Release Info

To Terrapin: Hartford, May 28, 1977

frogstorm — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:13:12 -0600

$19.98
To Terrapin: Hartford, May 28, 1977

Release Date is April 7th, 2009

The Show

May 28, 1977

And the whistle is screaming...
...Terrapin

3 Disc Set

Whether or not the fabled spring tour of 1977 was, as many Dead Heads believe, the strongest Grateful Dead tour ever, it was unquestionably a magical time stuffed-to-overflowing with amazing shows. Say the word “Cornell” to any hardcore Head and it means one thing—the 5/8/77 show at Barton Hall on the august school’s campus. But there were numerous other stops on the tour that produced monster shows, as well, from the five-night run at the Palladium in New York, to the incredible Fox Theatre in Atlanta (5/19 was part of the two-show Dick’s Picks #29), to the two Florida shows—Lakeland and Pembroke Pines (Dick’s Picks #29 and Dick’s Picks #3, respectively)—Tuscaloosa, Richmond… the tour was a scorcher from beginning to end.

What was up? Well, by the spring of ’77, the Dead had been back on the road for nearly a year following their famous performing hiatus, so Mickey Hart was thoroughly re-integrated into the band, and the septet was hitting a new stride. There was a handful of great new songs being integrated into the repertoire, including Garcia and Hunter’s complex, epic “Terrapin Station” suite, Weir and John Barlow’s cool, off-kilter reggae tune “Estimated Prophet,” and Phil and Peter Monk’s rollicking “Passenger.” Those songs would form the core of the album that the Dead were recording in the winter of ’77 with producer Keith Olsen down in Los Angeles. Olsen was a sharp guy with good ears (as they say in the biz), and he worked the Dead hard in the studio, forcing them to play perhaps a bit more precisely than they were accustomed to. Now, one can endlessly debate whether the result of Olsen’s approach was ultimately an album that was a tad too precise—a criticism even the band leveled at Terrapin Station—but all the laboring over parts and arrangements in the studio seemed to have an extremely positive impact on how the band played live that spring.

Which brings us to Hartford, Connecticut on the night of May 28, 1977—the final night of this Tour for the Ages, and the source of our latest release, To Terrapin. You’d never know from listening to this show that the band had been on the road for more than a month and 25 previous concerts, because it has that sparkle and intensity the band only had when it was fresh, feelin’ good and in full exploration mode. From the rippin’ “Bertha” > “Good Lovin’” > “Sugaree” trifecta opening, through the spectacular second set sequence comprised of “Playing in the Band,” a brisk and buoyant “Terrapin,” a fantastic one-of-a-kind “Not Fade Away,” “Wharf Rat,” and the “Playing reprise.” Definitely the band at its best!

So, why put this out now? Why the hell not? And what’s with all the questions? Just enjoy it. OK, aside from it being a classic show worthy of release, we thought it might be fun to revisit a concert played in one of the venues The Dead are hitting this spring on their tour—that would be the Hartford Civic (now the XL Center) on 4/26/09… why, that’s the 31-year, 11-month, 2-day anniversary show of this epic ’77 show! Anyway, this three-disc complete show release has been lovingly mastered to HDCD specs from the original reel-to-reel tapes by Jeffrey Norman utilizing the usual array of mysterious black boxes and sonic tools unavailable to us mere mortals. Artist Scott McDougal, who’s done such a bang-up job for us on the Road Trips series, has designed a beautiful package, and the always erudite Gary Lambert has contributed a fine essay which is accompanied by glorious photos of the band in Hartford in 1977. For the complete track listing and ordering info, click here.

Road Trips Volume 2 Number 1

frogstorm — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:57:20 -0600

$19.98
Road Trips Vol 2, No.1

Shows

Madison Square Garden - September 14, 1990
Madison Square Garden - September 15, 1990
Madison Square Garden - September 16, 1990
Madison Square Garden - September 18, 1990
Madison Square Garden - September 19, 1990
Madison Square Garden - September 20, 1990

More Road Trips

Road Trips 1.1
Road Trips 1.2
Road Trips 1.3
Road Trips 1.4

Madison Square Garden: September '90

2 Disc Set + Bonus Disc

To kick off Volume 2 of our Road Trips series, we're making our first foray into the '90s-specifically, the extraordinary Madison Square Garden run from September of 1990!

You'll recall the unusual historical circumstances surrounding this famous series of shows: In July, Brent Mydland had died tragically after a glorious 11-year stint as the Dead's keyboardist. With both the band and Dead Heads in shock, a few planned summer shows were cancelled, and it looked as though the group's long-scheduled tour of Europe might be in jeopardy, as well. But then, two things happened: friend and fellow traveler Bruce Hornsby, already well-versed in the band's music, volunteered to venture into the breach temporarily once his summer tour was over; next, the group settled on former Tubes keys man Vince Welnick to step into Brent's big shoes on a permanent basis. Fortunately, he was a quick study! By early September, Vince had played his first shows with the Dead (in Cleveland and Philadelphia), and then the band moved on to Madison Square Garden -- always one of the most magical places the group played-- for a series of six shows spanning September 14-20, before jetting off for the big European tour.

Bruce joined the band beginning with the second concert in that series, and immediately the chemistry of this new septet was apparent. Bruce was a bold and assertive player who really pushed the band--and particularly Garcia--in some fascinating new directions, and the combination of his grand piano and Vince's electronic keyboard textures made for a big and dynamic sound. There were smiles all around as the new unit found its footing and with surprising confidence ushered in a new era of Grateful Dead music before roaring New York crowds!

Back in 1997, our late, great vaultmaster Dick Latvala pegged the September 16, 1990 Garden show to be Dick's Picks Vol. 9, but many fans of the run have long believed that the hottest shows from MSG that year were actually the two concluding concerts, September 19 and 20. So, for this Road Trips we offer some two-and-a-half hours of high energy rock 'n' roll and intense jamming from the second sets of 9/19-20 (as well as the moving "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" encore from 9/18). Included are spacey and beautifully developed journeys through "Dark Star" and "Playing in the Band"; a rare second set "Let It Grow" that rolls into a fantastic improvisation that really shows off the chops of the "new" band; a rousing "Uncle John's Band"; rockin' tunes like "Truckin'" and "Turn on Your Lovelight," and more. The spirit and life on these tracks is amazing! You can find the entire track listing below. As always, the discs have been expertly mastered to HDCD by our own Jeffrey Norman, and the package includes a 16-page booklet with lots o' groovy pix and an essay about the shows by Dan Levy.

OK, by now you probably know the drill: Order your copy today by going here!

Track List

Disc One - 9/20/90 and 9/19/90

Truckin'>
China Cat Sunflower>
I Know You Rider
Playing In The Band>
Ship of Fools>
Playing In The Band>
Uncle John's Band>
Let It Grow>
Jam>

Disc Two - 9/20/90

…Jam>
Dark Star>
Playing In The Band>
Dark Star>
Throwing Stones>
Touch Of Grey
Turn On Your Lovelight
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (encore 9/18/90)

Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings

frogstorm — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:34:50 -0500

$99.98
Winterland June 1977
The Complete Recordings

The Shows

June 7, 1977
June 8, 1977
June 9, 1977

Boxed and Ready to Go!

Sound the imperial trumpets! Bang the drum! Pop that champagne! Another Grateful Dead box set is comin’ your way! Yes, in the grand tradition of the beloved Fillmore West 1969 and Winterland 1973 boxes, comes Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings, a 9-CD box set that is sure to knock your tie-dyed socks off.

At this point, we probably don’t need to hype you on the glories of ’77 Dead. It was a magical time for the band, which was reinvigorated by a plethora of great new material—“Terrapin,” “Estimated Prophet,” “Passenger,” “Fire on the Mountain”—and really hitting its stride again following the October ’74 to June ’76 performing hiatus. The group spent much of the first three months of 1977 recording their Terrapin Station album with producer Keith Olsen, and Garcia also managed to find time to complete the much-anticipated Grateful Dead movie (which opened June 1, 1977). The third week of April, the band embarked on what most Dead Heads agree was one of the greatest tours ever: 26 concerts in the East and Midwest in a little over a month—an awesome stretch that produced so many great shows, a few of them already released in the Dick’s Picks series and subsequently (and more, no doubt, destined to come out down the road.)

So when the Dead returned to San Francisco’s Winterland for shows on June 7, 8, 9, they were pumped up and feeling good! They treated their hometown fans to three superb concerts that included excellent versions of much of their current repertoire, from the new combo of “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain,” to a truly colossal, more than 30-minute “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower,” “Saint Stephen,” “Terrapin,” “Good Lovin’,” “Not Fade Away,” “The Other One”… too many favorites to mention (you can see the complete song lists here). Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings contains every note recorded from the three shows, more than nine hours of prime Dead, all taken from the master analog tapes, restored using the Plangent Processes, and mastered in HDCD by that inimitable sonic tweakster, Jeffrey Norman.

The nine discs are packaged in a beautifully designed box that includes artwork by Emek (you loved his crazy Winterland ’73 phantasmagoria); a 28-page booklet featuring a wonderful and illuminating new essay by Rolling Stone senior music editor David Fricke (who dubs this a “box of paradise and circus… six complete sets of inspired risk and collective explosion”); lots of great Winterland action shots by noted GD shutterbugs Ed Perlstein and Bruce Polonsky; and a couple of little pieces of period memorabilia we won’t reveal here.

So why wait? Order your copy of the Box’n’Bonus today by clicking here. We know you’re gonna dig it! And rest assured, there’s plenty more where this came from: We know you love the box sets; well, we do, too!

—Blair Jackson

Jerry Garcia Band: Bay Area 1978

frogstorm — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:15:40 -0500

$19.98
Jerry Garcia Band: Bay Area '78

Let Me Roll It to You…

Just in time to celebrate Jerry’s 67th birthday (August 1, of course) comes a new installment in the Pure Jerry series, this one an especially hot selection from 1978. This was a particularly exciting period for the Jerry Garcia Band, which at that time included his perennial bass buddy John Kahn (of course), Buzz Buchanan on drums (who’d played with Jerry since the fall of ’77), his partners in the Dead, Keith Godchaux on piano and Donna Godchaux on vocals, and, at many shows that year, second singer Maria Muldaur, who blended so nicely with Donna.

We’ve drawn together the listenable/usable/releasable parts of four Northern California shows from the first half of ’78 to create this stellar compilation. Much of the material was culled from consecutive shows in February of 1978, shortly after Jerry, Keith and Donna had returned from fine, high-energy Midwest tour by the Dead (documented wonderfully on Dick Picks Vol. 18). Songs from the 2/18/78 JGB show at the 2,000-seat Marin County Veteran’s Auditorium include a barn-burning “Mystery Train,” the loping “Catfish John,” and, best of all, a spectacular “Lonesome and a Long Way Home” that ambles through all sorts of fascinating moods and spaces over the course of more than 20 minutes. The next night, the JGB landed at the Santa Cruz Civic—a similar-sized venue—and this time the fans (and now, you!) were treated to such tunes as the Motown classics “Second That Emotion” and “The Way You Do the Things You Do” (a great version!), “Mission in the Rain,” Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate,” and, the piece de resistance, a 30-minute “Don’t Let Go” featuring generous solos all around and ultra-soulful guitar-and-vocals from Jerry on the “Hold me tight and don’t let go…” passage towards the end. Wild!

Rounding out this exceptional package are four tunes from June 1978: The 6/10 show at the tiny Keystone Berkeley gives us the bouncy, rockin’ “Tore Up Over You” that opens Disc Two; then, after a couple more tunes, we move to 6/18 at the Keystone Palo Alto—a favorite JGB haunt for many years—for what is arguably the greatest version of Paul McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It” that the group ever played (and there weren’t many), and then superb versions of the still-new “Gomorrah” and the gospel tune “I’ll Be With Thee”—the latter always a fine showcase for Donna and Maria.

If you loved the ’78 Pure Jerry from the Warner Theatre (3/18/78), this one should be right up your alley, too—it’s definitely primo JG! You can see the full track listing below, and order your copy here!

—Blair Jackson

Track List

DISC ONE

1. Mystery Train (2/18/78, Veterans Memorial Auditorium)
2. Catfish John (2/18/78, Veterans Memorial Auditorium)
3. I Second That Emotion (2/19/78, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium)
4. Mission In The Rain (2/19/78, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium)
5. Don't Let Go (2/19/78, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium)

DISC TWO

1. Tore Up Over You (6/10/78, Keystone Berkeley)
2. Simple Twist Of Fate (2/19/78, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium)
3. The Way You Do The Things You Do (2/19/78, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium)
4. Let Me Roll It (6/18/78, Keystone Palo Alto)
5. Gomorrah (6/18/78, Keystone Palo Alto)
6. I'll Be With Thee (6/18/78, Keystone Palo Alto)
7. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home (2/18/78, Veterans Memorial Auditorium)

Jerry's Back, and We've Got Him!

frogstorm — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:54:18 -0600

$14.98
Pure Jerry - Series 8

New Garcia-Kahn Live Disc

It’s been a long, long time since there’s been a Jerry Garcia music release, but the good news is that a new day is dawning, the pipeline to the Garcia vault is open again, and we're looking forward to offering you quality JG tunes as often as we can! Dead.net, in conjunction with the recently formed Garcia Family LLC (mainly Jerry’s daughters), are pleased to announce their first independent release with a new installment of the popular PURE JERRY series, Marin Vet's, 2/28/86. For those of you keeping score, this one is the eighth, and it marks the first official full release of acoustic music from Garcia and John Kahn.

The setting is the wonderful 2,000-seat Marin Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael, the last of 12 acoustic shows John and Jerry played that winter. It’d been a solid tour, with sold-out concerts in a number of cool East Coast venues. But this was a hometown show—literally—so the air was both relaxed and festive. The twelve songs collected here on a single disc are the complete two-set show from that night, nearly 70 minutes of music; a nice blend of old folk tunes, a Dylan number and Hunter-Garcia classics. Particularly noteworthy in that last category are the epic “Bird Song” and rockin’ “Run for the Roses.” Soundboard copies of this show have not been in circulation before.

For the complete set lists and to order, click here!

And from here on, dead.net will be your best source for news and information about our exclusive Garcia releases and merchandise so stay tuned!

Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2

frogstorm — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:09:43 -0600

$19.98
Road Trips Vol 2, No.2

The Show

Carousel Ballroom - February 14, 1968

More Road Trips

Road Trips 1.1
Road Trips 1.2
Road Trips 1.3
Road Trips 1.4
Road Trips 2.1

Carousel 2-14-68

2 Disc Set

In the winter of 1968, the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service embarked on their first major tour of the Pacific Northwest. Now, this wasn’t an era when bands traveled in plush custom tour buses and stayed in luxury hotels. Rather it was a caravan of funky cars and semi-dilapidated equipment trucks bombing up US 101 from the Bay Area to points north and hotels that probably weren’t going to make the AAA guide book. But the bands played like beasts in Washington and Oregon, spreading San Francisco magic in an assortment of small auditoriums and ballrooms. The Dead, in particular, were really spreading their creative wings, exploring and honing what were unquestionably the most ambitious original songs they’d written to date. Their old friend Robert Hunter had penned lyrics for unusual songs called “Alligator,” “China Cat Sunflower,” “Dark Star” and “The Eleven,” and there were also mind-boggling new tunes such as “That’s It for the Other One,” “New Potato Caboose” and “Born Cross-Eyed.” Say whaaaat?

Now, while the Dead were on the road blowing minds in places like Eureka, Seattle, Portland and Ashland, Oregon, a couple of their “people” back home were busy signing a lease that would give the Dead, Jefferson Airplane and other interested freaks, control over a fantastic new venue: San Francisco’s venerable Carousel Ballroom, a one-time Big Band dance hall that was little-used by the mid-’60s. In January, before the Northwest tour, the Dead and Quicksilver had put on a successful dance there (a “Ben Franklin’s Birthday” celebration, the poster said), but the Grand Opening of the ballroom was slated for Valentine’s Day, with the Dead and Country Joe & the Fish on the bill. One of the scene’s budding artists, Stanley Mouse, produced a poster for the event with a jug-eared, retro geek imploring his prospective romantic conquests to “Be Mine,” and a pair of local FM rock stations carried the show live on radio.

This magnificent show—long admired by Dead Heads (and the band—it’s a Phil Lesh favorite)—captures the Dead at a real turning point in their career: When they tossed out the rock rule book and truly found their own sound. They tried out nearly all their new songs that night, and everyone was amazed at how effortlessly—yet powerfully—one flowed into the next and how their sets ebbed and flowed and exploded and got quiet and covered such an incredible range of textures and emotions. This wasn’t just a good-time dance band. This was serious… and still a good time!

Because the Valentine’s Day dance was a hometown show, on the radio and also being recorded for possible use on the Dead’s then-in-progress second album, Anthem of the Sun, soundman Dan Healy captured the music on an 8-track tape machine, and this Road Trips set marks the first time that those 8-tracks have been completely, properly mixed down—by ol’ reliable, Jeffrey Norman, of course—and released (aside from a few short missing passages on the multitrack masters, which are included from another source). So forget any version you might have heard before—this is state-of-the-art ’68 Dead, and you’re gonna love it! This is also the complete show, another first for the Road Trips series. As always, the discs are mastered to the HDCD standard and the package includes an entertaining and informative historical essay.

The first set of 2/14/68 was relatively short, so we’ve also packed the last third of Disc One with a selection of tunes from the Northwest Tour that were just recently discovered in a collection of tapes that had been languishing in a long-defunct San Francisco recording studio. Alas, there were just isolated songs on reels (not full shows), and the sound is variable, but the performances are, as they say in Boston, wicked-awesome, from an almost punky “Beat It on Down the Line” to a truly hair-raising “Viola Lee Blues.” So, if it’s rarities you want, we’ve got ’em!

Could there be a better diversion from these—or any—stressful times than this scorching set of Primal Dead? We don't think so. Impress your lovers and friends! Blow your own mind! You can find out more about the songs lineup below, and you can place your order by clicking here.

Track List

Disc One:

MORNING DEW
GOOD MORNING LITTLE SCHOOLGIRL
DARK STAR>
CHINA CAT SUNFLOWER>
THE ELEVEN>
TURN ON YOUR LOVELIGHT

Bonus tracks from Early 1968

VIOLA LEE BLUES (1/20/68 Eureka)
BEAT IT ON DOWN THE LINE (1/23/68 Seattle)
HURTS ME TOO (1/23/68 Seattle)
DARK STAR (2/2/68 Portland)

Disc Two:

THAT'S IT FOR THE OTHER ONE>
NEW POTATO CABOOSE>
BORN CROSS-EYED>
SPANISH JAM
ALLIGATOR>
CAUTION (DO NOT STOP ON TRACKS)>
FEEDBACK
IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

New Full-Show Downloads

Analise Dubner — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:28:30 -0500

The Spectrum, Philadelphia
11/5/79
From $9.99 (Available in FLAC & MP3)
:: MORE DOWNLOAD INFO

The Spectrum, Philadelphia
11/6/79
From $9.99 (Available in FLAC & MP3)
:: MORE DOWNLOAD INFO

Get Both Downloads
and Save 10%
From $17.99 (Available in FLAC & MP3)
:: MORE DOWNLOAD INFO

You've Asked For Them, Here They Are...
DOWNLOADS!

Two magical, complete performances from Philadelphia in Fall '79, the basis for Road Trips, Vol. 1 No. 1. These Spectrum shows, 11/5/79 & 11/6/79, are now available in both FLAC and MP3; documenting the band in the midst of their sparkling three-week eastern swing and capturing the raw excitement of the first tours with keyboardist Brent Mydland.

Previously unreleased in their entirety, now you can hear both shows from start to finish. The 11/5 performance includes "China Cat" as the show opener and a standout set with "Eyes of the World > Estimated Prophet > Franklin's Tower." The next night features a 15-minute plus "Terrapin Station," along with an extended "Playin' in the Band" with solid contributions from keyboardist Brent Mydland.

This is a digital-only release, and you have the option of downloading each show separately (11/5/79 and 11/6/79), or saving 10% when you order the two full shows together!

Track List for 11/5/79 Show

DISC 1

China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Cassidy
Friend Of The Devil
El Paso
Stagger Lee
Passenger
Peggy-O
The Music Never Stopped

DISC 2

Althea
Easy To Love You
Eyes of the World
Estimated Prophet
Franklin's Tower

DISC 3

Space
Drums
Space
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance
Sugar Magnolia
Casey Jones

Track List for 11/6/79 Show

DISC 1

Alabama Getaway
Promised Land
Tennessee Jed
Me & My Uncle
Mexicali Blues
Candyman
Easy To Love You
Looks Like Rain
Jack-A-Roe
Jack Straw
Deal

DISC 2

Terrapin Station
Playin' In The Band
Drums
Space
Black Peter
Good Lovin'
U.S. Blues

Road Trips Vol. 1 Number 4

Analise Dubner — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:00:00 -0500

$19.98
Road Trips Vol 1, No. 4

::More Information on Egypt '78

More Road Trips 1.4

"From Egypt With Love" (October '78)

2 Disc Set

Since we’ve all been in deep Egypt Mode the last couple of months preparing the new Rhino release Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt ’78 (which you can learn more about and order here), we thought it would be cool for the new Road Trips (that’s Vol. 1, No. 4 for those of you keeping score at home) to be a companion to that release, compiled from the band’s famous October 1978 “From Egypt With Love” shows at Winterland in San Francisco, just a month after their return from the desert.

Here’s the deal: The group was feeling totally jazzed when they got back from Egypt, and Bill Graham, who had been on the trip abroad as a spectator, rather than as promoter, wanted to give the band’s hometown fans a taste of the Egypt experience by hosting a series of five shows at Winterland that would include a slide show depicting the group’s amazing adventures in Cairo and beyond. As it turned out, the Dead Heads got more than that, too: At two of the concerts, their good friend Hamza El Din (a Nubian musician living in the Bay Area) reprised the Egyptian song he’d sung at the Sound & Light Theater in Gizah—called “Ollin Arageed”—which had been a jumping–off point for some fascinating cross-cultural explorations between the Dead and a host of native singers and percussionists. It proved to be magical at Winterland, too, as the crowd joined in clapping the song’s unusual and hypnotic beat. War’s exceptional harmonica player, Lee Oskar, dropped by the last two nights of the run, and the final concert brought a surprise appearance by ex-Quicksilver guitarist John Cipollina.

This new Road Trips was culled from the the last two concerts of the series, October 21 and 22, 1978. There’s plenty to dig here, including a really dynamic extended take on the aforementioned “Ollin Arageed” which eventually lands at “Deal” (of all songs!); a stunning sequence featuring "Got My Mojo Working">"The Other One">"Stella Blue"; a generous and free-flowing “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain”; and a “Not Fade Away” > “Goin’ Down the Road” combo that’s sparked by the presence of Mr. Cipollina and his vampire bat Gibson SG, and which goes into some very interesting jamming spaces between songs.

To order Road Trips Vol. 1, No. 4 click here.

Track List

Disk One - 10/21/78

Sugaree
Passenger
Stagger Lee
I Need A Miracle
Got My Mojo Working (with Lee Oskar)>
The Other One>
Stella Blue>
Sugar Magnolia
US Blues

Disk Two - 10/22/78

Olin Aragreed>
Deal
Peggy-O
Jack Straw
Scarlet Begonias>
Fire On The Mountain
NFA (with John Cipollina)>
GDTRFB

Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978

Analise Dubner — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:22:02 -0500

$34.98
Rocking The Cradle: Egypt '78

ROAD TRIPS 1.4
From Egypt With Love
The two-CD Road Trips set,
plus a third Bonus Disc,
is drawn from the two
shows of the series that are in the vault,
October 21 and 22, 1978.

::More Information on RT 1.4

More Egypt '78

Egypt In The Archives

Photos, Passes & the Poster

The Egypt Shows

September 14, 1978
September 15, 1978
September 16, 1978

Videos

Enjoy a short video montage from the
Egypt '78 DVD.
Watch Now

Watch a Video of Bertha in Egypt,
September 16th
Watch Now

Interview

Listen in on an interview
with Richard Loren on how Egypt
happened.
Listen Now

At Long Last...
Egypt '78
Order Now

2 Disc Set + 1 DVD

:: View the boxed set in 3D!

Good things come to those who wait! First, it took 30 years to produce this ultra-cool 2CD/DVD set from the Dead’s legendary September 1978 run at the Sound & Light Theater, outside Cairo, nestled in the dunes just a short mummy-walk from the Great Pyramid and the mysterious Sphinx. Then, Dead Heads had to endure the long, restless weeks between the announcement of the release and when they could actually order it. Well, ring them bells, because the wait is over! Dead.net is NOW accepting orders for this beautiful and historic package, Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978, which includes two exceptional music CDs and a DVD with over 95 minutes of concert footage from the Egypt shows (plus an impressionistic “Vacation Tapes” mini-documentary that shows the band and Dead family at play).

Much has been written about this storied adventure: About the band’s long-standing desire to play in “places of power,” as Phil put it years ago… The incredible logistical gymnastics necessary to get permission for this strangest of American rock bands to bring their peculiar alchemy to the cradle of the ancient world… The huge, scattered caravan of crazies that descended on Cairo from the U.S. and Europe, drawn to the desert by some irresistible force… The sheer magnitude of shipping in tons of sound equipment, setting up in 110-degree heat, maxing out the local power grid, trying to turn the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid into an echo chamber (alas, Osiris would have none of that!)… The wondrous interplay at each of the three concerts between Nubian drummers and singers and the Grateful Dead… The miraculous final show, during a total lunar eclipse… The synchronicity of that last show and the signing of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel… Magical horse and camel rides under the desert moon…Trips up and down the Nile… High adventure at every turn!

The three Egypt concerts—September 14, 15, 16, 1978—were captured on a 24-track tape recorder with an eye towards putting out a live album to help defray the (considerable) cost of the expedition. When the Dead got home, however, they discovered that the tapes of all of the first night and part of the second were not useable because of technical problems. Then the band got wrapped up in finishing their Shakedown Street album (begun before the Egypt venture), and soon the notion of putting out the Egypt album lost its momentum. But just as Howard Carter and all those other explorers in the ’20s and ’30s couldn’t stay away from the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the Dead weren’t about to let those Egypt multitracks stay buried by the sands of time. Next thing you know there’s a phone call to ace GD mixer Jeffrey Norman and he and vaultkeeper David Lemieux discover that despite the problems with the first night’s tapes, there’s still lots of great material available from nights two and three, including: a dynamite “Shakedown Street” (just the second live version ever), “Truckin’,” an exquisite “Stella Blue,” “Eyes of the World,” fresh takes on then-new songs such as “Stagger Lee” and “I Need A Miracle,” and the hypnotic Egyptian tune called “Ollin Arageed” that features Hamza El Din and other percussionists, who are then joined by the Dead for a jam into “Fire on the Mountain.” Wow!

And the concert video, though rough around the edges in places, is quite a revelation as well. Not only does the DVD include many of the best tunes on the CDs—you’ll dig seeing Jerry do some pretty energetic thrashing here and there—it contains two songs not on disc—“Bertha” and “Good Lovin’.” The concert material has been mixed in both stereo and surround sound, with two listening options: DTS 5.1 and PCM Stereo. The beautifully designed booklet (with cover inspired by the late, great Alton Kelley’s Egypt 1978 tour poster) contains a revealing essay by longtime Ice Nine Publishing chief (and Egypt trip co-organizer) Alan Trist, and many rare photos. All that’s missing is sand, the smell of camels and some “hubbly-bubbly”!

So don’t delay! Order Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978 today by going Here.

Track List

Disc 1

1. “Jack Straw”

2. “Row Jimmy”

3. “New, New Minglewood Blues”

4. “Candyman”

5. “Looks Like Rain”

6. “Stagger Lee”

7. “I Need A Miracle”

8. “It’s All Over Now”

9. “Deal”

Disc 2

1. “Ollin Arageed”

2. “Fire On The Mountain”

3. “Iko Iko”

4. “Shakedown Street”

5. “Drums”

6. “Space”

7. “Truckin’”

8. “Stella Blue”

9. “Around And Around”

DVD

Track Listing

1.“Bertha”

2. “Good Lovin’”

3. “Row Jimmy”

4. “New, Minglewood Blues”

5. “Candyman”

6. “Looks Like Rain”

7. “Deal”

8. “Ollin Arageed”

9. “Fire On The Mountain”

10. “Iko Iko”

11. “I Need A Miracle”

12. “It’s All Over Now”

13. “Truckin’”

Featurette: “The Vacation Tapes”

Road Trips Vol. 1, No. 4 features Winterland ’78 “From Egypt With Love” shows!

It must be the Curse of the Pharaoh’s Tomb or something, because once we’d put together Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt ’78, we couldn’t get Egypt out of our system. Suddenly it seemed only natural that the next Road Trips should be culled from the great five-night “From Egypt With Love” run the Dead played at Winterland a month after they returned from Cairo. Each night the band treated the hometown fans to an extensive slide show of their travels, and at two of the concerts, Hamza El Din joined the Dead for versions of “Ollin Arageed” that helped summon even more of the flavor of Egypt. Harmonica ace Lee Oskar (of War) showed up a couple of nights, and at the final show, John Cipollina added his distinctive guitar to the back half of the second set. The two-CD Road Trips set is drawn from the final two shows of the series, October 11 and 22, 1978. Get complete order information Here.

Road Trips Volume 1 - Number 3

Jonathan Lane — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:53:28 -0500

More Lost and Found From the Hot, Hot Summer of’71 on this Two-Disc Set!

$19.98 :: GO TO THE STORE

:: See Track List

Archives

Grateful Dead - Yale Bowl
Press Clip - Variety

Shows

New Haven, CT - 7/31/71
Chicago, IL - 8/23/71
Hollywood, CA - 8/6/71
San Pedro, CA - 8/4/71

More Road Trips

Read more about the series,
plus answers to questions you
might have about the series.
::Click Here

::See All Road Trips

If you’re up on your Dick’s Picks releases—and we know you are—you’ll recall that Dick’s Picks 35, released in 2005, featured some smokin’ performances from the summer of 1971. The master reels from which it was culled, long believed to have been lost, had turned up miraculously on a houseboat owned by the parents of former GD keyboardist Keith Godchaux, discovered more than 30 years later by Keith’s brother, Brian, and son, Zion. And Keith had these masters because the band wanted him to be able to hear their most recent tour in preparation for his taking the piano seat that fall. It was quite a find, to say the least—the Grateful Dead world equivalent of uncovering a new royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

So imagine our surprise when two years later, under completely different circumstances, even more great, previously uncirculated master tapes from the summer of ’71 turned up unexpectedly. Surely that was a sign, too, that this music needed to come out and be shared with all of you. Which brings us, happily, to Road Trips Volume One, Number 3. This release offers up the brightest of these recently discovered gems: Disc One is taken from the famous show at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, July 31, 1971, anchored around an out-of-this-world “Dark Star” and a version of “Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down the Road” that also includes a short “Darkness, Darkness” jam. Hot stuff!

The material on Disc Two is from the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago about three weeks later—8/23/71 (the following night, 8/24, was spotlighted on DP35)—and its big highlight is probably the very jammed out version of “That’s It for the Other One,” which in my humble opinion stands with the best they ever played (yes, even ones from the Fillmore West box). Spread across the discs you’ll also find outstanding versions of “China Cat > Rider,” “Uncle John’s Band > Johnny B. Goode,” “Wharf Rat,” “Sugar Magnolia” and lots more. Like the DP35 performances, these are a Phil-lover’s-delight, with massive bass on almost every track—careful if you’re driving or operating heavy machinery when you crank up these CDs!

As usual, these master soundboard recordings have been mastered in HDCD, and each package includes a cool booklet with an essay about the music (by yours truly in this case) and plenty o’ rare photos from the period.

So…You know the drill: click here for a complete track listing, and click here to order your copy today!

The Wait Is Over… The Winterland 1973 Box Has Arrived!

Analise Dubner — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:51:42 -0500

Click Cover To Enlarge

$99.99 :: ORDER NOW!

See Track Listing

The Shows

Winterland - November 9, 1973
Winterland - November 10, 1973
Winterland - November 11, 1973
Cincinnati Gardens - December 4, 1973

In The Archives

Handwritten Set List
News Clipping
All Winterland Archive Items

Watch The Trailer

A Winterland video scrapbook
::Watch it now

Your Photos

Do you have any photos of Winterland?
::Share Them With Us!

Sherman, set the Wayback machine for the second week of November, 1973. The Grateful Dead are on a roll…yes, again! The summer had seen the band playing triumphant mega-shows with the Allman Brothers at RFK Stadium in D.C. and at Watkins Glenn in upstate New York. With their popularity seemingly still escalating by the month, fall tours took them to various East Coast haunts and all over the Midwest. On October 15, they released Wake of the Flood, their first album on their own independent record label, and copies were flying out of stores coast to coast. So the mood in the band was WAY UP when their incredibly busy schedule brought them home for three shows at Winterland in San Francisco November 9, 10 and 11—before they set off again for points East.

Winterland always brought out the best—and the beast—in the band. Located across Geary Boulevard from the Fillmore Auditorium, the one-time home of the Ice Follies had hosted dozens of amazing rock shows since Bill Graham started putting on shows there in the late ’60s. It’s where the top tier of Bay Area bands would get together occasionally for marathon shows, and it’s where the most popular out-of-town acts—from The Doors, to Hendrix, to The Who, to the Rolling Stones—would play in the era before faceless sports arenas became an unfortunate fact of concert-going life. But nobody played Winterland as often as the Dead. By the time they’d trucked their ever-expanding sound system to the venue for their November ’73 shows, they’d already logged 31 concerts there—and there would be another 28 eventful Dead nights at Winterland before the old place was closed after the Dead’s New Year’s Eve show in 1978, and eventually reduced to rubble to make way for condos. Sure, the 5,000-capacity hall was acoustically challenging and a little frayed on the edges. But with its narrow open floor, shallow lower balcony that encircled the entire venue, its deeper back balcony chill zone, and serpentine walkways between floors, it was a tremendously fun and entertaining place to see a show—especially a Dead show.

Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings captures the Dead during one of their peak years and absolutely at the top of their game. Spread over nine discs, it includes every note of three complete consecutive shows (save for the encore of November 9, which was not recorded), so there’s plenty here to satisfy every fan: magnificent jams on “Dark Star” (which sprawls to 35 completely compelling minutes!), “Playing in the Band,” “Eyes of the World,” the still-new “Weather Report Suite” and more; kick-ass rockers of every variety (“Sugar Magnolia,” “Casey Jones,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Truckin’,” et al); haunting ballads including “China Doll,” “Stella Blue” and “To Lay Me Down”; a truly spectacular “China Cat”; and the first of just three versions ever of the dazzling sequence of “Playing in the Band” > “Uncle John’s Band” > “Morning Dew” > “Uncle John’s” reprise > “Playing” reprise. (For a complete listing of the contents of the nine discs, go here.)

All the music here was drawn from Grateful Dead crew member Kidd Candelario’s crystal clear and wonderfully present 2-track soundboard reels of the shows, and enhanced by the mastering work of the always reliable sonic wizard Jeffrey Norman, who used all sorts of arcane processes to bring it all into the glorious world of HDCD sound. This stuff will rattle your bones! The beautifully designed box also comes with a colorful booklet containing scads of great photos and a fine essay by Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally.

We like to think of Winterland 1973 as being part of the noble tradition established by the ecstatically received Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings, and as a precursor for other complete-run boxes to come. So clear out a chunk of space in the ol’ CD case, ’cause this mutha’ is a BIG ONE!

Don’t delay! You can order Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings right now by clicking here !

(To help get you in the mood, you can preview some of the music on the Winterland 1973 box by clicking here. And to give you a little glimpse of what Winterland was like, check out this video montage with audio from the ’73 shows and visuals from The Grateful Dead Movie, shot at Winterland a year later!)

Road Trips: Volume 1 - Number 2

Analise Dubner — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:17:40 -0600

$19.98 :: GO TO STORE

Archives

Browse Vol 1, No 2 Archives

Shows

Albuquerque, NM - 10/7/77
Norman, OK - 10/11/77
Houston, TX - 10/14/77
Baton Rouge, LA - 10/16/77

Ah yes, the glorious year of 1977, a favorite of discerning Dead Heads for three decades now! For the second volume in our new Road Trips series, we’ve chosen another tour that was not tapped previously through Dick’s Picks—a blazing swing through the Southwest, Colorado and down to Louisiana during the first weeks of October 1977.

This was a great time for the band: Both the years-in-the-making Grateful Dead Movie and the new Terrapin Station album had come out a few months earlier and the group was riding high on momentum from both of those projects. There was exciting new material that had debuted at the beginning of the year, including “Estimated Prophet,” “Terrapin” and “Fire on the Mountain,” and steady touring through the spring allowed the band to really explore the nuances of the new repertoire, while they also continued to hone the material that had come in following the band’s return to the stage in mid-1976 after their hiatus. What you’ll find on these great-sounding discs is a mixture of old favorites played with that fabled ’77 energy, and more recent material that was hitting new peaks nightly. There’s a “Let It Grow” that will knock your tie-dyed socks off, one of the great versions of “Sugaree” of that or any year, the famous “Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower” from Norman, Oklahoma, epic workouts on “Playing in the Band” and “The Other One” and a jammed-out “Black Peter” for the ages. Hot stuff!

Once again, the discs have been lovingly compiled and painstakingly mastered (in HDCD) from the original master tapes (in this case reels) by Jeffrey Norman. The booklet that accompanies the CDs boasts scads of great photos from the era and a very cool historical essay by the ever-hip and erudite scribe Steve Silberman.

TRACK LIST

DISC 1:
1. Let It Grow (10:17) (10/11/77)
2. Sugaree (17:41) (10/16/77)
3. The Music Never Stopped (8:59) (10/16/77)
4. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo (11:53) (10/14/77)
5. El Paso (4:52) (10/14/77)
6. Help On the Way (5:48) (10/11/77)
7. Slipknot! (4:02) (10/11/77)
8. Franklin's Tower (14:59) (10/11/77)

DISC 2:
1. Playing In the Band (17:12) (10/14/77)
2. Drums (3:09) (10/16/77)
3. The Other One (8:24) (10/16/77)
4. Good Lovin' (5:53) (10/16/77)
5. Terrapin Station (11;29) (10/16/77)
6. Black Peter (13:17) (10/16/77)
7. Around and Around (9:08) (10/16/77)
8. Brokedown Palace (5:51) (10/14/77)
9. Playing In the Band reprise (5:23) (10/14/77)

Come Join Us For Road Trips!

Analise Dubner — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:36:00 -0600

$19.98 :: GO TO THE STORE

More Details

Track listing for both CDs and
the bonus disc as well.
::Click Here

Archives

Browse Vol 1, No 1 Archives

Shows

New Haven, CT - 10/25/79
Uniondale, NY - 10/31/79
Philadelphia, PA - 11/6/79
Landover,MD - 11/8/79
Buffalo, NY - 11/9/79
Ann Arbor, MI - 11/10/79

It’s time to put a little gas-gas-gas back into the ol’ Tour Bus and give it another spin, because Grateful Dead is very pleased to announce the debut of a new series of archival releases called Road Trips!

Here’s the deal: We all loved the Dicks Picks series. Over the course of 36 amazing releases between 1993 and 2005, GD archivists Dick Latvala (R.I.P.) and David Lemieux continually blew our little minds plucking one righteous show after another from the vaults, from classics like the February ’70 Fillmore East run (DP4) and Englishtown ’77 (DP 15), to overlooked masterpieces like 9/28/76 (DP 20) and 9/21/72 (DP 36), and shows not in general circulation among traders at the time, such as the February ’68 shows of DP 22 and the superb “Houseboat Tapes” from August 1971 that made up DP 35. Coupled with the many exceptional releases culled from multitrack tapes (the Fillmore West box, Steppin’ Out, The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack, Nightfall of Diamonds, et al) and the popular Download Series, there’s been a lot of musical territory covered over the years… but not all of it, of course—not even close!

With Road Trips we’re going to try something a little different. We want to plug in a few more pieces of the Grateful Dead puzzle by putting the spotlight on different tours and series of shows that have been neglected through the years. Take Road Trips Volume 1, Number 1, for instance. This two-disc set (plus a special Bonus Disc - now sold out) was culled from the Dead’s blazing fall 1979 East Coast swing, when the band was just hitting its stride with new keyboardist Brent Mydland. You’ll find killer versions of “Dancing in the Street” > “Franklin’s Tower,” long exploratory jams on “Playing in the Band” and “Terrapin,” a rattle-your-brain “Shakedown,” and lots more, all pulled from the master tapes in the vault and expertly mastered in HDCD for maximum power and clarity by Jeffrey Norman. The sold out Bonus Disc offers another hour-and-a-quarter of highlights from the tour. (You can find the complete track listings for all three discs here.)

Every Road Trips release will come with a beautifully designed booklet containing an essay about how the music on the discs fits into the Dead’s long history, plus many rare and never-before-seen photographs. We think you’ll agree it’s a pretty cool package. But wait, there’s more (as they say)! When each “edition” of Road Trips is announced on this site, we will also give you a link to an affiliated site devoted to the series which will include such goodies as articles and reviews from the tour (See one reviewer after another mess up Grateful Dead song titles! See the band savaged by cretinous critics!); additional photos; and any other weird/cool stuff we come across. Together we can paint a really rich and vibrant audio-visual picture of different stops along the Grateful Dead highway!

And this is just the BEGINNING of what we promise will be a tidal wave of releases, which will include more rarities from the deepest corners of the vault, multitrack releases, box sets (the patient will be rewarded; nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more), DVDs, downloads and who-knows-what-else. So keep your Third Eye tuned into this space for more in the coming weeks and months!

--Blair Jackson

A Few AFAQ’s (Anticipated Frequently Asked Questions) About Road Trips

Sounds pretty interesting, but what took you guys so frickin’ long? We thought you’d forgotten us.
Naw, we never forgot you. It’s just taken a little longer than expected to get the ball rolling again and to figure out how to move forward in a way that will satisfy and hopefully also expand the fan base. As a certain sage known to all of us once wrote: “It takes time to pick a place to go…”

Is Dicks Picks over, done, kaput?
Yes, that series of releases ended with Volume 36. It will continue to be available, however. Road Trips will have a little more flexibility than Dicks Picks, in that we are not limited to full-show releases, or even 2-track tapes…or anything for that matter—we haven’t made any rules about what IT is. I guarantee we’ll surprise you from time to time.

But we want to hear full shows, too!
Don’t worry, there will definitely still be full-show releases. We’ll have more on that soon.

OK, I guess it might be pretty cool. I’ll check it out. In fact I’ve got a ton of ideas of shows and tours you guys should be releasing…
Well, let’s hear it. Of course we want your well-reasoned insights and input! The Dead have always looked to Dead Heads for inspiration and ideas, and you’re needed now more than ever!

Road Trips: Volume 1 - Number 1

Analise Dubner — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:00:00 -0500

$19.98 :: GO TO THE STORE

Archives

Browse Vol 1, No 1 Archives

Shows

New Haven, CT - 10/25/79
Uniondale, NY - 10/31/79
Philadelphia, PA - 11/6/79
Landover, MD - 11/8/79
Buffalo, NY - 11/9/79
Ann Arbor, MI - 11/10/79

More Road Trips

Read more about the series,
plus answers to questions you might
have about the series.
::Click Here

This two-disc set was culled from the Dead’s blazing fall 1979 East Coast swing, when the band was just hitting its stride with new keyboardist Brent Mydland. You’ll find killer versions of “Dancing in the Street” > “Franklin’s Tower,” long exploratory jams on “Playing in the Band” and “Terrapin,” a rattle-your-brain “Shakedown,” and lots more, all pulled from the master tapes in the vault and expertly mastered in HDCD for maximum power and clarity by Jeffrey Norman. The Bonus Disc, which offered another hour-and-a-quarter of highlights from the tour, has been sold out.

Track List

Disc 1 [Total Time 77:23 ]

1. ALABAMA GETAWAY (5:31) > (Garcia/Hunter)(11/10/79)
2. PROMISED LAND (4:44) (Berry) (11/10/79)
3. JACK STRAW (6:47) > (Weir/Hunter)(11/6/79)
4. DEAL (6:48)(Garcia/Hunter)(11/6/79)
5. DANCING IN THE STREET (13:10) > (Stevenson/Gaye/Hunter) (11/9/79)
6. FRANKLIN’S TOWER (12:04)(Garcia/Kreutzmann/Hunter)(11/9/79)
7. WHARF RAT (11:15) > (Garcia/Hunter)(11/9/79)
8. I NEED A MIRACLE (4:04) >(Weir/Barlow)(11/9/79)
9. BERTHA (5:52) > (Garcia/Hunter) Buffalo, NY (11/9/79)
10. GOOD LOVIN’ (7:08)(Resnick/Clark) (11/9/79)

Disc 2 [Total Time 78:58 ]

1. SHAKEDOWN STREET (15:32)(Garcia/Hunter)(10/25/79)
2. PASSENGER (6:04)(Lesh/Monk)(11/10/79)
3. TERRAPIN STATION (15:25) > (Garcia/Hunter)(11/6/79)
4. PLAYING IN THE BAND (22:17)(Weir/Hart/Hunter)(11/6/79)
5. NOT FADE AWAY (9:27) > (Petty/Hardin) (11/8/79)
6. MORNING DEW (10:13)(Dobson/Rose) (11/8/79)

Bonus Disc [Total Time 77:21 ] SOLD OUT

1. CHINA CAT SUNFLOWER (7:29) > (Garcia/Hunter)(10/31/79)
2. I KNOW YOU RIDER (8:07)(trad., arr. Grateful Dead)(10/31/79)
3. LOST SAILOR (6:30) (Weir/Barlow)(11/8/79)
4. SAINT OF CIRCUMSTANCE (5:41) > (Weir/Barlow)(11/8/79)
5. JAM (7:20)(Grateful Dead)(11/8/79)
6. ALTHEA (9:42)(Garcia/Hunter)(10/31/79)
7. ESTIMATED PROPHET (13:16) >(Weir/Barlow)(11/9/79)
8. HE’S GONE (10:35) >(Garcia/Hunter)(11/9/79)
9. JAM (8:41)(Grateful Dead)(11/9/79)

New Global Drum Project Available October 2nd

ccasal — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:08:34 -0500

Mickey Hart's three decades as the innovative percussion engine of the Grateful Dead, earned him Rock & Roll Hall of Fame status and worldwide notoriety. Years of constant touring also afforded him a platform for introducing his lifelong interest in multicultural sounds (rooted in childhood exposure to his mother's collection of early Folkways ethnographic recordings) to the American public; he presented on the Dead's performance stage such diverse artists as the great Yoruban drum legend Babatunde Olatunji, Brazil's multi-talented Airto Moreira, Sudanese oud master Hamza El Din, and Nigerian talking drum ace Sikiru Adepoju.

Photo by: John Werner

Hart's longtime friend and collaborator Zakir Hussain is one of the world's giants of Indian classical music, a virtuoso percussionist globally acknowledged as the master of his art. Son of the fabled Ustad Allah Rakha, he made his debut with Ravi Shankar in 1970, and has recorded with George Harrison, Tito Puente, Van Morrison, Pharoah Saunders and many more - and co-founded fusion supergroup Shakti with guitarist John McLaughlin. His prolific career is studded with awards and honors, including being the youngest musician ever to be awarded the title of Padma Shri by the government of India.

The groundbreaking 1991 Planet Drum united Hart, Hussain, Olatunji, Adepoju, Moreira, Puerto Rican master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo and others in a sparkling fusion of global percussion, winning the first-ever Grammy for World Music - and soaring to #1 on Billboard's world music chart, where it stayed for an unprecedented 26 weeks.

Photo by: John Werner

Global Drum Project once again finds the all-stars collaborating, in a collection of tranced-out, mesmerizing grooves and elegant electronic programming. Performers include Planet Drum alumni Giovanni Hidalgo on Latin percussion and Sikiru Adepoju on talking drum, as well as Taufiq Qureshi on percussion and vocals, Niladari Kumar on sitar, Dilshad Khan on sarangi. The late Babatunde Olatunji is heard as well, in sampled “guest” vocals.

Photo by: John Werner

Coinciding with this release, previously unavailable digital reissues of essential Mickey Hart back-catalog -- Diga Rhythm Band, At The Edge, Planet Drum, Mystery Box, and Supralingua -- will become available via the iTunes Music Store, with physical re-issues planned for 2008.

Click here to purchase the new Global Drum Project CD in the Dead.net
Store.

Finally…Three From the Vault! - 2/19/71, Capitol Theater, Port Chester NY

Analise Dubner — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 03:03:09 -0500

:: Click HERE for more details

Disc One:
Two Ditties
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
Spring Song
Truckin’
Loser Cumberland Blues
It Hurts Me Too
Bertha
Playing in the Band
Dark Hollow
Smokestack Lightning
China Cat Sunflower
> I Know You Rider

Disc Two:
Greatest Story Ever Told
Johnny B. Goode
Bird Song
Easy Wind
Deal
That's It For The Other One
>Cryptical Envelopment
>Drums >The Other One
Wharf Rat
Good Lovin'
Casey Jones

We know what you’re thinking: What took ’em so long? After all, Two from the Vault, the second of the Dead’s archival releases from multitrack master tapes, came out 15 years ago. And of course, there has been a plethora of releases of multitrack material since, spanning much of the band’s career. So what gives? Well, way back in ’92-’93, Dead soundman Dan Healy, who had picked and mixed the first two choices in the Vault series (from August ’75 and August ’68, respectively), chose the 2/19/71 concert from Port Chester’s wonderful Capitol Theatre, as the third entry in the series. He had it mixed and ready to go, but then for various reasons — many now lost to the mists of time — it never came out. Bummer.

The good news, though, is that now this show can be enjoyed in all its glory. Perhaps you’ve heard one of the soundboard versions that have been floating around the taping world for many moons. But I guarantee you’ve never heard it like this.

Three from the Vault comes from an intriguing time in the Grateful Dead’s history. Though still riding high from their first serious commercial successes the previous year (Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty), the Dead were not ones to rest on their laurels. Indeed, the waterfall of new songs just kept on coming—at the Capitol that February they introduced seven new tunes, all of them strong enough that they became cherished cornerstones of the Dead’s repertoire—and all are represented here. The night before this show (2/18/71) saw the first versions of “Bertha,” “Greatest Story Ever Told,” “Loser,” “Playing in the Band” and “Wharf Rat.” This 2/19 show boasted the first “Bird Song” and “Deal.” Giving birth is rarely easy, and there are definitely a few rough edges here and there in these newly minted gems—“Greatest Story” didn’t have its chorus yet, and “Playing in the Band” hadn’t arrived at its magical symmetry—but you can still hear the thrill of raw discovery in these tracks as the musicians explore and enjoy their musical progeny.

This show also marked the beginning of a five-year period when Bill Kreutzmann was the sole drummer in the band. If he was at all apprehensive about this change, you’d never know it by listening to his fluid and nimble work here; it’s quite amazing, actually. But all the players are on top of their games, as they tear through a great selection of songs, from still-new tunes like “Truckin’,” “Cumberland Blues,” “Casey Jones” and “Easy Wind,” to older numbers, such as “China Cat Sunflower” and the dynamic take of “That’s It for the Other One.” But what struck me most, hearing this show anew with Healy’s sparkling mix, is that Pigpen is really in top form: On the deep blues of “It Hurts Me Too”; a magnificent, serpentine version of “Smokestack Lightning” (which also features some ultra-slinky slide from Mr. Garcia); the chugging proto-funk of “Easy Wind”; and the jammed-out rockin’ crowd-pleaser that closes the second set, “Good Lovin’.” Three From the Vault was originally set to come out in the spring of 1993, sometime around the 20th anniversary of Pigpen’s death. Nearly 15 years later it still stands as a fine tribute to him, and as a document of this band beyond description in a time of triumph and transition.

The 2-CD package also contains a lively historical essay by Gary Lambert, notes from mastering engineer Joe Gastwirt and a number of rare photos.
—BJ

Release Info

To Terrapin: Hartford, May 28, 1977

The Show

And the whistle is screaming......Terrapin

Road Trips Volume 2 Number 1

Shows

More Road Trips

Madison Square Garden: September '90

Track List

Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings

The Shows

Jerry Garcia Band: Bay Area 1978

Track List

Jerry's Back, and We've Got Him!

New Garcia-Kahn Live Disc

Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2

The Show

More Road Trips

Carousel 2-14-68

Track List

New Full-Show Downloads

You've Asked For Them, Here They Are...DOWNLOADS!

Track List for 11/5/79 Show

Track List for 11/6/79 Show

Road Trips Vol. 1 Number 4

More Road Trips 1.4

Archive Photos

Shows

Road Trips Series

"From Egypt With Love" (October '78)

Track List

Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978

More Egypt '78

Egypt In The Archives

The Egypt Shows

Videos

Interview

At Long Last...Egypt '78Order Now

Track List

Road Trips Vol. 1, No. 4 features Winterland ’78 “From Egypt With Love” shows!

Road Trips Volume 1 - Number 3

More Lost and Found From the Hot, Hot Summer of’71 on this Two-Disc Set!

Archives

Shows

More Road Trips

The Wait Is Over… The Winterland 1973 Box Has Arrived!

The Shows

In The Archives

Watch The Trailer

Your Photos

Road Trips: Volume 1 - Number 2

Archives

Shows

TRACK LIST

Come Join Us For Road Trips!

More Details

Archives

Shows

A Few AFAQ’s (Anticipated Frequently Asked Questions) About Road Trips

Road Trips: Volume 1 - Number 1

Archives

Shows

More Road Trips

Track List

New Global Drum Project Available October 2nd

Finally…Three From the Vault! - 2/19/71, Capitol Theater, Port Chester NY

And the whistle is screaming...
...Terrapin

You've Asked For Them, Here They Are...
DOWNLOADS!

At Long Last...
Egypt '78
Order Now