Saturday Spins Vol. 28
Grateful Dead's Skull Fuck aka Skull and Roses
Every Saturday I use the Discogs Randomizer Gizmo to pick a record from my collection and write about it here.
The Discogs Randomizer is spittin’ straight fire this week y’all. I got unreasonably excited when this LP popped up for this week’s Saturday Spin. This one has it all, excellent live recordings with few overdubs, iconic album art, and one of the best versions of “Playing in the Band” you’ll ever hear. I challenge you, dear reader, to not play this album more than once after reading this—you can’t do it. I’ve already listened to it twice, repeating “Playing in the Band” each time through.
Skull and Roses or Skull Fuck, was released in 1971 and features live recordings form the spring of the same year. The latter name of the album was actually the original name put forth by the Dead, but Warner Bros. freaked right out and sent the name back—after which the album was simply a self-titled live LP.1 The fans stuck the moniker “Skull and Roses” on it due to the iconic artwork. The artwork, of course, became a part of the Grateful Dead canon. I even have a sticker of “Bertha” the skull and roses skeleton that I was too afraid to put on my Cadillac2, but the more I beat on my poor Honda the more I just wanna slap stickers all over it.
As you can see above, and as most of you probably already know, the gatefold opens to the full artwork of Bertha. My well-loved copy is right from 1971 and gets lots of play time here at Bradley Manor. I happened to pick up the 50th anniversary version from 2021, but it is sitting on the shelf, sealed, breaking one of Chris Bradley’s Rules of Record Collecting.3
Insofar as tracks go, there is not a bad one on here. In retrospect, I should have included this version of “The Other One” on the Your Top 5 about drums, because that drum solo, man. Do you think Kris Kristofferson was jealous of this version of “Me & Bobby McGee”? Probably.
As I mention before, very few overdubs were used on this LP. By this time, the band and founding member, Pigpen, were nearing the end of their journey together so frequent Jerry Garcia collaborator, Merl Saunders, laid down the organ where needed. Pigpen was there on the spring tour, but was not really if ya know what I mean. Saunders’ contributions can be heard on “Bertha”, “Playing in the Band”, and “Wharf Rat.”
Other than some of the tracks mentioned above, the version of “Not Fade Away/Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” got a lot of attention back in the day, even now when that seamless transition between the two songs occurs, I turn that volume knob to 11, because the driving beat and screaming guitar parts are some of my favorite.
I hope you either spin or stream this absolute gem of an LP this weekend—it always seems to put me in a great mood. Just sitting here writing about it whilst listening is putting me in a good mood—it’s nearly time to flip it back over to side 1 for another play through.
Skull Fuck as in blow your mind…not whatever it is you’re thinking…perv.
I also feared that I would be living a Don Henley lyrical phrase.
TM.
A classic to say the least. NFW > GDTRFB > NFA is still a head fave.
Nice work Mr Bradley.
This album is a great "Gateway Drug" to the Dead. Its a straight line from here to collecting hundreds of soundboard tapes and needing bigger and bigger hard drives to accommodate them. Ask me how I know this.