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

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
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
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
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

2004 Rhino release bonus material, Disc two

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

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album: Billboard

YearChartPosition
1981Pop Albums43

Singles: Billboard

YearSingleChartPosition
1981"Dire Wolf"Mainstream Rock37

Related Research Articles

<i>Live/Dead</i> 1969 live album by Grateful Dead

Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording.

<i>The Grateful Dead</i> (album) 1967 studio album by Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead is the debut studio album of the Grateful Dead. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in March 1967. According to the biographies of both bassist Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann, the band released the album as San Francisco's Grateful Dead.

<i>Grateful Dead</i> (album) 1971 live album by Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead is a live album by rock band the Grateful Dead. Released on September 24, 1971 on Warner Bros. Records, it is their second live double album and their seventh album overall. Although published without a title, it is generally known by the names Skull and Roses and Skull Fuck. It was the group's first album to be certified gold by the RIAA and remained their best seller until surpassed by Skeletons from the Closet.

<i>Europe 72</i> 1972 live album by Grateful Dead

Europe '72 is a live triple album by the Grateful Dead, released in November 1972. It is the band's third live album and their eighth album overall. It covers the band's tour of Western Europe in April and May that year, and showcases live favourites, extended improvisations and several new songs including "Jack Straw" and "Brown Eyed Women". The album was the first to include pianist Keith Godchaux and his wife, vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux, and the last to feature founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died shortly after its release.

<i>Two from the Vault</i> 1992 live album by Grateful Dead

Two from the Vault is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on August 24, 1968. The event was left unreleased for nearly 25 years, before being mixed down from the original multi-track reels and released on Grateful Dead Records in 1992.

<i>Dead Set</i> (album) 1981 live album by the Grateful Dead

Dead Set is the seventh live album by the Grateful Dead. It was released in August 1981 on Arista.

<i>History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bears Choice)</i> 1973 live album by Grateful Dead

History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One is a live album by the Grateful Dead. It is their fourth live album and their ninth album overall. Released in July 1973 on Warner Bros. Records, it offers concert highlights recorded February 13 and 14, 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City. Often known simply as Bear's Choice, the title references band soundman Owsley "Bear" Stanley. It was originally intended to be the first volume of a series.

<i>The Arista Years</i> (Grateful Dead album) 1996 compilation album by Grateful Dead

The Arista Years is a compilation album that chronicles the Grateful Dead's studio and live albums during their time with Arista Records. The album was released on two-CD and two cassette tapes on October 15, 1996. It contains tracks from Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street, Go to Heaven, Reckoning, Dead Set, In the Dark, Built to Last, and Without a Net. The set does not contain any new or expanded recordings. A media outlet sampler, Selections from the Arista Years, was released by Arista in January 1997.

<i>Selections from the Arista Years</i> 1997 compilation album by Grateful Dead

Selections from the Arista Years is a compilation album that chronicles the Grateful Dead's studio and live albums during their time with Arista Records. This is a one-CD sampler sent to radio stations, record stores, and print media outlets by Arista to promote The Arista Years, which had come out several months earlier. As with The Arista Years, the album contains tracks from Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street, Go to Heaven, In the Dark, and Built to Last, and does not contain any new or expanded recordings.

<i>Ladies and Gentlemen... the Grateful Dead</i> 2000 live album by Grateful Dead

Ladies and Gentlemen... the Grateful Dead is a four-CD live album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the April 25–29, 1971 shows at the Fillmore East in New York City. Some songs on the eponymous live album Grateful Dead were recorded at these shows as well. The album, released in October 2000, was certified Gold by the RIAA on January 6, 2002. Unlike Dick's Picks, Road Trips, Dave's Picks, and certain other of the band's archival series of live album releases, which are simply two-track stereo recordings made from the soundboard during the concert, the shows on Ladies and Gentlemen were recorded on a 16-track multitrack recorder and were mixed down to stereo just prior to the album's 2000 release.

<i>Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead</i> 1981 American film

Dead Ahead is a concert video by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on October 30 and October 31, 1980, and released in 1981. An expanded version was released in 2005. In contrast to other Dead concert videos, Dead Ahead contains acoustic as well as electric song performances.

<i>Europe 72 Volume 2</i> 2011 live album by Grateful Dead

Europe '72 Volume 2 is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It is a two-CD set which features 20 tracks from the band's Spring 1972 tour of Europe. As such, it represents a belated sequel to the band's original three-LP 1972 release, Europe '72. Around the time of the production of the massive Europe '72: The Complete Recordings box set in 2011, Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux was charged with the task of developing this follow-up compilation, nearly four decades later, without repeating any of the songs that appeared on Europe '72. As with the box set, all of the music for this CD was remastered from the original 16-track tapes and encoded with HDCD specifications. The artwork for the release is by Stanley Mouse, who, along with his late partner, Alton Kelley, created the recognizable images for the original release.

<i>Keystone Encores</i> 1988 live album by Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bill Vitt

Keystone Encores is an album by Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, and Bill Vitt. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California, on July 10 and 11, 1973, and released on CD by Fantasy Records in 1988. It was also released, with additional tracks, as two separate LPs called Keystone Encores Volume I and Keystone Encores Volume II.

<i>Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978</i> 2009 live album by Jerry Garcia Band

Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains selections from four concerts performed in the San Francisco Bay Area in February and June 1978. The ninth and last entry in the Pure Jerry series of archival concert albums, it was released on August 31, 2009.

<i>Daves Picks Volume 12</i> 2014 live album by Grateful Dead

Dave's Picks Volume 12 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on November 4, 1977 at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. It was produced as a limited edition of 14,000 numbered copies, and was released by Rhino Records on November 1, 2014. The album also includes over 75 minutes of bonus tracks recorded on November 2, 1977 at a concert at Seneca College in Toronto.

<i>Cornell 5/8/77</i> 2017 live album by Grateful Dead

Cornell 5/8/77 is a live album by the American rock band the Grateful Dead, recorded on May 8, 1977, at Barton Hall, Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York. In 2011, the recording was selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

<i>Daves Picks Volume 23</i> 2017 live album by Grateful Dead

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.

<i>The Warfield, San Francisco, California, October 9 & 10, 1980</i> 2019 live album by Grateful Dead

The Warfield, San Francisco, California, October 9 & 10, 1980 is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the two sets of acoustic music performed by the Dead on October 9 and 10, 1980 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. It was produced as a two-disc LP in a limited edition of 10,000 copies, and as a two-disc CD in a limited edition of 6,000 copies. It was released on April 13, 2019, in conjunction with Record Store Day.

<i>Ready or Not</i> (Grateful Dead album) 2019 live album by Grateful Dead

Ready or Not is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains nine songs recorded at various venues from 1992 to 1995. It was released on November 22, 2019 in LP and CD format.

<i>Daves Picks Volume 41</i> 2022 live album by Grateful Dead

Dave's Picks Volume 41 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on May 26, 1977, at the Baltimore Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland. It was released on January 28, 2022, in a limited edition of 25,000 copies.

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.