Though the Dead’s previous album, Wake of the Flood, found the band venturing into jazz fusion and art rock, their 1974 follow-up featured a rootsier, more concise batch of songs. Pianist Keith Godchaux is at his best on the boogying steamroller "U.S. Blues,” while Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter unveil some of their finest fruits as a songwriting team on the mysterious "China Doll" and the Band-like "Ship of Fools."