Yes, I know, I know–it’s impossible to put the best of the entire career of The Grateful Dead (now calling themselves The Dead) on just one CD. But, this is an impressive try; and it makes for an excellent introduction to the band for a newcomer. The CD also represents their work through not just the Warner Brothers Records years but the Arista Records years as well–a nice plus!

This CD is best for the newcomer for the following reason: it’s just too brief a compilation. For example, the more psychedelic type of song they performed is absent here; and I agree with the reviewer from Norway who writes that the quite a few of the songs are from just one year: 1970. In fact, the entirety of the song set is from 1967 to 1987. Where are the songs from The Dead as The Warlocks? 1965? 1966? After 1987? There’s only one live set on the CD: “One More Saturday Night,” recorded live in 1972 but presented here without audience reaction. A shame since The Dead built such a solid reputation on their live concerts! But–remember this–you can only get so much on a single CD; perhaps I am being too harsh.

After all, there are some awesome songs on this CD that demonstrate the remarkable talent of The Dead and their almost unique effect on their fans. (People actually quit their jobs to follow the band!) You get “Truckin’,” “Touch Of Grey,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Casey Jones,” “Uncle John’s Band,” and the CD ends with the beautiful “Ripple.” Other songs I thought were extremely special and beautiful are “U.S. Blues” and “The Golden Road {To Unlimited} Devotion.”

Other great aspects of this CD include fantastic–and I mean fantastic–liner notes. There is an extensive introductory history to the band written by James Austin. There are wonderful black and white photos of the band taken over the years. The song credits are very well done. There’s also an insert advertising Dead merchandise I myself might order! GRIN

The quality of the sound is excellent; the sound is in a form of high definition digital sound manufactured by Microsoft. You get links to the website for the Dead and Rhino Records as well.

I recommend this for Dead fans who don’t have it yet (but I know they do)! Because The Dead wrote a certain type of music, I also recommend this CD for fans for folk music, country and maybe even blues as well. This is a great CD overall and I recommend you get it and enjoy!

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