Workingman’s Dead was the first recorded fruits of this new approach, established firmly by “Uncle John’s Band”, a campfire strum with an entirely acoustic backing. “High Time” adds a guitar through a Leslie speaker, but is slow, sad, and pretty. That new pedal steel dominates “Dire Wolf”, something of a modern folk song, perhaps best known by the chorus “don’t murder me.” The Dead that rocks finally surfaces on “New Speedway Boogie”, which continues the foreboding theme, this time obliquely referring to the Altamont free concert, which had already gotten so tense by the time the band showed up that they turned around and left without playing. (As seen in Gimme Shelter, Santana drummer Michael Shrieve fills in Garcia and Phil Lesh about the situation. “Bummer,” comments Jerry. “Marty [Balin] got beat up,” says Shrieve. “Doesn’t seem right, man,” replies Phil.)
Things pick up musically with another modern folk lament. “Cumberland Blues” begins like a Dead jam, but turns to bluegrass by the end with a prominent banjo. “Black Peter” counterparts “High Time”, being a slow sad lope, with a few nice touches, like the occasional organ and the layered vocals. “Easy Wind” gives Pigpen something to do vocally, and he manages to keep up even though it sounds like the band is playing in three different tempos simultaneously. “Casey Jones” provides a grand finale, another twist on an old folk tale, and one everybody likes to sing because it rhymes “train” with “cocaine”.
As would be proven in time, Workingman’s Dead was key to a successful year for the band artistically, and part of a wave of good music coming out of California at the time. By moving away from experimenting for the sake of it, and borne out by the sepia-toned, almost Wild West artwork, they could be taken seriously as musicians.
The expanded CD is packed to capacity: a mix of “New Speedway Boogie” with backing vocals; a pile of live recordings of the time, like “Dire Wolf” sung by Bob Weir and an off-pitch “Mason’s Children”, a song recorded for the album but left off; and the obligatory radio ad. The 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition ignored these, but added two discs containing a full show recorded in February 1971, about a month before the gigs that begat their next live album. Of further interest to historians, this was preceded by a digital streaming collection dubbed Workingman’s Dead: The Angel’s Share, which presented two and a half hours of session outtakes, giving insight into the development of each of the tracks on the original album.
The Grateful Dead Workingman’s Dead (1970)—4
2003 CD reissue: same as 1970, plus 8 extra tracks
2020 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition: same as 1970, plus 17 extra tracks
I don't think of the Wild West when I see the album cover. To me, they look like they're on the dole during the Great Depression, tying
ReplyDeletein with the title of the album.
A bit overrated, but I do think it was their best album to date. Usually, I prefer that Dead when they are doing actual songs. Of course, that’s proof that I’m certainly not a Deadhead, but that’s fine.
ReplyDeleteTwo are the songs are way too draggy and slow for me. One is “High Time” (which it definitely is not) and the musically lumpy “Easy Living”. That has the additional minus of being sung by Pigpen. (Strike two on the litmus test for Deadheads). Moving up a tier, I can never remember “Black Peter” when it’s not playing, and fan fave “Casey Jones”, to me, is just OK. (The iconoclasm of “ooh, he’s singing about coke on the radio” is long gone).
The other four tunes are just marvelous, however. “Dire Wolf” is jaunty and amusing. “Cumberland Blues” cheerful tune stands in deliberate contrast to its dark lyrics. “Uncle John’s Band” is quite moving, beautifully sung, and an anthem for the hippie dream. But, then we get quickly to the ominous “New Speedway Boogie”, in which Hunter expresses confusion, if not disillusionment.
As for the bonus tracks, I’ll definitely take another mix of “New Speedway Boogie”. It’s too bad that one of the live songs is “Easy Wind”. However, the even jauntier live take of “Dire Wolf” sung by Weir is fun. The electric “Uncle John’s Band” loses some of the intimacy but is still effective. Finally, I they had used the studio version of “Mason’s Children”. It could have replaced one of the more boring songs on the album.
The album was a hit for the Dead. They did deserve it.