Lake OF The Dead

The Grateful Dead may have released the band’s final studio album – Built to Last – on Halloween 1989, but that didn’t stop them from writing new songs for the following years, adding several new tracks to their live repertoire in the early ‘90s. Sadly, the group was unable to ever complete them in a studio before the death of singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1995.

The Grateful Dead bid adieu to their faithful fans with a series of concerts in 2015 called Fare Thee Well. The shows, held in Santa Clara and Chicago, were billed as the last time the Dead alumni would share the stage together but, in typical Dead fashion, several members reconsidered that notion upon the project's conclusion. Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart harbored the desire to carry on, but Phil Lesh declined the opportunity to return to the road, leaving the trio with the task of replacing their bassist in addition to finding a substitute for Jerry Garcia (Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio filled that role for Fare Thee Well, but decided to return to his main gig). John Mayer – a newer convert to the Dead who struck up a friendship with Weir – was recruited to play guitar, bassist Oteil Burbridge was hired alongside keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, and this new incarnation of the Dead was dubbed Dead & Company. Following a Halloween unveiling in 2015, Dead & Company set out on the road in 2016. The tour went so well, the band headed back out on the road in the fall of 2017, followed by a summer tour in 2018.

This four-CD box documents as many live shows by an otherwise unrecorded lineup of Iggy and the Stooges, circa 1971. In the wake of the commercial failure of their magnum opus Funhouse, the group's original lineup split up. Some members would stick around for 1973's Raw Power, at which point the story ended for real. But in between, there were some really lean years, as captured here. It's worth bearing in mind that the Stooges were not a popular band during their original lifespan.