From the Mars Hotel (Dig)

Grateful Dead - From the Mars Hotel (Dig)

From the Mars Hotel (Dig)

List Price: ~~$18.98~~
Our Price: $11.84
You Save: $7.14 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.83 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album

Listen soundtracks from this album

Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Artist: Grateful Dead
Brand: GRATEFUL DEAD
Edition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2006-03-07
Music Label: Grateful Dead / Rhino
Soundtracks:

U.S. Blues
China Doll
Unbroken Chain
Loose Lucy
Scarlet Begonias
Pride Of Cucamonga
Money Money
Ship Of Fools
Loose Lucy (Studio Outtake)
Scarlet Begonias (Live)
Money Money (Live)
Wave That Flag (Live)
Let It Rock (Live)
Pride Of Cucamonga (Studio Acoustic Demo)
Unbroken Chain (Studio Acoustic Chain)

Music reviews of From the Mars Hotel (Dig)

Music Review: One of the most overlooked gems in the Dead's studio catalog.
Rating: 5 Stars

By 1973, the Dead were doing what only a few other bands (the Moody Blues among them) had only idly spoken about or attempted: They were running their own record label, releasing exactly what they wanted to, and answering to nobody but themselves. The upside to this argument is, of course, the high level of personal and artistic freedom it allowed the Dead. However, the downside was the headaches that came with running said label day to day and actually getting the records out there and promoting them. Three albums were released on Grateful Dead Records, all of which have moments of true brilliance on them: Wake of the Flood, From the Mars Hotel, and Blues for Allah. There laid the rub: How was a band which was said to stand for everything anti-Establishment supposed to enter the material world of record sales and promotion and survive? This is most likely why the three GDR albums are much less known to the average listener. They simply weren't promoted as well as they might have been on Warner Brothers or Arista. However, each of these albums bequeathed many a tune to the setlists of years to come, and other songs that fans begged the band to play, but which were simply too unwieldy at the time. From the Mars Hotel was the first of these albums I heard at a friend's house one night, and it has kept a treasured place in my stack of Dead memories to this day. Only one song seems to me to be out of place: "Money Money". I still cannot figure out if Bob Weir was singing tongue-in-cheek or if he was seriously angry at some unnamed female. Otherwise, Mars Hotel is a near-seamless blend of songs that demonstrates that the Dead were still a potent creative force to be reckoned with in the mid-1970s. The satirical "U.S. Blues" manages to showcase the band's patented psychedelic blues boogie while featuring lyrics that can easily stand next to Stevie Wonder's "You Ain't Done Nothin'" for expressing the outrage many felt over the still-unfolding Watergate scandal. "Pride of Cucamonga" (regrettably never played live) is a nod of sorts to the sounds of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. "China Doll" is the kind of ballad only the Dead could do: A lament over a murder set to a beautiful, lilting accompaniment. "Unbroken Chain" is the album's musical and psychedelic center, and a live version was hoped for for decades until 1995, when it suddenly popped up on a few setlists. This song both looks back to the extreme experimentation of Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxa while pointing forward to the more accessible sound the band would adopt in the '80s. The electronic accompaniment and band climax here are not to be missed. "Loose Lucy" again harks back to the country-boogie of American Beauty,as does much of the album in general, but manages to establish its own identity with some red-hot slide guitar licks courtesy, I assume, of Mr. Garica himself. "Scarlet Begonias" is in much the same vein, as is the aforementioned "Pride of Cucamonga". Truth be told, while none of the songs here are "samey" in sound, many of them would have slipped in unnoticed on two or three of the Dead's earlier classic albums. In many ways, "Ship of Fools" is the joker in this deck of songs; it's a slow, sad bluesy number which could apply to any number of subjects lyrically. This is the Dead at their best, making what either Roger McGuinn or Gram Parsons called "Cosmic American Music" that takes touches of any number of genres and creates something new from them.

The album's true revelations are both Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux. While Keith has often been derided as a piano player only brought in to stand as deputy for Pigpen when necessary, here he branches out on organ, harpsichord and synthesizer to provide the necessary auditory colors needed for a particular song. He proves his range here, adding quick synthesizer touches for "U.S. Blues" on the one hand, classically-inspired harpsichord for "China Doll" and his own trademark combination of jazzy and barrelhouse blues piano and organ. As for Donna Jean, she adds just the right amount of sugar, or salt, that any great backing vocalist should. I know that many people welcomed Brent Mydland and his arsenal of synthesizers, but the Godchaux's contribution, especially at this critical point, should never be overlooked or underestimated. If the Dead had been saddled with a merely adequate keyboardist who could only ape Pigpen's and T.C.'s lines, they might very well have created three much lesser albums than what was actually released. Hats off to the late Keith Godchaux, and here's to the occasional appearance of Donna Jean on the Other One's/the Dead's stage.

More From the Mars Hotel (Dig) free music reviews:
1 2 3

Description of From the Mars Hotel (Dig)

Grateful Dead, From the Mars Hotel. Following the Dead's early Warner Bros. LP's and their evolution from a San Francisco hippie phenomenon to one of the biggest bands on the planet, these five album masterpieces chronicle the creatively expansive portion of their long, strange, and amazing trip beginning in 1873 when they launchd their own label. Rhino's remastered & expanded editions celebrate the Dead's immortal music with state-of-the-art sonics and a wealth of fresh-from-the-archives bonus rarities.

Classic Rock CDs

Music Genres

Bestsellers in Classic Rock CDs

Wings at the Speed of Sound Image

Paul Mccartney, Wings - Wings at the Speed of Sound
Release date: 1996-09-24; Music CD
Best price: $287.77

Boxed Image

Small Faces - Boxed
Release date: 1997-11-01; Music CD
Best price: $43.38

Gris Gris Image

Dr John - Gris Gris
Release date: 1994-07-15; Music CD
Price in other shops: ~~$18.98~~

Eric Clapton: Live in Hyde Park [VHS]
Warner Bros / Wea; Release date: 1998-02-17; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.75
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Human Highway [VHS]
Warner Bros / Wea; Release date: 1995-08-08; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $120.79

The Monkees - Head [VHS]
Rhino / Wea; Release date: 1995-01-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.42
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Ozzy Osbourne - Live & Loud [VHS]
Sony; Release date: 1993-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Bruce Springsteen - Unplugged [VHS]
Sony; Release date: 1992-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Peter Gabriel - P.O.V. [VHS] Image

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel - P.O.V. [VHS]
Virgin Records Us; Release date: 1992-06-29; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $121.90

Toto - Past to Present [VHS]
Sony; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $72.82