Loud and ClearLoud and Clear

"Loud and Clear is the first book to tell the full story of the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound, an unprecedented and since unparalleled speaker system that was as tall as a school bus is long and more than a hundred feet wide. The band's quest for roaring yet crystal clear sound began after their formation in 1965, colliding with the '60s progressive social climate. Over the next few years, the Dead's growing crew of sound-obsessed techies and eccentric roadies took their speaker system to new technological heights. But as the Dead's relentless, drug-fueled touring schedule met this increasingly burdensome yet sonically perfect machine, in 1974, the Wall brought the band to its knees. The two years of Wall shows are legend among Deadheads, and this character-driven tale about human ambition, achievement, and the limits of both on a larger-than-life scale is one of the great untold stories of rock and roll history."--