Grateful Dead Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 3

Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 3--Fillmore East 5-15-70 (3-CD Set)

Originally released in 2010 exclusively to the Dead’s online audience as a 40th anniversary celebration of the album Workingman’s Dead, this Road Trip does indeed feature seven of the eight songs from that album (only “High Time” is missing), but it’s no mere tribute collection. In fact, it provides the perfect companion to the widely-hailed Dick’s Picks Vol. 8 Harpur College show from 13 days prior, offering the same wonderful blend of acoustic and electric performances (in arguably better fidelity), in this case taken from the early and late shows at the Fillmore East. What’s more, there are a bunch of fairly-to-extremely rare songs to be had here, as “The Ballad of Casey Jones,” “Long Black Limousine,” “She’s Mine”, and “A Voice from On High” (with John “Marmaduke” Dawson and David Nelson from the New Riders) all made their debut on an official Grateful Dead release, along with other acoustic nuggets like “Ain’t It Crazy (The Rub),” “Silver Threads and Golden Needles,” and “Cold Jordan.” Which is not to give short shrift to the electric material, which boasts a 20-minute “Dark Star” and a 24-minute “That’s It for the Other One” among its many (extremely) high points. Original copies of Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 3 go for a king’s ransom... this marks its first release ever to regular music retail, with the original 16- page full-color booklet featuring Blair Jackson’s notes intact!