.A. (Fade Away)
13. Still Alive

Extra:
- Biography

Features:
- Direct Scene Access
- Interactive Menu







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