Grateful Dead

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OBAL PEKNY
DESKA VYBORNY STAV

A1a  Help On The Way

    Written-By – Garcia, Hunter

3:15
A1b  Slipknot!

    Written-By – Kreutzmann, Weir, Garcia, K. Godchaux, Lesh*

4:03
A2  Franklin's Tower (Roll Away The Dew)

    Written-By – Kreutzmann, Garcia, Hunter

4:37
A3a  King Solomon's Marbles

    Written-By – Lesh

1:55
A3b  Stronger Than Dirt Or Milkin' The Turkey

    Written-By – Kreutzmann, Hart, Lesh

3:25
A4  The Music Never Stopped

    Written-By – B. Weir, J. Barlow

4:35
B1  Crazy Fingers

    Written-By – Garcia, Hunter

6:41
B2  Sage & Spirit

    Written-By – Weir

3:07
B3a  Blues For Allah

    Written-By – Garcia, Hunter

3:21
B3b  Sand Castles & Glass Camels

    Written-By – Kreutzmann, Weir, D. Godchaux, Garcia, K. Godchaux, Hart, Lesh

5:26
B3c  Unusual Occurances In The Desert

    Written-By – Garcia, Hunter

3:48
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    Bass, Vocals – Phil Lesh
    Drums, Percussion – Bill Kreutzmann
    Engineer [Assistant] – Rob Taylor
    Engineer, Mixed By – Dan Healy
    Guitar, Vocals – Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia
    Keyboards, Vocals – Keith Godchaux
    Lyrics By – Robert Hunter
    Painting [Cover] – Philip Garris
    Percussion, Percussion [Crickets] – Mickey Hart
    Producer, Mixed By – Grateful Dead, The
    Reeds, Flute – Steven Schuster
    Technician [Production Assistant] – Betty Cantor, Bob Matthews, Brett Cohen, Ramrod, Steve Brown
    Vocals – Donna Godchaux
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Now this is more like it!

I thought I hated The Grateful Dead, but perhaps not. The appeal of this band has always been completely lost on me, but that was before I'd heard 'Blues For Allah'. It's just brilliant, melodic, accessible psychedelic rock with progressive, jazz, blues and folk touches, not to mention the obvious Middle Eastern element, albeit only in the title and final tracks.

I find it nothing short of flabbergasting that 'Blues for Allah' is not more widely considered their best nor also in among the pantheon of 70s rock classics.
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Blues For Allah found the Grateful Dead tapping a sort of jazz fusion vein well removed from the psychedelia and folk they are generally associated with. Instrumental tracks like the searching "Slipknot!," percussive "King Solomon's Marbles" and acoustic beauty "Sage and Spirit" weave together some of their most complex and focused performances, while the funky "The Music Never Stopped" and repetitive, bicentennial themed "Franklin's Tower" are more typical Dead groovers. Opener "Help on the Way" is smooth and snakey, but it's the lilting "Crazy Fingers," with it's plaintive Garcia vocal that shines brightest here. Blues For Allah's closing title track, mixing Arabic and gospel-influenced vocal passages with a lengthy stretch of ambient sound effects provides for a weird, tedious finale to the otherwise successful album.
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The Grateful Dead are an anomaly; a bunch of wild freaks who turn out to be mellow, friendly guys. Don’t let the cover fool you; editing out the two weakest selections, “King Solomon’s Marbles” and the title track, we have around 26 minutes of very smooth, tasteful jazzy grooves meant only to bless you, including: “The Music Never Stopped” (play that funky music white boy!), “Crazy Fingers”, a gentle but very finished melody, and “Sage and Spirit”, which has a definite early baroque feel.

Yes the melodies sometimes drift into wandering jamming, still the superb musicianship and complexity make things constantly interesting, and ultimately satisfying. Venturing further, I’ve gradually come to dig the whole album. The title track, although no masterpiece, is a pleasant slice of weird ambience, complete with a cricket solo, with real live crickets who were peacefully released back into Bob Weir’s garden after the session.

No doubt an album which infuriated the young punks, but I know where I stand - give me this over the Sex Pistols any day. Also those hardcore mullahs and terrorist dudes ought to get into this baby, it might mellow them out a bit. “God bless the child who rings that bell.”
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There is near unanimity among the Grateful Dead's fans and observers that the band's best work was live and the studio albums at best provide cleaner but relatively pallid and uninspired versions of their best songs. 

I have a different view - that the Grateful Dead's recorded legacy of live vs. studio material is much the same as nearly every other pop/rock band - their best work is found in their studio albums.  The only difference is that there is so much live material available from this band.  Their live recordings do sometimes have more energy, occasionally display extemporaneous playing of amazing quality, but overall lack the impact of their more refined studio recordings.  Like all bands playing live, the Dead can be off key, fail to stay on beat, miss cues and generally sound like they don't know where they're going.  This on some of their BEST live recordings.

Blues for Allah is a great example - this is a very strong album with solid songwriting, outstanding vocals (mainly courtesy of Jerry) and great ensemble playing.  The precision of the band's playing here is key to the music - this is subtle rock with a distinct jazzy feel.  Executing music like this requires a level of refinement and care that typically cannot be reproduced in a live setting.  Nothing on this will knock your socks off but the album is extremely consistent and sets a really nice mood.

Oh, and really cool cover!
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"Blues For Allah" is a very decent record. After a few mediocre albums from from the Dead's own label, Grateful Dead Records, this stands out the most. The name of the album is a tribute to Saudi King Faisal, who redently died and was a huge fan of the Dead. "Help On The Way > Slipknot" and "Fanklin's Tower" are the highlights here while "Blues For Allah", the title track and finisher is a great eding masterpiece, too bad it was rarely performed, though there's a great version on the "One From The Vault" album.
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Nice and laid back with some really cool jazzy instrumental passages (especially 'Franklins Tower' and 'Sage & Spirit'). 

Donna Godchaux's vocals, however, are mixed too low I feel, and she was put to much better use on 'Terrapin Station'

The cover art is amazing.

'The desert stars are bright tonight/ Lets meet as friends
The Flower of Islam/ The fruit of Abraham'  (Blues for Allah)
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This is hands down my favorite Studio Album released by the Grateful Dead. After the "hiatus" after their last show on 10/20/74 they took a little break from the road and created together and seperately some amazing music. This is the real fruit from that "time off" during 1975. Mickey Hart returned to the band and added a much needed weirdness and experimentation factor. This album Features some amazing GD classics, Help on the way>Slipknot!>Franklins Tower is amazing and is still a favorite amoung Deadhead's live. "the music never stopped" has a very specific hot-day in the bayou type feel which is amazingly produced. "crazy Fingers" is a Hunter/Garcia classic both in form but in content as well. I love this album.
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Blues for Allah has always eluded categorization.  It starts off rather easy-going, like a breezing, soulful Steely Dan or groovy Clapton (Derek-era), but soon enters a very strange territory on side two.  At times it sounds like jarring Canterbury folk music, heavily instrumental and floating, only to be supeceded by a truly haunting song that sounds as if it were recorded in a tomb.  My only reference point here is the eerie song Radiohead recorded on their last album (We Suck Young Blood).  This song is more loose and flowing, making it perhaps less spectacular, but more elusive and haunting instead. It is an unforgettable musical experience.
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The Dead at their jazziest; the twists and turns of "Stronger Than Dirt" or "Slipknot!" show they've been listening to the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The trio of "Help On The Way" -> "Slipknot!" -> "Franklin's Tower", which moves from fusion to elongated Band-like shuffle, is one of my favourite Dead listening experiences. Elsewhere Weir turns in the self-mythologising "The Music Never Stopped" and the gorgeous instrumental "Sage And Spirit", while Jerry adds the gentle "Crazy Fingers". Shame the last half of side two is taken up with the failed experiments of "Blues For Allah" itself. I'm not going to give it five stars because listening to the songs in live versions (particularly on One From The Vault) is even better, but this is certainly one of the band's best post-1970 studio efforts.
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One star each for "Help on the Way", "Slipknot" and "Franklin's Tower" all of which represent the Dead at their progressive best. Another star for the rest of the album which is generally pretty good but meanders a bit in places.

The highlights of this album make it a worthwhile addition to any collection
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This is my favourite Dead album. This is also their most progressive (Terrapin Station is a close 2nd), for they managed to incorporate a variety of different styles while simultaneously putting the unmistakable Dead stamp on it. "King Solomon's Marbles" is one of the greatest instrumental jams ever and is the perfect embodiment of their collective and individual musical prowess. I for one love the title track for it may be the most adventurous piece of music they ever recorded and adventurous I like. One hell of an album.
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You can tell that the Dead put more effort into this studio release, and they certainly gave themselves plenty of time to do so by cutting way back on the touring in this period.  It paid dividends for this one, since these versions are actually as strong as some of the live performance and not merely the tidy templates that litter much of their studio work.  I love the spooky "Blues for Allah" track and the ensuing instrumental pieces.
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Amazing album.  It is still unique. A masterpiece.
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A brilliant album in which the band delves into more experimental music, and succeeds in evoking a strange and beautiful array of melodies and sounds.  "Help on the Way" is executed with a satisfying exactness, and "Blues for Allah" is awesome--Donna Godchaux sounds like a goddess!