Sophia Michaels
The Grateful Dead will reissue their classic album, Workingman’s Dead, for its 50th anniversary, with the CD deluxe edition boasting a previously unreleased concert recording. That set, and a vinyl version of the reissue, will arrive July 10th.
Both the CD and vinyl reissues will boast a newly remastered version of Workingman’s Dead, and the vinyl release will be printed on a picture disc limited to 10,000 copies. Only the CD release, however, will include the Dead’s February 21st, 1971 concert at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. The setlist boasts several songs from Workingman’s Dead — including a rendition of “Casey Jones” that’s available to hear now — as well as a few from the band’s follow-up, American Beauty, which arrived a few months later in November 1970.
“For an album as important and great as Workingman’s Dead, it seemed appropriate to double the amount of bonus material,” Grateful Dead archivist and producer David Lemieux said. “The show we’ve selected gives a definitive overview of what the band were up to six months after the release of the album and shows the Dead sound that would largely define the next couple of years. From Workingman’s Dead through Europe ’72, the Dead’s sound was Americana, and the live show included here is a workingman’s band playing authentically honest music.”
The Capitol Theatre show was mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Bob Weir’s Tri Studios, while David Glasser mastered the recordings. Critic David Fricke penned the liner notes for the set and called the Capitol Theatre show “a great night in what has long been deemed a legendary run, another turning point as the band entered a live era combining the focus of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty with the exploratory verve of Live/Dead. Many of the classic songs spread across Dead LPs in 1971 and ’72… were introduced that week at the Capitol, and many of them are in this concert, still fresh off the griddle.”
Workingman’s Dead 50th Anniversary Reissue CD Tracklist
Disc One — Original Album Remastered
1. “Uncle John’s Band”
2. “High Time”
3. “Dire Wolf”
4. “New Speedway Boogie”
5. “Cumberland Blues”
6. “Black Peter”
7. “Easy Wind”
8. “Casey Jones”
Disc Two — Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/21/71)
1. “Cold Rain And Snow”
2. “Me and Bobby McGee”
3. “Loser”
4. “Easy Wind”
5. “Playing in the Band”
6. “Bertha”
7. “Me and My Uncle”
8. “Ripple” (False Start)
9. “Ripple”
10. “Next Time You See Me”
11. “Sugar Magnolia”
12. “Greatest Story Ever Told”
13. “Johnny B. Goode”
Disc Three — Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/21/71)
1. “China Cat Sunflower”>
2. “I Know You Rider”>
3. “Bird Song”
4. “Cumberland Blues”
5. “I’m a King Bee”
6. “Beat It on Down The Line”
7. “Wharf Rat”
8. “Truckin’”
9. “Casey Jones”
10. “Good Lovin’”
11. “Uncle John’s Band”
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