Happy 45th: Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead

45 years ago today, The Grateful Dead released their second live double album, and although it’s technically a self-titled affair, it’s come to be known more familiarly by a name derived from its cover art; SKULL AND ROSES. In fact, it’s henceforth going to be referred to within this piece by that more familiar title, mostly so that every other pair of words that we type isn’t “Grateful Dead.”

Released in 1971, the tracks on SKULL AND ROSES were recorded at a variety of locations around the US, including San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom (“Johnny B. Goode”), New York’s Manhattan Center (“Big Railroad Blues,” “Not Fade Away” / “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad,” “Playing in the Band,” “Oh, Boy!” and “I’m a Hog for You”), and New York’s Fillmore East (“Mama Tried,” “Big Boss Man,” “Wharf Rat,” “Bertha,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “The Other One,” and “Me and My Uncle”). Admittedly, there were some vocal overdubs on the various performances, but at least you can’t complain about the musicianship of the overdubber: Merl Saunders contributed some overdubbed organ parts to the proceedings.

SKULL AND ROSES almost had a rather more risqué title, one which would’ve maintained the word “Skull” but followed it with, well, let’s just say it’s a familiar sexual epithet that starts with the same letter as “familiar.” Needless to say, that idea didn’t pass muster with the label, but from a sales standpoint, it was probably the right decision: the album subsequently became the Dead’s first-ever gold album.