Grateful Dead - From the Mars Hotel (Early Sessions, Record Plant 1973)

Session

Type: Studio Session
Date Recorded: August 3, 1973

Archive note

Early sessions for From the Mars Hotel (Grateful Dead Records, June 1974) documented at Record Plant, 2200 Bridgeway, Sausalito, August 1973 — concurrent with Wake of the Flood sessions. PRIMARY SOURCE: File 055 (Record Plant job/tape-log card, client GDR, producer G.D.). Two From the Mars Hotel tracks appear on reels dated 8/6–8/7/73: Reel 6 — 8/6/73: U.S. Blues (15 ips, 16-track) Reel 8 — 8/7/73: Loose Lucy (15 ips, 16-track) Both titles are confirmed From the Mars Hotel tracks. U.S. Blues was still performed live as Wave That Flag at this time — the title U.S. Blues in Aug 1973 is early; verify against GD live logs for title transition date. Additional candidate: Reel 3 (8/4/73) is labeled '3 of Phil's songs' on a 2-track mix/reference reel. Plausibly includes early Unbroken Chain (Lesh's signature Mars Hotel track). Not asserted — flag for research. This is the first archive evidence that Mars Hotel material was being developed at the Plant during the Wake of the Flood sessions, approximately 10 months before the album's official recording dates (Feb–Mar 1974, CBS Studios, Burlingame). Ownership Era: Record Plant (Sausalito). Studio Role: Early tracking / development. OPEN: Confirm whether the Feb–Mar 1974 CBS sessions supersede or build on these Plant takes. Check if any Plant-recorded takes appear in final album credits. Source: File 055, Record Plant warehouse. Conduit: [to be confirmed]. Verification: From Primary Source (studio tape-log card). ===================================================================== SCOPE EXPANDED 2026-08-15 — two to four songs. Source: Rhino's official Wake of the Flood: The Angel's Share track listing (38 tracks, each carrying a session date), published at store.dead.net, cross-read against File 055. ===================================================================== Two further Mars Hotel songs are documented at the Plant in August 1973, both from the rightsholder's own released session audio rather than from the tape card: China Doll — released under the session working title "Pistol Shot (China Doll)", four takes, all dated 8/8/73. Rhino's own titling supplies the working-title resolution. Pistol Shot does not appear on File 055's eight reels. Unbroken Chain — released under the session working title "Phil's Song (Unbroken Chain)", eight takes, all dated 8/16/73. This confirms Unbroken Chain as a real August 1973 Plant session title. FULL AUGUST 1973 MARS HOTEL ROSTER AT THE PLANT: U.S. Blues — File 055, Reel 6, 8/6/73 Loose Lucy — File 055, Reel 8, 8/7/73 China Doll (as Pistol Shot) — Rhino tracklist, 8/8/73 Unbroken Chain (as Phil's Song) — Rhino tracklist, 8/16/73 From the Mars Hotel carries eight tracks. Four of the eight were being worked at 2200 Bridgeway roughly ten months before the February to March 1974 CBS Burlingame sessions. That is a materially larger claim than the two-song version above and is the strongest single argument for treating this as a real Plant project rather than an incidental overlap. CAUTION ON THE PHIL RE-READ: the Unbroken Chain takes Rhino released are dated 8/16/73. File 055's Phil reel is Reel 3, dated 8/4/73. The dates do not match, so the released takes do NOT confirm the contents of Reel 3. The 8/4 reel remains unidentified and must not be described as Unbroken Chain. AUDIO AVAILABLE: the complete six-plus hours of Wake of the Flood session tape streamed as a YouTube Live event on October 15, 2023 and remains posted on the official Grateful Dead channel at youtube.com/watch?v=7JtDNf-CDsI, verified live 2026-08-15. That stream is the place to confirm these four songs by ear and to attempt an identification of the 8/4 Phil reel. Cross-referenced to (Wake of the Flood Sessions), which carries the full tape-card / released-audio reconciliation.

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