Grateful Dead – Winterland 1971 (RSD 2012)
The Grateful Dead made Winterland its home for years until 1978, when the band closed Bill Graham’s legendary venue for good with a
spectacular New Year’s Eve blow out. The friendly confines of the former ice-skating rink always seemed to bring out something special in
the band.
That’s certainly true of the group’s May 30, 1971 performance, which was the second night of a homestand during the era later immortalized
on the 1971 live collection Skull and Roses.
For Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 23, Dead.net and Rhino release a portion of that show (all that the band has in their
vault) for the first time, offering it on vinyl as a limited edition double-LP set of 7500 copies. Sourced from the original reels of ¼” tape, the
music was mastered by Jeffrey Norman and the vinyl lacquers were cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and then pressed at RTI.
Grammy-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike evokes the Skull and Roses album cover for this set’s gorgeous gatefold.
It’s over one hour of Dead classics that covers nearly the entire second set, which was packed with crowd pleasers like “Sugar Magnolia,”
“Truckin’” and “Deal.” One entire LP side is dedicated exclusively to “Turn On Your Lovelight,” a 15-minute-plus romp led by singer/organist
Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. For its encore, the band – Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and McKernan – capped the evening off
with raucous “Johnny B. Goode.”
WINTERLAND 5/30/71
Side One
1. “Sugar Magnolia”
2. “Cumberland Blues”
3. “Big Boss Man”
Side Two
1. “Me And My Uncle”
2. “Deal”
3. “Truckin’”
Side Three
1. “Turn On Your Lovelight”
Side Four
2. “Uncle John’s Band”
3. “Casey Jones”
4. “Johnny B. Goode”
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