Set Lists

Rare Cuts and Oddities

Rare Cuts and Oddities captures the Grateful Dead's beginnings. This is the perfect companion to Birth of the Dead, which was released initially in their box-set The Golden Road.

The liner notes have loads of pictures of the band, both live and strolling the streets of San Francisco. The liner notes are credited to Bear, but In addition, tape archivist David Lemiuex provides some background of this material. 

A brief excerpt from David's writing reads "While poking around the Grateful Dead's vault in the summer of 2002 with Bear, he pointed to a large, brown, nondescript box amongst his other non-Grateful Dead tapes. Bear simply said, you ought to check that box out. After he split split for Australia, I opened the box to find about 15 reel-to-reel tapes, most of which were unlabelled, while some had the most rudimentary identification such as "3/2 LA rehearsal," Trips '66 3rd night" or February 23 practice..." 

Editor note: The material is of very good sound quality. As the title alludes, some rare cuts here for sure. Jerry sings "Promised Land." A very early "Caution" show the bands brilliance at their infancy.

From the GD website
"There has never been a more precise title. Rare and odd, indeed - there will never be another Grateful Dead CD with 18 full cuts. It's a long, long way to "Dark Star" thunder and lightning.

These are the earliest indications of what this band would grow into, but these songs make a fascinating album of early days musical snapshots, collected from various rehearsals and studio sessions (the first 10 songs) and live shows (the last eight songs). Featuring, amongst many other gems, Garcia singing lead on "Promised Land," a completely different arrangement of "Cream Puff War," and the only known version of the Rolling Stones' "Empty Heart.""

Order it today from GDM

Phil Lesh's new book (Book's, CD, or cassette) 
Order: Searching for the Sound: My Life in the Grateful Dead