Grateful Dead – “Brokedown Palace” Live
Rock My Soul!
“Brokedown Palace” was written in 1970 in London by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia. The first ever live performance for this track was in Fillmore West on August 18, 1970. It was also included in the sixth album of Grateful Dead, “American Beauty.” It was released on November 1, 1970.
According to an interview with Hunter in a documentary film by Jeremy Marre, “Broke-down Palace,” “Ripple” and “To Lay Me Down” were all composed in one afternoon, over a half-bottle of retsina.
“American Beauty” ranked 258th in “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” by the Rolling Stone magazine. It was a mixture of folk rock and country music. It received five out of five stars from Allmusic, Rolling Stone and Sputnikmusic. Robert Christgau also gave it “A-.”
After the 1974 hiatus, “Brokedown Palace” appeared almost exclusively as the closing song of the show, as an encore. It had the effect of sending us out of the show on a gentle pillow of sound, the band bidding us “Fare you well, fare you well…”
This is one flawless version!
