Release
date - Jan. 23, 2007
Rhino
Grateful Dead Productions Inc.
Produced by David Lemieux and James Austin
Liner notes by Gary Lambert, and an introductory
review by David Lemieux
The show was streamed pre-release on
http://www.dead.net/cpstream
"As a special treat for Dead Heads around the world, Live At
The Cow Palace, New Years Eve, 1976 will be streamed in its entirety
at dead.net for all of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
beginning at 12:01 AM PST on December 31 and ending on January 1 at
11:59 PM PST. Ring in 2007 with the Grateful Dead!"
All pre-orders of the
Grateful Dead's Cow Palace release will receive a very special bonus
CD, Spirit of '76, featuring more than an hour of previously
unreleased music from 1976, produced especially for this release.
This CD is available only through GDStore.com for a limited time
when you purchase the Cow Palace release.
Spirit of ‘76
1. The Music Never Stopped 6/9/76 Boston
2. Crazy Fingers 6/9/76 Boston
3. Let It Grow > 10/2/76 Cincinnati
4. Might As Well 10/2/76 Cincinnati
5. Playing In The Band > 9/24/76 Williamsburg, VA
6. Supplication > 9/24/76 Williamsburg, VA
7. Playing In The Band 9/24/76 Williamsburg, VA
8. Scarlet Begonias 9/30/76 Columbus, OH
From
the Grateful Dead website
Mixed from the original
16-track analog master tapes and mastered in stellar HDCD sound,
Grateful Dead: Live at the Cow Palace, a 3-CD set from the
band's historic New Year's Eve 1976-1977 show is the latest of our
official multi-track vault releases.
On the Crest of a Wave
One of the many great
pleasures of listening to so much Grateful Dead material is the
variety of styles of music heard. Every year, and in fact every
tour, found the band challenging itself to find new creative
destinations for their music. At any given show, one can identify
touches of the many styles of Grateful Dead music played throughout
their history-but rarely does any one show clearly display the
essence of several distinct periods of their sound. New Year's Eve
1976-1977 is one of those shows that contains the best elements of
three or four clearly defined eras, and the sum of the parts adds up
to one of the most interesting, and inspired, concerts of the band's
30-year performing career.
Opening with the rather
frequent 1976 show opener "Promised Land" followed by
"Bertha," the show begins as a quintessential 1976
performance: mostly confident, deliberate, and slightly tentative.
As the set gets rolling, the band begins to take more chances,
heading toward the typically powerful 1976 second-set material.
However, as the first set nears its close, we are treated to a
version of "Playing In The Band" that is as large, long,
and exploratory as any version from late 1974. A satisfying 1976
first set is elevated to the realm of 1974 flashback by this
masterful performance.
The midnight festivities
get off to a rousing start with the appropriate "Sugar
Magnolia" opener. What comes next is a sustained 40-minute run
of music that ranks up there as one of the best-played jams of 1976.
Starting out with the new, faster, more powerful version of
"Eyes Of The World," the jam then slips into a beautiful
"Wharf Rat." Next up is only the third performance of
"Good Lovin'" sung by Bobby Weir. As if this wasn't
enough, Weir then drives the band through a reggae-tinged beat that
magically morphs into one of the smoothest, funkiest versions of
"Samson And Delilah" ever performed. This was a song that
was played at all but two of the 41 shows performed in 1976, and
despite the possibility of staleness due to overplaying, this
version stands out as unique compared to the other 38 versions. Disc
2's finale, the mid-point of set two, again recalls 1974 with a
long, rollicking, and peak-laden "Scarlet Begonias."
Amazingly, the best was yet to come.
After a solid run of
"Around And Around," "Help On The Way," and
"Slipknot!" (minus the third part of the triumvirate,
"Franklin's Tower"), the band proceeds into a note-perfect
"Not Fade Away," ending this massive second set with one
of the longest and most emotionally draining versions of
"Morning Dew" ever performed. This rendition is at the top
of many Dead Heads' favorite "Dew" lists, up there with
Cornell and 10/18/74. A three-song encore ends the night, capping
one of the most intriguing evenings of Grateful Dead music, one that
bridges the gap between the exploratory jazz of 1973-1974 and the
orchestrated perfection of 1977. New Year's 1976-1977 is a timeless
night of music that reminds us all that there really is no easy way
to categorize the Grateful Dead, and there certainly is nothing like
a Grateful Dead concert. —David Lemieux
All pre-orders of the
Grateful Dead's Cow Palace release will receive a very special bonus
CD, Spirit of '76, featuring more than an hour of previously
unreleased music from 1976, produced especially for this release.
This CD is available only through GDStore.com
for a limited time when you purchase the Cow Palace release.
Press Release
THE DEAD PLAY TILL THE
COWS COME HOME
The Grateful Dead and
Rhino Revisit Historic New Year's Eve 1976 Show With Live At The Cow
Palace, A Three-Disc Set Featuring One of the Band's Most Inspired
Concerts in Its Entirety Remastered in HDCD
Habitual listeners of the Grateful Dead's live recordings are known
for their ability to identify the year of a performance by listening
to just a few notes. But for even the most "dead"icated
listener, the band's 1976 New Year's Eve concert presents a genuine
challenge. Rarely does any Dead show display the essence of several
distinct periods of their sound, but this release contains the best
elements of three or four clearly defined eras, and the sum of the
parts adds up to one of the most interesting and inspired concerts
of the band's 30-year performing career. The Grateful Dead and Rhino
Records ring in 2007 by turning back the clock 30 years to uncover
the musical riches of this special performance with LIVE AT THE COW
PALACE, NEW YEAR'S EVE, 1976.
The three-disc set includes
more than 180 minutes of music capturing the Grateful Dead playing
in their Bay Area backyard at the peak of the group's live prowess
and just a few months before the release of the band's ninth studio
album, Terrapin Station.
Mixed from original
16-track master tapes, LIVE AT THE COW PALACE contains all 22 songs
played December 31, 1976, in pristine HDCD. The band's line-up at
the time featured Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Mickey Hart and
Bill Kreutzmann on drums, Phil Lesh on bass, Bob Weir on guitar and
vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards and backup vocalist Donna
Godchaux.
The concert takes flight in
the first set with covers of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land"
and Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" coupled with Dead
classics "Bertha," "Deal" and "Playing In
The Band." After the countdown to midnight, the band kicked off
the second set and two more hours of sublime music with "Sugar
Magnolia" followed by a sustained 40-minute run of music that
ranks up there as one of the best-played jams of 1976. Starting out
with the new, faster, more powerful version of "Eyes Of The
World," the jam then slips into a beautiful "Wharf
Rat." Next up is only the third performance of "Good Lovin'"
sung by Weir. As if this wasn't enough, Weir then drives the band
through a reggae-tinged beat that magically morphs into a remarkably
smooth and funky version of "Samson & Delilah."
After a note-perfect
"Not Fade Away," the band ends the massive second set with
one of the longest and most emotionally draining versions of
"Morning Dew" ever performed. This rendition is at the
very top of many Dead Heads' favorite "Dew" lists. A
three-song encore ends the night, capping one of the most intriguing
evenings of Grateful Dead music recorded, one that bridges the gap
between the exploratory jazz of 1973-1974 and the orchestrated
perfection of 1977.
The deluxe packaging
features rare photos and extensive liner notes from Glenn Lambert,
one of the DJs covering the show's original live broadcast on KSAN.
