The National & Friends - Day of the Dead (Grateful Dead Tribute Album) Album

It's imminent, so let's go. 4 singles so far (of 59 songs!!), all are really great.

Tracklist:

First is the National's take on "Morning Dew," which lacks the insane energy of the Dead's best versions but is a very National-ized take:

Bruce Hornsby & DeYarmond Edison (members of Bon Iver) do "Black Muddy River," the second to last song the Dead ever played and well among their saddest songs.

Courtney Barnett does a really great version of "New Speedway Boogie," one of the songs that I think shows off the bands' incredible songwriting prowess best. Very faithful to the original all things considered but her voice fits really well with this one.

Last of the first round of singles is The War on Drugs' version of "Touch Of Gray," which, idunno, not feeling as much as the others but is still pretty damn good. Basically sounds like the original through a Koz filter but there's nothing wrong with that:

And don't forget to check out The Grateful Dead Thread • forum.chorus.fm!

 

For reference, here are some of the Dead's best versions of these first singles.

From the "best show ever:"

From the "last show ever" (chilling how Garcia sings "last muddy river" instead of "black muddy river"):

A little more upbeat version than the studio and typical version, but a great one and the best quality for new ears ;)

Widely considered the best live version of the Deads' biggest (only?) radio hit, from yr local Hartford Civic Center:

 

You forgot Phosphorescent's cover of Sugaree which is awesome bc Matthew Houck has a sick voice

I love these so far. Courtney's is my favorite, obviously. I think I'm most curious about Hecker bc idk what he'll do.

 

Oh shit I never even saw that! Listening now. I agree, they're all great. I don't know if people will get really into the dead because of this but I hope at least people can begin to appreciate their songwriting more, and maybe get into the more accessible side. Courtney's might be my fav too. Haven't listened to her album in a while, made me want to revisit.

As for Hecker, I'm a bit stumped too. The track isn't a cover, obviously, but it's "Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald." John Oswald made a near two hour long cut of "Dark Star," their most ~spacey~ song, called "Grayfolded," where he cut a bunch of versions together into one huge one. The other part of the track title comes from a line from "Dark Star:" "Shall we go/you and I while we can/through the transitive nightfall of diamonds." So, I don't know if he'll be doing his thing using "Grayfolded" as source material, or pick a few of his choice "Dark Stars," or a complete original. Definitely very excited for it.

To continue what I've been doing, here's a great Sugaree:

Not my absolute favorite version, but my favorite under 15 minute version.

 

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Perfume Genius and Sharon Van Etten, Jim James, More Cover Grateful Dead: Listen | Pitchfork

Another round. Don't know much about UMO but I'm not sure Shakedown Street was a good pick for them. Just an ok cover. Perfy G was very nice, very good pick, captured the emotion of the original very well. The Jim James & Will Oldham covers were cool but didn't do much to make me want to listen to them instead of the originals. Much prefer a cover that does new and interesting stuff with the song. For example this one, which is among my favorites yet:

 

Pretty insane track list on this thing

 

you give any of these a listen steve

 

Gotta listen to this new batch soon. Especially curious about Perfy G and Charles Bradley.

 

I listened to the Jenny Lewis one and don't really remember what I thought. I'll definitely check out the songs with artists I like, at the very least

 

Inside the National's Epic Grateful Dead Tribute | Rolling Stone

 

Grateful Dead Live On: Why the Legendary Band Still Matters | Pitchfork

 

this is out and good

 

Finally working my way through this. 11 tracks in, the pre-release tracks are all still my favorite, with Courtney Barnett's track being my overall favorite. As for the unheard tracks, Kurt Vile, The National, Perfy G are the ones that have left an impression.

I'm mostly excited to get through the whole thing then build a condensed version that's straight fire.

 

The Phosphorescent songs on this make me want a new album from him so badly.