Grateful Dead – Go To Heaven (LP Vinyl)
Product Details
Brent Mydland's debut on a Dead studio record proved he was no placeholder. Where his predecessors had shaped the band's sound through the psychedelic and jazz-leaning seventies, Mydland brought a blue-eyed soul edge that pushed the Dead toward something rawer and more direct, a quality that would define their sound well into the eighties and beyond.
Go To Heaven (1980) is the Grateful Dead's eleventh studio album and their first with keyboardist Brent Mydland, who joined in 1979 following Keith Godchaux's departure. Recorded at Club Front studio in San Rafael, California and produced by Gary Lyons, the album captures the Dead attempting to create radio-friendly songs while maintaining their musical identity.
"Alabama Getaway" became the band's highest-charting single in years, while the Garcia/Hunter classic "Althea" went on to become a live staple for decades. Bob Weir contributes some of his most sophisticated writing with the paired suite of "Lost Sailor" and "Saint of Circumstance," and Mydland announces his arrival with a pair of his own compositions — "Far from Me" and "Easy to Love You" — sung with a grit and soul that immediately distinguished him as a vital addition to the band.
Go To Heaven would be the last Grateful Dead studio album for seven years — until In the Dark in 1987 — and an album that has aged considerably better than its mixed initial reception suggested.
Tracklist
Side A
A1. Alabama Getaway (3:37)
A2. Far From Me (3:39)
A3. Althea (6:52)
A4. Feel Like A Stranger (5:06)
Side B
B1. Lost Sailor (5:54)
B2. Saint Of Circumstance (5:40)
B3. Antwerp's Placebo (The Plumber) (0:39)
B4. Easy To Love You (3:39)
B5. Don't Ease Me In (3:13)
UPC: 603497828456
Label: Arista
Release Date: 4.28.80
Format: LP Vinyl