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Blues for Allah | 
| Artist: Grateful Dead
Label: Grateful Dead / Rhino
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $13.57
You Save: $5.41 (29%)
New (29) Used (9) from $13.57
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 3600
Format: Original Recording Remastered, Extra Tracks
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.2
MPN: 73354
UPC: 081227335427
EAN: 0081227335427
ASIN: B000E6EHGI
Release Date: March 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Help on the Way/Slipknot! | | • | Franklin' Tower | | • | King Solomon's Marbles | | • | Music Never Stopped | | • | Crazy Fingers | | • | Sage & Spirit | | • | Blues for Allah | | • | Groove #1 [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] | | • | Groove #2 [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] | | • | Distorto [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] | | • | A to E Flat Jam [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] | | • | Proto 18 Proper [Studio Outtake][*][Instrumental] | | • | Hollywood Cantata [Studio Outtake][*] | | • | Distorto [*] [*] | | • | to E Flat Jam [*] [*] | | • | Proto 18 Proper [*] [*] | | • | Hollywood Cantata [*] [*] |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Following the Dead's early Warner Bros. LP's and their evolution from a San Francisco hippie phenomenon to one of the biggest bands on the planet, these five album masterpieces chronicle the creatively expansive portion of their long, strange, and amazing trip beginning in 1873 when they launchd their own label. Rhino's remastered & expanded editions celebrate the Dead's immortal music with state-of-the-art sonics and a wealth of fresh-from-the-archives bonus rarities.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 IT'S A RAINBOW FULL OF SOUND... April 21, 2006
t'amant (WA)
25 out of 28 found this review helpful
I can't think of any recording that seemed to give more to me than this one. Many albums are cherished by me from many a great band, but this one is what I most remember from the days of my youth in the 70's. I played guitar to this endlessly, I cycled it over and over some days (the music literally never stopped). It carried me off to the sand castles on many an evening. This GD studio album is about as good as any of their best material in my opinion (I love many other albums of theirs, of course, but this one captured my imagination the most for the journey it takes you on). I was going to their concerts in the late 70's and this is the highlight material if it made it onto the show any particular evening. What more intricate material does the Dead have to work with than this? Older Dead was great, but for this period of their journey, this is a crown jewel. They really get the collaborative energy going like it may be their last adventure. Again, what more beautiful instrumental is there than Sage & Spirit in their whole repertoire? Is there a sweeter and more expressive guitar lead than the Crazy Fingers tearjerker on any studio album? The build-up of Help/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower into the Roll Away Mantra is like coming out of a dream! And that jazzy but powerful feedback lead that punctuates the trip is heavenly. They are on a tear on King Soloman's Marbles, Mahavishnu might fall behind! All of side one (or even the first six songs) was a perfect transition. Marbles scattered on a vortex coming together at the end to complete the experience. Feels like an concept album that flows over you like a wave (it might have been the wind). This album is inspired to say the least. Everybodies dancin'! I will vouch for the weirdness of BFA/Sand Castles, and I like it. It always feels like that end of a trip feeling when you start noticing all of the sounds around you - you've gone through the vortex to the new space on the other side (with crickets)! What a trippy little treat The Dead had up their sleeve here. Like an epiphany and gift for the fans during this wave of the dead story...Let's get to the studio cause we've got somethin' to say!
I got this Rhino remastered version of my favorite Dead studio album from the box set (identical to this), and it is the highlight of the bunch! Not only does the sound quality sparkle, but the extras are really fun, many extended jams featuring Jerry having fun grooving on this or that, or having fun with texture or effects (check out Distorto). Get out your guitar or whatever and play along, these are a blast - and thoughtful addition to the material available from this great but kind of obscure period. There's a band out on the highway, they're HIGHsteppin' into town, it's a rainbow full of sound...the stars were spinnin' dizzy, the band kept us so busy, we forgot about the time...WAS IT EVER HERE AT ALL (The Music Never Stopped)? Enjoy this treasure, FEEL IT, DON'T ANALYZE IT!
Bonus Track Instrumentals! March 13, 2006
Kenneth M. Goodman (Cleveland, Ohio United States)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Of all the bonus tracks appearing on this remaster, all but one are
instrumentals; and all these instrumentals are far better than very good; so if you (as I do) like to collect Grateful Dead instrumentals, the remaster of Blues for Allah has a generous selection.
Their best just got much better! June 5, 2006
James J. Jenkins (Weare, NH United States)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This remastered album is what I expected when I first heard they were adding bonus tracks to the boxset. I don't really want live versions of songs taken out of context, unless it's something really rare. What I want are intimate studio jams from the time when they were recording, and boy does this deliver! Don't get me wrong, the "Mars Hotel" remaster has some extra gems, like "Wave that Flag", but if I already have the entire show with that performance I'm not interested. However, NOBODY, as far as I know, has any of the jams that are featured here, and that's certainly saying something. So thank you, because we all know the tapes were always rolling.
Complimented and enhanced by the bonus material March 12, 2007
kireviewer (Sunnyvale, Ca United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Released in 1974, this is the Grateful Dead's eight studio album and 12th album release overall. The original CD was 44 minutes long but the bonus material gets it up close to 80 minutes.
Like all of the remastered Grateful Dead CD's, the sound quality is excellent. It is enhanced by with HDCD sound. I just bought a CD player with a HDCD decoder, and this sounds stunning. HDCD is a 24 bit recording vs. the normal 16 bit of a regular CD. It can be played back on a normal CD player, and sounds better than a normal CD. But, you get the best improvement if you have a CD player that does HDCD.
Like all of the remastered Grateful Dead CD's, this has bonus material to take it up to 80 minutes. The quality of the bonus material has been hit and miss. For instance, it is poor on American Beauty. On Blues For Allah, the bonus material compliments the original music and enhances the whole disc. If there were any doubts before, with the bonus material, this is definitely a five star disc. I also like that there is approximately a 10 second gap between the original and bonus material, to seperate the two.
This comes in a nice cardboard case, and unlike most cardboard cases, the plastic tabs that hold the CD are sturdy and do not snap off. This part of the second boxset of remastered Dead CD's. Unlike the first set, this CD does not have a booklet and extensive liner notes. The extensive info on the CD is contained in a book that comes in the boxset, but is not available if you buy the individual CD's.
Blues For Allah is a complex work that really flows together from start to finish. Although there are seperate and distinct songs, it all plays like one long suite. The bonus material is mostly instrumentals that follows the same music flow. This along with Terrapin Station are the Dead's foray into a quasi progress rock style. But, at the same time, it has that mellow but bright sounding atmosphere, similar to Wake of the Flood.
After this album was recorded, the band went to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and played a live show that included all the songs from this album. It is captured on the double CD, One From the Vault. Unlike what another has said, I don't think that live version is as good as this tight and wonderfully recorded studio version. Also, I have heard other live versions of Blues For Allah that are really spacy and go on for an hour. I would like to an official CD release of one of those shows.
In a magical land of sage&spirit,sand castles&glass camels January 5, 2008
Amaranth (Northern California)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Blues for Allah" heralded the Grateful Dead's return after their legendary concert at the Winterland. They hadn't been in a winter land for long--the music on "Blues for Allah" is an oasis for the spirit. Sonic help is indeed on the way! You'll be smiling and tapping your toes. It's like a delicious North African stew blending the sweet and savory.
"Blues for Allah" is as mesmerizing as the sights and smells of the Marrakesh night market. The opening,"Help is on the way" is at once anthemic and easy-going. It's as reassuring as a cup of Moroccan mint tea. "Franklin's Tower" is majestic. The King Solomon's Marbles sequence is remarkable acid jazz. It's like finding the ancient city of Petra,the "rose red city,half as old as time." "The Music Never Stopped" is an ode to the joy of making music. "Crazy Fingers" is exuberant reggae. "Sage and Spirit" (which sounds like the perfect name for a Southwestern New Age store) is New Agey jazz,evoking the desert. One can imagine seeing the red Sangre de Cristo Mountains,the last of the Rockies, becoming the flat purity of the desert. Finally,the "Blues for Allah/Sand Castles&Glass Camels/Unusual Occurrences in the Desert" sequence is at once mysterious and melancholy. It's a mournful desert lament.
The reissue has six bonus tracks worth the price. Five are jazzy jam band instrumentals,pure improvisation. "Hollywood Cantata" is a clever look at the price of fame and celebrity.
"Blues for Allah" won't leave you feeling blue. Venture into the sands,and feel the desert power...
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