LOS ANGELES – The Grateful Dead’s upcoming limited edition boxed set Spring 1990, a Dead.net exclusive of 9000 units, will surely be sold out in short order but fans will still have a chance to wrap their ears around highlights from what many Dead Heads consider to be the group’s last great tour with the release of SPRING ’90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT.
The two-disc collection features 20 live performances hand-picked from five shows by David Lemieux, the band’s archivist and the collection’s producer. The compilation will be available September 18 at all retail locations, as well as Dead.net, for $19.98 (CD) and $13.99 (digital).
The two-disc set is not only a showcase for the best of the boxed set’s music, but also its original artwork, which was created by New York artist Wes Lang. A lifelong Dead Head, his elaborate drawings can be seen throughout the liner notes as well as on the cover, which features an ornate Indian skull headdress. Lemieux penned the compilation’s liner notes, which provide background about the selected performances.
For those familiar with the Grateful Dead’s glorious live performance history, the spring 1990 tour represents an important zenith, one fully equal to the golden ages of Europe ’72 and spring ’77. During this truly epic three-week spring fling, the band played as good as it ever had, with energy, sophistication and joy.
Recorded during the Grateful Dead’s 25-year anniversary, the band – Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, and Bob Weir – played as though it was on a mission to prove something. The pieces just fell into place that spring – impassioned vocals, the Brent/Jerry mind-meld, the MIDI expansion of the band’s sonic vocabulary, and a bunch of new tunes and choice revivals.
Despite the space limitations inherent in a two-disc set, SPRING ’90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT vividly reflects the diversity of songs played during this tour. It spotlights newer material (“West L.A. Fadeaway” and “Blow Away”), classics (“Beat It On Down The Line” and “Morning Dew”), rarities (“Easy To Love You” and “Attics Of My Life”), epic jams (“Scarlet Begonias” > “Estimated Prophet”), and choice covers with Sam Cooke’s “Let The Good Times Roll” and the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.”
The powerful and revealing sound heard throughout the collection is the result of work done by the band’s longtime audio engineer John Cutler, who originally recorded the shows, and Jeffrey Norman, who mastered each show to HDCD specs.
SPRING ’90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT
Track Listing
Disc One
1. “Let The Good Times Roll”> — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
2. “Feel Like A Stranger” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
3. “West L.A. Fadeaway” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
4. “Easy To Love You” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
5. “Beat It On Down The Line” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
6. “Loser” — Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY (3/24/90)
7. “It’s All Over Now”> — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
8. “Jack-A-Roe” — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
9. “The Last Time” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
10. “Bird Song” — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
11. “Blow Away” — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
Disc Two
1. “Samson And Delilah” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
2. “Scarlet Begonias”> — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
3. “Estimated Prophet”> — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
4. “Playing In The Band”> — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
5. “Eyes Of The World” — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
6. “Gimme Some Lovin’”> — Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY (3/26/90)
7. “Morning Dew” — Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY (3/26/90)
8. “Not Fade Away” — Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (3/30/90)
9. “Attics Of My Life” — Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (3/30/90)
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