Rating: 
Summary: Definitive biography - Enjoy the ride
Review: If you're a Deadhead, buy this book. I'm surprised at some of the middlin reviews here! you should read some of the book's excerpts -- i think the writing is grate! there are so many subtle phrases that add so much more to the picture. there Are some funny parts where it seems the bandmembers might have written in a sentence or two that are in stark contrast to the rest of a given paragraph, but other than that, dennis is a vivid writer -- detail-packed and colorful. the text is definitive -- ie; it's not just Rock's take on things, or outsider hank harrison, or any of the other good but incomplete books that have come out. I like this because it is the 'official' biography. McNally is a scholar and knows he's laying down the authoritative history for future historians -- and this History had to pass by the eyes of all involved, unlike all the other books written about the band. so it's fact-checked by the very people the book is about. i couldn't stop reading it and it kept me up several nights when i should have been sleeping. the book could have been about 10 books long -- i'm sure he could have done 500 pages on the 90s, or a whole other book on just the 80s or something, but like collecting tapes you could always expand and get more, and at some point it would just get too huge. i also read here that fellow reviewers are complaining that it's sanitized. if you want to read about the drugs read Rock's book i guess. i'm not interested in the Dead cuz of the drugs they took. what i love about this book, among other things, is the constant larger social perspective dennis weaves into the story -- the san francisco scene & mindset, the world at the time the dead story unfurls, etc. and i love how he connects in all the various relationships with Kerouac and the gang. the Beats Were their antecedents (at least culturally) and its nice to have their scholar laying down just how deep that connection was. Phil Lesh wrote a score to Allen Ginsberg's Howl!!!??? it's got a grate index so you can look up individual subjects or people, and it's in chronological order so you can just jump in at Woodstock, or Jerry's coma in '86, or wherever. i've been a deadhead for 25 years and know the basic storyline, like being familiar with a song, but here is McNally's, the insider's, solo -- his interpretation of the mad melody, and it's just Full of juicy notes and twisted curls.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive biography - Enjoy the ride
Review: If you're a Deadhead, buy this book. I'm surprised at some of the middlin reviews here! you should read some of the book's excerpts -- i think the writing is grate! there are so many subtle phrases that add so much more to the picture. there Are some funny parts where it seems the bandmembers might have written in a sentence or two that are in stark contrast to the rest of a given paragraph, but other than that, dennis is a vivid writer -- detail-packed and colorful. the text is definitive -- ie; it's not just Rock's take on things, or outsider hank harrison, or any of the other good but incomplete books that have come out. I like this because it is the 'official' biography. McNally is a scholar and knows he's laying down the authoritative history for future historians -- and this History had to pass by the eyes of all involved, unlike all the other books written about the band. so it's fact-checked by the very people the book is about. i couldn't stop reading it and it kept me up several nights when i should have been sleeping. the book could have been about 10 books long -- i'm sure he could have done 500 pages on the 90s, or a whole other book on just the 80s or something, but like collecting tapes you could always expand and get more, and at some point it would just get too huge. i also read here that fellow reviewers are complaining that it's sanitized. if you want to read about the drugs read Rock's book i guess. i'm not interested in the Dead cuz of the drugs they took. what i love about this book, among other things, is the constant larger social perspective dennis weaves into the story -- the san francisco scene & mindset, the world at the time the dead story unfurls, etc. and i love how he connects in all the various relationships with Kerouac and the gang. the Beats Were their antecedents (at least culturally) and its nice to have their scholar laying down just how deep that connection was. Phil Lesh wrote a score to Allen Ginsberg's Howl!!!??? it's got a grate index so you can look up individual subjects or people, and it's in chronological order so you can just jump in at Woodstock, or Jerry's coma in '86, or wherever. i've been a deadhead for 25 years and know the basic storyline, like being familiar with a song, but here is McNally's, the insider's, solo -- his interpretation of the mad melody, and it's just Full of juicy notes and twisted curls.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Far Enough or Deep Enough
Review: It's odd that someone on the "inside" reveals so little. Lots of stories sound sanitized and rehashed with little vigor or insight, not much is added to the history, and the writing is at times awkward. I really expected a much better book. I would recommend Garcia An American Life as a superior alternative.
Rating: 
Summary: A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
Review: Like a Grateful Dead concert, McNally's authorized biography of the great band is amiable, digressive, and transporting, capable of minor misadventures but always worth witnessing. McNally was anointed official Dead historian in 1980, by Jerry Garcia, who admired the accuracy and sensitivity of McNally's book on Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady (Desolate Angel, 1979). He hasn't let the band down. Working in linear fashion-punctuated by chapters that convey a you-are-there atmosphere: equipment setups, interview snippets, stage snafus, and moments of glory-McNally keeps the writing liquid, mellow despite all the detail it sheds, exhaustive without being exhausting. McNally's job couldn't have been easy, considering the general chaos and disorganization that surrounded the band, not to mention the unbridled use of recreational intoxicants. (It is a measure of the anecdotal pleasures here to learn that the Dead were introduced to LSD by the CIA.) But he does a yeoman's job of tracking both their footsteps and their mindsets, setting them within (or outside) the context of the country's evolving politics and culture, conjuring a sense of their genuine eccentricities, the irritants that generated their pearls: the lightning in a bottle of "Live Dead," the endlessly unfolding "Dark Star," and "St. Stephen," with its "medieval vision set inside a psychedelic ambience." The Dead made music that defined their lives and then shared it with friends; the stage was their living room. They were cooperative, leaderless, real-time, Dionysian, ready to follow their emotional and artistic vicissitudes. So they did, as McNally chronicles, alone and together, brilliant and abysmal; some survived, others did not. But what a time: be-ins, Woodstock (yes, they were there), Fillmore East and West and every stage in between, turned on and tuned in-and the music, it was always about the music, though "we never failed to have some fun," Garcia pointed out. A series of lively postcards from a peerless journey. "Definitely long, definitely strange-and definitely a trip," said band member Phil Lesh. Wish you were here.
Rating:
Summary: Important piece of the puzzle
Review: Like many of the reviewers here, I've read most of the books about the dead. Each seems to add a little to a complex story that no single perspective can completely render. If you find this band, the 60s, psychedelia and the San Francisco scene to be of interest, by all means read this entertaining book. McNally is particularly good in exploring psychedelia's emphasis on the "now," and Garcia's embrace of spontaneous performance as a high art form (pun intended).
Again, as other reviewers pointed out, this is not the only story. Read the other dead books, Peter Coyote's book (as someone here suggested), the Bill Graham biography, Charles Perry's "Haight-Ashbury," the books about Janis Joplin, "Storming Heaven" the great book about LSD and its social impact, "Electric Kool Aid Acid Test," and on and on. (One problem in reading these general works, though, is that you'll have to endure some of the same stories over and over, and you'll have authors explaining to you what LSD was, and who Bob Dylan is.)
I find this period endlessly fascinating and overall it's being well served by some really terrific books - this one included.
Rating:
Summary: "Shakedown Street," meet "Shakey!"
Review: Like Neil Young's recent biofest, the author here plays a quasi-significant role in the narrative flow, coyly rendered in the third person as "Scrib." Of course, having one's publicist write one's biography is pretty laughable, even for people who dig nitrous. Still, it's a fine trip, though hardly definitive, nor even particularly long, much less strange, other than the curious dearth of reminiscences, perspectives or opinions outside the band's staff and sundry other ones who try hard, but ultimately fail, to rationalize the boorish behavior exhibited by all of Jerry's Kids.
Rating:
Summary: A Labor of Love
Review: Mr McNally worked as publicist for the Dead and also lent a hand at other tasks, as a roadie, gor example. This gave hin unusual access to the backstage, relaxed, working, and business sides of that interesting band/family.The material in this book is thorough and well-presented. A few anecdotes have been covered in previous books but it is interesting to hear a fresh take. (It is a bit like Rashomon). Mc Nally has an interesting writing technique: as the chronological history of the Dead unfolds, there are interspersed sections of narrative of a typical concert, reeally a montage of onstage and backstage scenes that are very vivid. It is impossible to really describe a Dead concert experience but this is a valiant effort. The author seems like a splendid friendly chap. This is an honest book and a good read. Let's hope for more from Dennis McNally.
Rating:
Summary: Over all I would say it's good - buy it if you like the Dead
Review: Ok. As the OFFICIAL work, it has moments: a great history of the band as juggernaut, including roadies, and thorough treatment of Band "philosophy." But it is not a personal book and it is oddly proportioned. The book is good on the early years, with details on the members, band formation, early gigs, etc. We get some feel of their personalities. But that's it. They remain suspended, one dimensional, undeveloped. We dont hear them speak or share their thoughts and observations. For example, we repeatedly read that Weir has good manners. Not very informative. More interesting would be Weir on "the Bobby problem," how did he/the band resolve it? did he change his playing? How, When? We never know. Then there is the supporting cast. The crew just isnt that interesting, but if McNally has to write it, at least he could finish the story, as in Candelario's excesses. McNally raises a lot of issues and just drops them, just like he gives little relative attention to the later band. Hey, I would like to hear what Bruce and Vince actually said about being late editions, or the Band members on its evolution, high and low points, etc. McNally also takes the band too seriously. I love the Dead, but I am not that impressed by them as Cosmic Thinkers, or by Robert Hunter as poet laureate. And how do you jibe the Band "philosophy" (which not everybody shared) with the current marketing machine that is the Dead? Finally, altho competent, McNally doesnt win a lot of writing style points. All in all, worth a read for a fan, but disappointing as THE official story.
Rating:
Summary: "Official" but disappointing
Review: Ok. As the OFFICIAL work, it has moments: a great history of the band as juggernaut, including roadies, and thorough treatment of Band "philosophy." But it is not a personal book and it is oddly proportioned. The book is good on the early years, with details on the members, band formation, early gigs, etc. We get some feel of their personalities. But that's it. They remain suspended, one dimensional, undeveloped. We dont hear them speak or share their thoughts and observations. For example, we repeatedly read that Weir has good manners. Not very informative. More interesting would be Weir on "the Bobby problem," how did he/the band resolve it? did he change his playing? How, When? We never know. Then there is the supporting cast. The crew just isnt that interesting, but if McNally has to write it, at least he could finish the story, as in Candelario's excesses. McNally raises a lot of issues and just drops them, just like he gives little relative attention to the later band. Hey, I would like to hear what Bruce and Vince actually said about being late editions, or the Band members on its evolution, high and low points, etc. McNally also takes the band too seriously. I love the Dead, but I am not that impressed by them as Cosmic Thinkers, or by Robert Hunter as poet laureate. And how do you jibe the Band "philosophy" (which not everybody shared) with the current marketing machine that is the Dead? Finally, altho competent, McNally doesnt win a lot of writing style points. All in all, worth a read for a fan, but disappointing as THE official story.
Rating:
Summary: Has its moments, but misses overall
Review: Okay, having been a Deadhead since 1976 and having read nearly everything that's been written about them over the years, I have to admit that I was fairly underwhelmed with this book (apart from its sheer length). There's plenty of good stuff in it, and loads of info that Dead-interested readers will find fascinating... but it misses the "definitive biography" prize by quite a bit. The oddest thing about it is that it has far more detailed material on the period BEFORE McNally was associated with the band than there is for after he was on the scene! The super-detailed account of the early lives of the Boys and formative years of the band, and on up through about the mid-70s, is great stuff. Coverage of the 80s and 90s (maybe 'cause it was less interesting?) is more spotty and betrays some keeping of skeletons buried so as not to offend the Dead "family." Another weakness of the book is that it doesn't adequately capture what made the band's MUSIC special: that's essentially treated as a given. This is okay - only the already-converted are going to read this anyway - but it seems an odd thing to be lacking. Somebody so "inside" should understand intimately what made the Boys' playing so special, not just the logistics of the stage setup and the statistics on the Wall of Sound. Anyway, completists (like me!) will want to read it, and there's plenty of good info to take away from this book... But if you want to read the BEST book on the The Dead so far, stick with Blair Jackson's "Garcia: An American Life". Although it's "only" a biography of Jerry, it covers the same ground far better, and Jackson's understanding of the MUSICAL aspects is far superior to McNally's... "One man gathers what another man spills."
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