Live Dead

John Brackett is an independent scholar and author of John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression, and coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches.

“Integrating material from popular, academic, and archival sources, John Brackett writes with the sensibilities of a Deadhead and the rigor of a scholar. As someone who likes her Dead live and prefers to dance to music in person, his perspective resonates with me. As an academic who studies Deadheads, I welcome this thoroughly researched and impeccably documented account of how and why ‘live recordings came to dominate the discourse of the Grateful Dead.’” - Rebecca G. Adams, University of North Carolina Greensboro, coeditor of (Deadhead Social Science) “As avatars of without-a-net musical improvisation, the Grateful Dead staked out sonic territory that took the importance of live performance to whole new levels. John Brackett does an exceptional job of presenting the history of ‘liveness’ in modern music and then placing the Grateful Dead securely within that tradition.” - Peter Conners, author of (Cornell '77: The Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead's Concert at Barton Hall) "In his eloquent analysis of this aspect of the Dead’s music and history, Brackett examines how 'live recordings came to dominate the discourse of the Grateful Dead.' Deadheads are bound to love Brackett’s book." - Henry Carrigan (No Depression) "Brackett’s measured and thoughtful approach makes this worthwhile reading for both committed Deadheads and those interested in the study of live music." (Publishers Weekly) "Brackett walks the reader through the band's struggles with capturing their live essence in a studio, and how they tried to bridge the gap between the two. . . . [I]t lays out a detailed account of how one artists collective created and shared live art that is still breaking records for popularity today." - Brian Hassett (Rock and the Beat Generation)

• List of Illustrations  xiAcknowledgments  xiiiIntroduction. Becoming Live  11. “To Capture That Special Feeling”: Recorded (and Recording) Liveness (The Warner Bros. Years, 1966–1973)  312.  “The Next Best Thing to Being There”: Tapes, Taping, and an Alternative Aesthetic of Recorded Liveness  613. A Time of Reckoning: New Approaches to Producing and Marketing Liveness (The 1980s, Part 1)  854. “That Quintessential Spirit of the Band”: “Touch of Grey,” the “Betty Boards,” and the Rebirth of the Dead (The 1980s, Part 2)  1055. “The Live Feel of a Tape”: From the Vault, Dick’s Picks, and the Language(s) of Liveness  1256. Post-Dead: “Obstinately Physical,” “Vaporous Cargo,” and the Material Remains of Liveness  152Conclusion: Memento Mori  169Notes  177Bibliography  201Index  211