“Wake Of The Flood” (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) features the album’s seven original songs and previously unreleased demo recordings of “Eyes Of The World” and “Here Comes Sunshine.”
“Here Comes Sunshine (Demo)” In early 1973, just before the Grateful Dead performed on February 9th , Jerry Garcia had recorded demos of the new songs he and Robert Hunter had been creating. These demos featured Jerry doing the singing and playing, and he presumably shared them with the band members so they could start learning the new songs.
Amongst these demos was this beautiful “Here Comes Sunshine,” which would almost immediately become a major jam vehicle upon joining the live repertoire on 2/9/73, usually clocking in at over 10 minutes. It would stick around the live sets for about a year, before being dropped for almost 20 years, and making its triumphant return in December 1992.
Following the recent passing of founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and the temporary exit of drummer Mickey Hart, Grateful Dead released “Wake Of The Flood”. As the debut album from their own record label, Grateful Dead Records, the studio LP marked a period of transition, growth, endurance and optimism for the band, introducing a fresh lineup that included new members Keith and Donna Godchaux on keys and vocals. While songs like “Eyes Of The World,” “Stella Blue,” and “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” were largely road-tested for more than half a year beforehand, and have remained staples of live sets by any number of Dead-related bands ever since, the album and record label delivered both a profound artistic statement and proof of concept for the community, ideals and future the band were building.
The Fat Angel Sings 