Wake Of The Flood - GRATEFUL DEAD***

Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodleoo/Let Me Sing Your Blues Away/Row Jimmy/Stella Blue/Here Comes Sunshine/Eyes Of The World/Weather Report Suite

After two excellent studio albums the Grateful Dead’s Wake Of The Flood came as a disappointment. Most of the tracks here are bland and forgettable jazz influenced jams. (US:18)

“It's got a great mellow, jazzy feel to it that reminds me of springtime , with lots of good singing and playing from Jerry.”

“Here's a great example of a solid Dead studio album with songs that aren't terribly impressive in these incarnations but really blossomed live. Stella Blue stands out in particular as a track that is a touch dull here but was often tremendously powerful live when Jerry really belted it out and played some moving leads.”

“It has jazz/prog influences that weren't present on earlier releases. It feels like the band were influenced perhaps by Steely Dan, and it results in tighter musicianship with a few good moments that are lost in a pretty mediocre songwriting effort.”

“This is a very sleepy album and the fact that the vocals are off-key at times ruins all chances for future spins. I don't doubt that they were a great live band, but this studio album sounds lifeless to my ears.”

“Further proof that the studio was rarely this band's friend. This is the beginning of their overly smooth jazz-fusion production sound.”

“None of these songs are bad, which is always a positive thing. But only the last two songs really shine, both very nice songs but the rest of the stuff isn't so great, some of them being pretty mediocre.”

“Here is where the Dead first displayed their true blandness in the studio. The first of their ultra slick albums that would plague the 70s and beyond. Corporate hippie noise at its worst.”

“The Dead are heading in yet another direction with the release of Wake Of The Flood, but mostly they don't quite reach their destination. When they do however, the results are excellent, with nice jazzy jams and thoughtful lyrics.”

“There's a more pronounced use of jazzy improvisation here, even as the music still has a pronounced folk-rock style with lots of slide guitars and such.”