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Searching for the Sound

My Life in the Grateful Dead

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About this listen

 Phil Lesh first met Jerry Garcia in 1959 in the clubs of Palo Alto, California. At Garcia's suggestion, Lesh learned to play the electric bass and joined him in a new group that blended R & B, country, and rock 'n' roll with an experimental fervor never before heard.
In time for the Grateful Dead's fortieth anniversary, Phil Lesh offers the first behind-the-scenes history of the Dead. Lesh chronicles how the Dead's signature sound emerged, flowed, and swelled to reach millions of devoted fans, from their first gigs at Frenchy's Bikini-A-Go-Go for an audience of three, to the legendary Acid Tests, to packed stadiums around the world.
In San Francisco during the Summer of Love, at Woodstock, Altamont, and the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Grateful Dead have been at the center of some of rock's defining moments. Phil Lesh recounts what it's been like to live at the heart of this whirlwind--impressing Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, sharing the stage with Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and the Rolling Stones. Lesh describes what it was like to storm heaven night after night--and the price he and others have paid. Bad management, drug addictions, depression, and insecurities persistently plagued the band members and would culminate with the most tragic blow of all--the death of Jerry Garcia.
Searching for the Sound is a ruthlessly honest look inside one of the greatest American bands. It includes a bonus live recording of Box of Rain performed on March 19, 1990 at the Hartford Civic Center, Hartford Connecticut.
Look for The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics 1965-1995 available in hardcover October, 2005 from Free Press.©2005 Phil Lesh; (P)2005 Simon & Schuster, Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc. Entertainment & Celebrities Music
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Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead's bassist and resident avant-gardeist, who died in 2024, narrates this autobiography in a laid back and candid style, always engaging the listener. At times his account is touching and deeply moving, as when he records the loss of those close to him, or his decline through cocaine and alcohol.

He is detailed in his descriptions of musical innovations, and there is a tremendous account of the Dead in Egypt, but his trademark modesty stops him from doing justice to his own achievements, such as his work with Bobby Peterson, or his composition Seastones.

The musical substitutes for illustrations are also sparse, though he does sing Box of Rain in full at the end, after quoting from William Blake.

All in all this is a highly likeable insight into the man and the band, which would have benefited from being longer.

Sincere and Often Moving Autobiography

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Enjoyed this a lot - it was shorter than I expected but worth a listen if you like music

Great story and lovely to hear it read by Phil himself - RIP

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