GRATEFUL DEAD/RHINO; DELUXE BOX SET FEATURES FIVE WARNER BROS. RECORDS STUDIO ALBUMS
Craig Young
Posted On July 27, 2010
Between 1967 and 1970, The Grateful Dead recorded five studio albums for Warner Bros. Records that formed the psychedelic canon on which the band’s live legend was built. The albums spotlighted the early core lineup of Jerry Garcia, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart.
The Grateful Dead and Rhino will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty with The Warner Bros. Studio Albums, a five-LP boxed set available on September 21. The collection contains The Grateful Dead (1967), Workingman’s Dead, and American Beauty (1970), plus the original mixes for Anthem Of The Sun (1968) and Aoxomoxoa (1969), available on vinyl for the first time in nearly 40 years.
The set offers detailed replicas of the original albums housed in a hard-shell case that protects and stores the music with the accompanying 12″ x 12″ book including unpublished photos and new liner notes by Blair Jackson. To ensure the highest degree of quality, the albums were pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI using lacquers cut from the original analog masters by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
Those who pre-order from Dead.net will receive an exclusive reproduction of a rare 1968 7″ single (in a picture sleeve) that features the studio version of “Dark Star” (b/w “Born Cross-Eyed”) that clocks in at a concise 2:38. Dead.net pre-orders also receive a reproduction of a rare 1967 promotional poster for the first album from the Warner Bros. Records archive.
The original mixes for Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxoa—featured here for the first time since they were released —went out of circulation in 1972 and 1971 respectively. Garcia and Lesh revisited Aoxomoxoa two years after its release in an effort to cut through the dense mix, which was a result of the band’s extensive experimenting in the studio with one of the first 16-track recorders. The overhaul changed the album’s sound significantly, including the end of “Doin’ That Rag,” which originally closed with an a cappella vocal coda that was later removed.
Click here for a complete tracklisting.
