Editor’s Note: From Albumism’s inception back in 2016, we’ve remained unabashedly and unequivocally passionate about our mission of celebrating the world's love affairs with albums past, present and future.
But while our devotion to the album as an art form has remained steadfast, as evidenced by our deepening repository of individual album tributes and reviews, we’ve admittedly seldom taken the opportunity to explicitly articulate our reverence for the virtues of artists’ complete album repertoires as a whole.
Hence why we’ve decided to showcase what we believe to be the most dynamic discographies of all time in this recurring series. In doing so, we hope to better understand the broader creative context within which our most beloved individual albums exist, while acknowledging the full breadth of their creators’ artistry, career arcs, and overall contributions to the ever-evolving musical landscape.
We hope you enjoy this series and be sure to check here periodically for the latest installments.
GRATEFUL DEAD
Select Albums: The Grateful Dead (1967) | Anthem of the Sun (1968) | Aoxomoxoa (1969) | Live/Dead (1969) | Workingman's Dead (1970) | American Beauty (1970) | Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses) (1971) | Europe '72 (1972) | History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice) (1973) | Wake of the Flood (1973) | From the Mars Hotel (1974) | Blues for Allah (1975) | Steal Your Face (1976) | Terrapin Station (1977) | Shakedown Street (1978) | Go to Heaven (1980) | Reckoning (1981) | Dead Set (1981) | In the Dark (1987) | Dylan & the Dead (1989) | Built to Last (1989) | Without a Net (1990) | Readers’ Poll Results
Grateful Dead are one of America’s most important and creatively boundless rock bands. The music in their eclectic catalog fused a number of bedrock American musical genres with wild instrumental and song structure experimentation like no other band of its time. With lyrics that were sometimes obtuse, often poetic and always ripe for investigation, their music and mystery spawned an entire travelling counterculture and cosmic ecosystem of fandom.
Their albums never really repeated themselves: 1967’s cover-heavy self-titled debut was an amped-up (i.e., amphetamine-addled) blues outing, 1970’s double bill of Working Man’s Dead and American Beauty was grounded in folk and country, 1975’s Blues for Allah fused jazz and rock, and their final studio album Built To Last (1989) featured the band experimenting with MIDI for the first time.
But it’s the live albums in their catalog that offer up a deep well of unbridled adventurism and fluid song restructuring that would cement the band as a touring behemoth who broke records for decades.
Taking into account all their studio recordings, live albums, box sets, vault recordings and album remasters that the band has released over the last fifty-five years—intake of their entire catalog is a daunting challenge. But, if you value country, americana, and rock music experimentation, then diving into it all is definitely worth the long, strange trip.
Mark’s 3 Favorite Grateful Dead Albums of All Time:
1. American Beauty (1970)
2. Live/Dead (1969)
3. Anthem of the Sun (1968)
VISIT Grateful Dead’s Official Store
LISTEN & WATCH:
