GRATEFUL DEAD Workingman's Dead SPECIAL ADVANCE USA Test Press LP With notes

	£		44
	$		58

Please read text below for full description, this rare LP came up for sale in 2010 (Selling for approx double my starting price here)

The text below is from the original auction and a printout is included with the LP. I had this record from the partner of the winning bidder and this is only the second time it has come on the market.

I do grade very strictly and would put this at Near Mint (rather than the original vendor’s Mint)

================ 2010 auction text ==================

GRATEFUL DEAD Workingman's Dead SPECIAL ADVANCE Test LP FROM RALPH J. GLEASON COLLECTION/SEE OUR OTHERS Here's something we've never seen before--a mint condition white label test pressing of the Grateful Dead's WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, with a generic handwritten cover, along with a Warner Bros. letter, dated May 19, 1970 and referring to this as a test pressing. Evidently this was sent to a select group of critics along with John Simon's self-titled solo album. The letter describes both of the album, has a few pages of credits for the Simon album and one for the Dead album. (The Simon album is not included here.) We have never heard of or seen this before, and it must have been sent out to a very select group.

This record was from the collection of the late Ralph J. Gleason (1917-1975;) one of the most influential jazz and pop music critics of all time. He was a central figure in the San Francisco rock scene, helped organize the Monterey Pop Festival, co-founded Rolling Stone magazine, and was a cofounder of the Monterey Jazz Festival.

When Gleason joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 1950, he initiated the first regular coverage of jazz and pop music in the mainstream US media. Gleason was the first critic to review folk, pop, and jazz concerts with the same attention and space as was given to classical music. Gleason was one of the first critics to perceive the importance of Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, and Miles Davis (all of whom became close friends of his.)

Gleason was one of the first to write supportively of the San Francisco scene and it’s bands, including the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead (his 1969 book The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Scene, was the first serious study of the subject.)

Bill Graham himself credited Gleason with suggesting the Fillmore Auditorium to him as a site for concerts, while the Family Dog met with Gleason at his home to discuss their idea to stage dance concerts, prior to their first show at the Longshoreman’s Hall. When the organizers of the Monterey Pop Festival had trouble recruiting the San Francisco bands, they turned to Gleason and Bill Graham, who were able to convince the major acts to come on board.

Gleason wrote liner notes for hundreds of albums, including “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off” and “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis (for which he was nominated for a Grammy Award.) His articles also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, New Statesman, Evergreen Review, American Scholar, Saturday Review, New York Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun Times, Sydney Herald, Playboy, Esquire, Variety, and Stereo.

Gleason produced a series of twenty-eight programs for public television on jazz and blues, Jazz Casual, featuring John Coltrane, B.B. King, Dave Brubeck, and Sonny Rollins, among others. His two-hour documentary on Duke Ellington was twice nominated for an Emmy. He also produced a four-part series on the Monterey Jazz Festival, the first documentary for television on pop music, Anatomy of a Hit, and a two-hour performance and documentary on San Francisco rock, Go Ride the Music and A Night At The Family Dog. We are proud to offer this and record and many more we’ll be selling over the coming months from the Ralph J. Gleason collection.

================ End 2010 auction text ==================

You can see the original auction for yourself on Popsike

(Use the search term GRATEFUL DEAD Workingman's Dead SPECIAL ADVANCE)

Seller 6X