Another one: The Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary celebrations continue with an expanded and remastered version of the live album known to all as “Skull & Roses.”
Of course, the Dead wanted you to know it as “Skull Fuck,” but that was a bit much for Warner Bros. of 1971. The actual title is “Grateful Dead” but no one uses it.
The group’s second double live album captured them in Bakersfield fanboy mode, with tracks including Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried,” Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” and the outlaw tale “Me and My Uncle.”
Dead heads seeking the psychedelic experience found on 1969’s “Live/Dead” were rewarded with a breathtaking sidelong “The Other One” and the mystical “Wharf Rat,” a debuting original.
Other historic originals found on the album were “Bertha” and “Playing in the Band.”
Dead archivist David Lemieux hails this epic “The Other One” as “one of the most deeply rich and satisfying tracks preserved on an official Grateful Dead album, up there with “Live/Dead’s” ‘Dark Star’ and “Europe ’72’s” ‘Morning Dew.’ ” (Long story short, the song originated on “Anthem of the Sun.”)
The new “Skull & Roses” comes on two CDs or as digital downloads, as well as a double-disc vinyl version of the original album. (The CD set goes for $25 and the vinyl for $45.)
The bonus second CD contains a set from the Fillmore West (July 2, 1971). That show’s psychedelic arc has “Cryptical Envelopment” leading into “Drums” leading into 16 minutes of “The Other One.” The CD kicks off with 18 minutes of Pigpen delivering “Good Lovin.’ “
“Skull & Roses” was recorded at Winterland in San Francisco as well as the Fillmore East and the Manhattan Center in New York.
The remastering comes “from the stereo analog master tapes by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Glasser using Plangent Process Speed Correction.”
The Dead web site is taking preorders for a late June release.
The album ensured its place in Dead heads’ hearts with the skeleton and roses image on the cover created by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse but based on a work by British book illustrator Edmund Joseph Sullivan. The skeleton is known as “Bertha.” (Skeleton Bertha has her own action figure, due next month.)
The decision to drop that “Skull Fuck” title probably was a good one — “Warner Bros. freaked out on us,” drummer Bill Kreutzmann recalled in his 2016 book “Deal” — as the double album served as the underground group’s commercial breakthrough, going gold a month after release.
Mobile Fidelity issued an audiophile version of the double album in 2019. It quickly sold out and is going for collectors prices.