Grateful Dead Productions
Grateful Dead ProductionsA new Grateful Dead live compilation titled Ready or Not, featuring unreleased performances of nine original songs that the band introduced during the early 1990s, will hit stores on November 22.
The collection, which was curated by the group’s archivist David Lemieux, features songs introduced to the band’s repertoire after the release of what ended up being The Grateful Dead’s final studio album, 1989’s Built to Last. The band didn’t get the chance to officially record them before frontman Jerry Garcia‘s death in 1995.
The album was compiled to give fans an idea of what a follow-up to Built to Last might have sounded like. The performances are taken from shows at various U.S. venues spanning from June 1992 to April 1995. The Grateful Dead Lineup at this time featured core members Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, along with keyboardist Vince Welnick, who joined the band in 1990.
“This batch of ‘new’ Grateful Dead songs has never been compiled in one place and given its proper due as a huge part of the Dead’s late-era legacy,” says Lemieux. “Many of these songs can easily stand alongside some of the Dead’s oldest, most-loved songs as bona fide classics, despite their short tenure in the repertoire.”
Ready or Not will be released on CD, as a two-LP vinyl set, as a digital download and via streaming services. A limited-edition colored-vinyl package — featuring one red disc and one blue disc — can be purchased exclusively at Dead.net.
One track from the album, “Lazy River Road,” recorded in March 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is available now as a digital single and via streaming. You also can check out the track at the Dead’s official YouTube channel.
Here’s the full Ready or Not CD track list:
“Liberty” — Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (10/14/94)
“Eternity” — The Pyramid, Memphis, TN (4/2/95)
“Lazy River Road” — Dean Smith Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (3/25/93)
“Samba in the Rain” — The Omni, Atlanta, GA (3/30/95)
“So Many Roads” — Star Lake Amphitheatre, Burgettstown, PA (6/23/92)
“Way to Go Home” — Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN (6/28/92)
“Corrina” — Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (10/14/94)
“Easy Answers” — Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA (9/13/93)
“Days Between” — Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA (12/11/94)
Copyright © 2019, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.