GRATEFUL DEAD

Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings

$99.98 CD

“Late 1973 was a high time for the Grateful Dead…they issued the first album on their own label, Wake of the Flood, a Top Twenty hit. The Dead had also beat the devilry of arena acoustics with a monstrous, traveling PA that was worth the bills just for the ice-knife slice of Jerry Garcia's guitar solos...Oiled and armed from a good year on tour (including the Watkins Glen festival in July), the entire band is in buoyant form.”
 -- from David Fricke's Rolling Stone review of WINTERLAND 1973

 When the Grateful Dead trucked into San Francisco's Winterland Arena for a three night residency on November 9, 10 and 11, 1973, they were on a roll, even by their standards. It was less than a month after the release of Wake Of The Flood and, soaring on the album's success, the aggregated energy of one of their most spectacular tours and the sweet serendipity of home court advantage at Bill Graham's storied venue, they played a trio of transcendent shows. The nine-CD box WINTERLAND 1973: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS includes every note of the Dead's consecutive three-night stand (except the un-recorded 11/9 encore), all drawn from the remarkably clear and present-and previously unissued-two-track soundboard tapes. Mastered in HDCD, this amazing set is available in a one-time-only limited edition release of just 7,000 copies. 

 Housed in a deluxe archival box, each of the nine CDs in WINTERLAND 1973: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS comes in its own individual digipak. The entire package is covered in psychedelic full-color artwork, and an expansive 28-page booklet is packed with new liner notes by venerable Dead historian Dennis McNally, rare vintage photos and a Grateful Dead almanac replica. 

 No band played Winterland Arena more than the Grateful Dead, and no one could coax more sonic charm out of its relatively intimate 5,000-capacity confines. These recordings of their November 1973 shows represent some of their finest moments at the hall, and the box collectively encompasses a leviathan 72-track set list. Highlights include magnificent jams-“Eyes Of The World,” “Weather Report Suite,” a sprawling 35-minute version of “Dark Star” and more-plus rippin' rockers including “Sugar Magnolia,” “Casey Jones,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Truckin'.” The band kicks into ballad mode for sublime renditions of “China Doll,” “Stella Blue,” “To Lay Me Down” and a truly spectacular “China Cat.” The box also boasts the first of just three versions ever played of the dazzling sequence of “Playing in the Band”/“Uncle John's Band”/“Morning Dew”/ “Uncle John's” / and “Playing” reprise.  

 Eventually, there would be another 28 memorable Grateful Dead concerts at Winterland before the joint was closed after the Dead's 1978 New Year's Eve show (and later razed to make way for condos). For three nights in '73, though, the place was the source of recordings that many experts and fans feels are some of the finest in the Grateful Dead's vast tape vaults. In the great tradition established by the acclaimed Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings, WINTERLAND 1973 sets a new standard for other complete-run, limited edition boxes to come.  

Selection # 6007

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