Reckoning (Grateful Dead album)

Last updated
Reckoning
Grateful Dead - Reckoning.jpg
Live album by
ReleasedApril 1, 1981
RecordedSeptember 25 – October 31, 1980
Venue Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA; Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
Genre
Length72:21
Label Arista
Producer
Grateful Dead chronology
Go to Heaven
(1980)
Reckoning
(1981)
Dead Set
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Robert Christgau B+ [2]

Reckoning is a 1981 live double album by the Grateful Dead. It is the band's sixth live album and seventeenth album overall. It consists of acoustic material recorded live in September and October 1980. Some of the tracks are shortened versions of the live performances.

Contents

The material recorded in 1980 was originally intended for release on one double LP set, but the format of the music subsequently steered the Grateful Dead towards the release of two double albums, Reckoning and Dead Set . Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia commented that the band "ended with so much good material that it was a struggle. The idea of just one acoustic and one electric record was sort of pathetic, since our electric tunes are seldom less than eight minutes long. And that meant our fat electric album would have two songs on a side. It was kind of silly." [3]

Initial CD releases omitted one track, "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie", for space reasons. One CD, tape, and LP release, by Pair/Arista Records in 1984, was given the title For the Faithful.... [3] In 1988 the album was re-issued with the original title.

Track listing

Original release

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
1."Dire Wolf"10/11/80 Warfield Theatre3:20
2."The Race Is On"Don Rollins10/13/80 Warfield Theatre2:58
3."Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie" Elizabeth Cotten 09/30/80 Warfield Theatre6:28
4."It Must Have Been the Roses"Hunter10/26/80 Radio City Music Hall6:56
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
5."Dark Hollow" Bill Browning 10/07/80 Warfield Theatre3:49
6."China Doll"
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
10/14/80 Warfield Theatre5:22
7."Been All Around This World"Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/14/80 Warfield Theatre4:31
8."Monkey and the Engineer" Jesse Fuller 10/27/80 Radio City Music Hall2:37
9."Jack-A-Roe"Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/10/80 Warfield Theatre4:05
Side C
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
10."Deep Elem Blues"Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/11/80 Warfield Theatre4:51
11."Cassidy"10/14/80 Warfield Theatre4:38
12."To Lay Me Down"
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
10/25/80 Radio City Music Hall8:59
Side D
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
13."Rosalie McFall" Charlie Monroe 09/26/80 Warfield Theatre2:54
14."On the Road Again"Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/30/80 Radio City Music Hall3:15
15."Bird Song"
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
10/14/80 Warfield Theatre7:34
16."Ripple"
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
09/26/80 Warfield Theatre4:38
Total length:77:05

2004 Rhino reissue bonus disc

No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
1."To Lay Me Down" (Studio Rehearsal)
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
09/14/80 Club Front9:12
2."Iko Iko" James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, Barbara Anne Hawkins, Rosa Lee Hawkins, Joan Johnson10/07/80 Warfield Theatre4:23
3."Heaven Help the Fool" (instrumental version)
  • Weir
  • Barlow
10/25/80 Radio City Music Hall6:18
4."El Paso" Marty Robbins 10/13/80 Warfield Theatre4:41
5."Sage & Spirit"Weir10/31/80 Radio City Music Hall3:14
6."Little Sadie"Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/31/80 Radio City Music Hall2:45
7."It Must Have Been the Roses" (Alternate Live Version)Hunter10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall7:01
8."Dark Hollow" (Alternate Live Version)Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall4:30
9."Jack-A-Roe" (Alternate Live Version)Trad. arr. Grateful Dead10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall5:08
10."Cassidy" (Alternate Live Version)
  • Weir
  • Barlow
10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall5:06
11."China Doll" (Alternate Live Version)
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall5:52
12."Monkey and the Engineer" (Alternate Live Version)Fuller10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall2:37
13."Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" (Alternate Live Version)Cotten10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall7:13
14."Ripple" (Alternate Live Version)
  • Garcia
  • Hunter
10/23/80 Radio City Music Hall4:37
15."Tom Dooley"Trad. arr. Grateful Dead11/17/78 Rambler Room3:33
16."Deep Elem Blues" (Alternate Live Version)Trad. arr. Grateful Dead11/17/78 Rambler Room3:42
Total length:79:55

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album: Billboard

YearChartPosition
1981Pop Albums43

Singles: Billboard

YearSingleChartPosition
1981"Dire Wolf"Mainstream Rock37

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References

  1. Ruhlman, William. "Reckoning". AllMusic . Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  2. Robert Christgau review
  3. 1 2 "Grateful Dead Family Discography: Reckoning". Retrieved 25 June 2009.