GRATEFUL DEAD "SKULL & ROSES" 1ST PRESSING 'GREENIE' WB w/ STICKER 1971 ARTISAN

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GRATEFUL DEAD "SKULL & ROSES"  1971 FIRST PRESSING 'GREENIE' WB LABELS w/ STICKER
GRATEFUL DEAD "SKULL & R*SES" "SKULL & ROSES" ('SKULL FU*K') 1971 FIRST PRESSING ~ GREEN WARNER LABELS w/ STICKER 2-LP GATEFOLD w/ ORIGINAL STICKER LABEL: WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS:  2 WS 1935 2WS 1935 RECORDED: MARCH-APRIL 1971 RECORDED AT: FILLMORE EAST / WINTERLAND / MANHATTAN CENTER RECORDING: "Betty & Bob" BETTY CANTOR & BOB MATTHEWS MIXING, OVERDUBS, EDITING: ALEMBIC STUDIOS, SAN FRANCISCO MASTERING: ARTISAN STUDIOS CALIFORNIA PRODUCERS: THE GRATEFUL DEAD PRESSED BY CAPITOL RECORDS ALBUM ARTWORK: ALTON KELLEY GATEFOLD PHOTO OF BAND: BOB SEIDEMANN MATRIX (SIDE A): (Etched) 2 WS-1935 39943-1  [Artisan logo] MATRIX (SIDE B): (Etched) 2 WS-1935 39944-2  [Artisan logo] MATRIX (SIDE C): (Etched) 2 WS-1935 39945-1  [Artisan logo] MATRIX (SIDE D): (Etched) 2 WS-1935 39946-1  [ Artisan logo]
CONDITION:  VINYL: VG+  JACKET: VG+  STICKER: EX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been going thru my large vinyl record collection the past few months and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for nearly 50 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
After all, we are just temporary 'caretakers' of these musical gems until the next owner and next collection takes them in.
This week on EBay I'm offering up this rare, clean, excellent condition, excellent sounding, early First Pressing of the Grateful Dead's classic live album "Skull and Roses" from 1971 on the original green Warner label.
This is my personal, original copy that I purchased back in the early 70's, shortly after its release, and has remained in my record collection ever since. 
My father was an Audiophile, my older siblings collected records, so I caught the record collecting 'addiction' very young and this is one of the first records I ever purchased with my own money, on the advise of a hip Uncle. This album, with its amazing cover art and fantastic content is one of a handful of records that started me on 50 years of collecting vinyl. What a long, strange trip it's been!
I learned very early on how to treat, handle and respect vinyl records so I've taken great care of this record for 50 years now and it's still in excellent condition, but it's time to pass it on.
Please read the full description of this album's content, recording history, cultural impact, and more details on the record's condition below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a nice clean original 1971 First Pressing on the early olive green Warner Brothers label with the small black 'skull & roses' logo at the top.
These original American "Greenie" First Pressings sound amazing. They are renowned for their clear, detailed, powerful and dynamic sound reproduction and this pressing has the kind of energy, presence, and fullness needed to bring the best out of the Grateful Dead. Also, the warm, pure analog sound quality is just awesome. 
These early green Warner pressings allow you to hear and experience the rich, clear, raw energy of the Grateful Dead in the way the band originally intended, and in a way that remains timeless and impressive. 
This copy also still has it's original, clean unused 'Skull & Roses' Sticker, which is almost always missing, and comes with it's original 1971 "Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders" inner sleeves.
This is a 2-LP gatefold pressing and the inside of the gatefold has a fantastic picture of the band, the track listing, and the invitation to "Dead freaks" to join the band's mailing list. The record company information inside the gatefold reads:
"Warner Bros. Records Inc., a Subsidiary & Licensee of Warner Bros. Inc. 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, Calif. 91505, 44 East 50th Street, New York 10022 Made in U.S.A. - Copyright 1971 - Warner Bros. Records Inc."
This copy is the preferred 'Artisan' mastered version with the lacquers cut at Artisan Sound Recording Studio in southern California using a state of the art Neumann VMS-66 lathe with a SX-68 cutting head, which was considered revolutionary at the time. The Artisan "drum and drumsticks" logo is in the deadwax on all 4 sides of this record. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Grateful Dead’s eponymous Live LP 'Skull & Roses’ was the Grateful Dead's 7th album, and 2nd live album, released in the Fall of 1971.
Their first official live recording, 1969's 'Live/Dead' captured the Grateful Dead in the comfort of playing for their hometown fans on stage at the Fillmore West. 
This 1971 live album was clearly the band’s attempt to translate their unique sound and appeal to a wider audience, and contains 11 fantastic performances of mostly newer material, recorded in March and April of that year at several different concerts, mostly in New York City.
The New York run of shows in spring of 1971 are legendary and still recognized as some of the Dead’s best performances. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the band first presented the idea of this live album to Warner Brothers, they wanted to call it 'Skull Fu*k', a phrase meaning "something that blows your mind". That title would have given it an unmarketable and unsellable name, killing any chance of it becoming the legendary classic that it has become.
Despite the band's humor and poke at the stiff suits of Warner Bros., the band insisted that the album be called 'Skull Fu*k' or nothing. Warner strongly refused, negotiations broke down, and the album remained nameless, just simply going by the the name of the band "Grateful Dead'. There's no title listed anywhere on the album or labels.
Although the official title of this 1971 live alum is 'Grateful Dead', fans started calling it 'Skull & Roses' due to it's striking cover art.
The amazing album cover art, designed by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse of the Family Dog multi-media collective, whose psychedelic concert posters helped define the visual style of the 1960's counterculture, is based on an illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for an old edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
The lack of a title, or any other lettering on the album jacket, make the artwork even more striking and intense. Many people hung this fantastic album cover on their wall as 'Art'.
Mouse and Kelley's famous skull-and-roses visual motif became instantly recognizable and indelibly linked with the band. One glance at this cover and you instantly know its a Grateful Dead record. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the spring and summer of 1971, when these recordings were made, the Grateful Dead were down to a five-piece configuration.
Mickey Hart (percussion) and Tom Constanten (keyboards) were no longer in the band, Pigpen was still healthy, alive, and doing his thing, and the arrival of Keith Godchaux (organ) and his wife, Donna Godchaux (vocals), had yet to occur. 
The musicians on this album include:
JERRY GARCIA: lead guitar, vocals BOB WEIR: rhythm guitar, vocals PHIL LESH: bass guitar, vocals BILL KREUTZMANN: drums and percussion RON 'PIGPEN' McKERNAN: organ, harmonica, vocals
MERLE SAUNDERS: added overdubbed organ on "Bertha", "Playing in the Band", and "Wharf Rat".
This great live album reveals a smaller, tighter, leaner, more versatile Grateful Dead, more responsive to each other’s playing, and performing shorter, soulful originals and covers, without losing any of their ability to still jam and improvise.
The band sounds so sharp and energetic; the songs and covers are excellent, Bobby and Ron's singing is fantastic, Jerry's voice and guitar are both perfect, and everyone's playing is just spectacular. 
The whole record has this excellent, joyous, freewheeling quality to it. 
They also didn't lose any of their psychedelic magic powers, as demonstrated by this album's centerpiece: a wild 18-minute version of 'The Other One', which first appeared on their 1968 album 'Anthem of the Sun'.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By 1971, the Grateful Dead were at their early commercial peak, enjoying the back-to-back successes of 'Workingman’s Dead' and 'American Beauty', which had been released within five months of each other in 1970. 
Those 2 iconic albums found the Dead taking a new direction, steering away from their earlier 'experimental' sounds, extended jamming, and psychedelic urges, in favor of better written, tightly constructed, country-tinged rock songs, like 'Sugar Magnolia', 'Uncle John's Band' and 'Truckin', that emphasized better melodic song structure and harmony-laden vocal work.
It was a perfect formula and both 'Workingman’s Dead' and 'American Beauty' are still considered the band's best albums and best work.
Most 'normal' artists would then do a live tour, playing their 'hits' and promoting the album, but a strangely, this 1971 Live album does not contain any material from either of those 2 classic Grateful Dead albums.
The Grateful Dead weren't wired to think in commercial terms, or consider certain songs as 'Hits'. They just had a large, everchanging, fluid collection of fantastic songs that they could play at will, and that setlist changed from night to night. 
'Skull and Roses' does offer up 3 'new' songs, the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter compositions 'Bertha' and 'Wharf Rat', both of which were new at the time but quickly became permanent features in the band's live sets for years. This album also had a great live version of "Playing in the Band", another new song at the time, which received a good amount of airplay. The studio version of the song was released the following year on rhythm guitarist Bob Weir's solo album 'Ace'.
The 11 songs on this 2-LP live set include:
Bertha (05:42) Mama Tried Merle Haggard  (02:43) Big Railroad Blues  Noah Lewis  (03:35) Playing in the Band  (04:40) The Other One  (18:04) Me & My Uncle  (03:04) Big Boss Man  (05:13) Me and Bobby McGee  (05:41) Johnny B. Goode  (03:43) Wharf Rat (08:30) Not Fade Away/Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad  (09:14)
'Skull & Roses' was designed and structured as an example of what a condensed version of a standard Grateful Dead show was like.
The opening track 'Bertha' fades in, as if you just happened to stumble into a Dead show already in progress. 'Bertha' is followed with some of the band’s standard first set country/blues tunes: Bob Weir’s take on Merle Haggard’s ‘Mama Tried’, the driving 12 bar ‘Big Railroad Blues’, and Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man."
There's also some classic upbeat rock, like a blistering take of Chuck Berry’s 'Johnny B. Goode', which was later used as the B-side of the 'Truckin' single.
They balance classic rock and roll with a couple of new Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter originals, the rocking 'Bertha', the mellow 'Wharf Rat', an optimistic wino’s tale, and the infectious, slinky, ‘Playing in the Band’, as well as a fair amount of Bakersfield-style country — a genre where the band always found a way to shine. 
Songs like Kris Kristofferson’s “Me & Bobby McGee”; Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried”; and “Me & My Uncle,” by John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas are all fantastic.
The centerpiece of this album is side 2, an 18+ minute version of 'The Other One', a song that first appeared on 1968's 'Anthem of the Sun' and the only track on this LP that had previously appeared on a studio album. 
A pretty incredible jam. The band comes exploding out of the end of Bill Kreutzmann's ‘Drums’ solo and, with little more than a riff and a chorus to guide them, the band pick up the song's twists and turns with enthusiasm and conjure up some amazing exploratory improvisations.
The album ends with an exuberant nine-minute medley that transforms Buddy Holly’s 'Not Fade Away' into the traditional 'Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad'.
The transition from the Bo Diddley beat of the former into the propulsive railroad rhythm of the latter is one of the band’s great sonic magic tricks that they pretty much spent their career perfecting. Classic Grateful Dead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the success of both 'Workingman’s Dead' and 'American Beauty', the band started to shift away fom the studio and concentrate on what they did best, playing live.
They hired manager Sam Cutler, who had recently organized the very successful Rolling Stones 1969 tour. Cutler essentially designed, created and defined the modern day rock tour, and the Dead had him do the same for them. The Dead went from playing sporadic clusters of shows around the Bay area and New York city, to playing much longer, planned, organized, and more profitable tours across the country.
That touring spread the Dead's music and popularity to many new fans and this album was a big part of that growth. It was an important life line to connect Grateful Dead fans together.
From the very beginning, the Grateful Dead have always been about creating a connection with their fans. On the inside of the gatefold of this original pressing, the band urges “Dead Freaks" to unite.
In 1971, the band was still not that well-known outside of certain circles, and not a huge concert draw or cult. Fans of the band weren't yet referred to as "Deadheads". They were just, as the album suggests, "freaks", but this album helped change that and spread the word.
Inside the gatefold, the band reached out directly to its small but burgeoning fan base with a message reading:
Dead Freaks Unite: Who are you? Where are you? How are you? Send us your name and address and we'll keep you informed. Dead Heads, P.O. Box 1065, San Rafael, California 94901.
Fans could write in, stay informed, and become part of the growing group of dedicated Grateful Dead fanatics that were starting to attend multiple shows, acquire tapes of great shows, and creating their own culture and alternative lifestyle around the band. 
The fan club started out small, but as the band continued to tour across the country, and as this album sold like crazy, the number of fans writing in began grow. By the mid-70s, there were over 40,000 'Deadheads' writing in to the Grateful Dead’s offices and on the band's mailing list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You need to remember that this album was released in 1971, before cassette tape trading of shows took hold, before most people were able to see the Dead perform in person, before computers, the internet, music sites and digital downloads.
For many, the experience of a Grateful Dead show was still a mysterious legend, something they only heard about thru friends. This album brought all of the hype and stories about Dead shows directly and conveniently into your living room. It had a massive impact, not only for the band, but also the fans.
The Dead were able to translate the excitement of their live performances into a neatly marketable package for the first time. Fans who never saw the Dead and only had a few live tapes of dubious quality were suddenly exposed to a great sounding live show.
'Skull & Roses' brought the cult fascination of the Grateful Dead into greater reaches of people, converting an untold number of them into Deadheads along the way.
'Skull & Roses' became an essential record and rose to legendary status, which it still holds today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Skull and Roses' was a huge success and Warner Bros. knew they had finally found a viable, profitable way to market and sell their most troublesome act. Most of the Dead's previous studio albums sold poorly, but live albums were suddenly the way to go forward.
The success of 'Skull &Roses' quickly led to 2 other live Grateful Dead LPs from Sunflower Records, a subsidiary of MGM; 'Vintage Dead' and 'Historic Dead', containing material from the Avalon Ballroom in 1966. These LP's were released without the band's or Warner's consent to cash-in on the popularity of 'Skull & Roses'. Both of these are rare, long out of print, and grails to find.
The band's next 'official' album was another live one, the fabulous classic 'Europe 72', which despite being an expensive 3-LP set, sold remarkably well.
There was a long gap between Grateful Dead studio albums from 1970's 'American Beauty' to October 1973's 'Wake of the Flood'. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Grateful Dead were always at the cutting edge of sound technology and this album sounded amazing for it's time.
Recorded at the shows by the band's regular sound tech Betty Cantor using a, then 'state of the art', 16-track recorder, the results were amazing for 1971.
The band reviewed recordings of several shows from the Spring 1971 tour and selected some highlights. The band then had their friend and bay area musician Merl Saunders overdub organ on the compositions ‘Bertha’, ‘Playing in the Band’, and ‘Wharf Rat’ which resulted in drowning out Pigpen's original parts.
Many of the vocals, and some of the backing vocals, were also studio overdubbed, which many at the time thought was 'cheating' and ruined the 'live' vibe and feel, but it was done quite well and with taste and respect for the original sound.
The final album was then mixed and cut to lacquers at Artisan sound recorders in southern California. The album was released on September 24th 1971.
'Skull and Roses' was quite popular and had that good ole Americana/folk/blues feel, which was trendy and hip at the time. It sold well, peaking at #25 in the charts. It was the group's first album to be certified gold, and remained one of their best selling albums for decades. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Skull & Roses' is a fantastic album and a perfect album to introduce a new Deadhead into the magic of the Grateful Dead's music. Not too out there, but still loose, energetic and playful. A perfect time capsule of a band arguably performing at their peak. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
I purchased this copy back in the early 70's, 50 years ago, on one of my regular vinyl digs in those days, and have taken great care of it since.
VINYL: The vinyl stil looks very nice, clean and shiny. There is some mild evidence of play, a few hairlines and paper scuffs, but no significant flaws. No serious scuffs, palpable scratches, or dings. It's been played a few times over the years, but always well taken care of. It still looks great. I'll call it at least VG+.
The Deadwax has the simple early etched matrix numbers, followed by a '-1', and the Artisan mastering mark. These were pressed by Columbia but I see no indication of which pressing plant.
See the full Matrix numbers above.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how good it still looks. Still very clean and I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in 50 years, since Nixon was in office. It has some light 'dust' and paper specks and could use a good deep cleaning to make it even better looking and better sounding than it already is. I'll leave that up to the winning bidder.
LABELS: This is pressed with the 'classic' early green Warner Brothers labels. An original 'greenie'. 
This First Pressing has the early Green Warner Brothers labels with 'shield' logo at the top being replaced by a small 'skull & roses' skeleton head. Like all early Warners pressings, it has the large 'stereo' at the bottom.
The labels are clean and bright. No marks or damage. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and my careful handling over the years.
INNER SLEEVES: This early pressing also comes with it's original 1971 Warmer/Reprise 'Loss Leaders' inner sleeves showing the first 6 albums and their content in that series, which started in 1969. The most recent releases shown are the 'Zapped', with the great Frank Zappa cover, and 'Looney Tunes'. None of the 1971 releases are shown yet, dating these sleeves from early 1971. Very cool to read and see the music and artists that Warner/Reprise were promoting at the time.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks fantastic for a 50+ year old copy. 
Usually these Grateful Dead jackets show significant wear, damage and ringwear. Most had a rough life, but this copy still looks terrific.
These albums were typically played to death under unusual, sub-optimal conditions, so clean jackets and vinyl are quite rare. I took care of my records, even 50 years ago, and this one survived quite well. It's a beauty!
The artwork is bold and bright, the colors just Pop and the corners are relatively sharp. No seams splits and the spine is straight.
The surface of the jacket is still fantastic. No marks, names, writing or stains. Some very mild ringwear at the left center, and mild rubbing at the spine ends, but not bad. A nice survivor. 
This record has been sleeved and stored properly for Decades, and, as you can see from my pictures, it's still quite nice for an early first pressing.
The fact that this amazing album came out over 50 years ago just boggles my mind. The Grateful Dead aren't everyone's cup of tea, but if you like 70's rock, fun slinky music, and collect records, you really need this absolutely essential album in your collection.
Add this classic, First Pressing, green label copy of 'Skull & Roses' to your collection today.
~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. 
Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,600 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for well over 25 years, so please bid with confidence!
I'm a 0ne-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. I know I rambled on a bit, but can't help it. I have a passion for records and music, especially the Grateful Dead.  I hope this listing was entertaining and informative.   -- JOHN