Grateful Dead Flac

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! Gentle mistresses and most distinguished gentlemen, we have come upon the release of the DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 37, from the Fifteenth of April in the year Nineteen Seventy-Eight, at ye olde College Of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Cast your waistcoats and your bonnets aside, the Grateful Dead are on steady gallop from the opening high-kick of "Mississippi Half-Step" into a where are we going? where have we been? "Passenger," followed by full-on versions of "Friend Of The Devil," "El Paso," "Brown-Eyed Women," and a double-barreled "Let It Grow>Deal." Catch your breath and straighten out your tricorne because the 2nd set shows no bounds with delightful takes ("Bertha>Good Lovin'," "One More Saturday Night") and introspection ("Candyman," "Playing In The Band"). Then - great fifes and drums - it's 15 minutes of "Rhythm Devils," with band and crew gathered round to amplify the merriment before delivering a rare incantation of "Not Fade Away>Morning Dew" that sets the soul alight. Pure jollification!

The Grateful Dead made their reputation on the road with their live shows, and they always struggled to capture that magic in the studio. From the Mars Hotel, while not a classic, represents one of their better studio albums. Jerry Garcia sounds engaged throughout and takes the vocal reigns for most of the songs on the album – although he's not the most gifted vocalist, he proves himself able and versatile…

Due July 10th, Workingman's Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be available as a three-CD set and digital equivalents featuring the original album with newly remastered sound, plus an unreleased complete concert recorded on February 21, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. The show was mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Bob Weir’s Marin County TRI Studios and mastered by Grammy® Award-winning engineer, David Glasser, along with restoration and speed correction by Plangent Processes. 2/21/71 delivers a plethora of songs from both Workingman’s Dead and the band’s follow-up album, American Beauty. Some highlights include Weir’s moving vocal take on “Me and Bobby McGee,” Pigpen’s whiskey-seasoned growl on “Easy Wind” and a stellar run through “Uncle John’s Band” to close out the show.

It only seems like there has been an endless stream of Grateful Dead compilations. In reality, there has only been a handful, and the most notable of those were released while the band was still an active recording and touring unit in the '70s – and before they had belated chart success in the late '80s, 20 years after their debut album. So, Warner/Rhino's 2003 collection The Very Best of Grateful Dead marks the first attempt to do a thorough single-disc overview of the group's career, encompassing not just their classic Warner albums but also the records they cut for their own Grateful Dead/UA and Arista.

With 1970's Workingman's Dead, the Grateful Dead went through an overnight metamorphosis, turning abruptly from tripped-out free-form rock toward sublime acoustic folk and Americana. Taking notes on vocal harmonies from friends Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Dead used the softer statements of their fourth studio album as a subtle but moving reflection on the turmoil, heaviness, and hope America's youth was facing as the idealistic '60s ended. American Beauty was recorded just a few months after its predecessor, both expanding and improving on the bluegrass, folk, and psychedelic country explorations of Workingman's Dead with some of the band's most brilliant compositions. The songs here have a noticeably more relaxed and joyous feel.