The Grateful Dead’s Debut Album Given 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

The Grateful Dead celebrated the 50th anniversary of their band back in July 2015, and now they’re celebrating 50 years since their debut album with a special re-release. The Grateful Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition contains a remastered version of the original album plus a bonus disc of an unreleased concert from July 29th, 1966 and select songs from July 30th at the P.N.E. Garden Auditorium in British Columbia.

“Only a few recordings from the Dead’s first two years exist, but each one reveals corners of the band’s repertoire not captured anywhere else,” the band’s website states. “That’s especially true here, with three songs making their last appearance on any surviving Dead recording: ‘Standing On The Corner,’ ‘You Don’t Have To Ask Me,’ and ‘Cardboard Cowboy.’”

It is, of course, anchored by bassist Phil Lesh. He wrote in his 2005 autobiography that though the album helped launch their career, it wasn’t produced the way the band played it in the studio. Many of the tracks were edited for length. “To my ear, the only track that sounds at all like we did at the time is Viola Lee Blues,” Lesh wrote. “None of us had any experience with performing for recording… the whole process felt a bit rushed.”

The Grateful Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is available now on CD.

The Grateful Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Track List:

Disc 1

1. The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
2. Beat It On Down The Line
3. Good Morning Little School Girl
4. Cold Rain & 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: P.N.E. Garden Auditorium, Vancouver, BC, 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”

7/30/66:

14. “Cold, Rain and Snow”
15. “One Kind Favor”
16. Hey Little One”
17. New, New Minglewood Blues”