Supremes Funny Girl Banner Ad Now Available

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

Down the Road: Grateful Dead’s ‘Skull & Roses’ Album Expanded with Unreleased Show

March 24, 2021 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

Grateful Dead Skull and Roses

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary series keeps on truckin’ with the June 18 reissue of the band’s 1971 eponymous live album also known as their “Skull and Roses” album after the cover artwork by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse.  While the Dead was still a young band at that point, Grateful Dead was their second double-LP live album following 1969’s Live/Dead.  It also was one of their most successful LPs, peaking at No. 25 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and earning their first Gold sales certification.  It remained their best-seller until the 1974 collection Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead surpassed it.  Today’s announcement marks 50 years from the date of the first show represented on the release, March 24, 1971, from San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.

The centerpiece of the reissue is more than hour of previously unreleased music from another famed SF venue, Bill Graham’s Fillmore West, recorded on July 2, 1971 during the Dead’s final show at the Fillmore West.  Highlights include “Good Lovin’,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “Mama Tried,” and a closing medley of “Not Fade Away” and “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad.”

Grateful Dead will arrive as a 2-CD set with the additional live tracks and a 2-LP, 180-gram black vinyl edition of the original album only.  Dead.net has an black-and-white propeller vinyl variant (limited to 5,000 copies).  In any format, Grateful Dead finds Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan in fine form for four sides, or 70+ minutes, of music recorded in March-April 1971 at Winterland as well as New York’s Fillmore East and Hammerstein Ballroom.

The original album released on October 24, 1971 did employ some vocal and instrumental overdubs, however, including from Garcia’s frequent collaborator Merl Saunders whose organ tends to overshadow Pigpen’s.  Saunders played on the three new original songs “Bertha,” “Wharf Rat,” and “Playing in the Band.”  The latter became one of the Dead’s most-played songs of all time (fourth most-played, to be exact) and was later recorded by the solo Weir on his 1972 album Ace.  The third side of Grateful Dead was an all-covers set, with John Phillips’ “Me and My Uncle,” the Luther Dixon/Al Smith-penned Jimmy Reed hit “Big Boss Man,” Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

The album has been remastered from the original stereo master tapes by David Glasser using the Plangent Process, and new liner notes have been written by Gary Lambert.  Look for the various editions of the Dead’s “Skull and Roses” classic on June 18 from Rhino.  You’ll find pre-order links as well as a discography below!

Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses): 50th Anniversary Edition (Grateful Dead/Rhino, 2021)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Dead.net (B&W Vinyl)

Disc 1: Original album (released as Warner Bros. 2WS-1935, 1971)

  1. Bertha
  2. Mama Tried
  3. Big Railroad Blues
  4. Playing in the Band
  5. The Other One
  6. Me & My Uncle
  7. Big Boss Man
  8. Me & Bobby McGee
  9. Johnny B. Goode
  10. Wharf Rat
  11. Not Fade Away/Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad

Recorded live at The Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/24/1971 (9), The Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY – 4/5 (3 and 11) and 6 (4)/1971 and The Fillmore East, New York, NY – 4/26 (2, 7, 10), 27 (1, 8), 28 (5), 29 (6)/1971

Disc 2: Live at The Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA – 7/2/1971 (previously unreleased)

  1. Good Lovin’
  2. Sing Me Back Home
  3. Mama Tried
  4. Cryptical Envelopment >
  5. Drums >
  6. The Other One
  7. Big Boss Man
  8. Not Fade Away >
  9. Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad
  10. Not Fade Away

Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Rock Tags: Grateful Dead

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

You Might Also Like

  • CSNY Deja Vu AlternatesRhino’s Record Store Day Slate Features John Prine, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, CSNY, Donny Hathaway, Lou Reed, More
  • Blue Oyster Cult Live PasadenaRelease Round-Up: Week of January 8
  • VMP newlogo SquareHoliday Gift Guide: Vinyl Me, Please – A Year in Review
  • BOC Live83Playing in the Band: Real Gone Music Announces “Blue Oyster Cult Live ’83” CD and Grateful Dead “Road Trips” Reissues

Comments

  1. CDP says

    March 24, 2021 at 4:16 pm

    why is this getting the 50th treatment but ‘Live/Dead’ didn’t? asking for a non-aficionado friend

    Reply
    • Guy Smiley says

      March 24, 2021 at 11:14 pm

      Probably because the full Fillmore West ‘69 run was released awhile back?

      Still, reissuing the original mix of Live/Dead, — and perhaps a previously unreleased show from ‘69 as a bonus — would’ve been great.

      Instead, here we get a woefully partial version of 1971 show (The band’s final Fillmore West show). I’ve read the full show isn’t in the vault, but I’m pretty sure the full show circulated among traders.

      It was broadcast on the radio, and I thought tapes existed due to Bill Graham having all the shows during the final week of Fillmore West recorded for a (Columbia?) compilation album.

      Anyhow, without the full show it’s a pass for me. My current Rhino version of Skull & Roses sounds great, and I don’t need to buy it again if there isn’t a compelling reason to.

      Reply
      • CDP says

        March 25, 2021 at 3:20 pm

        thanks for the rundown. i recently picked up the ’03 Rhino version of this expecting it not to get the 50th treatment.

        watched Dave Lemieux’s announcement vid this morning and, aside from the usual “sounds better than ever” stuff, it seems like part of the reason they’re doing this is because of the big gap between studio albums, which the 50th campaign is centered around.

        Reply
        • Guy Smiley says

          March 25, 2021 at 10:57 pm

          Right. This was the only 1971 release, so there’s your only 2021 anniversary release.

          Next year, not sure what they can do. Europe ‘72? They released that entire tour a while back, so what can they possibly do for that?

          They could do anniversary editions of “Garcia” and Weir’s “Ace,” but what do you for those? Demos/outtakes, perhaps, but aside from that?

          If they don’t have a release next year, next up is Wake of the Flood in 2023. That’s a long gap from 2020, no doubt why Skull & Roses is happening.

          But last year’s (WD and AB) got two bonus discs. Why a single bonus disc here is puzzling.

          Reply
          • Jarmo Keranen says

            March 26, 2021 at 12:31 pm

            In 2015 i bought Europe ’72 concerts discs. I still haven’t listened all of them. Two months ago i finally got box to them. If i remember correctly total sum of them both was $900!

            Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • The Who Sell Out
    The Who Sell Out [Various Formats]
    The Who
    April 23, 2021
  • California Music Add Some Music
    California Music Presents Add Some Music
    California Music
    April 23, 2021
  • lennon plastic ono
    John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: The Ultimate Collection
    John Lennon
    April 23, 2021
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,221 other subscribers

Popular

  • Bob Dylan Jokerman I and I
    Everybody Cut Loose: Sony’s RSD Line-Up Features Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Prince, Miles Davis, Kenny Loggins, More posted on April 15, 2021 | under News
  • David Bowie The Width of a Circle Items
    God Knows I’m Good: Live Rarities, Singles Collected on Bowie’s ‘The Width of a Circle’ posted on April 14, 2021 | under News
  • VMP 100
    Ladies and Gentlemen…: Vinyl Me Please Marks 100 “Essentials” Releases with New Pressings of Sold-Out Titles posted on April 12, 2021 | under News

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces’ “Here Come The Nice” Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 79 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil “The U.S. Albums” Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang’s Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2021 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy