In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the iconic album Wake Of The Flood, the Grateful Dead have opened the vaults to share never-before-heard session tapes in the latest edition of The Angel’s Share.
The new archival release captures the Dead in a transitional period after the passing of founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and the temporary departure of drummer Mickey Hart. Wake of the Flood would help the band redefine its sound and creative direction moving forward with a new studio lineup featuring Keith and Donna Godchaux on keys and vocals and a batch of ambitious, collaborative compositions that, like the band, have stood the test of time. Some were already road-tested, while others, like “Weather Report Suite” and “Let Me Sing Your Blues Away” had never been played live. The album was the debut release on the band’s Grateful Dead Records label and features a wide range of contributors, from vocals and percussion to saxophone and flute from Martin Fierro to fiddle by bluegrass legend Vassar Clements and even the first synths to appear on a Grateful Dead record.
Following similar milestone reissues of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, Wake Of The Flood: The Angel’s Share features over two hours of previously-unreleased outtakes, alternate versions, and in-studio conversations recorded at Sausalito, CA’s Record Plant studio on August 6th–17th, 1973, shortly after the Dead played for a record-setting crowd of 600,000 people along with Allman Brothers Band and The Band at the Watkins Glen Summer Jam—the biggest concert in North American history at that time.
Included on the in the tracklist are multiple versions of “Eyes Of The World”, “Stella Blue”, “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”, and every other song on the LP. Highlights of the collection include Keith Godchaux’s first and only vocal contribution to a Grateful Dead studio record on “Let Me Sing Your Blues Away”, Bob Weir‘s epic “Weather Report Suite”, and “Phil’s Song (Unbroken Chain)”, which would later appear on the album The Mars Hotel.
Following the release of the two-plus hours of tape on Wake Of The Flood: The Angel’s Share, the complete six-plus hours of never-before-heard material from the Wake Of The Flood sessions is slated to drop on October 15th, on 50th anniversary of the album’s release. The recordings will stream live as a YouTube Live Exclusive Event, synced up to the original tape box so viewers can experience it all in real time.
Listen to the album below or on your preferred streaming platform.
Wake Of The Flood: The Angel’s Share and its predecessors were made possible by the work of engineer Brian Kehew, Rhino Senior Director of A&R Jason Jones, and Grateful Dead legacy manager and audio archivist David Lemieux.
Additionally, on September 29th, Rhino will release two-CD and digital sets of Wake Of The Flood (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) featuring seven remastered songs and Jerry Garcia‘s previously unreleased demos for “Eyes Of The World” and “Here Comes Sunshine”, which predate the recordings on The Angel’s Share. The deluxe edition will also include a bonus disc of live material from the Dead’s November 1st, 1973 show at Northwestern University’s McGaw Memorial Hall, the final night of a brief tour that immediately followed Wake Of The Flood‘s release. Wake Of The Flood (50th Anniversary Remaster) will also be released on September 29th as a single 180-gram black vinyl LP, limited edition 12″ vinyl picture disc, limited edition “coke bottle clear vinyl” exclusive to Barnes & Noble, and Dead.net exclusive, limited-edition “Watermark” custom vinyl.
Learn more about Wake Of The Flood from our friends at the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, whose current eighth season is dedicated to the album’s 50th anniversary.
Grateful Dead – Wake Of The Flood: The Angel’s Share