Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 is a live album by American rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains two CDs and one DVD and was released in 2008. The album was recorded September 15 &
16, 1978, at the Giza pyramid complex in Giza, Egypt. This was the third continent on which the band performed, having previously performed in Europe.[7][8]
A bonus disc of additional tracks from the dates was included with early copies of the album. The DVD contains concert footage (all of which is represented either on the two CDs or the
bonus disc) from the September 16 performance. It also includes “The Vacation Tapes”, a 15-minute feature, from footage originally shot on 8mm silent film, of band members, crew and
friends visiting various Egyptian sites.[9]
The idea for the concerts had its origins in an Egyptian vacation taken by band manager Richard Loren. He returned with bassist Phil Lesh and Alan Trist to meet with officials and begin
the paperwork and logistics process. Through an introduction to Joe Malone, a professor at the American University of Beirut who was formerly with the State Department, the trio had
made contacts with the Egyptian government.[10] Describing the planning, bassist Phil Lesh said “it sort of became my project because I was one of the first people in the band who was
on the trip of playing at places of power. You know, power that’s been preserved from the ancient world. The pyramids are like the obvious number one choice because no matter what
anyone thinks they might be, there is definitely some kind of mojo about the pyramids.”[11]
Rather than ship all of the required sound reinforcement equipment from the United States, the PA and a 24-track, mobile studio recording truck were borrowed from the Who, in the UK.
The Dead crew set up their gear at the open-air theater on the east side of the Great Sphinx, for three nights of concerts. The final two, September 15 & 16, 1978, are excerpted for the
album. The band referred to their stage set-up as “The Gizah Sound and Light Theater”.
The final night’s performance concurred with a total lunar eclipse.[12] Drummer Bill Kreutzmann played with a cast, having broken his wrist while horseback riding. The King’s Chamber of
the nearby Great Pyramid of Giza was rigged with a speaker and microphone in a failed attempt to live-mix acoustical echo.[13] The guest musician was Hamza El Din, a Nubian oudist whose
“Ollin Arageed” appears on the album. He was backed by the students of his Abu Simbel school and accompanied by the Grateful Dead. El Din also appears on Grateful Dead album Road Trips
Volume 1 Number 4.
Lesh recalled that through the shows he observed “an increasing number of shadowy figures gathering just at the edge of the illuminated area surrounding the stage and audience – not
locals, as they all seem to be wearing the same garment, a dark, hooded robe. These, it turns out, are the Bedouin, the nomadic horsemen of the desert: drawn in by the music and
lights… each night they have remained to dance and sway rhythmically for the duration of the show.”[14] Kreutzmann recalls “Egypt instantly became the biggest, baddest, and most
legendary field trip that we took during our entire thirty years as a band… It was priceless and perfect and, at half a million dollars, a bargain in the end. Albeit, a very expensive
bargain.”[15]
The concerts weren’t expected to be profitable (proceeds were donated to the Department of Antiquities and a charity chosen by Jehan Sadat). Costs were to be offset by the production of
a triple-live album, however performances did not turn out as proficient as planned, musically, and technical problems plagued the recordings.[10] The results were shelved as the band
focused instead on a new studio album, Shakedown Street.[10]
Release
For the 30th anniversary of the event, producer Jeffrey Norman selected usable tracks that featured some of the better performances – chiefly from the final night of the run – for
release.[16] A different mix of the tracks “Fire on the Mountain” and “Stagger Lee” had previously appeared on the expanded edition of Shakedown Street. That release also has a
different edit of Hamza El Din’s performance of “Ollin Arageed”. Part of the DVD’s “The Vacation Tapes” previously appeared as a video segment on Backstage Pass.
The album title has a double meaning, referring to a rocking cradle and the fact that the Grateful Dead were playing rock music in one of the cradles of civilization. The cover art is
by Alton Kelley and further artwork features a pop-up, created by Scott McDougall.
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