A new limited edition Grateful Dead CD box set, In And Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81, ’82, ’83, will showcase six previously unreleased concerts recorded at Madison Square Garden between 1981 and 1983.
Now available for pre-order and due to release September 23rd, In And Out Of The Garden will consist of a 17 CDs in a custom box featuring artwork by Dave Van Patten, with detailed liner notes by award-winning music journalist David Fricke exploring the band’s connection to New York City. The box set will be numbered and limited to 12,500, and a truncated three-CD version featuring just one concert from 3/9/81 will also be available along with digital downloads of both versions.
The recording captures an under-appreciated era of ’80s Dead when the addition of keyboardist Brent Mydland added fuel to the band’s already blazing fire. Mydland’s powerful voice and spirited keyboard playing brought new energy to old songs like “The Wheel”, “Truckin'”, and “Eyes of The World” and inspired the band to break out long-neglected rarities like “Dupree’s Diamond Blues” and “Crazy Fingers”.
The concerts featured in the collection were recorded between the release of 1980’s Go To Heaven and 1987’s In The Dark during a time when the band continued to write and road-test new compositions. Four songs that would ultimately end up on In The Dark are featured on the recording, including “Touch Of Grey”, “Hell In A Bucket”, “Throwing Stones”, and “West L.A. Fadeaway”, plus the B-side, “My Brother Esau”.
In And Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81, ’82, ’83 was mastered by Jeffrey Norman and features newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes. Pre-order the collection here. Get a taste of the upcoming archival release with audio of “Feel Like A Stranger” from March 9th, 1981.
“Since its debut in 1980, ‘Feel Like A Stranger’ offered the Grateful Dead another song with plenty of room internally to stretch out,” Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux wrote. “By a year into its life, the song often went to nearly 10 minutes, and often opened shows. This rendition from March 9, 1981 is driven with the controlled chaos that is the Grateful Dead at their best.”
Grateful Dead – “Feel Like A Stranger” – 3/9/81
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