''Grayfolded'' is a two-CD album produced by
John Oswald featuring new edits and re-mixes of the
Grateful Dead song "
Dark Star". Using over a hundred different performances of the song, recorded live between 1968 and 1993, Oswald, using a process he calls "
plunderphonics
Plunderphonics is a music genre in which tracks are constructed by sampling recognizable musical works. The term was coined by composer John Oswald in 1985 in his essay "Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative", and even ...
", built, layered, and "folded" all of them to produce two large, recomposed versions, each about one hour long.
The first disc of ''Grayfolded'', titled ''Transitive Axis'', was released in 1994, and the second disc, ''Mirror Ashes'', was released in 1995, both on the Swell/Artifacts label. The two discs were released together in 1996. ''Grayfolded'' was re-released by
Snapper Music
Snapper Music is an independent record label founded in 1996 by former head of Castle Communications Jon Beecher, Dougie Dudgeon and funded by Mark Levinson from Palan Music Publishing. In 1999, Snapper broke away from its Palan parent company ...
in 1999, and by Fony in 2004. It was released as a three-disc
vinyl LP
The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...
on August 12, 2014, on the
Important Records label.
''Grayfolded'' is one of only three Grateful Dead albums that features the participation of every musician who was ever in the group, the others being the box sets ''
So Many Roads (1965–1995)'' and ''
30 Trips Around the Sun'' (as well as the latter's 4-disc version).
Production
In an interview in 1995 Oswald described how the project came about:
Phil Lesh called me up and talked me into doing it. At that point, I hadn't listened to any Grateful Dead music in about twenty years. I did think I was qualified, because I do think it's often a good idea to come into a project without a lot of prior knowledge and get kind of an alien's overview of what the music seems to be, and then put in your own two cents of what you think it should be. And I think that was the case for this. During the course of working on it, I went to a couple of Grateful Dead concerts, but other than that, I haven't listened to anything except these hundred versions of "Dark Star" that I found in the vaults.
On another occasion Oswald said that he had been asked by musician and journalist
David Gans
David Gans ( he, דָּוִד בֶּן שְׁלֹמֹה גנז; 1541–1613), also known as Rabbi Dovid Solomon Ganz, was a Jewish chronicler, mathematician, historian, astronomer and astrologer. He is the author of "Tzemach David" (1592 ...
to produce something very short, he explained his response to this suggestion:
What interested me most about the Grateful Dead was their extended playing style. I wrote a counter-proposal to David saying, 'Well, I've been thinking about it and all I can hear is the opposite - something very long.'[Grayfolded CD booklet notes, page 1]
Critical reception
On
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
, Lindsay Planer said, "
ohn Oswald'suncanny compositions—which he terms 'plunderphonics'—are sculpted by morphing and layering multiple incarnations of a song to make a thoroughly unique version.... While it may not be everyone's blend of surreal sonic psychedelics, ''Grayfolded'' is well executed and worthy of inclusion in any Deadhead collection."
[
]
Track listing
;Disc 1 – ''Transitive Axis''
# "Novature (Formless Nights Fall)" – 1:19
# "Pouring Velvet" – 2:58
# "In Revolving Ash Light" – 17:00
# "Clouds Cast" – 7:13
# "Through" – 8:52
# "Fault Forces" – 6:19
# "The Phil Zone" – 4:45
# "La Estrella Oscura" – 9:33
# "Recedes (While We Can)" – 1:56
;Disc 2 – ''Mirror Ashes''
#"Fold" – 2:10 ( hidden track)
# "Transilience" – 0:07
# "73rd Star Bridge Sonata" – 13:41
# "Cease Tone Beam" – 12:45
# "The Speed of Space" – 8:49
# "Dark Matter Problem/Every Leaf Is Turning" – 6:42
# "Foldback Time" – 1:33
Personnel
* Jerry Garcia – lead guitar, vocals
* Bob Weir – rhythm guitar, vocals
* Phil Lesh – bass, vocals
*Bill Kreutzmann
William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...
– drums
* Mickey Hart – drums
*Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972.
McKernan grew up he ...
– keyboards, vocals, harmonica, percussion
*Tom Constanten
Tom Constanten (born March 19, 1944) is an American keyboardist, best known for playing with Grateful Dead from 1968 to 1970, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Biography
Early career
Born in Long Branch, N ...
– keyboards
* Ned Lagin - keyboards, electronics
*Keith Godchaux
Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979.
Biography
Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California ...
– keyboards
*Donna Jean Godchaux
Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979.
Biography
Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a sessi ...
– vocals
*Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions ...
– piano, keyboards, vocals
*Brent Mydland
Brent Mydland (October 21, 1952 – July 26, 1990) was an American keyboardist and singer. He was a member of the rock band The Grateful Dead from 1979 to 1990, a longer tenure than any other keyboardist in the band.
Growing up in Concord ...
– keyboards, vocals
*Vince Welnick
Vincent Leo Welnick (February 21, 1951 – June 2, 2006) was an American keyboardist-singer-songwriter best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He was inducted into ...
– keyboards, vocals
* John Oswald – arranger
References
External links
''Grayfolded'' flash promo
* ''Grayfolded'' release sheet in pdf format
Grayfolded.pdfLightshow.pdf
{{Authority control
Grateful Dead live albums
Grateful Dead compilation albums
1994 live albums
1994 compilation albums
Experimental rock compilation albums
Live experimental rock albums
John Oswald (composer) albums
Sound collage albums