Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The first book to tell the full story of the Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound, an unprecedented and since unparalleled speaker system.

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 in 1974, as the Dead’s relentless, drug-fueled touring schedule met this increasingly burdensome yet sonically perfect machine, 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 in rock and roll history.

Author Brian Anderson interviewed hundreds of people associated with the band and the construction of the Wall itself, including band members, roadies, tech wizards, fans and many more. This fascinating inside story of one of the most legendary rock bands of all time is a testament to the Wall reverberating long after it fell silent.