Workingman's Dead

Workingman's Dead
Studio album by Grateful Dead
Released	June 14, 1970 (1970-06-14)
Recorded	February 1970
Studio	Pacific High Recording, San Francisco
Genre	Folk rock country rock Roots Rock
Length	36:00
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Bob Matthews Betty Cantor Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead chronology
Live/Dead (1969) Workingman's Dead (1970) Vintage Dead (1970)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
American Songwriter	[2]
Robert Christgau	A [3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

Workingman's Dead is the fourth Grateful Dead studio album. It was recorded in February 1970 and originally released on June 14, 1970. The album and its studio follow-up, American Beauty, were recorded back-to-back using a similar style, eschewing the psychedelic experimentation of previous albums and focusing on Americana-styled songcraft.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 262 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

It was reissued in 2003 in three different formats: as part of the The Golden Road (1965–1973) 12-CD box set, as a remastered and expanded CD, and as a DVD-audio release. The first two contain eight exclusive tracks not found on the original 1970 release while the latter contains just the original tracks rendered in DVD-Audio. In 2014, it was reissued as a two-LP set mastered at 45 rpm by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.

Content

The title of the album comes from a comment from Jerry Garcia to lyricist Robert Hunter about how "this album was turning into the Workingman's Dead version of the band".^[5]

The band returned to the Pacific High Recording Studio in San Francisco to record the album and spent just nine days there. Garcia noted that "let's do it all in three weeks and get it the hell out of the way".^[6] Besides the weight of their debt in producing their previous album, Aoxomoxoa, the band was also dealing with the stress of a recent drug bust in New Orleans—which could have possibly resulted in jail time—and their manager Lenny Hart (father of drummer Mickey Hart) skipping town with a sizable chunk of the band's wealth. "In midst of all this adverse stuff that was happening ... [recording the album] was definitely an upper," said Garcia in an interview.^[7]

Garcia has commented that much of the sound of the album comes both from his pairing with Hunter as well as the band's friendship with Crosby, Stills and Nash. "Hearing those guys sing and how nice they sounded together, we thought, 'We can try that. Let's work on it a little,'" commented Garcia.^[8]

Songs such as "Uncle John's Band", "High Time", and "Cumberland Blues" were brought to life with soaring harmonies and layered vocal textures that had not been a part of the band's sound until then. According to the 1992 Dead oral history, Aces Back to Back, in the summer of 1968, Stephen Stills vacationed at Mickey Hart's ranch in Novato. "Stills lived with me for three months around the time of CSN's first record," recalls Hart, "and he and David Crosby really turned Jerry and Bobby onto the voice as the holy instrument. You know, 'Hey, is this what a voice can do?' That turned us away from pure improvisation and more toward songs."

Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, the companion album that followed months later, were, according to drummer Bill Kreutzmann, both influenced by the Bakersfield Sound. He commented, "We tried to be like a Bakersfield band—but one that still sounded like we were from 300 miles north of that town...we held to our psychedelic roots. Workingman's Dead was all about discovering the song...American Beauty became all about having the harmonies to do that."^[9]

Warner Bros. released "Uncle John's Band" backed with "New Speedway Boogie" as a single, but it received limited airplay. This was neither, as once postulated, because of length issues nor concerns about profanity, since the single issue had been edited to a very radio-friendly three-minute length and the word "goddamn" removed. "Casey Jones" was also released as a single, but did not chart in the U.S.

Lyricist Robert Hunter appears as the seventh member on the cover of the album.^[10]

The album was voted by readers of Rolling Stone as the best album of 1970, in front of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Déjà Vu and Van Morrison's Moondance.^[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, except where noted.

Bonus tracks production details

• "Dire Wolf" recorded at Santa Rosa Veteran's Memorial Hall, Santa Rosa, CA on 6/27/69
• "Black Peter" recorded at Golden Hall Community Concourse, San Diego, CA on 1/10/70
• "Easy Wind" recorded at Springer's Ballroom, Gresham, OR on 1/16/70
• "Cumberland Blues" recorded at the Oregon State University (Gymnasium), Corvallis, OR on 1/17/70
• "Mason's Children" recorded at the Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, HI on 1/24/70 (later released on Dave's Picks Volume 19)
• "Uncle John's Band" recorded at Winterland, San Francisco, CA on 10/4/70 (sleevenotes incorrectly list as recorded at Winterland, 12/23/70);^[11][12] another track from this date is a bonus on American Beauty

Personnel

Grateful Dead

Charts and certifications

Billboard

RIAA Certification^[14]

See also

• So Many Roads (1965–1995)—a 1999 box set that includes the outtake "Mason's Children"
• The Golden Road (1965–1973)—a 2001 box set which includes the entirety of this album and its re-release bonus tracks
• The Warner Bros. Studio Albums—a 2010 box set which includes this album

References