Ojai Sam
Staff member
The decision by the Grateful Dead to record their shows has paid unimaginable dividends over the years. Always respected as a killer live act, while they were active the band released several concert albums of uneven quality. Starting in 1991, the flow of archival live material began as a trickle that soon became a flood. I would argue that the band's encouragement of taping and trading by fans enhanced the market by creating a well-informed audience who knew which shows to ask for based on quality.
The focus of these releases began with random individual concerts in the "From The Vault" and "Dick's Pick's" collections. Later, they dug deeper with box sets containing a complete run of shows at a single venue. Obviously these sold well, because they went on to present even larger collections for entire tours such as the amazing 73 CD box for "Europe '72". What was always missing from these deep but narrow releases was a set capturing an overview of the Grateful Dead on stage over its entire performing career.
In 2015 as part of the band's 50th anniversary celebration, this omission was finally rectified with 30 Trips Around The Sun. No fools in the merchandising game, Rhino released this collection in 3 different formats:
memory stick
barebones "music only" CD box
and the holy grail: a limited edition numbered box holding 80 CD's, a 288 page leather bound book, 45 rpm single, scroll, backstage pass, and an unused mail order concert ticket. These 80 discs contain one show from each year between 1966 and 1995.
Hang on! It will be a long, strange trip.
The focus of these releases began with random individual concerts in the "From The Vault" and "Dick's Pick's" collections. Later, they dug deeper with box sets containing a complete run of shows at a single venue. Obviously these sold well, because they went on to present even larger collections for entire tours such as the amazing 73 CD box for "Europe '72". What was always missing from these deep but narrow releases was a set capturing an overview of the Grateful Dead on stage over its entire performing career.
In 2015 as part of the band's 50th anniversary celebration, this omission was finally rectified with 30 Trips Around The Sun. No fools in the merchandising game, Rhino released this collection in 3 different formats:
memory stick
barebones "music only" CD box
and the holy grail: a limited edition numbered box holding 80 CD's, a 288 page leather bound book, 45 rpm single, scroll, backstage pass, and an unused mail order concert ticket. These 80 discs contain one show from each year between 1966 and 1995.
Hang on! It will be a long, strange trip.
