If you’re a Grateful Dead fan, odds are that you own quite a lot of live material from the band’s ever changing concert experiences, with no one show the same. With their on-the-spot improvisational skills, the Dead made each live performance an unforgettable time. If you’re one of the fortunate fans that have seen several Dead shows (I KNOW you have never seen just one), then you have been extremely blessed. As a Grateful Dead fan, it’s very likely that you own multiple volumes of live recordings from the band. God knows that there are uncounted collections of live material out there.
Besides the audio media that proliferates across many avenues of acquisition, there is notable video footage that is collectible as well. One of them, the unmatched The Grateful Dead Movie from 1977 stands today as one of the greatest representations of a Grateful Dead film ever produced. But it doesn’t stand alone as the ONLY Dead footage out there.
There is So Far, the hour-long video that has yet to make it to DVD, the multi-volume View From The Vault collection, and the important The Closing Of Winterland from 1978. There are others tantalizing films as well.
On April 17, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Rhino
Records, will assemble twelve films, over 36 hours of prime and notable footage
in document form to be released in a 14 DVD Boxed collection to be known as All
The Years Combine: The DVD Collection. In addition to the films, there will be an added DVD of bonus footage
containing five previously unreleased live performances from the years
1987-1991; a 1992 Kreutzmann-directed documentary, Backstage Pass; and a new
interview film segment featuring Dead archivist, David Lemieux.The boxed collection will include a 40-page booklet with
liner notes, rare photos, and essays including one from Blair Jackson.
Jackson writes in the All The Years Combine booklet, “You can find nearly the whole history of American music spread across these discs, with music encompassing rock, folk, blues, jazz, country, ragtime, soul, funk, modern classical and avant-garde elements. Where else can you hear songs by Chuck Berry, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly, unifying anthems, party rave-ups, songs of existential longing, murder ballads, cowboy tunes, love songs, primal drums and dissonant electronics all in one place? The Grateful Dead created a rich and sumptuous psychedelic patchwork quilt stitched together with magical golden thread. Sad to say, we’ll never see anything quite like them come this way again — but at least we have the recorded footage, reminding us that it wasn’t just a beautiful dream . . .”
Fire one up and read what’s included in this upcoming DVD Box.
ALL THE YEARS COMBINE: THE DVD COLLECTION :
· The Grateful Dead Movie (2-DVD)* (Theatrical film, originally released in 1977)
· The Closing Of Winterland (2-DVD)* (Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, December 31, 1978)
· Dead Ahead* (Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY, October 1980)
· So Far (Originally released on VHS and laser disc in 1987 — first time on DVD!)
· Ticket To New Year’s* (Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, December 31, 1987)
· Truckin’ Up To Buffalo (Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, NY, on July 4, 1989)
· Downhill From Here (Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI, July 17, 1989)
· View From The Vault* (Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA, July 8, 1990)
· View From The Vault II* (RFK Stadium, Washington, DC, June 14, 1991)
· View From The Vault III* (Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, June 16, 1990)
· View From The Vault IV (Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA, July 24, 1987, and Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA, July 26, 1987)
*includes all bonus features from previous releases
Exclusive bonus disc contains:
· Five previously unreleased live performances from the Grateful Dead archive
· Backstage Pass, the 1992 documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann
· Brand-new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux
If you’re into exclusive goodies, a pre-order at Shout! Factory will get you an exclusive bumper sticker that will not be available any other way. If you want that, head over to this Shout! Factory link.
“Ridin’ that train…”
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