Bear, The Wall, and the Dead
This episode explores the intertwined history of Augustus Owsley Stanley III (aka "Bear"), the Grateful Dead, and the legendary "Wall of Sound" PA system. Drawing from several sources, we'll examine Bear's unique impact on the 1960s counterculture, his innovative contributions to the Grateful Dead's sonic identity, and the triumphs and challenges of the ambitious Wall of Sound.
Robert Greenfield, on Bear's impact: "Without his LSD, I don’t think those times would have been as crazy as they were, and that’s why I decided to write the book."
Bear: The Acid King and Sound Innovator
Bear wasn't just a key figure in the San Francisco Bay Area hippie movement; he was arguably its architect, thanks to his production of ultra-pure LSD. As Robert Greenfield notes in his biography, “Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III,” Bear's LSD "helped create what was going on at all these iconic countercultural events," including the Human Be-In and Monterey Pop Festival.
His impact extended beyond the counterculture. John Lennon reportedly sought a lifetime supply of Bear's LSD, and The Beatles' subsequent three-week trip fueled the creation of "Magical Mystery Tour." Greenfield argues that LSD's influence reached even further, potentially paving the way for the internet. He cites Steve Jobs' famous claim that taking LSD was one of the most important things he'd ever done and points to the link between LSD and the digital world embodied by individuals like John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Bear's relationship with the Grateful Dead went beyond LSD. He became their early financier, sound engineer, and even designed their iconic "Steal Your Face" logo. As Phil Lesh recounts in "Rolling Stone," Bear was instrumental in tackling the sound problems faced by electric instruments in the 1960s: "He did some research and said, ‘Let’s use Altec speakers and hi-fi amps and four-tube amps, one for each instrument, and put them on a piece of wood.’ Three months later we were playing through Bear’s sound system."
Bear's obsession with sonic perfection led him to meticulously document each Grateful Dead performance in his "sonic journals," continually refining his approach to live sound. This meticulousness and innovative spirit culminated in the creation of the Wall of Sound.
Bear, on the Wall of Sound: "The Wall of Sound is the name some people gave to a super powerful, extremely accurate PA system that I designed and supervised the building of in 1973 for the Grateful Dead. It was a massive wall of speaker arrays set behind the musicians, which they themselves controlled without a front of house mixer. It did not need any delay towers to reach a distance of half a mile from the stage without degradation."
The Wall of Sound: Triumphant Excess and Lasting Legacy
The Wall of Sound was a monumental undertaking. Conceived in 1969 during a brainstorming session between the Grateful Dead and their collaborators, it was born from Bear's audacious idea to place the PA system behind the band. The Wall, which debuted in 1974, was a technological marvel, comprising six independent sound systems with eleven separate channels. It aimed to deliver distortion-free sound to audiences of 100,000 or more and act as its own monitoring system.
The Wall employed groundbreaking technology, including Alembic-designed microphones that prevented feedback and a quadraphonic encoder that separated the signals from each string of Phil Lesh's bass. As Luka Osborne describes in "Remembering the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound," the result was "crystal clear audio, free of intermodulation distortion." This setup allowed the audience to experience a level of sonic realism never before achieved in concert settings, hearing each instrument precisely from where they saw it on stage.
The Wall's size and complexity, however, proved to be its downfall. As documented in the Wikipedia entry on the Wall of Sound, the system's transportation and assembly were logistical nightmares. It required two leapfrogging stages, three crews, and 21 crew members working all day for setup. This immense effort, coupled with high equipment costs, nearly bankrupted the band.
Despite its short lifespan, the Wall of Sound revolutionized live sound engineering. Its influence is still felt today, inspiring line arrays and innovations in amplifier technology. Though considered absurdly excessive by some, the Wall was a testament to Bear's unwavering pursuit of sonic perfection and the Grateful Dead's willingness to push the boundaries of live performance.
Phil Lesh, on Bear's early sound system: "I started talking to Bear about our sound problems. There was no technology for electric instruments. We started talking about how to get around distortion and get a pure musical tone. He did some research and said, ‘Let’s use Altec speakers and hi-fi amps and four-tube amps, one for each instrument, and put them on a piece of wood.’ Three months later we were playing through Bear’s sound system."
The Aftermath: Steal Your Face and Evolving Perceptions
The 1976 live album "Steal Your Face," recorded during the Grateful Dead's farewell run at Winterland Ballroom in 1974, serves as a sonic time capsule of the Wall of Sound era. Unfortunately, the album's production was plagued by technical issues stemming from the Wall's unique microphone setup and the lack of a mixing board. The resulting sonic muddiness led to a mixed reception from fans and critics alike.
Phil Lesh, tasked with mixing the album, expressed his dissatisfaction in his book "Searching for the Sound": "the result was a glutinous mud bath of sound, through which any music was scarcely discernible." However, with the passage of time and the release of remastered versions, "Steal Your Face" has come to be appreciated as a unique and perhaps underrated entry in the Grateful Dead's discography.
The Wall of Sound, though short-lived, stands as a monument to ambition and innovation. Bear's unwavering dedication to sonic excellence and his willingness to push technological boundaries left an indelible mark on the world of live music, forever altering audience expectations and inspiring generations of sound engineers.
Sources
https://societyofrock.com/the-story-of-the-grateful-deads-wall-of-sound/
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/steely-dan-acid-anthem-kid-charlemagne-cia/
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/augustus-owsley-stanley-iii-counterculture-acid/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-trippy-life-of-the-lsd-manufacturer-who-helped-create-the-60s/
https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-xpm-2011-mar-15-la-me-owsley-stanley-20110315-story.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/owsley-stanley-the-king-of-lsd-82181/
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