Skull and Roses

Grateful Dead, commonly known as Skull and Roses (due to its iconic cover art), is an album by the rock band Grateful Dead, released in October 1971 on Warner Bros. Records. This is the bands second live album, and was the group’s first album to be certified gold by the (RIAA) Recording Industry Association of America and remained their best seller until surpassed by Skeletons from the Closet. Unlike their previous live album, Live/Dead, the album contained several lead and background vocal overdubs. “Playing in the Band” received a good amount of airplay and became one of the Dead’s most played songs in concert.

The extended 18-minute version of “The Other One” features an extended drum solo from drummer Bill Kreutzmann. The track also features extended improvisations with melodic guitar solo’s played by Jerry Garcia. “Not Fade Away” segues into “Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad” with extended instrumental breaks. The album also features four originals, including “Wharf Rat”, a slow, bluesy song of an old man telling a story of his hardship’s.

The album became one of the band’s most famous records and was an influence on many to come. The album also became a blueprint of jam rock. The album’s cover art is based on an illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for an old edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, composed by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse.