The Dark Tower Set

30 Trips Around the Sun is an 80-CD live album, packaged as a box set, by the rock band the Grateful Dead. Announced for the celebration of their 50th anniversary, it consists of 30 complete, previously unreleased concerts—73 hours of music—with one show per year from 1966 through 1995. The box set is individually numbered and limited to 6,500 copies. It was released on October 7, 2015.

Elton John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, 59 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll…

Many long-lived rock artists (Emerson, Lake & Palmer and King Crimson, to name two) are starting to see the value in releasing live archival material. It's a way to thwart the bootleggers, plus it pleases longtime fans. Hackett joins in with this box set release of three shows, one from the 1970s (Hammersmith Odeon, London, June 30,1979), one from the 1980s (Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, Sept. 13,1981), and one from the 1990s (The Grand Theatre, London, June 8,1993). It's a viable collection, coming complete with a photo-laden booklet which includes an intro to each show written by Hackett (or, Stefanovitch Von Hackenschimdt, as he signs one), a complete tour itinerary covering his solo career to 2000, and track-by-track comments on each song from the 1993 disc (but, strangely, not for the other two shows). A couple of drawbacks to the discs are the only-average sound quality of the 1979 and 1981 shows…

By 1987, the Grateful Dead had lived many of their nine lives but were about to embark on one not a soul had seen coming. In The Dark, their first studio album in seven years, had spawned a hit (A TOP 10 SINGLE FOR THE GRATEFUL DEAD?!) and "Touch Of Grey" begat a new generation with their fanny packs and their MTV and their undeniable quest to join the party already in progress. And boy, did the Dead let them in! But not without fine-tuning their sonic vibes to meet the new demand.