Artist: Grateful Dead
Album: The Grateful Dead (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 1967/2017
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 192 kHz
Duration: 01:54:25
Total Tracks: 26
Total Size: 4,24 GB

Tracklist:

Disc#1: Original Album Remastered
1 The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
2 Beat It On Down The Line
3 Good Morning Little School Girl
4 Cold Rain And Snow
5 Sitting On Top Of The World
6 Cream Puff War
7 Morning Dew
8 New, New Minglewood Blues
9 Viola Lee Blues

Disc#2: Live at P.N.E. Garden Auditorium, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 7/29/66
1 Standing On The Corner
2 I Know You Rider
3 Next Time You See Me
4 Sitting On Top Of The World
5 You Don’t Have To Ask
6 Big Boss Man
7 Stealin’
8 Cardboard Cowboy
9 It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
10 Cream Puff War
11 Viola Lee Blues
12 Beat It On Down The Line
13 Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
14 Cold Rain And Snow
15 One Kind Favor
16 Hey Little One
17 New, New Minglewood Blues

Download:

Has it really already been 50 years since The Grateful Dead released their debut album? My, my, those half-centuries certainly do fly by…

In commemoration of this momentous anniversary, we’re kicking off an equally-momentous, utterly epic album reissue series of the Dead’s back catalog, one which involves two-disc deluxe editions and limited-edition picture disc versions of all the group’s studio and live albums. The original albums will have newly remastered sound, the second disc of each will contain unreleased recordings, and the 12” picture discs will contain that same newly-remastered audio. Mind you, it’ll be a limited-edition situation with the vinyl reissues, so if you don’t rush to get one of the 10,000 copies we’re producing, you’ll be out of luck.

In the case of THE GRATEFUL DEAD: 50th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION, the bonus disc features the band’s complete unreleased concert from July 29, 1966 and select cuts from July 30, 1966 at the P.N.E. Garden Auditorium in British Columbia. The band’s performances at the Vancouver Trips Festival are among only a handful of recordings that exist from the Dead’s first two years, so just know what a big deal this is.The Grateful Dead’s eponymously titled debut long-player was issued in mid-March of 1967. This gave rise to one immediate impediment — the difficulty in attempting to encapsulate/recreate the Dead’s often improvised musical magic onto a single LP. Unfortunately, the sterile environs of the recording studio disregards the subtle and often not-so-subtle ebbs and zeniths that are so evident within a live experience. So, while this studio recording ultimately fails in accurately exhibiting the Grateful Dead’s tremendous range, it’s a valiant attempt to corral the group’s hydra-headed psychedelic jug-band music on vinyl. Under the technical direction of Dave Hassinger — who had produced the Rolling Stones as well as the Jefferson Airplane — the Dead recorded the album in Los Angeles during a Ritalin-fuelled “long weekend” in early 1967. Rather than prepare all new material for the recording sessions, a vast majority of the disc is comprised of titles that the band had worked into their concurrent performance repertoire. This accounts for the unusually high ratio (seven:two) of folk and blues standards to original compositions. The entire group took credit for the slightly saccharine “Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion),” while Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) is credited for the noir garage-flavored raver “Cream Puff War.” Interestingly, both tracks were featured as the respective A- and B-sides of the only 45 rpm single derived from this album. The curious aggregate of cover tunes featured on the Dead’s initial outing also demonstrates the band’s wide-ranging musical roots and influences. These include Pigpen’s greasy harp-fuelled take on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning Little School Girl” and the minstrel one-man-band folk of Jessie “the Lone Cat” Fuller’s “Beat It On Down the Line.” The apocalyptic Cold War folk anthem “Morning Dew” (aka “[Walk Me Out in The] Morning Dew”) is likewise given a full-bodied electric workout as is the obscure jug-band stomper “Viola Lee Blues.” Fittingly, the Dead would continue to play well over half of these tracks in concert for the next 27 years. –AllMusic Review by Lindsay Planer