LOS ANGELES (Warner Music) - Following up on its gold-certified The Golden Road (1965-1973),
Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino Records salutes the
Grateful Dead with another epic 12-CD boxed set. BEYOND DESCRIPTION (1973-1989) re-masters and repackages each of the band's studio albums for
Grateful Dead Records and Arista, and features 15 hours of music and 161 songs-65 of which are previously unreleased.
BEYOND DESCRIPTION (Grateful Dead Productions/Rhino) will be available October 26 at all retail outlets and at www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $149.98.
BEYOND DESCRIPTION begins with 1973's Wake Of The Flood and features the ensuing '70s classics From The Mars Hotel, Blues For Allah, Terrapin Station, and Shakedown Street. The '80s are documented with Go To Heaven, Reckoning, Dead Set, In The Dark, and Built To Last.
The bonus tracks were selected based on outstanding performance and historical significance. They include a rare studio version of "Catfish John," the much-requested "Equinox," studio versions of "Peggy-O" and "Jack-A-Roe," an early studio version of "Fire On The Mountain," and the only live version of "Let It Rock."
In addition to acoustic and instrumental outtakes, live extras, alternate versions, and songs culled from band rehearsals, BEYOND DESCRIPTION (1973-1989) features expanded versions of the live albums Reckoning and Dead Set. Captured at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and New York's Radio City Music Hall respectively, the discs have been expanded to two-disc sets in order to accommodate additional material culled from those gigs.
Reckoning has been augmented with a 16-track collection of previously unreleased acoustic tracks, including "Cassidy," "Ripple," "Heaven Help The Fool," a studio rehearsal version of "To Lay Me Down," "Iko, Iko," and many others. Dead Set will features a nine-track electric bonus disc featuring previously unreleased versions of "Sugaree," "Not Fade Away," "Jack Straw," "Shakedown Street," and many more.
In addition to the bonus material, the boxed set features essays on each title written by the likes of David Fricke, David Gans, and Blair Jackson. All-encompassing liner notes by Dead biographer/spokesman Dennis McNally (a Grammy nominee for his liners to the previous Grateful Dead box) and David Lemieux, who produced BEYOND DESCRIPTION with Rhino's James Austin, are also included.
Joe Gastwirt, responsible for the original CD mastering of each title, returned to remaster BEYOND DESCRIPTION (1973-1989), utilizing HDCD technology for enhanced audio.
