Something I like

Sometimes listening to this album is unrealistic. i feel like it all must be a hoax or something because there's no way that any seven people can play music like this together. for instance; St. Stephen has a special ending and goes right into The Eleven which seems to have two different parts, then out of nowhere becomes Turn On Your Love Light, totaling three tracks, five different "songs" and over 30 minutes of constant playing, most of which is improvisational in nature. this record is a premium example of a band just happening to find a way to do exactly what they want. they found a way to be able to get together and play music for pretty much as long as they wanted to. being able to jam so well with one another meant that they can pretty much play whatever it is they want (it's no wonder that they were a band for such a long time). but this actually may just be my favorite Grateful Dead album. the fact that it's live means that you can really hear everyone's importance, no song is driven by one person, and every instrument does something in each song that makes it unlike any other version. Phil Lesh gets incredibly groovy in The Eleven, which is a fine moment in the history of the bass guitar. Jerry Garcia could be named one of the best guitar minds in rock and roll based off of the work displayed on this record. there are times that you can hear him figuring things out as he's playing them, or you can hear him try and fudge a mistake. but i find this to be part of the reality of music, part of what makes playing music different from recording music, being able to hear someone's mind working, and how that fits with the six other minds that are also working at the same time. nuts. i read something that said that Live/Dead was some of the best improvised music ever recorded, and i don't disagree with that.