Rhino is prepping a set of career-spanning highlights of the Grateful Dead’s three decades. Due Sept. 16, “The Very Best of the Grateful Dead” will feature songs the band recorded for Warner Bros., Arista and its own Grateful Dead Records.
“This CD is only a distillation of a journey spanning more than 30 years, one that continues to this day,” Rhino’s James Austin says in a statement. Austin compiled the music and penned the liner notes for the 17-track collection.
In 2001, Rhino released “The Golden Road (1965-1973),” a much more comprehensive collection of Grateful Dead recordings. That 12-disc set includes all nine albums the band released through Warner Bros. along with seven hours of previously unreleased material.
In other news, the 28th volume of the band’s “Dick’s Picks” archive concert series is now available. The four-disc Grateful Dead Records collection compiles two 1973 shows — Feb. 26 in Lincoln, Neb., and Feb. 28 in Salt Lake City — in their near entirety. Across the two concerts and 39 songs on the set, only two repeat: a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and the band’s own “Jack Straw.”
The surviving original members of the band, once known as the Other Ones and recently rechristened as the Dead, are in the midst of a summer tour that plays Noblesville, Ind., tonight (Aug. 5). Fans attending shows Saturday and Sunday in Wantagh, N.Y., will be treated to three sets by the band (one acoustic), instead of the usual two.
Here is “The Very Best of the Grateful Dead” track list (the original label for each track is listed in parentheses):
“Truckin'” (Warner Bros.)
“Touch of Grey” (Arista)
“Sugar Magnolia” (Warner Bros.)
“Casey Jones” (Warner Bros.)
“Uncle John’s Band” (Warner Bros.)
“Friend of the Devil” (Warner Bros.)
“Franklin’s Tower” (Grateful Dead/United Artists)
“Estimated Prophet” (Arista)
“Eyes of the World” (Grateful Dead)
“Box of Rain” (Warner Bros.)
“U.S. Blues” (Grateful Dead)
“The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)” (Warner Bros.)
“One More Saturday Night” (Live, 1972) (Warner Bros.)
“Fire on the Mountain” (Arista)
“The Music Never Stopped” (Grateful Dead/United Artists)
“Hell in a Bucket” (Arista)
“Ripple” (Warner Bros.)
