Note: tracks 13-19 are repeats of tracks 5-11.

All these tracks were recorded in April of 1974 except for the Crazy Fingers which is a studio rehearsal from 1975.

There is an acoustic version of Cucamunga from August of 1973 that appears on the Mars Hotel CD as a bonus track; it's nowhere in the Archive as far as I can tell...

From DeadEssays:

http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2013/07/studio-outtakes-1965-1974.html

"The first three tracks sound like a single rehearsal session, all “live” takes with vocals: three takes of Cucamonga [sic - should read "two takes"], one of Money, and a false start & take of Unbroken Chain. Then Phil’s acoustic demo of Unbroken Chain, same as the CD bonus track. The remaining tracks are all basic instrumental takes without overdubs: Unbroken Chain, Scarlet Begonias, Cucamonga, Ship of Fools, Money, Loose Lucy & US Blues. These are frequently different from the album takes – for instance note Garcia’s guitar parts in Cucamonga & Unbroken Chain"

This is a great trip thru the process of getting a song out for a record.
I am a big fan of the satire in Money, Money but the song sounds so paltry between PRIDE OF CUCAMONGA and UNBROKEN CHAIN.
The instrumental versions are way cool. Something I always thought would have been fun for the band to dabble with live every once in awhile.
Best of these for me is the UNBROKEN CHAIN. A lot of that sounds like the back part of EYES they would tinker with in 1973,
Just starting to get into 74 and this recording definitely helps capture some of the texture of the year.
FURTHUR= If for no other reason I am glad that CUCAMONGA and UNBROKEN CHAIN got a good airing with Phil still at the helm.
(74 instead of 94 indeed!)
And wow is that a cool instrumental Crazy Fingers!

Let's see now, a couple of Scarlets at 4:20 eh? Ha-ha-ha! Now we know what kind of Scarlets they like! Ha-ha!

so cool to listen to the guys practicing these tunes in the studio. VERY good versions of unbroken chain. i sure wish they hadn't waited 20 years later to play it live because it sounds like they had it down pretty well here in '74. well worth listening to for any dead fan. really dig all the instrumentals. groovy version of loose lucy too!

Is it possible to get these songs as downloadable files, so I can listen to the jams offline? I am digging this Loose Lucy big time...

Awsome recordings, but didn't Mars Hotel come out much earlier in 1974?

Its so cool to hear them putting these songs together

I know the last section of songs are just repeats of the middle section cleaned up with the hiss removed, which I like. These are cool versions of these songs. I know some of you might think this funny, but I'm going to play and sing with them at karaoke.

I a had this recording when I was a teen, it came to me with the title of this review, and used to love it!!! It Certainly brings back a few memories... Thanks Obine!!!

The reason I kept it as long as I did, was after the Studio outakes. My cassette contained a filler of PigPen, Like four days before he passed on. Just some aucoustic ramblings, I believe. With 4 songs, one titled "I'm Going, I'm Gone, So Long" It was extremely good and sad at the same time, I had it a good number of years, But gave to a huge Pig fan, or was he a Mars man(?), I met somewhere in my travels... (sound familiar?)
The flip side of my copy had a soundcheck concert from... '81 i think.
4 stars for the memories...

Pride of Cucamonga. Anyone know where there's a live version. i doubt it, but it sure does sound good. If i could trade just one hideous looks like rain or loser for a nice life pride, that would be nice!

Yeah, the sound quality isn't all that swell. The people who show up at my funeral can still sit through this instrumental version of Unbroken Chain.

I have deep gratitude to be able to hear the creative process unfolding, like a fly on the wall at Front Street. Please remember what a rhythmically complex tune "UC" is. And, it occurs to me that (early) Keith does get enough props -- the guy -- before the smack got him -- had chops.

I saw the Dead's three shows at the Ally Pally in 1974. More than a little discombobulated all three nights. Swore for years that they had played BOTH Unbroken Chain AND Pride. Many years before I realised ... I had been more than a little discombibulated :-)

Unbroken Chain - man, I wish they had started playing it in 74 instead of 94!! What an amazing song!

Pride - another excellent song - why did they never play this live? Had so much potential!

There's also a great Crazy Fingers hiding here

Sound is not great, knocking this fun collection down from a 5 to a 4.

i heard pride of cucamunga LIVE this summer!!! i dunno if phil ever played it with the dead, but he played it this summer, i think at hartford, but im not sure, it was killer. its nice to know, that, even if some of the stone-age hippies dont think about it much, its still on phils mind.

I'm not sure it makes any sense to give this a STAR rating at all. This is just a rehearsal dontcha know. As we ALL know, they could spin straw into gold, or mash it into cattle feed. This applies to public performances as well as rehearsals. Though, the rehearsals were never meant to be heard & judged by the general public like shows could be. Personally, Pride Of Cucamonga is my favorite song on Mars Hotel, so since they never played it live, being able to hear it at all is worth five stars to me. It's worth listening to in it's entirety.
WEEEEE LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE YOOOUUU!!!!

I had this tape a long time ago with much better quality + it's not that great.

Crazy Fingers, Ship of Fools (a mixed acoustic and electric instrument), and Scarlet Begonias, are the highlights here, worth checking out.

The sound isn't all that good, but some of these versions are better than those on the released Mars Hotel, which is generally overproduced. Because of the production and the number of weak songs, Mars Hotel lags behind 1973's Wake of the Flood, but the boys came back in 1975 with Blues for Allah (which has Crazy Fingers).

Be sure to check out the Wake of the Flood outtakes in the 1973 section.

these alone are worth the download, sweet instrumentals

I think the acoustic demo of Unbroken Chain is the same one that's on the newly released Beyond Description boxset. Phil's comments during the track, where he actually says the names of the chords, and especially his comment about the pauses during the instrumental bit, are virtually identical. THere seems to be more reverb on this version, suggesting that somewhere along the way, some armchair record producer decided to do some amateur remixing.

Other than that, I really don't know much about these tracks. I'm looking forward to using them as filler at the end of other shows (ya know, the ones where there's a third or fourth CD that's only 30 minutes long). :-)

Great to hear these outtakes. Archive.org is wonderful; thanks to all who makes these downloads possible.

There are 4 "Unbroken Chains" listed. The first features an aborted attempt of the tune due to an error by Keith (Jerry calls him Fumblefingers Godchaux" and sentances him to "twenty laps" as punishment), then a complete vocalized runthrough.

The second is Phil walking through the tune solo, on an acoustic guitar. He sings and calls out some chord changes; clearly he's documenting the progression of the song for the others in the band to learn from.

The third is an electric instrumental version. Jerry' solo is really well played. The 4th is merely another copy of the instrumental version just mentioned above and there's no need to download it twice.

Sound quality is fairly rough, but it's a treat to hear these outtakes. Enjoy.

vintage instrumental versions