Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel Rare 1974 Grateful Dead Records Orig Vinyl

$

50

Welcome to Classic Cadillac Records!  I visually grade all my records as accurately as possible and will never grade anything above Near Mint unless it's still sealed.  Please note that a visual grade can differ from a play grade, and am happy to spot check a record upon request.   All orders are shipped within 1 business day (usually sooner) and packed with extra care to ensure fast, safe arrival.  Please look closely at all pictures, read all relevant details and ask any questions you may have before buying.  I offer a full 30-day return policy on everything I sell, so buy with confidence!  20% restocking fee charged on items returned for reasons other than it not working properly.  Thanks for looking!
From the Mars Hotel Studio album by  Grateful Dead Released June 27, 1974 Recorded March 30 – April 19, 1974 Studio CBS (San Francisco) Genre

• Roots rock 
• psychedelia

1. "U.S. Blues"
   Released: June 27, 1974

From the Mars Hotel is the seventh studio album (eleventh overall) by rock band the Grateful Dead. It was mainly recorded in April 1974, and originally released June 27, 1974. It was the second album by the band on their own Grateful Dead Records label. From the Mars Hotel came less than one year after their previous album, Wake of the Flood, and was the last before the band's then-indefinite hiatus from live touring which began in October 1974.

Recording

The Grateful Dead returned to the studio at the end of March 1974, having readied another batch of songs. The majority were again composed by lead guitarist Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter and featured Garcia's lead vocals. However, "Pride of Cucamonga" and "Unbroken Chain" were both written and sung by bassist Phil Lesh with the assistance of poet Bobby Petersen. This was the only time he would sing two songs on a Dead studio album, and they would be his final lead vocal work for the band until 1985. Rhythm guitarist Bob Weir contributed "Money Money" with writing partner John Perry Barlow.

The band chose to return to Coast Recorders on Folsom Street in San Francisco, where they had recorded "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" as a single for their first album, in 1967. The studio had since been purchased by CBS Studios and refurbished. They produced the album themselves with engineer Roy Segal. According to Segal, Garcia liked the room because it had a more "live" sound than the Record Plant, where the band had recorded their previous album. Garcia had played in CBS Studios earlier in the year with Art Garfunkel during the sessions for Angel Clare.

Many of the Garcia-Hunter songs had been played live for up to a year or more. "U.S. Blues" had started life as "Wave That Flag" in February 1973 before being dropped and heavily rewritten; however, "Scarlet Begonias" had been introduced only in the month prior to recording. Weir's "Money Money" was arranged in the studio. A separate version of "China Doll" (also introduced in February 1973) was recorded for the previous album Wake of the Flood, but not used. Lesh had recorded demo versions of his two tracks during sessions for that album. Though Garcia had played pedal steel for the band, John McFee (of Clover) guests on the instrument for "Pride of Cucamonga". Electronic composer Ned Lagin (who frequently sat in during the group's live performances between 1970 and 1975) played synthesizer on "Unbroken Chain".

As previously, the band felt stifled by studio confines. Commenting later about the sessions, drummer Bill Kreutzmann said "The studio felt contrived. It couldn’t offer the freedom of playing something live, nor the satisfaction."

While recording the album, the Grateful Dead were testing a massive touring P.A. system called The Wall of Sound. A contemporaneous test performance of the sound system was released as Dick's Picks Volume 24.

Critical reception

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote of the album: "Brighter and more uptempo than Wake of the Flood (which is not to claim it's 'high energy'), with almost as many memorable tunes as American Beauty. Robert Hunter is not progressing, however—even 'U.S. Blues,' an entertaining collection of conceits, seems received rather than found. And a Weir-Barlow song about money is just one more way for rich Marin hippies to put women down."

It was voted number 556 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

Track listing