tracks musicians credits notes related releases

Reckoning

Grateful Dead

Initial release : April 1981

Arista A2L-8604

Double LP of acoustic material recorded live in September and October 1980. Initial CD releases omitted one track. In 1984 Reckoning was released by Pair/Arista, on both CD and LP, with the title For The Faithful.

Tracks

  • Dire Wolf (Garcia / Hunter)
  • The Race Is On (Rollins)
  • Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie (Cotton)
  • It Must Have Been The Roses (Garcia / Hunter)
  • Dark Hollow (Traditional rec. Browning)
  • China Doll (Garcia / Hunter)
  • Been All Around This World (Traditional)
  • Monkey And The Engineer (Fuller)
  • Jack-A-Roe (Traditional)
  • Deep Elem Blues (Traditional)
  • Cassidy (Weir / Barlow)
  • To Lay Me Down (Garcia / Hunter)
  • Rosa Lee McFall (Monroe)
  • On The Road Again (Traditional)
  • Bird Song (Garcia / Hunter)
  • Ripple (Garcia / Hunter)
Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie was omitted from CD reissues to allow the contents to fit on one CD.

The CD version released in the Beyond Description box set in 2004 and subsequently as a separate CD in 2006 included Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie. This release also included a second CD of bonus material;

  • To Lay Me Down (Traditional)
  • Iko Iko (Live) (Traditional / James Crawford)
  • Heaven Help The Fool (Weir / Barlow)
  • El Paso (Robbins)
  • Sage & Spirit (Weir)
  • Little Sadie (Traditional)
  • It Must Have Been The Roses (Hunter)
  • Dark Hollow (Traditional)
  • Jack-A-Roe (Traditional)
  • Cassidy (Weir / Barlow)
  • China Doll (Garcia / Hunter)
  • Monkey And The Engineer (Fuller)
  • Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie (Cotton)
  • Ripple (Garcia / Hunter)
  • Tom Dooley (Live, 1978) (Traditional)
  • Deep Elem Blues (Traditional)
Musicians

  • Jerry Garcia - acoustic guitar, vocals
  • Mickey Hart - percussion
  • Billy Kreutzmann - percussion
  • Phil Lesh - bass
  • Brent Mydland - keyboards, vocals
  • Bob Weir - acoustic guitar, vocals
Credits

  • Producer - Dan Healy, Betty Cantor-Jackson, Jerry Garcia
  • Live recording concept developed by and concert sound mixed by - Dan Healy
  • Recording systems engineering and live recording by - Betty Cantor-Jackson
  • Engineering - Don Pearson, John Cutler, Dennis Leonard
  • Recording systems maintenance - Bob Matthews
  • Assistant engineering - Billy Rothschild, Greg Mann, Michael Peri

  • Grateful Dead crew - Ram Rod, Bill Candelario, Steve Parish, Harry Popick, Joe Thomas, Paul Roehlk, Jeffrey Boden, Willy Legate
  • Road manager - Danny Rifkin
  • PA and sound reinforcement - FM Productions, Harry McCune Sound, Ultra Sound, Joe Winslow and Hard Truckers Speakers, John Meyer Sound
  • PA booth assistance - Dan Mcinerney, Jeff Hellman

  • Album co-ordination - Rock Scully, Alan Trist
  • Concert co-ordination - Noteworthy Enterprises, Richard Loren, Sue Stephens, Francis Carr

  • Warfield concert production - Bill Graham Presents, Bill Graham, Peter Barsotti, Bob Barsotti, Willy John Cashman, Bettike Barsotti, Drew Holmes, Rudy House, Bob Hall, Sherry Wasserman, Jan Rasmussen, Scott Ferry - Thanks to - Neal Sorenson, David Murphy, Warfield staff and SFIASTE
  • Radio City concert production - Monarch Entertainment, John Scher, Amy Polan, Mo Morrison, Frank Stetler, Shelley Diamond, James McGrath, Phil Guiliano, Peter Michelini - Thanks to - Patricia Morinelli, Bob Buckley, Radio City staff, NYIASTE

  • Grateful Dead Office - Bonnie Parker, Eileen Law, Janet Stephenson
  • Special thanks - Hal Kant, Randy Sarti and Mr. Russell

  • Cover illustration - Rick Griffin
  • Back cover photography - John Werner
  • Album work production - Jim Welch

  • Recorded Live: September 25 - October 14, 1980 at the Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA and October 22 - October 31, 1980 at Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
  • Mixed at - Club Front San Rafael
  • Mastering - Greg Fulginiti at Artisan Sound Recorders
Notes

Some of the tracks are edited (shortened) version of the live performances.

Otis, who gets a mention during Ripple, was Bob Weir's dog.

To allow release as a single CD, the CD release does not include Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie. The CD notes explain this in a positive way; "The original two-record set of the same title has been edited for release on this single deluxe-play compact disc."

The material recorded in 1980 was originally intended for release on one double LP set. But the format of the music subsequently steered them towards the release of the two double albums. Garcia commented on this in an interview;

We really ended up with so much good material that it was a struggle. The idea of just one acoustic and one electric record was sort of pathetic, since our electric tunes are seldom less than eight minutes long. And that meant our fat electric album would have two songs on a side. It was kind of silly.
The performance dates of some of the songs on Reckoning have been determined by comparison with concert recordings;
  • Dire Wolf - October 11, 1980
  • The Race Is On - ?
  • Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie - ?
  • It Must Have Been The Roses- October 26, 1980
  • Dark Hollow - ?
  • China Doll - ?
  • I've Been All Around This World - October 27, 1980
  • Monkey And The Engineer - October 27, 1980
  • Jack A Roe - October 10, 1980
  • Deep Elem Blues - October 11, 1980
  • Cassidy - ?
  • To Lay Me Down - ?
  • Rosalie McFall - September 25, 1980
  • On The Road Again - October 22 or 27, 1980
  • Bird Song - ?
  • Ripple - September 26, 1980
The performance dates of the songs on the extra CD released as part of Reckoning in the Beyond Description box set in 2004 are as follows;
  • To Lay Me Down - Studio rehearsal, September 14, 1980
  • Iko Iko - October 7, 1980
  • Heaven Help The Fool - October 25, 1980
  • El Paso - October 13, 1980
  • Sage & Spirit - October 31, 1980
  • Little Sadie - October 31, 1980
  • It Must Have Been The Roses - October 23, 1980
  • Dark Hollow - October 23, 1980
  • Jack-A-Roe - October 23, 1980
  • Cassidy - October 23, 1980
  • China Doll - October 23, 1980
  • Monkey And The Engineer - October 23, 1980
  • Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie - October 23, 1980
  • Ripple - October 23, 1980
  • Tom Dooley - November 17, 1978
  • Deep Elem Blues - November 17, 1978
Related releases

Released as a double LP and single CD, with the title For The Faithful, and with Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie omitted from the CD, in 1984/6, Arista/Pair ARPDL2-1053.

Released on CD in 1988 with the title Reckoning and with Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie omitted.

The Reckoning CD release was included in;

A remastered, expanded version of Reckoning, with a extra CD of bonus material, was included in the box set; This remastered, expanded version was released as a double CD set in 2006.

Dire Wolf and Cassidy were included on;

The electric sets of the shows that were used for Reckoning were also recorded and used on a double LP release;
  • Dead Set, Grateful Dead, 1981 - songs from electric sets of the various shows in September and October 1980 that provided the material for Reckoning
All tracks from Reckoning were included on the digital release; For information about other releases that include music from this period see the 1980 section of the Dead by Date page.

Buy expanded CD from amazon.com

Buy regular CD from amazon.com

Reckoning
album cover

Reckoning label
album label

For The Faithful CD
album cover

For The Faithful LP
album cover

Expanded CD version
album cover

album cover

Japanese card sleevealbum cover


Home