A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead

Fascinating deep dive into my favorite band. I read a couple of others before this one... No comparison. Highly recommend

I'm a retired DEAD HEAD, seen about 60 shows, so I knew all about the DEAD. But found the book well done. Enjoyed it very much. Made me glad I got on the bus back in the 70's....

Ioved the book version..clarification the paper/pulp version...kindle doesn't have pics (that I know of..) So when it comes to GD related reading pix which usually accompany said reading material are essential to the story..since I read the pulp written version oh so long ago & don't recall if it even had pics altho tbph Idk If I ever read a dead related book that didn't but still can't say definitively and I do believe this review is for the "audible" version..altho I could have sworn I wrote a review already ...my mind u c I am.old skool quickly approaching my 5th decade on planet terrapin so pls forgive my memory...I have quite vivid mind pics of certain events but books sadly are not one of them. The words still resonate & the visuals they produce but the actual details of what was between the pages I am a bit fuzzy..I do recall my fave book on GD related material in regards to visuals aka pictures was the The grateful dead family album...rcvd that on my 19th bday as a gift from a very good friend may she RIP now. Sorry to digress..If this review is for the Kindle version I didn't even use it...AS a4mentioned I purchased for the audible version (which sadly had a non engaging narrator & that killt it for me. Didn't do the author or the content any justice imho..) but the written word was aces! I highly recommend if this is a review for Kindle version (*I usually end up buying the Kindle version with audible as It usually is a lesser price than buying buying audible alone...) if Kindle version which I believe this must be a request for a review since I do believe I gave my opinion on the audible version already .luv audibles BTW just not this book... so I will give a 5 star review for Kindle sinxe I did read pulp way back when and recall quite enjoying altho tbph I am a huge dead fan (hint my user name...if ur not a "head " 1 might consider that I was a u of Maryland alum...my niece was...but mine is all dead and turtles=)Anyway I am partial to books written about this particular subject matter. All in all a must read..maybe even a good listen if u find the narrator lack of inflection to be a plus..I tend to gravitate toward the more animated narrators. Alth imho 2 each their own! Enjoy u can NEVER go wrong w/a book about/regarding the dead!!! Cheers 🍻

I enjoyed this book. I learned about the Dead, and the general environment that their characters, culture, and music developed in. The majority of the book chronicles the early years of the Dead, with less and less time being spent documenting the later years. At first, I was disappointed that not enough time was devoted to developing the 'characters'. Relatively few quotes are attributed directly to band members, and there is not much characterization of the band members in general. Towards the end of the book, more of this happens, and I realize why it was good that the majority of this book didn't concentrate on this. Its petty, and one-dimensional, and (most importantly) doesn't have a lot to do with 'The Grateful Dead' and their music.I believe there are many more books which do more of the gossip thing, but this book is intentionally not about that. It carefully develops and follows the Dead, their music, and their cultural and musical upbringing. McNally does a great job of putting just the right amount of generic historical information within the story to give it some context and relevance.The only thing I didn't understand, and wish he would have developed further are some internal conflicts within the band early on. He spends a good amount of time explaining that Jerry and Phil were pretty set on 'firing' pigpen and Weir. He never really explains why, except for a brief mention of Weir's general spaciness, and uninspired guitar playing. Pigpen was co-frontman in the early days, and for good reason. He was a great performer, and gave a side to the dead that was never replaced. McNally mentions they wanted a better keyboardist, but personally I loved Pig's minimalist approach, and organ sound. (Much better than Vince Welnick, who I believe ruined the sound of the Dead with his unchecked synthesizer 'percussion' banging away through all parts of every song)Also, I was shocked when very little description was given to how Pig's death affected the band, aside from the fact that they held a huge party in his honor. Alternately, McNally describes Brent's death as a huge blow to the band and the individual bandmembers. If there was no great feeling of solidarity during the early days with Pig, why doesn't McNally say so? And if there was, why so little description of it? The abundance of recordings from these days shows that there had to be some serious commitment to the idea of The Grateful Dead, at least musically.One more complaint I have is the lack of development of the 'management' side of the family. There were a number of sound people, management and organizing elements to the Grateful Dead family, which McNally spends a good amount of time describing. Their involvement in the development and events of the band is unquestionable; but McNally just keeps throwing their names around when we really have no image of who these characters are. Bill Graham is the exception to this, as at least his name is familiar to most Deadheads, and his character is well developed in the book. But, Rock Scully, and some others are often mentioned, but I never get a good image of what type of people they are, and why the Dead really had them around? What did they really do? I found myself mixing them up most of the time.Otherwise, the pace of the book was perfect, especially for a relatively big book. I enjoyed every minute of it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to know where this beautiful music and culture came from!

In my opinion, Dennis McNally's Long Strange Trip is one of the best books on the omnipotent Grateful Dead. It's set out in chronilogical order from the early sixties to the mid nineties with interludes which include company meetings, stage set-up, 1st set, intermission, 2nd set, rhythm devils, Dead on the Dead, encore and load-out.As an example of just one story in the book and as a tribute to The Bear (Owsley Stanley)I can relate the following...In 1977 - one of the best years musically for the band, Bear gave Mickey Hart a damura - a Tibetan drum made from a human skull. Shortly thereafter, Mickey got sick and blamed it on the drum. Phil Lesh then suggested getting shot of it by returning it to the Tibetans. They met a lama who told them that the drum could, 'wake the dead' and should be 'handled with great care'. Maybe Mickey hadn't taken as much care as he should have as he was subsequently involved in a car crash where he was incapacitated. Only the help of his passenger, Rhonda Jensen, who wasn't injured saved him.As a drummer myself I love this story but if I ever come accross a damura, I think i'll give it a wide berth!Andy Aitken

Once you get used to the Americanisms and Mcnally's style, this is a really enjoyable, informative and well researched account of the phenomenon that was The Grateful Dead. It is as balanced and as objective as an insider account can be, and isn't afraid to tackle the painful stuff too. There are also lots of fascinating nuggets hidden throughout the text, e.g. Garcia's role in Jefferson Airplane's success, as well as the radical tradition of San Francisco. Better than Phil Lesh's "Searching For The Sound".

Sharp, smart, appreciative and very detailed biography of an iconic and rare band, written with style.McNally travelled with the band, loves their music and loves the people in the band enough to know they deserve and can handle an honest book that looks at what didn't work as carefully as what did. He rightly figured the perfection of the music isn't injured by the imperfections in the lives that made it possible.

So, I'm a Dead Head;I've never been to a Dead concert, I'm 39 years old and from Brazil, just got to know it's sound in mid 2000s and yet I'm a Dead Head surfing this world of synchronicity and incoherent people, ruled by beliefs, religion, politics and law, so I am Grateful to have met the Dead, an unique and exquisite groupThank you Scrib for writing this amazing book

molto interessante