I must admit, I did not know what I'd find when I started listening to this box set. This is more of a tour of the various forms and evolutions of the Dead's thirty year career than a best of box set. I think there are already enough best of sets that didn't quite cut to the chase. This is more of an expanded version of Fallout from the Phil Zone. Lots of interesting rarities and snippets. Granted everyone is going to have a beef about what was left off. You can only put so much music on 5 cds. They did a good job with this one. Disc One finally taps into the early Warlocks sessions from 1965. There are a few more rarities they didn't use, but it is a decent sampling of the early sound. Pigpen's organ is prominent in the mix (finally) and shows his instrumental talents. They do a good version of On the Road Again which has good blues harp counterpoint to Jerry's vocals. The Same Thing is amazing, and show's an example of Pigpen's blues vocals. (can we get a Pigpen box?) They do sample rare versions of the band's psychedelic warhorses such as Dark Star, China Cat Sunflower, The Other One suite (which samples Tom Constanten's term as keyboardist) as well as some interesting jam segments. They aren't complete, but well worth the listen. It is a peek into where the band was at that very moment in time. The Dark Star Jam is amazing, as is the complete version of Eyes Of the World as used in the Grateful Dead Movie. The Wheel is interesting for its reggae like arrangement, and as a sampling from the year where they started touring again. There are good bits from the Brent era. Gentlemen Start Your Engines is chilling. Believe It Or Not is a sweet song, and I'm not sure why they stopped playing it. Hey Pocky Way rocks, and Scarlet>Fire is amazing no matter what era it is from. The last disc finally releases some of the better songs from the last few years. Days Between is an amazing song, and symbolizes the bittersweet horizon the band approached near the end. Its about time Eternity came out, as it was Willie Dixon's last song, and a good one too. Liberty rocks, and So Many Roads is poignant, especially in the final version. Way To Go Home is forgettable, but still, it does sample a bit of Vince's contribution to the band. It is uneven, but then again it reflects the 30 year journey of the Dead, which also had many peaks and uneven points also. Pick this up, you'll be surprised at what gems are here. At the very least, it'll give you an idea of where else to start looking or reinvestigating.
5 
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