''The Best of the Grateful Dead'' is an album by the rock band the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
. It is a two-CD compilation of songs recorded in the studio from throughout their career. It includes at least one track from each of their studio albums, recorded from 1967 to 1989 and arranged in chronological order. It was released by
Rhino Records
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...
on March 31, 2015.
[
''The Best of the Grateful Dead'' includes songs from all the studio albums in the band's discography,][ along with one non-album single " Dark Star" (recorded in 1968 as part of the ''Anthem of the Sun'' studio sessions).][
]
Critical reception
On AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
wrote, "he album
He or HE may refer to:
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* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
follows a strict chronological sequence, so it takes a little while for the psychedelic haze to lift and the Dead to settle into the rangy, rootsy groove that characterized so much of their existence... From there, many—but by no means all—of the group's warhorses are marched out, all in their studio incarnations.... By celebrating the warts and providing space for that unexpected late–'80s commercial comeback, ''The Best of the Grateful Dead'' is a good capsule history of a band that usually defies such straightforward narratives."[
]
Track listing
Personnel
*Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
– guitar, vocals
*Bob Weir
Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead ...
– guitar, vocals
*Phil Lesh
Philip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940) is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.
After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of ...
– bass, vocals
*Bill Kreutzmann
William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued ...
– drums, percussion
*Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...
– drums, percussion
*Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972.
McKernan grew up he ...
– organ
Organ may refer to:
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* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
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* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
, harmonica, percussion, vocals
*Tom Constanten
Tom Constanten (born March 19, 1944) is an American keyboardist, best known for playing with Grateful Dead from 1968 to 1970, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Biography
Early career
Born in Long Branch, N ...
– keyboards
*Keith Godchaux
Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979.
Biography
Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California ...
– keyboards
*Donna Jean Godchaux
Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979.
Biography
Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a ses ...
– vocals
*Brent Mydland
Brent Mydland (October 21, 1952 – July 26, 1990) was an American keyboardist and singer. He was a member of the rock band The Grateful Dead from 1979 to 1990, a longer tenure than any other keyboardist in the band.
Growing up in Concord, ...
– keyboards, vocals
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Best of the Grateful Dead, The
Grateful Dead compilation albums
Rhino Entertainment compilation albums
2015 greatest hits albums