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Jul 13, 2016It would be easy for me to pick apart Day of the Dead track by track, giving all 59 parts their own unique analysis. The collection is that strong, and even when there are rare moments when the covers don’t particularly work, it’s hard to not at least admire what the artist is attempting to do.
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May 19, 2016The set ranges eclectically in both style and level of inventiveness. Most anyone with any kind of appreciation for the Grateful Dead will find probably at least an hour or three of music to dig and really groove with; Dead freaks might also find a good deal to snicker at.
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MagnetAug 2, 2016There's so much good music here, performed affectionately but not reverently, that it's a keeper. [No. 132, p.60]
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May 23, 2016If it’s revealing to find the Dead rendered succinctly, this collection’s sonic ambition is also exemplary.
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May 20, 2016Day Of The Dead not only represents a triumph of admin on the part of its curators, but the sweetest love letter to the Grateful Dead imaginable. Deadheads will adore it; the unconverted may find themselves a lot more Dead-curious.
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May 19, 2016Despite its length and the number of contributors, it is richly enjoyable and remarkably coherent.
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May 18, 2016Day Of The Dead certainly makes a compelling case in favour of the Grateful Dead's merits as musicians and songwriters as opposed to uncommonly successful marketers of an alternative lifestyle.
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May 18, 2016It’s overblown, it’s almost too much to take in, it's got a sizeable chunk of dodgy singing, and it’s way too long--and as such it’s a wonderful tribute to The Grateful Dead, unlikely to ever get topped.
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May 18, 2016If you're a longtime fan of the source material, you're bound to find some stuff here to amuse and intrigue you, but you'll still likely see this as a collection of throwaways, of generally inferior covers of your favourite songs. But if you don't know the Dead from a ham sandwich, you may well hear tunes on this collection that turn you toward exploring that chaotic, marvellous, maddening, singular American band.
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May 18, 2016Bryce Dessner brings his minimalist experience to bear on “Garcia Counterpoint”, a Reichian exercise of layered guitar lines, but only Wilco’s Nels Cline comes close to the spirit of exploratory abandon in Wilco’s live version of “St. Stephen”. And amongst a tranche of dutiful replicas, Anohni’s “Black Peter” stands out for its transformative orchestration and delivery.
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May 20, 2016Whether it showcases a singer with a guitar or circular improvisations on a theme, most of Day of the Dead follows a similarly understated, tasteful path and, ultimately, that's what's impressive about it: it is a tribute to the Grateful Dead as sonic adventurers, pioneering new avenues into space and beyond.
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May 20, 2016What emerges is a beautiful crosscutting conversation – about life and death, the ways we recover the past and honor it and remake it to suit our needs, community as a fraying security blanket we cling to during the high times around Uncle John's campfire and deep in night when we feel Black Peter casting his side-eye our way.
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UncutMay 18, 2016Day Of The Dead is an exemplary way of proving to a sceptic that at the heart of the Dead's digressions are great songs. [Jun 2016, p.66]
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Dec 15, 2016Deadheads don't require this or any other tribute, but connecting with at least a couple of the set's five hours comes easily. Its modern cast, too, may well bridge a generational gap to rouse new converts.
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May 19, 2016The Dessner brothers manage to curate a kind of open-ended question for each artist regarding how their individual musical language translates the work of The Grateful Dead.
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May 24, 2016Day of the Dead could have been an outstanding tribute had it been released in shorter segments, á la Wilco and Billy Bragg's Mermaid Avenue. As it is, while its overblown format is in a way apt, it overwhelms.