I am adding ink spatters to go along with different jams. Use best-of lists only as a stepping-off point. Listening to improvised music is to get to know the many versions. Anybody who uses a list to find the best version of a song is missing the point.
It is important to note that the idea of picking best jams is really counterintuitive to listening to improvised music. These picks are the result of listening to Grateful Dead tapes since the age of 15, and slowly building up a list of my best picks specifically for the road, which for me is exploratory improvisation, especially when it strays far from its basic form. Improvised music isn't necessarily better than great studio work, but for me, the sensibility of not knowing where the music is going lends itself well to travel, because it gets your synapses firing in all the right ways. Many of these segments are long enough that getting caught up in them is best practiced when you are away from home, where you have big, open spaces of time to dive in to the music. This list is about the Grateful Dead's most exquisite improvised jams the ones that go along with open car windows, solitary hikes in foreign places, and doodling travel sketches in old cafes. You can contribute through PayPal, Patreon, Venmo and Crypto.This has nothing to do with great songs (like Ripple or Box of Rain), or great versions of songs (like Ruben and Cherise at Folsom Prison). It’s hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. If you would like to support the mission of Open Culture, consider making a donation to our site.
If you would like to sign up for Open Culture’s free email newsletter, please find it here. You can listen to the Dead’s complete Baltimore show here.
The homage to Poe is more conceptual than literal, just as you might expect from the Dead. No complete narration of “The Raven” follows. Then bassist Phil Lesh, says grimly “Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore,'” letting you know what idea they’re riffing on. In April 19, 1982, the Dead played their final show of an East Coast tour in Baltimore, the town where Poe lived and eventually died ( under mysterious circumstances, I might add). About 15 songs into their set, the band wheeled two giants tanks of nitrous oxide onstage and launched into their long improvs “Drums” and “Space.” In what’s since been dubbed “Raven Space” (listen above), an eerie soundscape unfolds. Now you can add The Grateful Dead to the list. Narrations by Christopher Walken, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee and John Astin (think The Addams Family)–they’ve all gotten some airtime here on Open Culture. Over the years, we’ve featured numerous readings of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous narrative poem, “The Raven” (1845).
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