Grateful Dead

Charm city was nothin' but! Clocking in at a full four hours, 33 songs, and some of the most purposeful and inspired playing the Grateful Dead ever did do, is DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 54, the complete show from Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD, 3/26/73. A so-called underdog favorite of both Dave and Dick, 3/26/73 is packed with highs from the 17-song (!) first set, to classic covers ("Promised Land," "Big River," "Me And Bobby McGee"), early renditions of songs that would later be cemented on WAKE OF THE FLOOD ("Eyes Of The World, "Here Comes Sunshine"), the prelude to what would officially become "Weather Report Suite," and by golly, that's Wolfman Jack introducing, you guessed it, "Ramble On Rose." Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOL. 54: BALTIMORE CIVIC CENTER, BALTIMORE, MD (3/26/73) was recorded by Kidd Candelario and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love, and mind expansion across the globe throughout the better part of three decades. The object of adoration for popular music's most fervent and celebrated fan following – the Deadheads, their numbers and devotion legendary in their own right – they were the ultimate cult band, creating a self-styled universe all their own; for the better part of their career orbiting well outside of the mainstream, the Dead became superstars solely on their own terms, tie-dyed pied pipers whose epic, free-form live shows were rites of passage for an extended family of listeners who knew no cultural boundaries.

Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love, and mind expansion across the globe throughout the better part of three decades. The object of adoration for popular music's most fervent and celebrated fan following – the Deadheads, their numbers and devotion legendary in their own right – they were the ultimate cult band, creating a self-styled universe all their own; for the better part of their career orbiting well outside of the mainstream, the Dead became superstars solely on their own terms, tie-dyed pied pipers whose epic, free-form live shows were rites of passage for an extended family of listeners who knew no cultural boundaries.

The four albums gathered here were released by the band's own label, Grateful Dead Records: Wake of the Flood (1973), From the Mars Hotel (1974), Blues for Allah (1975) and the much-maligned live compilation, Steal Your Face (1976). The three studio albums, even if they suggest songs really different from what they have become later, are enjoyable. This is the album "live" that benefits most from the remastering, which it well deserved.

Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love, and mind expansion across the globe throughout the better part of three decades.

Three CDs. Madison Square Garden, the world-famous New York City arena, was a home away from home for The Grateful Dead, a reliable sanctuary where the band would ultimately play 52 shows, a record at the time. The venue's fine acoustics combined with the fans' unbridled energy consistently brought out the best in the Dead. At the band's 2015 induction ceremony into Madison Square Garden's Walk Of Fame, Bobby Weir said "This place was both horrifying and titillating with an audience that was discerning but ravenous. We had to rise to the occasion every time."

Le trip le plus long et le plus étrange du rock, the Grateful Dead sont les ambassadeurs musicaux de l'ère psychédélique les plus adulés, ils en sont aussi les rescapés les plus résistants, à diffuser leur message de paix, d'amour et d'hallucination à travers le monde pendant les meilleures années de trois décennies. Objet d'adoration d'admirateurs les plus fervents et les plus célèbres de la musique populaire – les Deadheads, leur nombre et leur dévotion légendaire à part entière – c'est le groupe culte ultime, développant même leur " propre " univers. Pendant la meilleure partie de leur carrière qui reste bien en marge des sentiers battus, the Dead deviennent des superstars sous leurs propres conditions exclusivement.

By any measure, 1970 was a high-water mark for the Grateful Dead. Hot on the heels of the incredible success of Workingman’s Dead that summer, the band returned in the autumn with the equally stunning American Beauty. Those back-to-back classics not only introduced songs that would be a key part of the group’s live repertoire for decades, but they also opened a gateway into the world of the Grateful Dead for generations of Dead Heads. American Beauty will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with two new releases.