30 Days of Dead
It's a Dead Head's most wonderful time of the year! Welcome to another 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day of the month, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed, but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.
Those of you who know what to do, feel free to skip right on ahead. For those of you who need a refresher, here's the drill:
You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70s show? Each day we'll post a song from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were just starting to warm it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? If you think you know, lob your answer in and you just might find yourself taking home our daily prize of a 2025 Grateful Dead wall calendar or the grand prize – a copy of limited, numbered, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL '78 boxed set!
Finally, after 8 years of 15 or more out of each 30, I got one!
sipping my morning coffee here, as is my tradition while I work the daily mystery :)
The era from which today's selection comes became much less mysterious by the time Standing On The Moon rolled by, with that baby grand piano banging away with Garcia's outro solo. Just beautiful! Enjoy, fellow Heads.
One of the upsides of being on the other side of the Atlantic is having a go before y'all wake up.
Anyway, cracked it with the help of my wife's discerning ears whilst sipping our morning breakfast tea (natch - we are Brits after all).....
I think this is the most spirited rendition of Box of Rain I've ever heard. Sprightly! What a treat! Thank you Dave Lemieux and the kind folks among TPTB! Grateful!
My three online sources are no help, so I busted out the Deadbase 50 hardcover I almost forgot I had. Spent way too much time in there, and came up with nothing. THis one's a toughie!