Search - Grateful Dead :: Blues for Allah (Dig)

Bonus Track Instrumentals!

Kenneth M. Goodman | Cleveland, Ohio United States | 03/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of all the bonus tracks appearing on this remaster, all but one are

instrumentals; and all these instrumentals are far better than very good; so if you (as I do) like to collect Grateful Dead instrumentals, the remaster of Blues for Allah has a generous selection."

Their best just got much better!

James J. Jenkins | Weare, NH United States | 06/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This remastered album is what I expected when I first heard they were adding bonus tracks to the boxset. I don't really want live versions of songs taken out of context, unless it's something really rare. What I want are intimate studio jams from the time when they were recording, and boy does this deliver! Don't get me wrong, the "Mars Hotel" remaster has some extra gems, like "Wave that Flag", but if I already have the entire show with that performance I'm not interested. However, NOBODY, as far as I know, has any of the jams that are featured here, and that's certainly saying something. So thank you, because we all know the tapes were always rolling."

Complimented and enhanced by the bonus material

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 03/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Released in 1974, this is the Grateful Dead's eight studio album and 12th album release overall. The original CD was 44 minutes long but the bonus material gets it up close to 80 minutes.



Like all of the remastered Grateful Dead CD's, the sound quality is excellent. It is enhanced by with HDCD sound. I just bought a CD player with a HDCD decoder, and this sounds stunning. HDCD is a 24 bit recording vs. the normal 16 bit of a regular CD. It can be played back on a normal CD player, and sounds better than a normal CD. But, you get the best improvement if you have a CD player that does HDCD.



Like all of the remastered Grateful Dead CD's, this has bonus material to take it up to 80 minutes. The quality of the bonus material has been hit and miss. For instance, it is poor on American Beauty. On Blues For Allah, the bonus material compliments the original music and enhances the whole disc. If there were any doubts before, with the bonus material, this is definitely a five star disc. I also like that there is approximately a 10 second gap between the original and bonus material, to seperate the two.



This comes in a nice cardboard case, and unlike most cardboard cases, the plastic tabs that hold the CD are sturdy and do not snap off. This part of the second boxset of remastered Dead CD's. Unlike the first set, this CD does not have a booklet and extensive liner notes. The extensive info on the CD is contained in a book that comes in the boxset, but is not available if you buy the individual CD's.



Blues For Allah is a complex work that really flows together from start to finish. Although there are seperate and distinct songs, it all plays like one long suite. The bonus material is mostly instrumentals that follows the same music flow. This along with Terrapin Station are the Dead's foray into a quasi progress rock style. But, at the same time, it has that mellow but bright sounding atmosphere, similar to Wake of the Flood.



After this album was recorded, the band went to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and played a live show that included all the songs from this album. It is captured on the double CD, One From the Vault. Unlike what another has said, I don't think that live version is as good as this tight and wonderfully recorded studio version. Also, I have heard other live versions of Blues For Allah that are really spacy and go on for an hour. I would like to an official CD release of one of those shows."