Historic Dead
A painting of the skeletons of winged dinosaurs flying
Live album by
Grateful Dead
ReleasedJune 1971 (1971-06)
Recorded1966
Genre
Length28:51
LabelSunflower
ProducerRobert Cohen
Grateful Dead chronology
American Beauty
(1970) 		Historic Dead
(1971) 		Grateful Dead
(1971)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Historic Dead is a live album by the rock group the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California in late 1966, and released in June 1971.[2][3][4]

History

Historic Dead was produced as a vinyl LP on the Sunflower label and distributed by MGM Records. Together Records had purchased the rights to a number of concert recordings from the Avalon, including some by the Grateful Dead, for a planned anthology of Bay Area bands.[5] When the label collapsed, MGM paid the debt owed to the studio and assumed the tapes, releasing two original albums of live Dead material.[6] Historic Dead is therefore not a bootleg album, but the band did not participate in its production. It reached number 154 on the Billboard 200.[7] It has long been out of print, and has never been issued on compact disc.

Historic Dead was preceded by another Sunflower Records album recorded at the Avalon in 1966, Vintage Dead. Both are believed to have been recorded on September 16, 1966.

In 1972 MGM released the compilation The History of the Grateful Dead on their archival imprint Pride.[8] The album (also long out of print) combined all of Vintage Dead with two tracks ("Lindy" and "Stealin'") from Historic Dead and featured a new album cover. It is not to be confused with History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One, an album also known as Bear's Choice.

Three skulls above a skeleton hand holding a flower.
Cover of The History of the Grateful Dead compilation

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" (Sonny Boy Williamson) – 11:01
  2. "Lindy" (Jab Jones, Will Shade) – 2:49
Side two
  1. "Stealin'" (Gus Cannon, Will Shade) – 3:00
  2. "The Same Thing" (Willie Dixon) – 12:01

Personnel

Grateful Dead
Technical personnel

References

  1. ^ "Historic Dead". AllMusic. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  2. ^ Trager, Oliver (1997). The American Book of the Dead. Fireside. p. 181. ISBN 0-684-81402-1. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  3. ^ Historic Dead at the Grateful Dead Family Discography
  4. ^ Slabicky, Ihor W. The Compleat Grateful Dead Discography
  5. ^ Callahan, Mike, et al. Sunflower Album Discography at Both Sides Now Publications
  6. ^ Ben Fong-Torres; Rolling Stone magazine; October 28, 1971
  7. ^ Grateful Dead Billboard albums at Allmusic
  8. ^ The History of the Grateful Dead at Discogs.com
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