Reassessing The Dead: From The Mars Hotel (13th Floor Reissue Review)

With the recent death of Phil Lesh, bassist for The Grateful Dead and a 50^th Anniversary deluxe edition of their album, From The Mars Hotel just released, I reluctantly revisit the Dead.

I say reluctantly because I was never a fan. Whenever anyone asks me what my least favourite bands are I always mention them (along with The Smiths and Journey). But that might have to change.

While I always found American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead to be quite listenable, the long noodling jams, the Jerry Garcia worship and the Deadheads themselves, turned me off.

I did make an effort. I celebrated July 4, 1986 with The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at Rich Stadium in Buffalo and I caught Bobby & The Midnites in Rochester in 1982. And while both shows had their musical highlights, both, I felt, were marred by the hardcore Deadheads in attendance.

The Dylan/Dead/Petty show was very good and part of it was broadcast live as part of Farm Aid II that year, but I still found myself wishing I was somewhere else while The Dead played on.

So, here we are 50 years after the release of From The Mars Hotel. Phil Lesh has just passed on and I’ve got a picture disc of the newly-reissued album.

The full Deluxe Edition is a 3-CD set featuring the original album, remastered, two bonus demo tracks (China Doll and Wave That Flag)  and a live concert recorded on May 12, 1974, just weeks before the album was originally released (June 7^th).

So, I plunk the picture disc onto my turntable and hear that “picture-disc rumble”, but once the music starts, my ears perk up.

U.S. Blues sounds pretty darn good. Mind you, Robert Hunter’s lyrics aren’t exactly poetry, but the songs has energy and Jerry sounds like he’s having fun…as does the rest of the band.

For Dead fans, this probably came as something of a relief as the band’s previous studio album, Blues For Allah, was relatively downbeat, the group mixing more jazz and country elements into their sound. Robert Christgau  of the Village Voice, was not impressed calling that record, “aimless” with “their general muddleheadedness worthy of Yes”…ouch!

And to be fair, Mars Hotel comes across as much more focussed.

China Doll is next. Its slower, mellower and dreamy but also pretty good. Its working title was “The Suicide Song”, so enough said. One can hear a pistol shot five minute in. It’s another Hunter/Garcia composition with Hunter making much more of an effort than the previous track.

As it turns out, Mars Hotel features two Phil Lesh tunes, making this the only time the bass player would sing two tracks on a Dead studio album. So, was Phil Lesh the George Harrison of The Dead, struggling to get his own songs included with Hunter/Garcia taking up the space?

Unbroken Chain is a beauty. Clocking in at just under seven minutes, it really sets Mar Hotel above and beyond other recent Dead releases. I love the sound of that keening synth swooping through the track (played by Ned Lagin) and Keith Godchaux’s rippling piano runs are another highlight.

Side one closes with Loose Lucy, a bit of good fun, but something of a throwaway track…but tasty enough to make me want to get up and flip the record.

Scarlet Begonias is another highlight. Written by Garcia and Hunter and featuring vocals from Donna Godchaux, it’s got a great groove and would go on to be a favourite in concert.

Which brings us to the second Phil Lesh tune. Pride Of Cucamonga was never performed live by The Dead, which is a shame.

Perhaps it was considered “too country” for the Deadheads, but here, 50 years later, it sounds almost contemporary with John McFee (of Clover/Doobies/Huey Lewis) playing pedal steel. I just love the fact that the same guy who played on Elvis Costello’s Alison is featured here. Again, Keith Godchaux turns in another stellar performance on piano.

Things go south quickly with Money Money, a Bob Weir/John Barlow composition…a pedestrian rocker with misogynistic lyrics. A verse like, “Lord made a lady out of Adam’s rib
Next thing you know, you got women’s lib. Lovely to look upon, Heaven to touch, It’s a real shame that they got to cost so much” didn’t even go down well in the 70s and Garcia and co stopped performing it after only three times. Critic Christgau was not impressed either, calling the song, “just one more way for rich Marin hippies to put women down”

Fortunately, it doesn’t end there.

Ship Of Fools closes out Mars Hotel on a high note. Yes, it’s a downer, but it’s thoughtful, well-written and well played. Like many good songs it can be interpreted several ways…as a political commentary, a social commentary or simply about inter-band squabbling…take your pick.

Is From The Mars Hotel the best Grateful Dead studio album? That remains to be seen (or heard). Now I feel I need to go band and listen to American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead, and maybe even Aoxomoxoa.  Crikey, I feel like everything I know is wrong…what a long strange trip…

Marty Duda