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Grateful Dead Productions

Grateful Dead Productions

In advance of the the July 10 arrival of 50th anniversary reissue of The Grateful Dead‘s classic 1970 album Workingman’s Dead, the band has made available to streaming services an expansive collection of unreleased studio outtakes from the sessions.

Workingman’s Dead: The Angel’s Share features two-and-a-half hours of recordings compiled from dozens of 16-track reels that recently were discovered in unmarked boxes.

The collection features at least one partial or complete take of all eight songs that appear on Workingman’s Dead, as well as between-take comments and conversations by the band members, and “talkback” between the musician’s and album co-producers Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor-Jackson.

The sessions took place in February and March 1970 at Pacific High Recordings Studio in San Francisco.

Among the many highlights of the Angel’s Share recordings is a full outtake performance of “Casey Jones” that serves as the collection’s finale. At the end of the take, Jerry Garcia is heard declaring, “F***ing A, man!”

As previously reported, the Deluxe Edition of the 50th anniversary Workingman’s Dead reissue is a three-CD set featuring a newly remastered version of the original album and a previously unreleased live performance recorded on February, 21, 1971, at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York.

Workingman’s Dead was released in June 1970, and peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200. The album has been certified platinum for sales of 1 million copies in the U.S.

Here is the track list of the Workingman’s Dead: The Angel’s Share collection:

“Uncle John’s Band” (Session)
–False Start 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown (Not Slated)
–False Start 2 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track (Not Slated)
–Take 6 Breakdown (Slated)
–Take 7 Breakdown (Slated)

“High Time” (Session)
–Breakdown 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown 2 (Not Slated)
–Take 3 Breakdown (Slated)
–Complete Track 1 (Not Slated)
–Studio Chatter
–Complete Track 2 (Not Slated)
–Take 6 Breakdown (Slated)
–Take 7 Breakdown (Slated)

“Dire Wolf” (Session)
–Breakdown 1 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track 1 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track 2 (Not Slated)
–Take 2 Breakdown (Slated)
–Take 3 False Start & Breakdown (Slated)
–Breakdown 2 (Not Slated)
–Take 6 Breakdown (Slated)
–Breakdown 3 (Not Slated)
–False Starts 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown 4 (Not Slated)
–False Starts 2 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track 3 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track with Vocals (Not Slated)
–False Start 3 (Not Slated)

“New Speedway Boogie” (Session)
–Demo with Acoustic Guitar, Drums & Vocals (Not Slated)
–Complete Track with Vocals 1 (Not Slated)
–Take 2 Breakdown with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 3 Breakdown with Vocals (Slated)
–Misnamed as Take 3 False Start with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 4 Complete with Vocals & Lead Guitar (Slated)
–Arranging Take with Vocals (Not Slated)
–Breakdown with Vocals 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown with Vocals 2 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track with Vocals 2 (Not Slated)
–Take 8 Complete with Vocals (Slated)

“Cumberland Blues” (Session)
–Various Breakdowns & Take 9 (Slated)

“Black Peter” (Session)
–Breakdown 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown 2 (Not Slated)
–Studio Chatter
–Breakdown 3 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown 4 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track with Vocals (Not Slated)

“Easy Wind” (Session)
–Complete Track with Vocals 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown with Vocals 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown with Vocals 2 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown with Vocals 3 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown with Vocals 4 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track with Vocals 2 (Not Slated)
–False Starts & Breakdowns with Vocals (Not Slated)
–Incomplete Track with Vocals (Not Slated)
–Take 17 with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 18 Breakdown with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 19 Breakdown with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 20 with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 21 False Start with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 22 Breakdown with Vocals (Slated)
–Take 23 Breakdown with Vocals (Slated)

“Casey Jones” (Session)
–Breakdown 1 (Not Slated)
–Breakdown 2 (Not Slated)
–Complete Track with Vocals (Not Slated)

By Matt Friedlander
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