From the Mars Hotel

From the Mars Hotel
A painting of a multi-storey hotel on Mars
Studio album by Grateful Dead
Released June 27, 1974 (1974-06-27)
Recorded March 30 – April 19, 1974
Studio The Automatt,
San Francisco, California
Genre Acid rock, jam rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, folk rock
Length 37:26
Label Grateful Dead
Producer Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead chronology
Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead
(1974)		 From the Mars Hotel
(1974)		 Blues for Allah
(1975)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB− [2]
Rolling Stone [3]

From the Mars Hotel is the seventh studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was mostly recorded in April 1974 and originally released on June 27, 1974. It was the second release under the band's own label, Grateful Dead Records, after fulfilling their contract with Warner Bros. Records.

This was the final album before the band's hiatus from touring in October 1974, during which time they would finish up the film editing of The Grateful Dead Movie.

Two songs from this album were rarely played live ("Unbroken Chain" was played 10 times in 1995; "Money Money" was played three times in May 1974) and one was never played live ("Pride of Cucamonga"). "Pride of Cucamonga" and "Unbroken Chain" are both sung by bassist Phil Lesh, making these Lesh's final lead vocal work for the Dead for over ten years.

The album cover artwork is of the Mars Hotel, a rundown, skid row[4][5] flophouse/SRO located at 192 Fourth Street in San Francisco [6][7][8][9][10] previously occupied by Jack Kerouac,[11][12] a location for David Bowie's promotional film The Jean Genie,[13][14][15] and uninhabited prior to eminent domain demolition as part of the Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment.

Influence

"Ugly Rumors", album cover upside-down in front of a mirror.

On the album cover, cryptic text appears below the title "Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel". When the cover is held upside down and viewed in a mirror, the text reads "ugly rumors".[16] Ugly Rumours[17] was the name of a rock band founded in part by then-future UK prime minister Tony Blair, while studying law at St John's College, Oxford during the early 1970s; he sang and played guitar. The band's name came from the writing on the cover of From the Mars Hotel.[18]

Musical group Animal Collective used a sample from the song "Unbroken Chain" for their song "What Would I Want? Sky" on their EP Fall Be Kind, and have received great praise from outlets like Pitchfork Media and Sputnikmusic for their respectful and interesting usage of the sample. It is also the first sample to ever be cleared for use by the Grateful Dead.[19]

Release history

The album was released in a variety of ways after its original run:

Track listing

All songs written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter and all lead vocals by Jerry Garcia, except where noted.

Side one

  1. "U.S. Blues" – 4:42
  2. "China Doll" – 4:10
  3. "Unbroken Chain" (Phil Lesh and Robert Peterson) – 6:46 (lead singer: Phil Lesh)
  4. "Loose Lucy" – 3:22

Side two

  1. "Scarlet Begonias" – 4:19
  2. "Pride of Cucamonga" (Lesh and Peterson) – 4:17 (lead singer: Phil Lesh)
  3. "Money Money" (John Perry Barlow and Bob Weir) – 4:23 (lead singer: Bob Weir)
  4. "Ship of Fools" – 5:27

2004 reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Loose Lucy" (alternate take, recorded August 7, 1973) – 4:43
  2. "Scarlet Begonias" (live at Winterland, San Francisco, California, October 16, 1974) – 9:09[lower-alpha 1]
  3. "Money Money" (live at PNE Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, May 17, 1974) (Barlow and Weir) – 4:19
  4. "Wave That Flag" (early version of U.S. Blues) (live at Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, March 28, 1973) – 5:34[lower-alpha 2]
  5. "Let It Rock" (live at Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami, June 23, 1974) (Chuck Berry) – 3:22[lower-alpha 3]
  6. "Pride of Cucamonga" (acoustic demo, recorded August 4, 1973) (Lesh and Peterson) – 4:24
  7. "Unbroken Chain" (acoustic demo, recorded August 11, 1973) (Lesh and Peterson) – 6:20

Notes

  1. ↑ Another track from this concert was later released on The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack
  2. ↑ Later released with complete concert on Dave's Picks Volume 16
  3. ↑ Another track from this concert previously released on So Many Roads

Personnel

Grateful Dead

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

  • Phil Brown – mastering
  • Mary Ann Mayer – illustrations, creation

Reissue personnel

  • James Austin – production
  • Hugh Brown – design, art direction
  • Reggie Collins – annotation
  • Jimmy Edwards – associate production
  • Sheryl Farber – editorial supervision
  • Tom Flye – mixing
  • Joe Gastwirt – mastering, production consultation
  • Robert Gatley – mixing assistance
  • Robin Hurley – associate production
  • Eileen Law – research
  • David Lemieux – production
  • Hale Milfgrim – associate production
  • Scott Pascucci – associate production
  • Richard Pechner – photography
  • Ed Perlstein – photography
  • Bruce Polonsky – photography
  • Cameron Sears – executive production
  • Roy Segal – engineering
  • Joel Selvin – liner notes
  • Steve Vance – design, reissue art direction

Chart positions

Billboard

Year Chart Position
1974 Pop Albums 16[22]

References

  1. ↑ Iyengar, Vik. From the Mars Hotel at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. Grateful Dead album reviews at robertchristgau.com
  3. ↑ The Grateful Dead Album Guide, Rolling Stone
  4. ↑ "Suicide is Identified". San Francisco Call, Volume 99, Number 78. 16 February 1906. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection - ucr.edu. 192 Fourth Street
  5. ↑ "Laborer Shoots Himself". San Francisco Call, Volume 112, Number. 1 June 1912. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection - ucr.edu. 192 Fourth Street
  6. ↑ Palaces, Jerry's Brokendown (14 November 2012). "Jerry's Brokendown Palaces: Mars Hotel, 192 4th at Howard Street, San Francisco, CA". jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "mars hotel, 192 4th street, san francisco". flickr.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  8. ↑ Selvin, Joel (1 April 1996). "San Francisco: The Musical History Tour: A Guide to Over 200 of the Bay Area's Most Memorable Music Sites". Chronicle Books. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "Bluoz » The Mars Hotel at 4th and Howard". bluoz.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  10. ↑ "Mars Hotel - There Really Was A Mars Hotel". rockandrollroadmap.com. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  11. ↑ Morgan, Bill (1 May 2003). "The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour". City Lights Books. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ Creighton, David (1 January 2007). "Ecstasy of the Beats: On the Road to Understanding". Dundurn. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ David Bowie & Mick Rock (2005). Moonage Daydream: pp.140-146
  14. ↑ Gordinier, Jeff (31 May 2002), "Loving the Aliens", Entertainment Weekly, no. 656, pp. 26–34
  15. ↑ https://mrsblacksthisnthat.blogspot.com/2016/04/david-bowie-stars-line-up.html
  16. ↑ Kreutzmann, Bill; Eisen, Benjy (2015). Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-250-03379-6.
  17. ↑ Mark Ellen talks about Tony Blair in Ugly Rumours. Film 90788 (YouTube video). YouTube. 1990. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  18. ↑ 'He even wanted to rehearse' by Kamal Ahmed, observer.guardian.co.uk, 27 April 2003, Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  19. ↑ Rosen, Jody (23 November 2009). "Animal Collective Fall Be Kind Domino". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  20. ↑ "Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel". Retrieved February 14, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Grateful Dead, The – From The Mars Hotel at Discogs". Retrieved February 14, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Artist Search for "grateful dead"". allmusic.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.

External Links

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