Conclusions about The Grateful Dead

A bit of research has come to a close.I have spent the better part of the last 2 weeks spending my spare music-listening time with The Grateful Dead. My lady fair at home, and my partner at work...who have to spend time with me in close proximity...can confirm this. With a sad sigh, I'm sure.

Not being a drug person, and being one who likes to wash his feet, I skipped that part of the culture and went straight to the music. I have, over a few months of buying cheap used discs and pawing through the library at work, managed a modest collection of five studio albums, and three of their infamous Live sets.

I don't think I'm remotely able to call myself a Deadhead, per se, because I've come to them far too late to truly be "on the bus". But I've been doing reasearch about the band, absorbing as much music as possible, and talking to a few friends who love them (and in one case, lost a job to follow them around). Here is what I've concluded (feel free to post a bit more education if you're a Deadhead and notice a glaring error...or think I've missed the point) :

1. Not a single man among them can sing worth a damn for more than two minutes without bending a note.
2. Despite the inability to sing...every single person in the band is a near-virtuoso on their instrument. Jazz, Blues, Country, Swing, Open-Throttle Rock...they're Money.
3. Melody = fantastic. Harmony = Not So Much. Free-Form Jazz/Blues = Masterful.
4. Best studio album? 1977's Terrapin Station (despite what the critics say) or 1970's Workingman's Dead (which just edges out 1970's American Beauty). However, I've not yet heard most of Mars Hotel or any of Wake Of The Flood)
5. Best live album? Any of them. The singing will be suspect...the song will ten minutes longer...but the playing will be superb.
6. Their What the Hell Were They Thinking Album? Probably Built To Last, which showed, if anything, that they weren't.

I used to just dismiss this band, but I think I'm starting to get it. The live stuff, in moderation, is great to unwind to.