GDPostcardsOfTheHanging

Postcards of the Hanging: The Grateful Dead Perform the Songs of Bob Dylan [Bonus Disc]
Release Date March 19, 2002
Label Grateful Dead/Arista / Arista
Format CD
Duration 01:21:46
(CD - Grateful Dead/Arista / Arista #14069)

Review by Jesse Jarnow (allmusic)

Throughout their 30-year career, the Grateful Dead performed a lot of music by other artists, but few songbooks were given the attention of that of Bob Dylan. Though they covered his songs sporadically (and Jerry Garcia performed a good deal more in his myriad side projects), the band didn't really begin to delve deeply into the Dylan repertoire until the mid-'80s. Following their tour with Dylan in the summer of 1987 (documented on Dylan and the Dead), the attention increased. Most of the material on this compilation, produced by Grateful Dead Hour host and musician David Gans, is drawn from between 1985 and 1989. Likewise, most of the songs are drawn from Dylan's work created between 1965 and 1967. By the '80s, the Dead were certainly far from the top of their game. Though they were infused with bursts of creative energy, many of which are captured here, the band's sound during that period was particularly cluttered, and sounds as such throughout Postcards of the Hanging. During this period, however, guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir were coming into their own as vocalists. Their deliveries of the songs are some of the most nuanced and carefully considered, and the band offers a sympathetic support. Garcia, in specific, adds utterly brilliant complementary guitar lines throughout that almost serve as a running commentary on lyrics. In fact, it is his completely emotional and intelligent playing that does the most towards unraveling Dylan's famously dense lyrics, and simultaneously makes the disc worth far more than the price of admission and creates a convincing argument for the Dead as possibly the most convincing interpreters of Dylan's songs. [This version of the album contains bonus tracks.]


01 "When I Paint My Masterpiece" - 6:11
02 "She Belongs to Me" - 7:20
03 "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" - 4:29
04 "Maggie's Farm" - 6:13
05 "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" - 8:07
06 "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" - 7:35
07 "Ballad of a Thin Man" - 6:40
08 "Desolation Row" - 9:55
09 "All Along the Watchtower" 5:44
10 "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" - 7:23
11 "Man of Peace" - 5:51

Bonus disc

The first release included a limited 2-track bonus CD.

"Queen Jane Approximately" - 6:12
"Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)" - 4:02