Reckoning (Grateful Dead album)

Reckoning
Live album by Grateful Dead
Released	April 1, 1981
Recorded	September 25, 1980 – October 31, 1980
Genre	Country rock, folk-rock, rock
Length	72:21
Label	Arista
Producer	Dan Healy Betty Cantor-Jackson Jerry Garcia
Grateful Dead chronology
Go to Heaven (1980) Reckoning (1981) Dead Set (1981)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B+[2]

Reckoning is a 1981 live double album by the Grateful Dead. It consists of acoustic material recorded live in September and October 1980. Some of the tracks are shortened versions of the live performances.

The material recorded in 1980 was originally intended for release on one double LP set. But the format of the music subsequently steered them towards the release of the two double albums, this and Dead Set. Jerry Garcia commented on this in an interview: "We really ended up with so much good material that it was a struggle. The idea of just one acoustic and one electric record was sort of pathetic, since our electric tunes are seldom less than eight minutes long. And that meant our fat electric album would have two songs on a side. It was kind of silly."^[3]

Initial CD releases omitted one track for space reasons. One CD, tape, and LP release, by Pair/Arista Records in 1984, was given the title For the Faithful….^[3] In 1988 the album was re-issued with the original title.

Track listing

1. "Dire Wolf" (Garcia/Hunter) – 3:20
2. "The Race Is On" (Don Rollins) – 2:58
3. "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie" (Cotten) – 6:28
4. "It Must Have Been The Roses" (Hunter) – 6:56
5. "Dark Hollow" (Traditional rec. Browning) – 3:49
6. "China Doll" (Garcia/Hunter) – 5:22
7. "Been All Around This World" (Traditional) – 4:31
8. "Monkey And The Engineer" (Fuller) – 2:37
9. "Jack-A-Roe" (Traditional) – 4:05
10. "Deep Elem Blues" (Traditional) – 4:51
11. "Cassidy" (Weir/Barlow) – 4:38
12. "To Lay Me Down" (Garcia/Hunter) – 8:59
13. "Rosalie McFall" (Monroe) – 2:54
14. "On The Road Again" (Traditional) – 3:15
15. "Bird Song" (Garcia/Hunter) – 7:34
16. "Ripple" (Garcia/Hunter) – 4:38

2004 Rhino Release Bonus Material, Disc two

1. "To Lay Me Down" (Garcia/Hunter) – 9:12
2. "Iko Iko" (Live) (Traditional/Crawford) – 4:23
3. "Heaven Help The Fool [instrumental version]" (Weir/Barlow) – 6:18
4. "El Paso" (Robbins) – 4:41
5. "Sage & Spirit" (Weir) – 3:14
6. "Little Sadie" (Traditional) – 2:45
7. "It Must Have Been The Roses" (Hunter) – 7:01
8. "Dark Hollow" (Traditional) – 4:30
9. "Jack-A-Roe" (Traditional) – 5:08
10. "Cassidy" (Weir/Barlow) – 5:06
11. "China Doll" (Garcia/Hunter) – 5:52
12. "Monkey And The Engineer" (Fuller) – 2:37
13. "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" (Cotten) – 7:13
14. "Ripple" (Garcia/Hunter) – 4:37
15. "Tom Dooley" (Live, 1978) (Traditional) – 3:33
16. "Deep Elem Blues" (Traditional) – 3:42

Personnel

• Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals
• Bob Weir – guitar, vocals
• Phil Lesh – bass guitar
• Brent Mydland – piano, harpsichord, vocals
• Bill Kreutzmann – drums
• Mickey Hart – drums

Production Greg Fulginiti - mastering

Recording dates

All tracks (except for the first and the last two on the bonus CD) were recorded during a 23 show run in September and October 1980 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Recording dates:

• "To Lay Me Down" (disc 2) recorded at Club Front, San Rafael on September 14, 1980 (studio rehearsal)
• "Rosalie McFall" and "Ripple" (disc 1) recorded at Warfield Theatre on September 26, 1980
• "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie" (disc 1) recorded at Warfield Theatre on September 30, 1980
• "Dark Hollow" (disc 1) and "Iko Iko" (disc 2) recorded at Warfield Theatre on October 7, 1980
• "Jack-A-Roe" (disc 1) recorded at Warfield Theatre on October 10, 1980
• "Dire Wolf" and "Deep Elem Blues" (disc 1) recorded at Warfield Theatre on October 11, 1980
• "The Race Is On" (disc 1) & "El Paso" (disc 2) recorded at Warfield Theatre on October 13, 1980
• "China Doll," "Been All Around This World," "Cassidy" and "Bird Song" (disc 1) recorded at Warfield Theatre on October 14, 1980
• Tracks 7–14 (disc 2) recorded at Radio City Music Hall on October 23, 1980 (Complete acoustic first set missing only the opening track; "On The Road Again")
• "To Lay Me Down" (disc 1) & "Heaven Help The Fool" (disc 2) recorded at Radio City Music Hall on October 25, 1980
• "It Must Have Been The Roses" (disc 1) recorded at Radio City Music Hall on October 26, 1980
• "Monkey And The Engineer" (disc 1) recorded at Radio City Music Hall on October 27, 1980
• "On The Road Again" (disc 1) recorded at Radio City Music Hall on October 30, 1980
• "Sage & Spirit" and "Little Sadie" (disc 2) recorded at Radio City Music Hall on October 31, 1980
• "Tom Dooley" and "Deep Elem Blues" (disc 2) recorded at Rambler Room, Chicago on November 17, 1978

Charts

Album: Billboard

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Pop Albums	43

Singles: Billboard

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	"Dire Wolf"	Mainstream Rock	37

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Robert Christgau review
3. Grateful Dead Family Discography: Reckoning. Retrieved 25 June 2009.