Review By

Dennis Davis

Flash back to 1970. Things are crumbling all around. Small-scale music heads out of favor for stadium rock and tuneful word craft is trading in for metal. The Summer of Love, a foundation of the Grateful Dead vibe, seems a distant memory. And the Dead are broke and in need of a fix. Workingman’s Dead became a brilliant solution to this dilemma. Exchanging its hallmark improvisatory ways for a tightly organized program of roots- and country-infused rock music, the band created the first of its two back-to back masterpieces laden with tight songwriting and vocal harmonies.

The original recording, as with many Warner Bros. recordings of the era, sounds quite excellent. The Rhino reissue, however, mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, adds dynamic snap and a sense of palpability you don’t miss until you experience it. A 45RPM 2LP set from Mobile Fidelity is also available at double the cost of the Rhino version. In addition to gatefold packaging, it ekes out just a little bit more of the aforementioned qualities that distinguish the Rhino reissue over the original.