Unbroken Chain: Rhino Celebrates 50 Years of Grateful Dead with New 2-CD Anthology
“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” asserted the Grateful Dead on 1970’s American Beauty. It’s doubtful that the band members could have imagined that the long, strange trip would still be continuing in 2015 – 45 years after “Truckin’” and 50 years after Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Bill Kreutzmann first came together. 50th anniversary plans have recently been revealed including a documentary from director Amir Bar-Lev and executive producer Martin Scorsese and most excitingly, a reunion of Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart (who joined in 1967) for three final shows. Rhino, long the steward of the band’s catalogue, has announced its first contribution to the 50th anniversary festivities: a new anthology, The Best of the Grateful Dead. Due on March 31, the set features nearly three hours of music on two CDs, all culled from the band’s studio recordings.
The Best of the Grateful Dead includes 32 tracks representing every Grateful Dead studio album from 1967’s The Grateful Dead (its opening track, “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)”) to 1989’s Built to Last (“Standing on the Moon”). It’s arranged chronologically to trace the development of the band’s journey, and includes such Dead staples and favorites as “Truckin’,” “Uncle John’s Band,” “China Cat Sunflower,” “St. Stephen,” “Box of Rain,” “Casey Jones,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Hell In a Bucket” and “Dark Star.” The latter is presented in its single version of two-and-a-half minutes in length; the song often stretched to epic proportions in concert.
Though the Dead’s studio albums usually presented the band’s music in tight renditions, one track on The Best is of the length more associated with the Dead: the seven-part, 16+-minute suite “Terrapin Station,” which occupied an entire side of the 1977 album of the same name. Needless to say, The Best also features the group’s sole Top 10 hit, “Touch of Grey,” which peaked at No. 9 and helped rocket 1987’s In the Dark to a No. 6 placement on the Billboard 200.
This release follows in the footsteps of numerous past Dead compilations including Rhino’s 2003 single-disc The Very Best of Grateful Dead, which included live and studio material. Though there are no rarities, this set looks to be a welcome primer on the Dead and a new chance for longtime fans to reevaluate the band’s often-underrated studio output.
Rhino kicks off the Grateful Dead golden anniversary celebration on March 31. You can order The Best of the Grateful Dead below!
Grateful Dead, The Best of the Grateful Dead (Rhino, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
CD 1
- “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)” (from The Grateful Dead, 1967)
- “Cream Puff War” (from The Grateful Dead, 1967)
- “Born Cross-Eyed” (from Anthem of the Sun, 1968)
- “Dark Star” (Single Version) (Warner Bros. single 7186, 1968)
- “St. Stephen” (from Aoxomoxoa, 1969)
- “China Cat Sunflower” (from Aoxomoxoa, 1969)
- “Uncle John’s Band” (from Workingman’s Dead, 1970)
- “Easy Wind” (from Workingman’s Dead, 1970)
- “Casey Jones” (from Workingman’s Dead, 1970)
- “Truckin'” (from American Beauty, 1971)
- “Box of Rain” (from American Beauty, 1971)
- “Sugar Magnolia” (from American Beauty, 1971)
- “Friend Of The Devil” (from American Beauty, 1971)
- “Ripple” (from American Beauty, 1971)
- “Eyes Of The World” (from Wake of the Flood, 1973)
- “Unbroken Chain” (from From the Mars Hotel, 1974)
- “Scarlet Begonias” (from From the Mars Hotel, 1974)
- “The Music Never Stopped” (from Blues for Allah, 1975)
- “Estimated Prophet” (from Terrapin Station, 1977)
CD 2
- “Terrapin Station” (from Terrapin Station, 1977)
- “Shakedown Street” (from Shakedown Street, 1978)
- “I Need A Miracle” (from Shakedown Street, 1978)
- “Fire On The Mountain” (from Shakedown Street, 1978)
- “Feel Like A Stranger” (from Go to Heaven, 1980)
- “Far From Me” (from Go to Heaven, 1980)
- “Touch Of Grey” (from In the Dark, 1987)
- “Hell In A Bucket” (from In the Dark, 1987)
- “Throwing Stones” (from In the Dark, 1987)
- “Black Muddy River” (from In the Dark, 1987)
- “Blow Away” (from Built to Last, 1989)
- “Foolish Heart” (from Built to Last, 1989)
- “Standing On The Moon” (from Built to Last, 1989)
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No real surprises here (apart from maybe “Born Cross-Eyed”), and no reason for me to buy it, but for a Dead newbie it’s one helluva set.
Kudos for including the fairly rare studio “Dark Star” and the full “Terrapin” suite, but not including “Alabama Getaway” (a charting single, and still a staple of rock radio) is a huge oversight. Same for “Franklin’s Tower” and “Don’t Ease Me In.” The case can be made for live tracks like “Bertha” and “One More Saturday Night” too.
I’d probably leave off “Easy Wind” and the poppy, Michael McDonald-ish “Far From Me,” but I guess that lends some variety to the set, not to mention featuring some of the other vocalists.
Looking forward to the shows at Soldier Field this summer!