On The Dead Horizon: Live Albums & DVD, Box Set
billboard.com
Even with a 12-disc box set of the Grateful
Dead's Warner Bros. years due out in the
fall via Rhino, the band's namesake record
label is not resting on its laurels. Grateful
Dead Records has just issued "Dick's
Picks, Volume 22," the latest in its
continuing series of live concert releases,
and "View from the Vault II," a complete
live 1991 concert on DVD, VHS, and a
three-CD audio set. Both titles are
available from the band's mail order service and through its
Web site, and will be released to traditional retailers this fall.
"View from the Vault II" captures the Jerry Garcia-led band at
Washington, D.C's RFK Stadium on June 14, 1991, the peak
of renewed and reinvigorated interest in the perpetually touring
act, which this time around included both Bruce Hornsby and
Vince Welnick on keyboards. The Dead played the venue 15
times inside of 22 years, and as stadium shows became
commonplace, a video crew was employed to put the band up
on projection screens for the massive crowds and produced
the tapes from which this title is comprised.
The DVD and CD versions of "II" feature the entire show
(due to the constraints of the format, the VHS version has
been edited), which features a range of Dead originals and
covers that the band made its own. Among the songs included
are "Dark Star," a medley of "Help on the
Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower," "Maggie's Farm," and the
stellar encore of "It's All Over Now Baby Blue."
As a bonus, the DVD and CD include the quartet of "Box of
Rain"/"Victim or the Crime"/"Foolish Heart"/"Dark Star"
recorded in the summer of 1990 at the same venue, featuring
the late Brent Mydland on keyboards during what was his final
tour with the band. The DVD also includes the music video for
the Dead's "Liberty," which was directed by Justin
Kreutzmann, the son of Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann.
While the new "View" title is a glimpse of the Dead near the
end of its long, strange trip, "Dick's Picks, Volume 22" delves
much deeper into its history. The release is taken from Feb.
23-24, 1968, shows at the Kings Beach Bowl (bowling alley)
on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, Calif., where the band
recorded parts of that year's live/studio album "Anthem of the
Sun." Among the highlights are some of the earliest known
recordings of "Dark Star" and "China Cat Sunflower," as well
as "Morning Dew" and "Turn on Your Lovelight."
And while the Dead officially ceased activity with Garcia's
passing in 1995, the band's legacy lives on. Its prolific Warner
Bros. tenure will be documented on the 12-disc set "The
Golden Road 1965-1973." Due Oct. 16 from Rhino, the set will
feature digitally remastered versions of all of the albums
released during the period, bolstered by rare and unreleased
material.
The only album not to feature added material will be 1969's
"Live Dead," which longtime band publicist Dennis McNally
tells Billboard.com, "is perfect as it is. I said, 'Don't touch that
one.' There's nothing that can be added to that to make it any
better."
Along with contributing substantial liner notes to the set,
McNally also put together a pair of compilations for the box.
Dubbed "The Birth of the Dead," one is made up of live
material, the other of studio recordings.
-- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.
Even with a 12-disc box set of the Grateful
Dead's Warner Bros. years due out in the
fall via Rhino, the band's namesake record
label is not resting on its laurels. Grateful
Dead Records has just issued "Dick's
Picks, Volume 22," the latest in its
continuing series of live concert releases,
and "View from the Vault II," a complete
live 1991 concert on DVD, VHS, and a
three-CD audio set. Both titles are
available from the band's mail order service and through its
Web site, and will be released to traditional retailers this fall.
"View from the Vault II" captures the Jerry Garcia-led band at
Washington, D.C's RFK Stadium on June 14, 1991, the peak
of renewed and reinvigorated interest in the perpetually touring
act, which this time around included both Bruce Hornsby and
Vince Welnick on keyboards. The Dead played the venue 15
times inside of 22 years, and as stadium shows became
commonplace, a video crew was employed to put the band up
on projection screens for the massive crowds and produced
the tapes from which this title is comprised.
The DVD and CD versions of "II" feature the entire show
(due to the constraints of the format, the VHS version has
been edited), which features a range of Dead originals and
covers that the band made its own. Among the songs included
are "Dark Star," a medley of "Help on the
Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower," "Maggie's Farm," and the
stellar encore of "It's All Over Now Baby Blue."
As a bonus, the DVD and CD include the quartet of "Box of
Rain"/"Victim or the Crime"/"Foolish Heart"/"Dark Star"
recorded in the summer of 1990 at the same venue, featuring
the late Brent Mydland on keyboards during what was his final
tour with the band. The DVD also includes the music video for
the Dead's "Liberty," which was directed by Justin
Kreutzmann, the son of Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann.
While the new "View" title is a glimpse of the Dead near the
end of its long, strange trip, "Dick's Picks, Volume 22" delves
much deeper into its history. The release is taken from Feb.
23-24, 1968, shows at the Kings Beach Bowl (bowling alley)
on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, Calif., where the band
recorded parts of that year's live/studio album "Anthem of the
Sun." Among the highlights are some of the earliest known
recordings of "Dark Star" and "China Cat Sunflower," as well
as "Morning Dew" and "Turn on Your Lovelight."
And while the Dead officially ceased activity with Garcia's
passing in 1995, the band's legacy lives on. Its prolific Warner
Bros. tenure will be documented on the 12-disc set "The
Golden Road 1965-1973." Due Oct. 16 from Rhino, the set will
feature digitally remastered versions of all of the albums
released during the period, bolstered by rare and unreleased
material.
The only album not to feature added material will be 1969's
"Live Dead," which longtime band publicist Dennis McNally
tells Billboard.com, "is perfect as it is. I said, 'Don't touch that
one.' There's nothing that can be added to that to make it any
better."
Along with contributing substantial liner notes to the set,
McNally also put together a pair of compilations for the box.
Dubbed "The Birth of the Dead," one is made up of live
material, the other of studio recordings.
-- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y. |
