Grayfolded
Grayfolded | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Live album by Grateful Dead | ||||
Released | 1994, 1995 | |||
Recorded | 1968–1993 | |||
Genre | Psychedelic rock, jam band music, plunderphonics, sound collage[1][2] | |||
Length | 109:53 | |||
Label | Swell/Artifacts | |||
Producer | John Oswald | |||
Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
|
Grayfolded is a two-CD album produced by John Oswald featuring new edits and re-mixes of the Grateful Dead song "Dark Star". Oswald used a process he calls "plunderphonics" to edit fragments of over a hundred different performances of the song, recorded live between 1968 and 1993, to produce two new versions of the song each lasting about an hour.
The first disc of Grayfolded, titled Transitive Axis, was released in 1994, and the second disc, Mirror Ashes, was released in 1995, both on the Swell/Artifacts label. The two discs were released together in 1996.[3] Grayfolded was re-released by Snapper Music in 1999, and by Fony in 2004.[4] It was released as a three-disc vinyl LP on August 12, 2014, on the Important Records label.[5]
Grayfolded is one of only three Grateful Dead albums that features the participation of every musician who was ever in the group, the others being the box sets So Many Roads (1965–1995) and 30 Trips Around the Sun (as well as the latter's 4-disc version).
Production
In an interview in 1995 Oswald described how the project came about:
Phil Lesh called me up and talked me into doing it. At that point, I hadn't listened to any Grateful Dead music in about twenty years. I did think I was qualified, because I do think it's often a good idea to come into a project without a lot of prior knowledge and get kind of an alien's overview of what the music seems to be, and then put in your own two cents of what you think it should be. And I think that was the case for this. During the course of working on it, I went to a couple of Grateful Dead concerts, but other than that, I haven't listened to anything except these hundred versions of "Dark Star" that I found in the vaults.[6]
On another occasion Oswald said that he had been asked by musician and journalist David Gans to produce something very short, he explained his response to this suggestion:
What interested me most about the Grateful Dead was their extended playing style. I wrote a counter-proposal to David saying, 'Well, I've been thinking about it and all I can hear is the opposite - something very long.'[7]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
On AllMusic, Lindsay Planer said, "[John Oswald's] uncanny compositions—which he terms 'plunderphonics'—are sculpted by morphing and layering multiple incarnations of a song to make a thoroughly unique version.... While it may not be everyone's blend of surreal sonic psychedelics, Grayfolded is well executed and worthy of inclusion in any Deadhead collection."[8]
Track listing
- Disc 1 – Transitive Axis
- "Novature (Formless Nights Fall)" – 1:19
- "Pouring Velvet" – 2:58
- "In Revolving Ash Light" – 17:00
- "Clouds Cast" – 7:13
- "Through" – 8:52
- "Fault Forces" – 6:19
- "The Phil Zone" – 4:45
- "La Estrella Oscura" – 9:33
- "Recedes (While We Can)" – 1:56
- Disc 2 – Mirror Ashes
- "Fold" – 2:10 (hidden track)
- "Transilience" – 0:07
- "73rd Star Bridge Sonata" – 13:41
- "Cease Tone Beam" – 12:45
- "The Speed of Space" – 8:49
- "Dark Matter Problem/Every Leaf Is Turning" – 6:42
- "Foldback Time" – 1:33
Personnel
- Jerry Garcia – lead guitar, vocals
- Bob Weir – rhythm guitar, vocals
- Phil Lesh – bass, vocals
- Bill Kreutzmann – drums
- Mickey Hart – drums
- Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – keyboards, vocals, harmonica, percussion
- Tom Constanten – keyboards
- Ned Lagin - keyboards, electronics
- Keith Godchaux – keyboards
- Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals
- Bruce Hornsby – piano, keyboards, vocals
- Brent Mydland – keyboards, vocals
- Vince Welnick – keyboards, vocals
- John Oswald – arranger
References
- ^ Roberts, Randall (September 10, 2014). "Q&A: John Oswald on Plunderphonics, 'Grayfolded' and audio collage". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ Gill, Andy (October 12, 1995). "Reviews: John Oswald/The Grateful Dead Grayfolded Swell/Artifact S/A1969-1996". The Independent. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ Grayfolded: Mirror Ashes, Grateful Dead Family Discography. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
- ^ Grayfolded, Discogs. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
- ^ Battaglia, Andy (July 31, 2014). "Grateful Dead's 'Dark Star' Gets New Life", Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
- ^ Grayfolded, Grateful Dead Family Discography. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
- ^ Grayfolded CD booklet notes, page 1
- ^ a b Planer, Lindsay. Grayfolded, AllMusic. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
External links
- Grayfolded flash promo Archived 2006-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Grayfolded release sheet in pdf format: Grayfolded.pdf Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine Lightshow.pdf Archived 2007-10-14 at the Wayback Machine
- v
- t
- e
- The Grateful Dead
- Anthem of the Sun
- Aoxomoxoa
- Workingman's Dead
- American Beauty
- Wake of the Flood
- From the Mars Hotel
- Blues for Allah
- Terrapin Station
- Shakedown Street
- Go to Heaven
- In the Dark
- Built to Last
- Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead
- What a Long Strange Trip It's Been
- The Arista Years
- Selections from the Arista Years
- The Very Best of Grateful Dead
- Flashback with the Grateful Dead
- The Best of the Grateful Dead
- Long Strange Trip
- The Best of the Grateful Dead Live
- Sage & Spirit
- Dead Zone: The Grateful Dead CD Collection (1977–1987)
- So Many Roads (1965–1995)
- The Golden Road (1965–1973)
- Beyond Description (1973–1989)
- The Warner Bros. Studio Albums
- All the Years Combine: The DVD Collection
- Grateful Dead Records Collection
- The Story of the Grateful Dead
- The Grateful Dead Movie
- Dead Ahead
- So Far
- Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey
- Backstage Pass
- Infrared Sightings
- Ticket to New Year's
- Downhill from Here
- Anthem to Beauty
- Sunshine Daydream
- Long Strange Trip
spin-off bands
- The Other Ones
- The Dead
- Furthur
- Dead & Company
- Jerry Garcia Band
- RatDog
- Phil Lesh and Friends
- Rhythm Devils
- Donna Jean Godchaux Band
- Heart of Gold Band
- Missing Man Formation
- New Riders of the Purple Sage
- Old & In the Way
- Legion of Mary
- Reconstruction
- Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
- JGB
- Kingfish
- Bobby and the Midnites
- SerialPod
- BK3
- 7 Walkers
- Billy & the Kids
- Acid Tests
- Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, Ltd.
- Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead 1987 Tour
- Dark Star Orchestra
- Day of the Dead
- Deadhead
- Deadheads for Obama
- Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead
- Fare Thee Well (album)
- Fare Thee Well (concert tour)
- Grateful dead
- Grateful Dead Archive
- The Grateful Dead Channel
- Grateful Dead Comix
- Grateful Dead discography
- The Grateful Dead Family Album
- Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies
- Grateful Dead Origins
- Grateful Dead Records
- Jazz Is Dead
- List of Grateful Dead members
- Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions
- The Music Never Stopped (album)
- The Music Never Stopped (film)
- Pickin' on the Grateful Dead: A Tribute
- The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra
- Relix
- Reunions of the Grateful Dead
- Rex Foundation
- Shakedown Street (vending area)
- Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
- Unfinished Grateful Dead album
- Wall of Sound
- Wharf Rats
- Eric Andersen
- Bob Bralove
- Jerilyn Lee Brandelius
- Candace Brightman
- Betty Cantor-Jackson
- Bob Dylan
- Carolyn Garcia
- Bill Graham
- Gerrit Graham
- Rick Griffin
- David Grisman
- Lenny Hart
- Dan Healy
- Bruce Hornsby
- Alton Kelley
- Steve Kimock
- Ned Lagin
- Dick Latvala
- David Lemieux
- Branford Marsalis
- Stanley Mouse
- Ronald Leon Rakow
- Merl Saunders
- Rock Scully
- Bob Seidemann
- Laurence Shurtliff
- Owsley Stanley
- Howard Wales
Category