Last year, one of the single most monumental box sets in town was The Grateful Dead's Europe '72: The Complete Recordings, more than 60 discs chronicling one of the band's most notable tours in full. This spring, Shout! Factory will release their own ambitious box set that chronicles a good chunk of Dead history in video form.
All the Years Combine: The DVD Collection is a 14-disc set that collects more than a dozen vintage Grateful Dead films and concerts from 1977 to 1991, with loads of bonus content to boot. The Grateful Dead Movie, The Closing of Winterland, Dead Ahead, Ticket to New Year's, Truckin' Up to Buffalo, Downhill from Here and the four volumes of View from The Vault will all be packaged into this set, featuring all their original DVD bonus features (including bonus discs from The Grateful Dead Movie and Winterland).
For collectors, there are some great treats coming from the vaults, too: the box will feature the first-ever DVD release of So Far, an hour-long Dead documentary released on VHS and laserdisc in 1987 and largely unseen since, as well as a bonus disc featuring Backstage Pass, a 1992 documentary, bonus performances and a new interview with David Lemieux, the band's archivist since 1999 (he of 2012's new Dave's Picks series).
All the Years Combine, available April 17, will keep you truckin' for hours on end. Click the jump to order a copy and view a rundown of the discs.
The Grateful Dead, All the Years Combine: The DVD Collection (Shout! Factory, 2012)
Discs 1-2: The Grateful Dead Movie (Theatrical film, originally released in 1977)
- Original film with original multichannel sound mix, new stereo mix and new 5.1 surround sound mix
- More than 95 minutes of bonus concert footage
- Bonus songs transferred from original 16 mm film negative
- Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 audio mixes on all bonus songs mixed from original multitracks
- The Making of The Grateful Dead Movie documentary
- The Making of The Animated Sequence documentary
- The Making of The DVD documentary
- Mars Hotel TV commercial
- Multi-camera/multitrack audio demonstration
- Photo gallery featuring productions notes, photos, film stills and other historical items from the Movie's production
Discs 3-4: The Closing of Winterland (Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, - 12/31/1978)
- Exclusive interviews
- Bonus footage
- Blues Brothers songs ("Soul Man," "B Movie Box Car Blues" - John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Paul Shaffer)
- New Riders of the Purple Sage photo montage with audio ("Glendale Train")
- Winterland histroy with archival photos
- Archival interviews from 1978, photos, newspaper items
- Detailed history of Grateful Dead at Winterland photo gallery
- Winterland documentary film
Disc 5: Dead Ahead (Radio City Music Hall, New York City - October 1980)
- More than 50 minutes of previously unreleased concert footage
- Transferred from original master 1" video in full color
- Original stereo mix and new 5.1 surround mix for original program and bonus songs
Disc 6: So Far (Originally released on VHS and laser disc in 1987 -- first time on DVD)
Disc 7: Ticket to New Year's (Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA - 12/31/1987)
- Bonus features include fan Q&As, Jerry's backstage kitchen and more
Disc 8: Truckin' Up to Buffalo (Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, NY - 7/4/1989)
Disc 9: Downhill from Here (Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI - 7/17/1989)
Disc 10: View from The Vault (Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh - 7/8/1990)
Disc 11: View from The Vault II* (RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. - 6/14/1991)
- Includes four bonus performances from the RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. - 7/12/1990
Disc 12: View from The Vault III (Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA - 6/16/1990)
- Includes four bonus performances from the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA - 10/3/1987
Disc 13: View from The Vault IV (Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA, 7/24/1987 and Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA, 7/26/1987)
Disc 14: Bonus disc
- Five previously unreleased live performances from the Grateful Dead archive
- Backstage Pass, the 1992 documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann
- Brand-new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux
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Fan of the last half of their career will be happy, but I wish they'd found a way to include the film of the Legendary Creamery Benefit (a/k/a FIeld Trip) in Veneta Oregon in August 1972, when the band was still at their peak.
Agreed Ron... While everything in this new set is great (I have a little more than half of these releases, so I'm not sure that I'll be buying) a proper DVD/Blu-Ray release of the Sunshine Daydream film (make that an EXPANDED version) is long overdue.
I'm not certain, but I think the Ken Kesey estate may own the rights to it. I suppose that could be part of the problem, if they're not budging.
I have many, though not all, of these discs already so it's hard to say whether I really want to plunk down the cash for this or not.
My hope is that each of the titles will get re-released individually (ESPECIALLY "So Far," which I haven't seen in ages)... Of course, that will likely mean not getting the bonus disc with "Backstage Pass" on it. I wouldn't have minded if both that and "So Far" had been put on the same disc, since there would've been plenty of room.
I have what I want already, GD Movie, Winterland, and Dead Ahead. The stuff from the last half of their career is not anything I would watch more than once, unlike the 74-80 releases. And yes, Veneta 72 should be out (I finally got a copy of a copy of a copy not too long ago), and anything pre-80 that might still be stashed away.
Disagree with the opinions about the latter-day Dead not being worthwhile... I understand the greatness of 70's Dead (esp. the early 70's, and the great shows of 1977 too), but I liked the Dead of 1980-82 and 1987 up through Brent Mydland's untilmely passing in 1990 was a very special time for the Dead too. I also liked the brief period, following Mydland's death, when Bruce Hornsby was on piano (along with new member Vince Welnick on the other keyboards).
The Ticket To New Year's, Truckin' Up To Buffalo, and Downhill From Here (I was at those excellent Alpine Valley shows) are all great. The Buffalo show I only have on CD, rather than DVD, but I get far more use out of that than I do a DVD anyhow. All four of the View From the Vault releases are solid too.