Blues for Allah
| Blues for Allah | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Grateful Dead | ||||
| Released | September 1, 1975 | |||
| Recorded | February 27 – May 7, 1975 | |||
| Genre | Acid rock, jam rock, jazz rock, psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 44:13 | |||
| Label | Grateful Dead, United Artists | |||
| Producer | Grateful Dead | |||
| Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Robert Christgau | C− |
| Rolling Stone | (mixed) |
| Sputnikmusic |
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Blues for Allah is a studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded February 27–May 7, 1975, and released September 1, 1975. It was the band's third album on their own Grateful Dead Records label. Though it has not received Gold Album certification as of 2017, Blues for Allah was the group's highest-charting album until 1987's In the Dark, reaching #12 during a thirteen-week stay on the Billboard Album Chart.
Blues for Allah was recorded after the Dead began a then-indefinite band hiatus, in October 1974. Conscious of needing a new album release for their independent label, the band gathered in January 1975, in the studio that rhythm guitarist Bob Weir had built at home. Rather than their usual approach of recording studio versions of songs that had matured on stage, the tracks were developed in the studio setting. According to manager Rock Scully, this was in part an attempt by lead guitarist Jerry Garcia to ensure more involvement in the writing process from other band members. In creating material from scratch, the band were able to progress beyond the previous genres in which they had played. Garcia explained "We're working on creating styles, rather than just being eclectic or synthesizing other styles. Thus, it's a little bit more difficult, and considerably more experimental."
A discernable Middle-Eastern theme emerged, supported by Robert Hunter's lyrics. A lack of western time signatures on some of the material added to the concept, as well as experiments with instrumentation, such as flute on the Bach-inspired "Sage & Spirit" (named for manager Rock Scully's daughters). Garcia said he was "creating scales that generated their own harmony in ways that weren't symmetrical in regular, classical major-minor relationships."
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