Acid Reign

The primary impetus behind this ambitious 12-disc box set is to gather all nine of the Grateful Dead's Warner Brothers titles. However, the staggeringly high quotient of previously unissued bonus material rivals – and at times exceeds – the content of those original albums. The Golden Road (1965-1973) truly has something – and usually a lot of it – for every degree of Deadhead…

Formed in Oshawa, Ontario by guitarist Bob Bryden amid the ruins of psych-rock outfit Reign Ghost, whose two Allied Records releases fetch hefty sums in collectors' circles, Christmas initially recorded this music as record industry bait for one of those budget throwaway top-hits collections. Allegedly issued without the band's knowledge, Christmas has a laconic, post-acid feel to it, with the spectre of the Grateful Dead - especially the stoner noodling on their classic 'Dark Star' - everywhere on the record. Side one is the more disciplined of the two sides, giving itself to more standard song structures of varying quality ranging from somnambulant to soothing. Bryden's crisp guitar work starts to emerge on the final track, 'Oasis', a carefree instrumental that sets the stage for side two and its sprawling side-long jam, the almost interminable and ridiculously named 'Jungle Fabulous'. Not for the restless, this one.

Formed in Oshawa, Ontario by guitarist Bob Bryden amid the ruins of psych-rock outfit Reign Ghost, whose two Allied Records releases fetch hefty sums in collectors' circles, Christmas initially recorded this music as record industry bait for one of those budget throwaway top-hits collections. As Bryden recalls, "(This was) originally to be a '12 Top Hits' album done anonymously, but we jammed and they released the jams and scrapped the 'cover version' idea."
Allegedly issued without the band's knowledge, Christmas has a laconic, post-acid feel to it, with the spectre of the Grateful Dead - especially the stoner noodling on their classic 'Dark Star' - everywhere on the record…