“Blues For Allah” is the 8th album and 3rd released on Dead’s own label, Grateful Dead Records. In their 10th year, the Grateful Dead recorded one of their most ambitious albums since the late 1960s, with songwriting and songs that were as out-there, jam-filled, and as psychedelic as the music they were making in 1968-1969.
The Grateful Dead’s self-released September 1975 LP “Blues for Allah” is many a Deadhead’s almost favourite album. It is indeed home to a near-perfect dizzying blend of ultra-tight playing, funk-forward, progressive, jazz-fusion-oriented music wrapped up in a handful of incredibly catchy tunes. Much of this music went on to become concert staples for the band as well, and now this pivotal Dead album rightly sees a 50th anniversary 180g 1LP reissue via Rhino.
When the Grateful Dead took a self-imposed hiatus in 1974 after their farewell October run at Winterland Ballroom, they left the road with no clear sense of when—or if—they’d return. A year later, they surprised everyone with Blues for Allah, which the band recorded in novel fashion at Bob Weir‘s home studio almost entirely without pre-written material. Robert Hunter wrote lyrics on the spot. Keith Godchaux‘s keys gave the album spacious texture. Donna Jean Godchaux‘s harmonies added new layers to songs like “The Music Never Stopped”. “Crazy Fingers” became, in late bassist Phil Lesh‘s words, “a marvellous essay in smoky ambiguity.” Drummer Bill Kreutzmann noted the title suite “bordered on acid-jazz composition,” a notion underscored by Mickey Hart‘s incorporation of unorthodox sounds including field recordings of crickets.
In 2022 I had the pleasure of remixing Grateful Dead’s albums American Beauty and Europe 72 in Atmos. However 3 years before that I had also been invited to create a new mix of their 1975 album Blues for Allah, which for whatever reason never got the green-light at the time. Now to celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary the SW version will finally be issued, and even better it’s being made available in high resolution on a physical blu-ray which includes my 2019 stereo, instrumental stereo, and 5.1 mixes, plus a 2022 Atmos mix.
It also has 2 bonus alternate stereo mixes, including a version of the 12 minute title track which includes many parts that were not used in the original. I’m happy about all this, it sounds great (well I think), and it’s my favourite Dead album, their most experimental and progressive you might say. So better late than never. Steven Wilson .
In October 1974, the Grateful Dead had established an undeniable following that cemented their status as cultural iconoclasts, bred from the beatnik movement’s rejection of conformity. A tribe of originalists with nearly a decade of gigs under their belts, the band performed what they believed was their final stint of concerts at San Francisco’s Winterland, dubbed the “farewell run.” What followed was a self-imposed hiatus, which would come to an end a year later with the surprise release of Blues for Allah.
Emerging on September 1st, 1975, the original collection of music presented essential compositions, including the three-movement suite: “Help On The Way” / “Slipknot!” and “Franklin’s Tower,” a still cherished piece in the Dead’s catalog. Surfacing as a fan favourite, Blues for Allah houses the group’s concert anthem, the John Perry Barlow and Bobby Weir co-write, “The Music Never Stopped,” the eastern influenced title track, and striking instrumentals: “King Solomon’s Marbles,” “Sand Castles and Glass Camels,” and the light and fluttery “Sage & Spirit.”
Now, in recognition of Blues for Allah’s 50th anniversary, a deluxe edition of the Grateful Dead’s eighth studio album has been remastered and prepared for release on September 12th, 2025. The revisited collection will be available as a 3CD set and on digital streaming platforms. It features a newly remastered version of the original album by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Glasser. He sourced from the original analogue tapes, which underwent speed correction and tape restoration by Plangent Processes.
The Grateful Dead have shared a previously unreleased recording of “Crazy Fingers” from their August 12th, 1975 soundcheck at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. The track is one of many newly unearthed recordings included on the upcoming ‘Blues for Allah’ (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition),’ due out September 12th via Rhino.
“One of the most ethereally psychedelic lyrics in the entire Grateful Dead canon, this beautiful ballad by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter is like a beautiful dreamscape, like a feather drifting from the sky and landing gently,” said band archivist David Lemieux. “This rendition is from the Dead’s rehearsal/soundcheck at the Great American Music Hall… the day before the classic ‘One From The Vault’ show. Practice makes perfect!”
As a significant inclusion in the forthcoming release, the revisited set turns over 2 hours of previously unreleased recordings. Included is the band’s August 12th, 1975, soundcheck at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, which captures renditions of album features: “Sage & Spirit,” “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot!,” and “Franklin’s Tower.” As an added feature, performances from the group’s June 21st, 1976, show at the Tower Theatre in Pennsylvania draw attention to five Blues for Allah tracks, and “Eyes of the World.”
A final feature of the collection turns over song selections from Bill Graham’s SNACK (Students Need Athletics, Culture, and Kicks) Benefit at Kezar Stadium on March 23rd, 1975, previously included on the 2004 Beyond Description box set’s Bonus Disc. It also housed one of only three known live performances of the “King Solomon’s Marbles.” Vinyl enthusiasts can purchase a 180-gram black picture disc and limited-edition “Midnight Fire” custom vinyl, exclusive to Dead.net.
The first single from the revisited set, “The Music Never Stopped,” is now available to stream. Grateful Dead Legacy Manager and Archivist David Lemieux commented, “This fanciful take of life on the road, the journey of Dead Heads, and the magic the Grateful Dead brought from town to town was a fan favourite every time it was played.”
Blues for Allah represented a studio reset for the band, who tried a different approach to making this set by rejecting the pre-writing process and allowing the songs to emerge in the moment. “The whole idea was to get back to that band thing, where the band makes the main contribution to the evolution of the material,” Garcia explained.
Working at Bobby Weir’s home studio, which had just enough space to house the ensemble and their equipment, the session evolved into an intimate exchange of ideas, characterized by an exploratory approach that pushed the boundaries of what they were capable of generating.
“Blues for Allah is the Dead’s unique vision, a deeply humane parable that framed their own artistic renewal in the most inclusive, expansive terms,” writes Nicholas G. Meriwether, Executive Director of the Grateful Dead Studies Association and author of the set’s liner notes. “Fifty years later, it remains one of their most musically successful and resolutely experimental albums.”
“BLUES FOR ALLAH is the Dead’s unique vision, a deeply humane parable that framed their own artistic renewal in the most inclusive, expansive terms. Fifty years later, it remains one of their most musically successful and resolutely experimental albums.” Nicholas G. Meriwether, Executive Director of the Grateful Dead Studies Association
Release date is 12th September
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary
The Fat Angel Sings 