Completely Conspicuous 512: From the Mars Hotel

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album From the Mars Hotel. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ on the 13th birthday of the podcast - The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in June 1974 - Watergate hearings were the big news story - Beer was a lot cheaper back then - In '74, there was a good variety of rock acts releasing important albums, plus funk - Mars Hotel had some classic Dead songs - Phil Lesh sang two songs, which was rare, and Bob Weir had one - Garcia is in prime form on this record - The Dead was touring with the "Wall of Sound," a massive "distortion-free" speaker setup - Playing larger venues - The cost was so high that they eventually quit touring for a few years - Maybe the last great Dead studio album - The Grateful Dead Movie was taken from the final shows of this tour - Working out new songs in the live setting - Rivalry between lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow - The Dead would play with guest musicians from time to time including Pete Townshend, Branford Marsalis, Santana, Huey Lewis - The Dead probably got some airplay on FM rock radio in the '70s - Rock radio has changed a tremendous amount over the years; it's mostly corporate, formatted now - College and online stations have the most freedom - Second-tier album in the discography - Pretty representative of the Dead's sound - Next: Blues for Allah Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.