Unfinished Grateful Dead album

The Grateful Dead had worked on songs in the early 1990s for an album, but it was never completed.[1][2][3] This has sometimes been referred to as the unfinished last Grateful Dead album[4] and The Missing Album.[3] The band began work on a new album in November 1994, which was incomplete. After Jerry Garcia's death, the band had considered finishing the album,[5] but it never came into fruition.[1]

Overview

In the early 1990s, the Grateful Dead had been working on new songs. When Jerry Garcia had died in 1995, the band decided to break up and this album never was able to be finished.[1][2][3] Work on the unfinished album began in November 1994 in West Marin County in California, at a studio the band called "the Site", which was located on a hill with scenic views and occasional views of wildlife.[1] At the time, Jerry Garcia was not particularly interested or focused upon the project, which discouraged its impetus.[1] The studio session work did not have any lead vocals from songs that Garcia performed lead vocals on, and Garcia's guitar work on the tracks was described as "rudimentary."[6] The tracks for the new album were incomplete.[7]

In 1995, Phil Lesh was performing studio work on the unfinished album.[4] At this time, Lesh stated that the album "... doesn't have much Jerry on it",[4] referring to lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. In 1997, Bob Weir stated that the album could potentially be completed, but that it would take additional collaboration from the remaining band members.[3] Weir and others stated at this time that they expected for a collaboration to finish the album to occur sometime in 1998.[3] In August 1999, Lesh stated that he felt the content from the studio sessions did not merit use on an album, and that efforts to improve the content would not equate to what Garcia would have performed.[6] In 1999, Dennis McNally, spokesperson for the Grateful Dead, stated that using another guitarist to fill-in for Garcia "would have been unconscionable", and that "without Garcia, there is no last album."[5] Some of the band's fans, known as Deadheads, looked forward to the prospect of the remaining band members completing a final album from the existing content.[5] Ultimately, the album never came into fruition.[1]

The album So Many Roads (1965–1995) has six songs from live concert performance and rehearsal tracks from the unfinished Grateful Dead album.[5]

This album would have had the most variety of lead singers for songs of any of the Grateful Dead's studio albums. There were four singers: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Vince Welnick.

Fan renditions

Fans have tried to make their own albums that could represent what they had been working on. An example of this is Days Between (The Final Album That Never Was), a video on YouTube with studio and live recordings of the 12 songs put into the style of an album.[8]

Another fine example of this is So Many Roads (1995, Full Album), a video on Youtube with both Studio/ Rehearsal recordings of most of the songs that were going to be on the album. The difference between this version, and the aforementioned above, is that it is mostly studio/rehearsal recordings, with only one live rendition, but the live rendition is edited professionally so that it sounds like a studio track.[9]

Track listing

The following are the songs that were planned for this album:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sclafani, T. (2013). The Grateful Dead FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Greatest Jam Band in History. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. pt330–. ISBN 978-1-61713-582-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Josephson, Isaac (April 20, 1998). "Vince Welnick talks about the Grateful Dead's last unfinished album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Rogers, John (April 8, 1997). "Grateful Dead: Musical group lives on in new works". The Daily Courier. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Morse, Steve (December 30, 1995). "Life after Dead: trio plans tour". Observer-Reporter. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Simon, Richard B (November 9, 1999). "Grateful Dead Box Set Targets Diehards, Newcomers". MTV News. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Juanis, J.C. (January 22, 2015). "Phil Lesh on Longtime Bandmates and New Friends: August 1999 (Throwback Thursday)". Relix. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  7. ↑ Dodd, D.; Spaulding, D. (2000). The Grateful Dead Reader. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-19-972863-3. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ Grateful Dead - Days Between (The Final Album That Never Was). 6 September 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2016 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lM4BhQq9UE

External links

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