The Hearing - American Beauty by The Grateful Dead

[@lawrencegeusz4890]

Robert Hunter himself said, when asked about the meaning of a certain lyric, that that was for each individual listener to find for themselves. This generation seems to need to be spoonfed all kinds of 'meaning', all the time. And, last but not least, regarding the comment that these songs should have been edited down to "under four minutes", WTF!! Is that because so many people now days have the attention span of a house plant? The Dead were never interested in writing short songs for radio airplay. They resisted Warner Brothers' demands to do so; unlike the Doors, who allowed 'Light My Fire' to be cut down to around three minutes so they could have a hit on the radio. Listen to some the Dead's live material, widely available on KZbin, before you make wide ranging statements about them based on a single album. And no, we didn't all have to use 'chemicals' to appreciate the music.

[@lawrencegeusz4890]

Too bad you two are too young to really get the Dead . Yes, it was all about the live experience. Jerry himself said that they never made any good studio albums, which many of their fans highly disagree with. Also, when Deadheads refer to the "Wall of Sound ", they are talking about the huge assembly of sound equipment created by Owlsley that only was used for one year, 1974 to 75. I was lucky enough to hear it at my first show (7/29/74, Landover, MD), and the sound was perfectly balanced and clear, especially in an indoor coliseum type setting. You alluded to it, but then used the term to identify something like Phil Spector's production work. Also, to listen to the Grateful Dead's music and not get into Hunter's lyrics kind of robs you of half of the experience. Of course they are mystical and non specific, that's the point!

[@johnandscotto5207]

John here ... Scott and I are 51 and52 respectively, so we're not 'too young' to appreciate the Dead's music. We're just not big fans. Also, I referred to their Wall of Sound PA system when I was introing the band. Later in the episode, I referred to their production technique by that term. Yes, the term was popularized by Spector, but he certainly wasn't and isn't the only one who's used it and I think it's an apt way to describe the Dead's dense recorded sound.