Book Of Rules is a cover by Bobby & The Midnites of the band The Heptones. (Check out the link above for some more information on how Bobby learned about this song, etc.)
Personally, I’m a bit torn on the Dead and reggae. On the one hand, I would have loved for them to play some straight forward roots reggae, a la Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & The Maytals, etc., because it’s got such a great sound and vibe to it. On the other hand, I’d be a bit afraid to see what this would turn out because everyone in the band was so good at turning something on its head that a pure reggae vibe would not likely have materialized. Although it would be interesting to see how they improvised on a straight up reggae rhythm. I know the band did some reggae inflected stuff at times – Row Jimmy and Heaven’s Door immediately come to mind, but nothing like what Bobby does here with Book of Rules.
Feel free to talk Dead related reggae or any reggae in general in the comments.
Is the cat holding a left hand monkey wrench? Or possibly a dueling pistol? I’d never really noticed before.
Nice surprise with this pick, Lunchbox, I doubt many of us saw this one coming; but it sounds good.