Carefully selected by archivist David Lemieux from various tour stops on the Grateful Dead’s first trip abroad, this package is deliberately conceived as a companion piece to the original Europe ’72. As such, Volume 2 functions brilliantly as a complement to that seminal inclusion in the Grateful Dead discography.
The Decemberists are having a busy release year– in January they put out a full-length, The King is Dead, and in August they released an iTunes session EP. Now, they’ve
Following yesterday’s stunning announcement that Jack White had collaborated with Insane Clown Posse our thoughts turned to other oddball musical pairings. For this week’s B List, we polled the Hidden Track staff and compiled a list of ten of the oddest musical collaborations.
Here’s what we came up with…
10. Phish and Jay-Z
It’s well documented that Phish loves to cross genres and play with guests, but when Trey Anastasio introduced Jay-Z to the stage in Coney Island in 2004 – jaws dropped. Can you imagine the Notorious B.I.G. stepping on stage with the Grateful Dead? As live collaborations go, 99 Problems / Big Pimpin’ was a big risk and a great success. And we think it’s safe to say Jay-Z never expected 8,000 Phish-heads belting his lyrics back at him – and neither did they. READ ON for nine more oddball musical pairings…
Back on January 19, Rolling Stone broke the news that Rhino Records would be putting out every note the Grateful Dead played on their landmark tour of Europe in 1972 as part of a limited-edition box set. The limited-edition set sold out quicker than anyone imagine and now, a mere seven months later, these Europe ’72 box sets have started arriving.
[All photos via Sunshine Daydream FB Page]
All in all, Europe ’72 wound up as 22 digi-packs featuring three or four discs for most shows giving purchasers a grand total of 73 discs worth of music. The digi-packs and two accompanying books are all included in a replica steamer trunk with a latch and a handle. Early reviews of the remastered music are glowing with most complaints focusing on the flimsy cardboard sleeves that protect the discs themselves.
Chicago’s Sunshine Daydream Hippie Shop has shared some photos of the Europe ’72 box, so READ ON to view ’em all…
[Originally Published: April 28, 2011]
Yesterday, Wolfgang’s Vault unveiled a Video Vault featuring 50 years worth of footage lovingly restored by archivist Braden Towne and his team. Towne detailed the painstaking process of prepping this footage for the internet age in a fascinating blog entry. Best part? You can stream each video for free.
Since I’ve spent most of the last 24 hours checking out videos on the site, I thought I’d make a list of the best clips I came across for this week’s B List. I stuck with clips from the ’70s this time around and once Wolfgang’s adds more video to the portal, we’ll examine material from other decades.
1. The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop (12/28/1978)
The Grateful Dead famously closed out the Winterland in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve 1978, but a few nights earlier The Ramones tore through many of their best songs at the venue including Blitzkrieg Bop.
Audio Quality: A, Video Quality: B+, Black & White
2. The Allman Brothers Band – Whipping Post (9/23/1970)
This clip gives us a look at the Fillmore East as the Allman Brothers Band, i.e. the Fillmore “house band,” tear through Whipping Post with the late Duane Allman leading the way.
Audio Quality: A-, Video Quality: A, Color
READ ON for more of this week’s B List…
With the Grateful Dead’s massive, drool-inducing Europe ’72 box set set to finally roll out this fall, the band’s 22-date tour will once again be mined for a scaled-down companion
Over the past few years, we’ve shared compilations of classic Grateful Dead shows put together by longtime HT reader Joe Kolbenschlag called Steel Cut Oats. Today, on what would’ve been Jerry Garcia’s 69th birthday, we’re excited to share Joe’s latest Steel Cut Oats compilation which pulls from the band’s only performances in Alaska…
June 20th and 21st, 1980, West High Auditorium, Anchorage, Alaska
Grateful Dead, 1980. Ask a fan what their first thought would be and you’d probably get a combination of the words ‘Warfield’, ‘Radio City’ or ‘acoustic sets’. Although that is an adequate initial response, it doesn’t cover for what is an under-appreciated year. Many other shows should be highlighted beyond the fall’s cherished Warfield Theater/Radio City Music Hall acoustic/electric workouts. A few favorites of mine include the shows from May 10th (seek out Jim Wise’s audience recording), September 6th (again, do the same thing) and any show from the mini-run of late November. Official releases range from the beloved Reckoning and Dead Set albums highlighting the above Warfield/Radio City run, to the 2002 surprise multi-track release of Go To Nassau featuring two more hot shows from May.
Steel Cut Oats #8 celebrates the bulk of the final two shows of a three-night stand from Anchorage, Alaska – June 20th and 21st, 1980 – at the West High Auditorium. By all accounts, the sold-out venue seated about 2,000 folks each night, and aside from being their only performances ever from the 49th State, they occurred during the Summer Solstice. From that Northern location as fans left each evening, the sun had set, but the night sky never appeared entirely dark, and only a few short hours later, the sun would reappear again – a perfectly strange Grateful Dead setting for an excellent run of shows.
READ ON for more about Steel Cut Oats #8…
We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… On September 13, quirky funk-rock act Primus will release
For the next Road Trips release, Grateful Dead legacy manager David Lemieux has picked a run from 1982 to draw from, an underrated year from the band that hasn’t gotten
Astutely produced by David Lemieux and Blair Jackson, the only material duplicated within the three disc set is the venerable “Truckin’”, which should placate those music lovers who rue the availability of bonus discs with such packages
