Grateful Dead - From The Mars Hotel

The Grateful Dead: From The Mars Hotel

Album #233 - June 1974

Episode date - October 9, 2024

The Top 500 of The Top 40
    0:00
    0:00

    If you graduated from High School anytime in the 1970’s (and even the 1980’s), then you almost certainly had some interaction with Deadheads.

    Now that the fanbase for the Grateful Dead has outlived the band by a significant margin, I sometimes wonder if the ‘modern’ version of a Deadhead acknowledges their studio recordings with the same degree of intensity as the thousands of live performances that have been so well-documented.

    From my perspective, and with only a few exceptions (“Workingman’s Dead” and American Beauty” in particular) the studio recordings seem to get short shrift, or entirely ignored by their most adoring fans, and that disappoints me. I applaud anybody who appreciates the various nuances of a live performance, even if that includes attempting to memorize two thousand-some-odd renditions of “Dark Star”, but for me, I often find myself returning to the studio recordings, and if I needed to pick just one, it would be “Mars Hotel” because it does such a fine job of presenting the band’s strong points.

    Any album that opens with the tongue-in-cheek irony of “U.S. Blues” and closes with the provocative insight of “Ship of Fools” is bound to be great, but add in a Phil Lesh masterpiece like “Unbroken Chain,” the gorgeous rock and roll of “Scarlet Begonias” and the dreamy/spooky wistfulness of “China Doll” (which always gives me chills when they resolve to a major key) and you have a Grateful Dead album that will withstand the ages, regardless of when you graduated.

    Feature tracks:

    U.S. Blues

    China Doll

    Unbroken Chain

    Loose Lucy

    Scarlet Begonias

    Pride of Cucamonga

    Money Money

    Ship of Fools

    June 1974 - Billboard Charted #16

    Related Shows

    The Hissing of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell

    Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns

    Album #256 - November 1975

      0:00
      0:00
       Queen: A Night at the Opera

      Queen: A Night at the Opera

      Album #255 - November 1975

        0:00
        0:00
        Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

        Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

        Album #254 - September 1975

          0:00
          0:00
          Al Green Is Love

          Al Green: Al Green Is Love

          Album #253 - August 1975

            0:00
            0:00
            Bruce Springstein: Born to Run

            Bruce Springstein: Born to Run

            Album #252 - August 1975

              0:00
              0:00
              Fleetwood Mac

              Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac

              Album #251 - July 1975

                0:00
                0:00
                Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

                Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

                Album #250 - June 1975

                  0:00
                  0:00
                  Stephen Stills: Stills

                  Stephen Stills: Stills

                  Album #249 - June 1975

                    0:00
                    0:00
                    Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes

                    Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes - Part 2

                    Album #248 - June 1975

                      0:00
                      0:00
                      Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes

                      Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes - Part 1

                      Album #248 - June 1975

                        0:00
                        0:00
                        Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger

                        Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger

                        Album #247 - May 1975

                          0:00
                          0:00
                          Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic

                          Aerosmith: Toys in the Attic

                          Album #246 - April 1975

                            0:00
                            0:00