The Warlocks, Live at Various 11/1/65

Now I've finally reached the electrified version of my favorite band, the Grateful Dead. Well, not quite. If the date of this recording is to be believed (and what can we believe), then the band performing behind the Pranksters is not the Grateful Dead, but rather the Warlocks. Interestingly, it would be the last time they performed as the Warlocks.

Here is what we've got for this date. Again, Archive lists this as "Live at various on 1965-11-01

1. Speed Limit (behind Prankster noises)
2. Neal Cassady rap (with Dead in background)

I found this recording to be impossibly historic. First, you have the Dead performing behind the Merry Pranksters, who were doing whatever they did. A lot of sound effects going on, you know. The actual playing of "Speed Limit" was a lot of the same riff over and over. A couple times the band breaks out into a small, but awesome, jam. To me, it sounds like prototypical 60's rock. Something that you would hear in mainstream sound in '68 or '69. But the Dead doing it in '65? The thought that popped into my head was that the band found a great sound before everyone else, abandoning it for loftier, headier pastures. They clearly could have played rock like every other band, but somewhere, somehow, chose to do what they wanted to do.

The Cassady rap is cool because, hey, it's Cassady! He was a man revered in all beat and freak circles of the San Francisco scene in the 60's. Jack Kerouac used him as the basis for Dean Moriarty in "On The Road." I didn't understand much of what he was saying, but it was entertaining nonetheless. As for the Dead, I have a hard time believing that this track is from 1965. In the background, you can clearly hear the start of "Turn On Your Lovelight," which wasn't played until the summer of 1967. So this rap is absolutely mislabeled. Still, it is pretty interesting.

Please listen to these two tracks here. It's worth it just for the history!

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1965-11-01.sbd.bershaw.5417.sbeok.shnf