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Grateful Dead – Wake Of The Flood

More of the Music of the Grateful Dead

  • With STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades throughout, this vintage copy could not be beat beat
  • Both of these sides gives you clean, clear, full-bodied, lively and musical analog sound from first note to last
  • A difficult album to find audiophile quality sound for; this is one of the best copies to ever hit the site
  • Marks and problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 stars: “Wake of the Flood was certainly as good – if not arguably better than – most of their previous non-live efforts.”

This is the album that comes after American Beauty on the Grateful Dead timeline, and while it’s certainly not in the same league as that masterpiece, there’s still a lot of good music on here.

Again, I think American Beauty is a stronger album, but this is a very good representation of the kind of jazzier sound The Dead carried on with for the next twenty-plus years. Many of these songs remained staples of their concert repertoire, including Stella Blue, Eyes Of The World, and Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo. You might get more incendiary performances of the tracks on the best of the band’s famous bootleg tapes, but you certainly won’t get sound this good. (more…)

Grateful Dead – Blues For Allah

More of the Music of The Grateful Dead

  • A killer sounding copy of this Grateful Dead classic (only the second to hit the site in years) with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Probably the last essential Dead album – this pressing has especially silky, sweet vocals, good presence and energy, punchy bass and a spacious soundfield
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The Dead went into a state of latent activity that lasted until the spring of [1975] when the band reconvened to record Blues for Allah… 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.”

This fun and funky mid-’70s Grateful Dead LP has two excellent sides. This album features the extended workout of “Help On The Way” into “Slipknot” into “Franklin’s Tower” — a fan favorite which remained a staple of Dead shows into the ’90s. On an energetic and tubey magical copy like this one, it’s a trip!

Shakedown Street and Terrapin Station have their moments but are certainly not as consistent as this album. (more…)

Grateful Dead – Self-Titled “Skull and Roses”

More of the Music of The Grateful Dead

  • These early Green Label pressings of the band’s 2-LP “Skull & Roses” live album boast solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER on all FOUR sides
  • They are clean, clear and open with an abundance of bottom end weight and plenty of Tubey Magic
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard or you get your money back – it’s as simple as that
  • 4 stars: “Coming off of the quantum-leap success of the studio country-rock efforts Workingman’s Dead (1969) and American Beauty, Grateful Dead offers up a pair of new Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter compositions – ‘Bertha’ and ‘Wharf Rat’ – both of which garnered a permanent place within the band’s live catalog. However, ‘The Other One’ – joined in progress just as Billy Kreutzmann fires up a blazing percussion solo – sprawls as the album’s centerpiece.
  • If you’re a fan of the band, this classic from 1971 belongs in your collection.

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Grateful Dead – Terrapin Station

More of the Music of The Grateful Dead

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish, we guarantee you’ve never heard Terrapin Station sound this good – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Produced by Keith Olsen of Fleetwood Mac fame, it’s no surprise that the recording quality is quite a bit better than most of the records the band had been making at the time
  • “Terrapin Station offers a few choice glimpses of the band doing what it does best. While the most prominent example is the album’s extended title suite, there are a few others such as the cover of the Rev. Gary Davis gospel-blues ‘Samson and Delilah’ and a resurrection of the Martha & the Vandellas hit ‘Dancin’ in the Streets.'”

Most Dead studio albums after Workingman’s Dead are full of filler, but this one actually has some good songs: the extended title song suite, the hard-rockin’ “Passenger,” and “Estimated Prophet.” The cover (note the similarities to Fleetwood Mac’s Station Man) and the darkly funky “Dancin’ In The Streets” may have earned this album the epithet of Disco Dead, but it’s actually a good bit of fun if you don’t take it too seriously.

Terrapin Station marked the Dead’s return to a major label (Arista) and was only their second album ever to make use of an outside producer (Keith Olsen, who also worked on the two smash hit Fleetwood Mac albums of the era — Rumours and the self-titled LP, two records that can sound stunning on the right pressing). As such, the songs are a bit more concise than you might expect from these crazy guys — only the title song goes over five and a half minutes, and it’s one of the band’s most famous jams!

What To Listen For

Most copies have a severe lack of top end extension, but this one actually sounds pretty nice up there. If you like the sound of Little Feat’s albums, you can expect similar qualities from this record.

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Grateful Dead – Europe ’72

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  • Here is a seriously good copy of Europe 72 (one of only a handful to hit the site in three years) with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on all SIX sides of these vintage Green Label pressings
  • Marks and problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear just how superb sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music
  • “No record album can replace a live appearance by the Dead – but those who can’t get enough of this exceptional band will be kept busy for a good little while with this one.” – Rolling Stone
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The band mixes a bevy of new material with revisitations of back-catalog favorites. Sadly, this European jaunt would be the last of its kind to include the formidable talents and soul of founding member Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan, who was in increasingly fragile health. Although few in number, his contributions to Europe 72 are among the most commanding not only of this release, but of his career.”

*NOTE: There is a mark that plays 10 times at a moderate level at the start of track 1 on side 2, “Jack Straw.”

A bunch of classic Dead songs that never appeared on a studio album are here in their definitive versions, including “He’s Gone,” “Jack Straw,” “Brown-Eyed Woman,” “Ramble On Rose” and “Tennessee Jed.”

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The Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead

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More Hippie Folk Rock

  • This early Green Label pressing was doing practically everything right, earning KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from top to bottom – unusually quiet vinyl too for any record pressed in this era
  • A Top 100 album and a truly superb recording of the Dead at the peak of their creativity (along with American Beauty)
  • We love the amazingly big, rich, weighty bottom end found on the better pressings such as this one
  • 5 stars: “The lilting Uncle John’s Band, their first radio hit, opens the record and perfectly summarizes its subtle, spare beauty; complete with a new focus on more concise songs and tighter arrangements, the approach works brilliantly.”

This original Warner Brothers pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. (more…)

The Grateful Dead – American Beauty

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More Hippie Folk Rock

  • The acoustic guitars are magical on this copy, and you won’t believe how wonderfully breathy and sweet these guys’ voices sound
  • American Beauty is one of Stephen Barncard‘s greatest recording achievements – the richness and clarity are really something here
  • A 5 star Top 100 album – “A companion piece to the luminous Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty is an even stronger document of the Grateful Dead’s return to their musical roots. American Beauty remains the Dead’s studio masterpiece.”
  • A permanent resident of our Top 100 rock and pop list — no other album by the band is as well recorded
  • Roughly 100 other listings for the best sounding album by an artist or group can be found here.

This is a longtime Better Records favorite for both music and sound. For those of you who love acoustic guitar-driven folk songs — we call it hippie folk rock — you should find a lot to like about the sound of this album.

Tubey Magical Acoustic Guitar reproduction is superb on the best Hot Stamper pressings. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings).

All the Elements Finally Come Together

All of the elements necessary to take this music to an entirely new level are here, my friends: smooth, sweet vocals; rich, meaty bass; an open and airy top end; top-notch presence and so forth. The sound is so spacious and transparent that you can easily pick out each of the instruments and follow them over the course of the songs.

You could choose any track you wanted to and find lovely sound here, but I’d recommend “Ripple” and “Attics Of My Life” for starters. Most copies suffer from a glaring lack of highs, but just listen to the ride cymbals on this one to find out that the top end is still alive and well here.

The Dead At Their Best

The crowning glory of the Grateful Dead, their MASTERPIECE. Albums like this come along once in a band’s life — if they’re lucky. This is the zenith of the Grateful Dead. Workingman’s Dead is a good album. American Beauty is a great one.

If you don’t have a great-sounding copy yet, it’s time to get on the bus. Stephen Barncard is the recording engineer responsible for this album, Deja Vu, Brewer, and Shipley’s Tarkio, and a host of other amazingly rich, sweet and natural, mostly acoustic recordings that stand head and shoulders above the bulk of their contemporaries. American Beauty is one of them.

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The Grateful Dead – Aoxomoxoa

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  • This original Green Label Warner Brothers LP has STUNNING Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • These sides were doing everything right — big, full-bodied and present with tons of energy and a nice extended top end
  • “When the LP hit the racks in the early summer of 1969, Deadheads were greeted by some of the freshest and most innovative sounds to develop from the thriving Bay Area music scene.” – All Music 

NOTE: This is the later remixed version from 1971. We found it far better sounding than the original 1969 mix. If you’re interested in the original mix, we have some of those copies with lower grades but if you want the best sound, this copy is definitely the way to go. (more…)

Grateful Dead – Steal Your Face

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More Live Recordings of Interest

  • An outstanding pressing of this live Dead record with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • “… newer originals such as the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter ballads ‘Ship of Fools,’ ‘It Must Have Been the Roses,’ and the album’s unmitigated gem, ‘Stella Blue,’ rate among the package’s most thoughtful and lyrical moments.”

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The Grateful Dead – Live/Dead

  • A KILLER copy with Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on sides one, two and three and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on the fourth side
  • All four sides are incredibly big, rich and full-bodied with super present and breathy vocals and a solid bottom end
  • “Few recordings have ever represented the essence of an artist in performance as faithfully as Live/Dead. It has become an aural snapshot of this zenith in the Grateful Dead’s 30-year evolution and as such is highly recommended for all manner of enthusiasts.” – All Music, 4 1/2 Stars

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