Long Strange Trip | |
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Directed by | Amir Bar-Lev |
Produced by |
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Starring | Grateful Dead |
Edited by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by | Abramorama Amazon Studios [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 238 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Long Strange Trip is a 2017 American documentary film about the rock band the Grateful Dead. It premiered on January 23, 2017, at the Sundance Film Festival. It had a one-night only nationwide screening on May 25, 2017, and a week-long limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles starting on May 26. The film was split into a six-part miniseries, which became available on Amazon Prime Video on June 2, 2017. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Long Strange Trip was directed by Amir Bar-Lev, and has a running time of almost four hours. [7] [8] Martin Scorsese was one of the executive producers. Justin Kreutzmann, the son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, was one of the producers.
The film features newly conducted interviews with living band members and friends including Bob Weir and his wife Natascha, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, John Perry Barlow, Donna Godchaux, Dennis McNally, Barbara "Brigid" Meier, Nick Paumgarten, Steve Silberman, and Alan Trist.
A soundtrack album was released on May 26, 2017. [9]
Long Strange Trip was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. [10]
Owen Gleiberman wrote in Variety , "At three hours and 58 minutes, it has the sprawl and generosity of a good Dead show, yet there's nothing indulgent about it – it's an ardent piece of documentary classicism.... Deadheads will drink it in and debate it, poring over every detail it works in and leaves out, yet the ultimate recommendation I can give the movie is this: I'm one of those people who can't stand the Grateful Dead... yet I found Long Strange Trip enthralling. For the first time, it made me see, and feel, and understand the slovenly glory of what they were up to, even if my ears still process their music as monotonous roots-rock wallpaper." [11]
Jordan Hoffman wrote in Vanity Fair , "The film's first half is a typical, though very well-polished rock doc: getting the band together, how they found their sound, their struggles and successes. After intermission, the narrative goes to unexpected and extremely emotional places: an examination of intense public adoration and the burdens of fame. For lack of a better term, it becomes a real movie.... But I do think that Bar-Lev has done the impossible: his film will make those who normally scoff at those patchouli-smelling ersatz flower children tap their feet, maybe even join them for a dance." [12]
In the Los Angeles Times , Robin Abcarian said, "I can't imagine that anyone will walk away from Long Strange Trip, Amir Bar-Lev's remarkable four-hour documentary about the Grateful Dead, without a newfound appreciation for the band's music and its place in American popular culture." [13]
The film was made available on the Blu-ray, DVD and other digital formats on November 9, 2018. The two-DVD release features commentary from Amir Bar-Lev and editor John Walter. The third disc of the three-DVD Deluxe Edition contains footage of the Grateful Dead's May 24, 1970 performance at the Hollywood Festival in England.
Long Strange Trip | ||||
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Compilation album / Soundtrack albumby | ||||
Released | May 23, 2017 | |||
Recorded | 1969–1994 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Label | Rhino | |||
Producer | Grateful Dead | |||
Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
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The documentary's soundtrack album Long Strange Trip contains songs compiled from various live and studio recordings by the band, many of which had been previously released. There are two versions of the album – one with two CDs, and another, available only from Amazon.com, with three CDs. It was released on May 26, 2017. [14] [15] The longer version of the album was released as a six-disc vinyl LP on August 4, 2017, in a limited edition of 2,500 copies.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote on AllMusic, "Like the film, the Long Strange Trip soundtrack skips entire portions of the Dead's history because it focuses on the bigger picture. Some eras are soft-peddled and some classic songs are missing but by threading in studio cuts with the live tracks, this gives a good idea of everything the Grateful Dead did and why they matter." [16]
Disc 1 | |||||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally released | Recorded | Length |
1. | "Death Don't Have No Mercy" | Reverend Gary Davis | Live/Dead | Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, 3/2/1969 | 10:31 |
2. | "St. Stephen" | Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Robert Hunter | Live/Dead | Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, 2/27/1969 | 6:41 |
3. | "Uncle John's Band" | Garcia, Hunter | Workingman's Dead | 1970 | 4:46 |
4. | "Dark Star" | Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Lesh, Ron McKernan, Bob Weir, Hunter | previously unreleased | Fillmore East, New York, NY, 2/14/1970 | 23:51 |
5. | "Easy Wind" | Hunter | Workingman's Dead | 1970 | 5:01 |
6. | "Candyman" | Garcia, Hunter | American Beauty | 1970 | 6:16 |
7. | "China Cat Sunflower" > | Garcia, Hunter | previously unreleased | Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France, 6/21/1971 | 5:09 |
8. | "I Know You Rider" | traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead | previously unreleased | Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France, 6/21/1971 | 5:54 |
9. | "Morning Dew" | Bonnie Dobson, Tim Rose | Europe '72 | Lyceum Theatre, London, England, 5/26/1972 | 11:43 |
Disc 2 | |||||
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally released | Recorded | Length |
1. | "He's Gone" | Garcia, Hunter | Sunshine Daydream | Renaissance Faire Grounds, Veneta, OR, 8/27/1972 | 8:52 |
2. | "The Music Never Stopped" | Weir, John Perry Barlow | One from the Vault | Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA, 8/13/1975 | 5:32 |
3. | "Scarlet Begonias" > | Garcia, Hunter | Cornell 5/8/77 | Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 5/8/1977 | 9:53 |
4. | "Fire on the Mountain" | Hart, Hunter | Cornell 5/8/77 | Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 5/8/1977 | 15:09 |
5. | "Althea" | Garcia, Hunter | Go to Nassau | Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, 5/16/1980 | 8:32 |
6. | "Touch of Grey" | Garcia, Hunter | In the Dark | 1987 | 5:51 |
7. | "Dear Mr. Fantasy" > | Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Chris Wood | previously unreleased | Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA, 7/2/1989 | 7:06 |
8. | "Hey Jude" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | previously unreleased | Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA, 7/2/1989 | 3:59 |
9. | "Ripple" | Garcia, Hunter | American Beauty | 1970 | 4:09 |
10. | "Brokedown Palace" | Garcia, Hunter | American Beauty | 1970 | 4:06 |
Disc 3 – Amazon exclusive | |||||
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally released | Recorded | Length |
1. | "Playing in the Band" | Weir, Hunter | Europe '72: The Complete Recordings | Beat-Club, Bremen, West Germany, 4/21/1972 | 9:48 |
2. | "Eyes of the World" | Garcia, Hunter | Dick's Picks Volume 31 | Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ, 8/6/1974 | 18:35 |
3. | "St. Stephen" > | Garcia, Lesh, Hunter | Cornell 5/8/77 | Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 5/8/1977 | 4:47 |
4. | "Not Fade Away" > | Buddy Holly, Norman Petty | Cornell 5/8/77 | Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 5/8/1977 | 16:20 |
5. | "St. Stephen" | Garcia, Lesh, Hunter | Cornell 5/8/77 | Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 5/8/1977 | 2:04 |
6. | "Dark Hollow" | Bill Browning | Reckoning | Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA, 10/7/1980 | 4:04 |
7. | "Stella Blue" | Garcia, Hunter | previously unreleased | Zoo Amphitheater, Oklahoma City, OK, 7/5/1981 | 10:14 |
8. | "Days Between" | Garcia, Hunter | previously unreleased | Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, 10/18/1994 | 13:56 |
Grateful Dead
Additional musicians
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psychedelia, the band is famous for improvisation during their live performances, and for their devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads". According to the musician and writer Lenny Kaye, the music of the Grateful Dead "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists." For the range of their influences and the structure of their live performances, the Grateful Dead are considered "the pioneering godfathers of the jam band world".
Sunshine Daydream is a music documentary film, starring the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was shot at their August 27, 1972 concert at the Old Renaissance Faire Grounds in Veneta, Oregon. Unreleased for many years, the film was sometimes shown at small film festivals, and bootleg recordings of it circulated on VHS and DVD, and as digital downloads. A digitally remastered and reedited official version of the film was released on August 1, 2013, showing only one time in selected theaters as that year's edition of the Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies. It was screened with Grateful Days, a new documentary short that includes interviews with some of the concert attendees. Sunshine Daydream was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 17, 2013.
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 Grateful Dead Movie, released in 1977 and directed by Jerry Garcia, is a film that captures live performances from rock band the Grateful Dead during an October 1974 five-night run at Winterland in San Francisco. These concerts marked the beginning of a hiatus, with the October 20, 1974, show billed as "The Last One". The band would return to touring in 1976. The film features the "Wall of Sound" concert sound system that the Dead used for all of 1974. The movie also portrays the burgeoning Deadhead scene. Two albums have been released in conjunction with the film and the concert run: Steal Your Face and The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack.
One from the Vault is a live album by the Grateful Dead, recorded on August 13, 1975, at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California, for a small audience of radio programmers. Three weeks later, the concert was broadcast nationwide on FM radio through Metromedia, after which the radio show was widely traded by fans on cassettes, and sold in bootleg LP versions under various titles including Make Believe Ballroom, becoming the most widely circulated Grateful Dead bootleg.
What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is the second compilation album by American rock band Grateful Dead. It was released August 18, 1977 by Warner Bros. Records, three and a half years after the Skeletons from the Closet compilation. Both albums are subtitled "The Best of the Grateful Dead". Unlike the previous compilation, What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is a double album.
The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack is a five-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on October 16–20, 1974, and was released on March 15, 2005. The album was remixed from the original 16-track concert soundboard tapes.
Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey is a music documentary film about the American rock group the Grateful Dead. It depicts the production of the band's first music video, for their song "Touch of Grey".
Amir Bar-Lev is noted for his work in directing documentary films. His debut, Fighter (2000) (director), was named one of the top documentaries of the year by Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and The Village Voice. Fighter won six international festival awards and was called “brilliant,” by The New Yorker, “enthralling” by the New York Times, and “one of the best documentaries of this year or any other” by Rolling Stone.
Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 is a live album by American rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains two CDs and one DVD and was released in 2008. The album was recorded September 15 & 16, 1978, at the Giza pyramid complex in Giza, Egypt. This was the third continent on which the band performed, having previously performed in Europe. The shows on the album were recorded on a 24-track multitrack recorder and were mixed down to stereo for the album's release.
The Grateful Dead were an American rock band known for their lengthy, partially improvised performances, as well as for a loyal fan base who often followed the band for several shows or entire tours. They disbanded in 1995, following the death of de facto bandleader Jerry Garcia. Since then remaining members have reunited for a number of concert tours and one-off performances, often in very different configurations. The following is a list of instances where former Grateful Dead members have reunited.
Dave's Picks Volume 1 is a three-CD live album by the band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on May 25, 1977, at the Mosque in Richmond, Virginia, and contains the complete concert from that date. It was released on February 1, 2012.
Dave's Picks Volume 3 is a three-CD live album by the rock band Grateful Dead. It features the complete concert recorded on October 22, 1971 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, plus bonus tracks from the previous night's show at the same venue. The album was released on August 1, 2012.
Dave's Picks Volume 4 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on September 24, 1976, at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was released on November 1, 2012.
Flashback with the Grateful Dead is an album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains ten songs, selected from eight of their studio albums that were originally released between 1969 and 1989. The compilation was released on CD on the Flashback label, a subsidiary of Rhino Records, on April 5, 2011.
The Best of the Grateful Dead is an album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It is a two-CD compilation of songs recorded in the studio from throughout their career. It includes at least one track from each of their studio albums, recorded from 1967 to 1989 and arranged in chronological order. It was released by Rhino Records on March 31, 2015.
30 Trips Around the Sun is an 80-CD live album, packaged as a box set, by the rock band the Grateful Dead. Announced for the celebration of their 50th anniversary, it consists of 30 complete, previously unreleased concerts, with one show per year from 1966 through 1995. Comprising 73 hours of music, the box set is individually numbered and limited to 6,500 copies. It was released on October 7, 2015.
30 Trips Around the Sun: The Definitive Live Story 1965–1995 is a four-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains 30 songs recorded in concert—one from each of the years 1966 through 1995—plus one song recorded in a 1965 studio session. All of the tracks are selected from the 80-CD box set 30 Trips Around the Sun, which contains 30 previously unreleased complete shows. The album was released on September 18, 2015. A chronological sampling format was also used for the 5-disc set So Many Roads (1965–1995).
Dave's Picks Volume 23 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded at McArthur Court at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon on January 22, 1978. It was released on August 1, 2017, in a limited edition of 16,500 copies.
Grateful Dead Records Collection is a box set of albums by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains four albums on five LPs. The albums were previously released by the band's own record company, Grateful Dead Records. They were remastered for the box set, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. The albums included in the box set are Wake of the Flood, From the Mars Hotel (1974), Blues for Allah (1975), and Steal Your Face.