Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978
| Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 | ||||
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| Live album by Grateful Dead | ||||
| Released | September 30, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | September 15–16, 1978 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | CDs: 145:48 DVD: 111:49 Bonus disc: 75:32 |
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| Label | Grateful Dead | |||
| Producer | Grateful Dead | |||
| Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| All About Jazz | (favorable) |
| Allmusic |
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| Glide |
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| The Music Box |
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| Relix | (favorable) |
| The Best of Website | (A+) |
Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 is a live album by American rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains two CDs and one DVD and was released in 2008. The album was recorded September 15 & 16, 1978, at the Giza pyramid complex in Giza, Egypt. This was the third continent on which the band performed, having previously performed in Europe.
A bonus disc of additional tracks from the dates was included with early copies of the album. The DVD contains concert footage from the September 16 performance, all of which is also represented either on the two CDs or the bonus disc. It also includes "The Vacation Tapes", a 15-minute feature, from footage originally shot on 8mm silent film, of band members, crew and friends visiting various Egyptian sites.
The idea for the concerts had its origins in an Egyptian vacation taken by band manager Richard Loren. He returned with bassist Phil Lesh and Alan Trist to meet with officials and begin the paperwork and logistics process. Through an introduction to Joe Malone, a professor at the American University of Beirut who was formerly with the State Department, the trio had made contacts with the Egyptian government. Describing the planning, bassist Phil Lesh said "it sort of became my project because I was one of the first people in the band who was on the trip of playing at places of power. You know, power that's been preserved from the ancient world. The pyramids are like the obvious number one choice because no matter what anyone thinks they might be, there is definitely some kind of mojo about the pyramids."
Rather than ship all of the required sound reinforcement equipment from the United States, the PA and a 24-track, mobile studio recording truck were borrowed from the Who, in the UK. The Dead crew set up their gear at the open-air theater on the east side of the Great Sphinx, for three nights of concerts. The final two, September 15 & 16, 1978, are excerpted for the album. The band referred to their stage set-up as "The Gizah Sound and Light Theater".
The final night's performance concurred with a total lunar eclipse. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann played with a cast, having broken his wrist while horseback riding. The King's Chamber of the nearby Great Pyramid of Giza was rigged with a speaker and microphone in a failed attempt to live-mix acoustical echo. The guest musician was Hamza El Din, a Nubian oudist whose "Ollin Arageed" appears on the album. He was backed by the students of his Abu Simbel school and accompanied by the Grateful Dead. El Din also appears on Grateful Dead album Road Trips Volume 1 Number 4.
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