RhinoThe Grateful Dead will continue its 50th anniversary catalog reissue campaign with the June 25 release of an expanded version of its self-titled 1971 live album, also known as Skull & Roses due to its cover artwork.
Grateful Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will available as a two-CD set and digitally. The first disc offers a newly remastered version of the original 11-track album, most of which was recorded at several New York City shows in April ’71. The bonus CD boasts 10 previously unreleased recordings from The Grateful Dead’s final performance at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore West venue on July 2, 1971.
Grateful Dead was the band’s second live album, following 1969’s Live/Dead. Released in October 1971, it peaked at #25 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold for sales of 500,000 in the U.S.
Highlights included an epic 18-minute version of 1968’s “The Other One” that took up one full side of the original two-LP set, as well as three then new tracks — “Bertha”, “Playing in the Band” and “Wharf Rat” — plus covers of Merle Haggard‘s “Mama Tried,” Kris Kristofferson‘s “Me and Bobby McGee” and Chuck Berry‘s “Johnny B. Goode.”
The Fillmore West performance also features versions of “Mama Tried” and “The Other One,” as well as covers of The Rascals‘ “Good Lovin'” and Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home.”
In advance of the reissue’s arrival, the Fillmore West performance of “The Other One” has been released digitally. You also can check it out at The Grateful Dead’s official YouTube channel.
The remastered version of the original Grateful Dead album also will be released as a two-LP 180-gram-vinyl set, while a limited-edition black-and-white-propeller vinyl variant will be available exclusively at Dead.net.
Here’s the track list of the Grateful Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition:
Disc One: Original Album Remastered
“Bertha”
“Mama Tried”
“Big Railroad Blues”
“Playing In The Band”
“The Other One”
“Me & My Uncle”
“Big Boss Man”
“Me & Bobby McGee”
“Johnny B. Goode”
“Wharf Rat”
“Not Fade Away/Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad”
Disc Two: Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (7/2/71)
“Good Lovin'”*
“Sing Me Back Home”*
“Mama Tried”*
“Cryptical Envelopment”>*
Drums>*
“The Other One”*
“Big Boss Man”*
“Not Fade Away”>*
“Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad”*
“Not Fade Away”*
* = previously unreleased.
By Matt Friedlander
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