Grateful Dead ‘Anthem of the Sun’ Reissue Due

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Rhino Records will reissue the second album by the Grateful Dead, 1968’s Anthem of the Sun, on July 13, just five days before its 50^th anniversary. The deluxe edition will be released as a two-CD package and also as a 12-inch vinyl picture disc produced in a limited edition of 10,000 copies.

Anthem of the Sun: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will include both the original 1968 mix of the album and the better-known 1971 mix. Both mixes of the albums were mastered by Grammy-winning engineer David Glasser from the original analog master tapes. The set also includes a bonus disc with a previously unreleased complete live show recorded on October 22, 1967, at Winterland in San Francisco. Newly remastered by Jeffrey Norman, this is the first known recording of the Grateful Dead with Mickey Hart, who joined the band in September 1967.

The picture disc will be available the same day and will feature the remastered 1971 mix of the album.

Pre-order the CD set here.

From the press release: “The band’s most experimental album, Anthem of the Sun was an unprecedented mix of studio and live recordings stitched together to create a hybrid. Fifty years later, it remains a pinnacle of psychedelic music. It also marked a departure for the band, as they began to channel their creativity into longer jams on songs like ‘Alligator’ and ‘Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks),’ two live staples of the Dead’s early days.”

Grateful Dead, 1968

“This is one the most thrilling albums the Grateful Dead ever produced, mixing portions of live recordings from the first six months of Mickey’s tenure with the band, along with studio experimentations that would hint at where the Dead would go when they started recording to 16-track tape the following year,” says archivist and producer David Lemieux. “The 1971 remix, produced in order to make the album more accessible to the newer fans who were brought on board with Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, has been the most commonly heard version for the past 45+ years. However, having this side-by-side with the original 1968 mix demonstrates countless differences, with the original mix being more primal, psychedelic and experimental. Add to this the first extant live recording featuring Mickey as a member of the Grateful Dead, and you have a very special release in every way.”

The bonus disc that accompanies the deluxe edition features an unreleased recording of the band’s October 22, 1967, concert at Winterland. In addition to performing songs from the group’s eponymous debut (“Beat It on Down the Line” and “Morning Dew”), they also previewed tracks from Anthem of the Sun (“New Potato Caboose” and parts of “That’s It For the Other One”). During this period, the band included Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

New liner notes by author/historian Steve Silberman accompany the set.

Track Listing

Disc One: Original 1968 Mix
1.”That’s It For The Other One”
I. “Cryptical Envelopment”
II. “Quadlibet For Tender Feet”
III. “The Faster We Go, The Rounder We Get”
IV. “We Leave The Castle”
2. “New Potato Caboose”
3. “Born Cross-Eyed”
4. “Alligator”
5. “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)”

1971 Remix
6.”That’s It For The Other One”
I. “Cryptical Envelopment”
II. “Quadlibet For Tender Feet”
III. “The Faster We Go, The Rounder We Get”
IV. “We Leave The Castle”
7. “New Potato Caboose”
8. “Born Cross-Eyed”
9. “Alligator”
10. “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)”

Disc Two: Winterland, San Francisco, CA 10/22/67
1. “Morning Dew”
2. “New Potato Caboose”
3. “It Hurts Me Too”
4. “Cold Rain And Snow”
5. “Turn On Your Love Light”
6. “Beat It On Down The Line”
7. “That’s It For The Other One”
I. “Cryptical Envelopment”
II. “The Other One”
III. “Cryptical Envelopment”