Album of the Day

Forty years ago today, Grateful Dead played one of the most collected, traded and debated concerts by any group ever. Their performance at Cornell University’s Barton Hall was a favorite of longtime band archivist Dick Latvala, and was added to the Library of Congress’ prestigious National Recording Registry, and with the commercial debut of CORNELL 5/8/77, it's easy to hear what the fuss was about. The new three-CD set, mastered from the fabled “Betty boards” tapes, captures the Dead on a spring tour leading up to TERRAPIN STATION’s release in late July. The set list offers a sweeping retrospective of the band’s career, touching on the early psychedelic days (“St. Stephen”), the rootsy early-Seventies (“Uncle John’s Band”) and songs from the upcoming album (“Estimated Prophet”). In the words of producer David Lemieux, CORNELL 5/8/77 may be “minute-for-minute, song-for-song, the most high quality Grateful Dead release ever produced.”