Audio CD review:
Grateful Dead - Three from the Vault

Grateful Dead - Three from the Vault

Band: Grateful Dead Title: Three from the Vault Rating: Release Date: 26 June, 2007 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Two Ditties [Disc 1] 2: The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down [Disc 1] 3: Spring Song [Disc 1] 4: Truckin' [Disc 1] 5: Loser [Disc 1] 6: Cumberland Blues [Disc 1] 7: Hurts Me Too [Disc 1] 8: Bertha [Disc 1] 9: Playing In The Band [Disc 1] 10: Deal [Disc 1] 11: Dark Hollow [Disc 1] 12: Smokestack Lightnin' [Disc 1] 13: China Cat Sunflower [Disc 1] 14: I Know You Rider [Disc 1] 15: Greatest Story Ever Told [Disc 2] 16: Johnny B. Goode [Disc 2] 17: Bird Song [Disc 2] 18: Easy Wind [Disc 2] 19: Deal [Disc 2] 20: That's It For The Other One [Disc 2] 21: I. Cryptical Envelopment [Disc 2] 22: II. Drums [Disc 2] 23: III. The Other One [Disc 2] 24: Wharf Rat [Disc 2] 25: Good Lovin' [Disc 2] 26: Casey Jones [Disc 2]

Editoral Review The sound is immaculate throughout, thanks to the group's adoption of radical technology for the time. Readied in the early '90s (but not released until the summer of 2007) this multi-tracked document of a strong twenty-song, two-hour set by the Dead from February 1971 in Port Chester, NY brims with subtle pleasures and myriad rave-ups. The band was at a creative peak at the start of '71; both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty had been released the previous year. There are a few points where the group seems a tad lead-footed, but this is understandable as second drummer Mickey Hart had left the previous day for a several year hiatus after it was discovered that his father had ripped off the group while acting as their manager. Overall, the band 's clearly moving towards a more mean and stripped-down sound. And the rocking numbers like "Bertha"--debuted at this gig, along with a handful of other numbers--do benefit from this. To top it all off, the songs sung by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan here are among the strongest the blues interpretations ever recorded. There are a lot of Dead shows out there, and some have historic value, while others just sound great in terms of the performance and fidelity. This show has the full trifecta; it's not to be missed by even the casual 'head. --Mike McGonigal .. You can see a complete list of all Grateful Dead discography, or go back to the Grateful Dead tabs