Various Artists – Day of the Dead (2016)

Just a couple of posts earlier I wrote about the compilation album Dark Was the Night and I mentioned this album in that post as well. Day of the Dead is a compilation album by Red Hot Organization, a charity for HIV and Aids. This album is a massive 5 CD album containing 59 covers of Grateful Dead songs. I'm not a massive fan of Grateful Dead. I kind of like some of their songs, but the sounds, for example, have never moved me much. However, this album includes a staggering amount of my all time favourite artists and bands, so that was much more of a reason to buy the album. Also, by buying it, I also donated money to charity. The album, like Dark Was the Night, was produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. The album has been a great way to get to know the real Grateful Dead behind the songs and to hear some amazing songs performed by some of my favourite artists.



The album starts really strong with War on Drugs covering the song Touch of Grey. The song sounds just like War on Drugs' own songs with a steady drum beat and clear, chiming electric guitars. This is followed by Sugaree, performed by Phosphorescent and Jenny Lewis. Phosphoresccent is one of the best recent country bands that I've heard and performing Grateful Dead's Americana songs comes really naturally for them. Next up is Candyman by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The sounds in this song are like from Las Vegas Elvis chapel, but in a good way. Cassidy by Moses Sumney and Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley is a nice indie rock version with raunchy guitars and great upbeat vocal harmonies. Bruce Hornsby's and DeYarmond Edison's Black Muddy River is a beautiful and calm ballad that changes the tone of the album quite a lot. There's nice old-timey elegance to the song and brightness that makes you imagine a breezy summer day on the beach. Next, Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear and Binki Shapiro of Little Joy provide a very cool Americana version of Loser with some amazing electric guitars. The vocal harmonies sound great together. After this, it's time for probably the best song on this compilation, Peggy-O by The National. I almost cried of the sheer beauty of this song when I first heard it and even now all the hairs on my arms rise up when I listen to Matt Berninger's amazing baritone voice. This is followed by a fantastic collaboration between Kurt Vile and the Violators and J Mascis in Box of Rain. There are some amazing guitar solos in the song. Next up, is a groovy version of Rubin and Cherise by Bonnie "Prince" Billy. It's interesting to hear his voice in such an upbeat song, but it works great. To Lay Me Down is a unique collaboration between the amazing Perfume Genius and Sharon Van Etten. They both have such amazing voices that sound heavenly on top of just simple pianos, acoustic guitars and some slide guitars. Courtney Barnett is one of my favourite artists of late and her amazing slacker rock version of New Speedway Boogie is excellent. Mumford & Sons may not be as good as they were in the beginning of their career, but they still give an amazing version of the amazing song Friend of the Devil. The buzzing guitars that zoom in and out are very beautiful. This is followed by an electric version of Uncle John's Band performed by Lucius. It's fun to hear completely different approach in instrumentation to Grateful Dead's Southern rock. Me and My Uncle by The Lone Bellow is a great rolling country rock version. The next song is a treat. Mountains of the Moon by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Lisa Hannigan, who got to be known from Damien Rice's early albums, is a fantastic country ballad with some excellent acoustic guitar playing. ANOHNI and yMusic perform a simplistic version of Black Peter, played solely on strings and clarinets, accompanied by ANOHNI's signature voice. Bryce Dessner of The National offers a unique instrumental guitar version of Garcia Counterpoint. The echoey sounds work brilliantly. Terrapin Station (Suite) is a collaboration between a couple of Grizzly Bear members and The National, and also, there is a chorus and features by various other artists. Angel Olsen, one of the most interesting alternative rockers of last years gives a great performance of Attics of My Life in a strange church choir version with sweeping jazz drums. The first part ends in a live performance of St. Stephen by Wilco and Bob Weir. Wilco, if any band, is really fit to perform Grateful Dead songs.

The second part starts with a beautiful piano in If I Had the World to Give performed brilliantly by Bonnie "Prince" Billy, where he is much more in his element than in the previous song. Standing On the Moon by Phosphorescent reminds me of Phosphorescent's greatest song to date, Song for Zula. There are similar flapping rhythms in the songs. Then the album takes an unexpected turn when the funk singer Charles Bradley gives a strong vocal performance with Menehan Street Band performing Cumberland Blues. Sweden's greatest folk rocker The Tallest Man on Earth doesn't have as sharp voice anymore and he has also changed his style quite a bit, but I'm glad he's on this album, performing Ship of Fools. Bonnie "Prince" Billy gives his third performance on this album with Bird Song that has some excellent electric guitars. Then it's time for The National's second song, Morning Dew, where they go slightly psychedelic and outside of their normal comfort zone. Truckin' by Marijuana Deathsquads is a truly psychedelic experience that shows that you can also go really experimental on an album like this. Cass McCombs and Joe Russo continue with experimental music in their version of Dark Star that seems to be quite similar to 60's hippy psychedelia. This song continues straight on to Nightfall of Diamonds by the band with the same name, Nightfall of Diamonds. This is an over 8 minute jam of noise psychedelia. The strange sounds continue in Tim Hecker's alternative take on Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald. We finally get out of the noise loop with Lucinda Williams' Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad. There are some great overdriven guitars that spice up Lucinda Williams' raspy vocals. Then it's time for two New York legends, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth to take the stage with their version of Playing in the Band. There is some excellent noise rock in the song. Local Natives play a jumpy electronic version of Stella Blues. At first I thought it was a type when it said in the album cover that Tal National plays Eyes of the World, but turns out Tal National is a band from Niger. They play this song as an interesting Afrobeat version. The legendary Béla Fleck plays an amazing version of Help on the Way with his banjo. Then it's time for Senegalese Orchestra Baobab to perform their Afro jazz stylings for Franklin's Tower. Then the style changes completely and Luluc and Xylouris White perform Till the Morning Comes. The Walkmen seem to also be an obvious choice for an album like this. They perform a country version of Ripple. The second part ends with a choir-like airy version of Brokedown Palace with various artists, such as Richard Reed Parry and Caroline Shaw.

The final part starts with a sunny version of Here Comes Sunshine played by the amazing Real Estate. Shakedown Street by Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a really strange experience. There are some crazy bouncy Nintendo sounds in this song. Brown-Eyed Women performed by Hiss Golden Messenger is Americana bliss with amazingly lazy vocal performance and soulful chorus. This Is the Kit continues Americana folk style in their Jack-A-Roe that sounds extremely beautiful. Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear play High Time in the trademark Grizzly Bear style. Next up is a country version of Dire Wold with excellent slide guitars and southern country sounds, performed by The Lone Bellow. Althea by Winston Marshall, Kodiak Blue and Shura is an electronic, almost ambient version. There is nice futurism in the sounds here. Orchestra baobab gets another shot with Clementine Jam and this song is amazing, filled with psychedelic jazz smoothness with excellent saxophone playing. The always excellent Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks plays China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider in their trademark progressive style. The master baritone Bill Callahan has also made it onto this album with a psychedelic and lo-fi version of Easy Wind that reminds me more of Smog performances. Ira Kaplan gives a nice lo-fi performance of Wharf Rat with some deep baritone vocals. Then it gets even more spaced out with Estimated Prophet performed by The Rileys. The shamanistic performance gets new strength from echoey electric guitars and melodica when the song progresses. Next up is an experimental percussion performance of Drums -> Space by Man Forever, Sō Percussion and Oneida. After that we get into punk mode with Fucked Up's rowdy version of Cream Puff War. Then we hear another version of Dark Star on this album, this time performed as a psychedelic version by The Flaming Lips. Then it's time for some hypnotising and shamanistic smoothness in What's Become of the Baby performed by s t a r g a z e. Vijay Iyer plays a beautiful instrumental piano performance of King Solomon's Marbles. Rosemary by Mina Tindle takes the mood back to more traditional folk style. The song is nice and airy. Sam Amidon plays even more traditional folk version of And We Bid you Goodnight. The album ends with a live version of I Know You Rider performed by The National and Bob Weir.

This is a really long album and I hardly have time to listen to all of it, but there are so many good songs on it that can positively surprise you and delight you. Highly recommended!

Listen to the album on Spotify.