| Wasted Tasters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by New Riders of the Purple Sage | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Recorded | 1971–1975 | |||
| Genre | Country rock | |||
| Label | Raven | |||
| New Riders of the Purple Sage chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Wasted Tasters is an album by the country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage. It contains previously released songs selected from the first seven New Riders albums, which were recorded between 1971 and 1975. It was released in Australia on the Raven Records label on May 19, 1994. [2]
Country rock is a subgenre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late-1960s and early-1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitars. Country rock began with artists like Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons and others, reaching its greatest popularity in the 1970s with artists such as Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Nesmith, Poco and Pure Prairie League. Country rock also influenced artists in other genres, including the Band, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones, and George Harrison's solo work. It also played a part in the development of Southern rock.
New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco, California, in 1969, and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. Their best known song is "Panama Red". The band is sometimes referred to as the New Riders, or as NRPS.
For the defunct Canadian label of the same name, see Raven Records
Contents
The songs on Wasted Tasters were excerpted from New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971), Powerglide (1972), Gypsy Cowboy (1972), The Adventures of Panama Red (1973), Home, Home on the Road (1974), Brujo (1974), and Oh, What a Mighty Time (1975). [3]
New Riders of the Purple Sage is the self-titled debut album by the American country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage. It was released by Columbia Records in 1971, and reached number 39 on the Billboard charts.
Powerglide is the second album by the American band the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The music is a psychedelic hybrid of country rock, and includes guest musicians Jerry Garcia and Bill Kreutzmann from the Grateful Dead, along with noted session player Nicky Hopkins. The album contains six original tunes by the band, plus covers such as "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Hello Mary Lou", and "Willie and the Hand Jive".
Gypsy Cowboy is the third album by the country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage. It was recorded and released in 1972.
Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead plays pedal steel guitar on the first five tracks.
Jerome John Garcia was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his work as the lead guitarist and as a vocalist with the band Grateful Dead, which came to prominence during the counterculture era in the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. Ranging from quintet to septet, the band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, modal jazz, reggae, experimental music, psychedelia, and space rock, for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams, and for their devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads". "Their music", writes Lenny Kaye, "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists". These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world". The band was ranked 57th by Rolling Stone magazine in its The Greatest Artists of All Time issue. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and a recording of their May 8, 1977, performance at Cornell University's Barton Hall was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012. The Grateful Dead have sold more than 35 million albums worldwide.
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and levers added to enable playing more varied and complex music which had not been possible with antecedent steel guitar designs. Like other steel guitars, it shares the ability to play unlimited glissandi and deep vibrati—characteristics in common with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with American country music.
The front cover illustration for Wasted Tasters was taken from the inside cover of Powerglide. It was drawn by Lore Orion, who was formerly known as Lawrence "Lore" Shoberg. [4] It depicts, from left to right, David Nelson, John Dawson, Spencer Dryden, Dave Torbert, and Buddy Cage.
David Nelson is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is perhaps best known as a co-founder and longtime member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
John Collins Dawson IV, nicknamed "Marmaduke", was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the leader and co-founder of the country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
Spencer Dryden was an American musician best known as drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with The Dinosaurs, and The Ashes. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
