Search - Grateful Dead :: Mars Hotel

If you can get a reservation......

Shaolin Warrior | Brooklyn Zoo | 05/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mars Hotel represents some of the best Dead played live, and oddly some of the best studio work. As much as I'll jump for joy to hear live versions of Pride of Cucamonga or Unbroken Chain, the Mars Hotel versions are the consumate readings. However, Scarlet Begonias live has always been better than this one. China Doll during the Brent years was a chilling rendition, one that demanded thoust attention. Ship of Fools was also better live. Money Money is as good as it gets here, pretty much a throwaway.

The bottom line is this was a great record. If you never got to hear live versions of these songs, this is a pretty solid studio outing from the Grateful Dead, if not one of the best. Listen to these, get hooked, then seek out the live recordings.

God bless the Grateful Dead.......I know my musical enjoyment throughout the years would have been significantly diminished had it not been for them."

As good as it gets for GD studio releases

Kid A | Boulder, CO | 12/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Grateful Dead are truly maddening. It was obviously nearly impossible to capitalize on the sheer intensity and creativity these guys were capable of generating on the stage and stuffing it all into a tiny studio in an attempt to capture it on tape. Most of the Grateful Dead's catalog of studio releases fall between the range of downright awful to "not bad". Mars Hotel is one of the very few studio albums that rises above all that.



For those familiar with the list of material the Grateful Dead performed live, half of the tracks on this album were in regular rotation throughout most of their years. These are all very strong tracks. These would be U.S. Blues, China Doll, Scarlet Begonias, and Ship of Fools. Reviews could be written about each of these songs individually as they tend to be an amazing blend of all the genres the Dead grew up with and had merged into their own unique sound.



Of the lesser known four tracks, Unbroken Chain is thought of among "heads" to be possibly one of, if not their best song ever. It's certainly an 11 on the scale for complexity, which is the main reason they refused to play it in concert for so many years. Loose Lucy, Pride of Cucamonga, and Money Money are all good enough songs in and of themselves, but tend to detract somewhat from the overall mood of the album. Specifically, Pride is an overt attempt at a country tune. While the Grateful Dead are extremely adept at Country-influenced music (see American Beauty for prime examples of their genious blend of Country, Blues, etc.), Pride just seems to go overboard and ruin the feel set in place by China Doll, Unbroken Chain, and Scarlet Begonias.



The other somewhat frustrating fact about the Grateful Dead is that they reinvented themselves so many times over the years, it's impossible to say "If you want one album to expose yourself to the Grateful Dead, try this one". There is no way to "experience" the Grateful Dead that way. Mars Hotel fits nicely into their early-'70s material, primarily influenced by improv-jazz (a la Wake of the Flood).



Short of resorting to their later work such as "In The Dark" where their studio releases and live performances diverged far less, this album most closely resembles what the Dead were accomplishing night after night on the road. If you intended to have one Grateful Dead CD in your collection, this would be a great choice."

Give me five! Im still alive!

Abey Grey | 03/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Only Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter can write such lyrics and make it work; add some of the funkiest southern styled licks and you get this amazing album.It sounds a little like Little Feat to me especially 'Loose Lucy'but it is defnitely the 'Dead' you have learnt to love.I have read reviews that put this album down but belive me it is amazing.They are one of the few groups that can really be called a band; meaning that they compliment eachother and know what the other is thinking.I am officially a 'Deadhead' now and I love it!"