The Grateful Dead Movie
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Movie Reviews of The Grateful Dead Movie
Movie Review: David Lemieux Does It Again!
Summary: 5 Stars
David Lemieux is the Grateful Dead organization's current "keeper of The Vault", having taken over for the band's original archivist Dick Latvala, may he R.I.P.
Remastering The Grateful Dead Movie is his second major video project, the first being "The Closing of Winterland", which is also highly recommended.
Even though the Dead were at their creative peak in 1974 (my opinion, of course), the audio and video quality of the multitude of concert videos that have been released by and of this band arguably improves as we move forward in time, if for no other reason than technology. Simply stated, they were able to make a better recording in, say, 1990 than in 1974.
All that changed when when David Lemieux decided to go back to some of earlier masterpieces and painstakingly remaster them.
I own The Grateful Dead Movie on VHS and on LaserDisc. Yet they rarely get played due to lack of decent audio quality. There's simply so much more to enjoy from this band that's of so much better quality.
The remastered Grateful Dead movie on DVD is a treat for the eyes, ears, and spirit! If I'm not up off the couch dancing as if I were at a show, I'm sitting there mesmerized with an ear to ear grin, sort of like the dude in the front row of the show!
THE REAL TREAT, however, is the "second disc", which includes footage that never made it to the original movie. In my opinion, the second disc with its never-seen-before-footage is where you'll find the real nuggets of pure joy, pure Grateful Dead heaven, the band at their best! Wait, oh just you wait, until you experince The Other One > Spanish Jam > Mind Left Body Jam > The Other One! Yeeow!
I own every piece of commercially available Grateful Dead video, and some that are not commercially available and this magical "Second Disc" is the finest bit Grateful Dead video available. Period.
Movie Review: Far out!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
First, let me point out that there are three audio options available on this DVD. Forget about the original theatrical mix; to enjoy this movie to it's utmost potential, view it with the 5.1 surround option through a decent home theater system or the 2.0 stereo mix through a decent stereo system. Listening through the built in stereo speakers on the TV doesn't bring out the bass and dynamics of the classic Dead performances in this set. The first disc captures the most polished songs from the five-night run at Winterland in 1974 along with as-if-you-are-there audience shots featuring dancing maniacs, stoned out freaks, pretty girls and lots of people just having a great time. The film even ventures out to catch some of the action on the sidewalk, in the hallway and down in some makeshift opium den (nitrous, actually) in the basement. All of the music is superb. The second disc concentrates on the Dead playing music on the stage, beginning with a version of "Uncle John's Band" with rough vocals but excellent instrumental work. From there the Dead cruise along to some trippy, jazz-laden jams including a stellar take on "The Other One" and a fine version of the concert fave "Dark Star" All in all, this is an incredible movie, featuring the Dead at one of their peaks doing great versions of many of their most popular songs, capturing the "live in concert" feeling like no other concert flick. Who would I recommend this DVD to? Hardcore Deadheads, casual Grateful Dead fans, "classic-rock" radio listeners and anyone who is curious about all the hoopla surrounding the Grateful Dead.Movie Review: Garcia would be proud...
Summary: 5 Stars
My gawd this is a great dvd.
The film itself holds up as a look at a passionate rock band: the Grateful Dead seen in this footage are so musically confident that they can knock out tunes that are creative and loose, and at the same time intensely jazzy and complex. The opening animation sequence is as good as you might remember (if you've seen the film), but maybe not as relevant now that many of us no longer live on the road. The wall-of-sound stage setup is still awe-insiping. Donna and Keith are great... there is a moment in the film where Garcia looks so damned pleased to be playing little meoldic fills while Donna moans -- it's really amazing.
And ultimately, the movie is a important reminder that Garcia and the band were once young guitar-slinging rock stars, up for a bouncy musical exploration at every turn.
What makes this dvd absolutely outstanding is the extra performances included (sequences not shown in the movie itself). The jammed-out version of the Other One is stellar. The Dark Star is quite good (although the tune ends strangely), and the China-Rider is excellent. To see this 1974 film-quality footage is an immense treat.
Other dvd extras include excellent documentary pieces and some good still photography.
Garcia as the director of the original film would be quite proud of this modern re-release. What a fine job... it's my favorite Dead dvd to date -- thank you to everyone who created this -- from 1974 on up to 2004!
Movie Review: Greatest concert movie 5 Stars
This is the best theatrically released concert film ever! It's compiled from five nights of performances at the Winterland in San Francisco, from October of 1974. At the time, the band announced these shows as their final concerts, as touring with the Wall Of Sound PA (you'll see why they called it that in the soundcheck footage that comes after Going Down The Road Feeling Bad) became too cost prohibitive.This features some excellent versions of many of the bands classics, including Eyes Of The World and Morning Dew. The animation is brilliant (it's often been said that the opening animated sequence the precedes the actual concert footage could have been released as in it's own right as a short film, and in fact, a sizeable chunk of that have footage has been shown on MTV and VH-1 Classic as a video).
There's too many great things in this film, but musical and otherwise (the scene where Phil's custom Alembic bass starts picking up a weird hum/feedback from one of the cameras is a particular favorite bit).
I'm looking forward to finally have a state of the art DVD transfer of this film, as the old VHS wasn't that great.
I would only hope they've included some footage that got left out of the original movie (the film would have been over 15 hours if they had including all of the music that was played during those five nights, and that wouldn't even count the non-musical stuff).
Movie Review: "I'm just tryin' to get my... space... together...."
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually wasn't a huge fan of the Dead when somebody plopped me down and made me watch a muddy VHS copy of "The Grateful Dead Movie" late one night about 15 years ago.
After a brief animated opening (which is mindblowing and which is dissected nicely in a documentary on the new disk), the concert kicks off -- Winterland, October 1974 -- and the movie meanders nicely between live footage, history, interviews and roaming through the crowd.
The music is excellent, really solid performances, and so is the ambiance -- yes, there is a lot of crowd footage but that's a inseperable part of what made the Dead's live shows such a unique experience. Director Leon Gast (who made the radically different but equally good "When We Were Kings") gets right into the heart of a concert and explores not just the band but the people who love them.
Admittedly, the sound and picture quality don't compare with that of later DVD releases but, seriously, compare the disk with the VHS (which had notoriously AWFUL sound) and you'll see this is about as good as it's going to get. For vintage Dead (as opposed to 80's and 90's era) the trade-off is worth it.
Now: whomever is in charge of such things, can we please get a widescreen DVD of the movie "Fillmore" ? Please?