The Best of the Grateful Dead Live explained

The Best of the Grateful Dead Live
Type:greatest hits
Artist:Grateful Dead
Cover:The-Best-of-the-Grateful-Dead-Live.jpg
Alt:A group of rainbow-colored skeletons, walking and doffing their top hats in unison
Released:March 23, 2018
Recorded:1969–1995
Genre:Rock
Label:Rhino
Prev Title:Dave's Picks Volume 25
Prev Year:2018
Next Year:2018

The Best of the Grateful Dead Live is a greatest hits album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains songs that were recorded live in concert and previously released on other Grateful Dead live albums. It was released on March 23, 2018.

Production

According to producer David Lemieux, "We wanted to follow up the 2015 The Best of the Grateful Dead studio set with a live counterpart, and have focused our efforts on the band's primary live albums as well as some key tracks from archival concert releases."

Critical reception

On AllMusic, Timothy Monger said, "Created as a counterpart to their 2015 two-disc Best of the Grateful Dead studio collection, The Best of the Grateful Dead Live includes highlights culled from the band's commercially released concert albums on the Warner Bros. and Arista labels as well as a handful of live selections from their own personal archives."

In All About Jazz, Doug Collette wrote, "The Best of the Grateful Dead Live doesn't purport to be comprehensive, but it does offer the novice virtually all the necessary touch-points by which to become more intimately acquainted with the unit's entire body of work (the exception, omitted no doubt by time constraints: any example of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's extended stage spotlights)."

Track listing

Disc one
TitleWriter(s)RecordedPreviously releasedLength
1."St. Stephen"Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Robert HunterFebruary 27, 1969
Fillmore West
San Francisco
Live/Dead6:37
2."Bertha"Garcia, HunterApril 27, 1971
Fillmore East
New York City
Grateful Dead5:42
3."Wharf Rat"Garcia, HunterApril 26, 1971
Fillmore East
New York City
Grateful Dead8:32
4."Sugar Magnolia"Bob Weir, HunterMay 4, 1972
Olympia Theatre
Paris
Europe '727:10
5."Jack Straw"Weir, HunterMay 3, 1972
Olympia Theatre
Paris
Europe '724:48
6."Truckin'"Garcia, Lesh, Weir, HunterMay 26, 1972
Lyceum Theatre
London
Europe '7213:07
7."Morning Dew"Bonnie Dobson, Tim RoseMay 26, 1972
Lyceum Theatre
London
Europe '7211:28
8."Brown-Eyed Women"Garcia, HunterApril 14, 1972
Tivoli Concert Hall
Copenhagen
Europe '724:37
9."The Music Never Stopped"Weir, John BarlowAugust 13, 1975
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco
One from the Vault5:28
10."Estimated Prophet"Weir, BarlowMay 8, 1977
Barton Hall
Ithaca, New York
Cornell 5/8/778:44
Disc two
TitleWriter(s)RecordedPreviously releasedLength
1."Friend of the Devil"Garcia, John Dawson, HunterOctober 27, 1980
Radio City Music Hall
New York City
Dead Set7:32
2."Feel Like a Stranger"Weir, BarlowOctober 4, 1980
Warfield Theatre
San Francisco
Dead Set5:46
3."Fire on the Mountain"Mickey Hart, HunterOctober 31, 1980
Radio City Music Hall
New York City
Dead Set6:47
4."Bird Song"Garcia, HunterOctober 14, 1980
Warfield Theatre
San Francisco
Reckoning7:38
5."Ripple"Garcia, HunterOctober 4, 1980
Warfield Theatre
San Francisco
Reckoning4:26
6."Eyes of the World"Garcia, HunterMarch 29, 1990
Nassau Coliseum
Uniondale, New York
Without a Net16:13
7."Touch of Grey"Garcia, HunterJuly 4, 1989
Rich Stadium
Orchard Park, New York
Truckin' Up to Buffalo6:30
8."Blow Away"Brent Mydland, HunterJuly 7, 1989
John F. Kennedy Stadium
Philadelphia
Crimson White & Indigo12:19
9."So Many Roads"Garcia, HunterJuly 9, 1995
Soldier Field
Chicago
So Many Roads9:35

Personnel

Grateful Dead

Additional musicians