Live Dead (Remastered)

“Jazz-rock” was becoming the rage in 1969, with horn-laden outfits blaring their way into the Top 40 like new little big bands. Brassless (give or take those few bars of trumpet on *Anthem of the Sun*), the Grateful Dead nonetheless worked their own space-jazz mojo on *Live/Dead*, a sprawling set recorded at several California gigs. The band moves from a ruminative “Dark Star” (an entire side of the original double LP) to definitive, even transcendent rollin’-and-tumblin’ takes on “The Eleven” and Bobby Bland’s“Turn On Your Love Light.” Make no mistake, this was also rock music — *Dead* music, owing much to folk and country while paying its dues to, say, Miles Davis’ various rhythm sections. While standing as a high point in the Dead’s catalog, it also pointed the way for the Allman Brothers Band, who would soon be laying down similarly rich, epic-length performances by way of topping their own early work.