Grateful Dead - The Very Best of the Grateful Dead

It only seems like there has been an endless stream of Grateful Dead compilations. In reality, there has only been a handful, and the most notable of those were released while the band was still an active recording and touring unit in the '70s -- and before they had belated chart success in the late '80s, 20 years after their debut album. So, Warner/Rhino's 2003 collection The Very Best of the Grateful Dead marks the first attempt to do a thorough single-disc overview of the group's career, encompassing not just their classic Warner albums but also the records they cut for their own Grateful Dead/UA and Arista. As always with the Dead, it's hard to condense the band's free-ranging, freewheeling output onto one disc, and there are some big songs and concert staples MIA here, including the perennial "Dark Star," "Jack Straw," "Black Peter," "Stella Blue," "Brokedown Palace," "Playing in the Band," "Wharf Rat," and "Terrapin Station." They are missed, some more than others, but the 17 tracks here do present nearly all sides of the Dead while hitting their biggest songs: "Truckin'," "Touch of Grey," "Sugar Magnolia," "Casey Jones," "Friend of the Devil," "Uncle John's Band," "Box of Rain," and "Ripple." As that list proves, this is a set that leans heavily on the twin peaks of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, but there's a reason why those two are beloved of Deadheads and casual fans alike: the classic songs are there. They're also here, along with other staples like "The Golden Road," "One More Saturday Night," "Estimated Prophet," "Eyes of the World," and "U.S. Blues," which may not be as well-known to the general populace but help fill in the picture and provide a good portrait of the band. The collection would have been better if sequenced a little more chronologically, but nevertheless it provides a first-class introduction to a band whose catalog can often seem a little unwieldy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Name Credits Betty Cantor Producer Bill Kreutzmann Percussion, Drums Bob Matthews Producer Bob Weir Guitar, Vocals Brent Mydland Keyboards, Vocals Cameron Sears Coordination Dave Torbert Bass David Grisman Mandolin David Hassinger Producer David Lemieux Producer David Nelson Guitar (Electric) Donna Jean Godchaux Vocals English Chorale Vocals Fred Ordower Photography Gary Peterson Discographical Annotation Grateful Dead Producer Herbert Greene Photography Howard Wales Organ Hugh Brown Art Direction James Austin Liner Notes, Producer Jeffrey Norman Project Assistant Jerry Garcia Producer, Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Pedal Steel Jimmy Edwards Product Manager Joe Gastwirt Remastering John Cutler Producer John Kahn Horn Arrangements, Associate Producer Jordan Amarantha Percussion Keith Olsen Producer Kevin Gore Project Assistant Linda Cobb Design Lowell George Producer Mark Pinkus Project Assistant Martyn Ford Conductor Matthew Kelly Harp Merl Saunders Organ Mickey Hart Drums, Percussion Paul Buckmaster Orchestral Arrangements Phil Lesh Bass, Piano, Vocals, Guitar Robert Howes Conductor Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals, Conga, Harmonica, Organ, Keyboards, Percussion Stanley Mouse Lettering, Cover Art Steven Chean Project Assistant Steven Schuster Saxophone Tim Scanlin Project Assistant Tom Constanten Piano, Keyboards Tom Scott Lyricon, Saxophone Vanessa Atkins Editorial Supervision