The National’s massive triple-disc Grateful Dead tribute album “Day Of The Dead” still keeps throwing out some classic covers. It’s took me an age to get through this album and still I keep discovering some beautiful gems. Already we’ve heard a whole pile of songs from it. the people behind the album have shared most of the tracks, and there are some heavyweights on them. For our purposes, the biggest of these is probably the version of “To Lay Me Down,” done as a funeral duet from Perfume Genius and Sharon Van Etten. Also we get to hear My MorningJacket frontman Jim James doing “Candyman,”
‘Candyman’ by Jim James & Friends, from ‘Day of the Dead’, is a tribute album to the Grateful Dead curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, with all profits going to Red Hot Organization. ‘Day of the Dead’ was released on 20th May via 4AD Records. Featuring an incredible cast list, the compilation is a wide-ranging tribute to the songwriting and experimentalism of The Grateful Dead which took four years to record and features over 60 artists from varied musical backgrounds, with 59 tracks and a duration of almost six hours. The limited edition 10xLP ‘Day of the Dead’ LP boxed set is released today via 4Ad Records, on individually coloured vinyl.
Among others are Unknown Mortal Orchestra covering “Shakedown Street,” Bonnie “Prince” Billy singing “Rubin & Cherise,” and old-school soul howler Charles Bradley teaming up with soul/funk revivalists the Menahan Street Band for “Cumberland Blues.”
The tracks curated from Bryce & Aaron Dessner ,The compilation was produced by Aaron Dessner and co-produced by Bryce Dessner and Josh Kaufman. Grateful Dead tribute album were released a year ago. Considering the album has 59 tracks, this is just a small sampling. Last March, a whole bumch of coversfrom the record were released, including takes from the National, Courtney Barnett, the War on Drugs, Bruce Hornsby with Justin Vernon’s band DeYarmond Edison, and Phosphorescent with Jenny Lewis., the National and Grizzly Bear members also performed a’ 17-minute cover of “Terrapin Station Suite” .
This five-plus hour, 59 track Grateful Dead tribute album is a monument of living history – an image of their golden road branching out endlessly…. Pretty much every sound the band touched on or suggested gets represented – from ambient music (several sound-sculptures by Bryce Dessner of the National and experimental composer Tim Hecker’s “Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald”) to Afropop (Orchestra Baobob turning “Franklin’s Tower” into a shining desert mirage) to psychedelia (Flaming Lips making throbbing lysergic mush out of “Dark Star”) to roots rock (Lucinda Williams locating the lust in a slow humid “Going Down the RoadFeeling Bad”). But indie songwriters and guitar nerds get most of the action; Courtney Barnett hazily savors the conversational drift of the post-Altamont rap session “New Speedway Boogie,” and Stephen Malkmus does his hey-whatever guitar wizard thing on a ten minute “China Cat Sunflower → I Know You Rider,” just to pick two of the more wonderful examples among many.
Tribute albums can be a profit center for record companies during dark times. They have a built-in fan base and they make great real-life, gift-wrapped, non-Spotify gifts. Day of the Dead is woefully original because its classics deviate so much from the original. Curated by The National, the erudite indie giants, the five-album set’s interpretations eschew the long jams that are Dead staples and inspired a million stoned dance moves at concerts. “Truckin’” in the hands of Marijuana Deathsquads is less a road anthem and more despairing cry. Lucius’s “UncleJohn’s Band” isn’t Jerry Garcia’s amiable life lesson but something more solemn. Other versions hew closer to the original, like a Kurt Vile and the Violators “Box of Rain” and a live version of “I Know You Rider” by the Dead’s Bob Weir so rollicking that The National, who back him on the track, forget their trademark lugubriousness, and revel in this classic.
On May 20th, 4AD will release “Day of the Dead” – a celebration of the Grateful Dead’s music created and curated by brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National.
It has been a massive undertaking. The compilation is a wide-ranging tribute to the songwriting and experimentalism of the Grateful Dead, which took four years to record, features over 60 artists from varied musical backgrounds, 59 tracks and is almost 6 hours long.
Day of the Dead will be released digitally, on a 5 X CD, and as a limited edition vinyl boxed set. All profits will help fight for AIDS/ HIV and related health issues around the world through the Red Hot Organisation.
Among the first five songs shared from it today include the first new music from The War on Drugs since 2014’s brilliant Lost In The Dream with their cover of the Dead’s 1987 hit “Touch of Grey”.
Phosphorescent and Jenny Lewis combine with the backing of the in-house band (featuring 4/5 of the National) that contributed to numerous recordings on the compilation, to cover 1971’s “Sugaree”.
Courtney Barnett puts her characteristic slant on New Speedway Boogie,
The National cover Bonnie Dobson’s Morning Dew, a Grateful Dead staple since 1967, one of two songs that they contributed to the compilation.
Black Muddy River’ by Bruce Hornsby and DeYarmond Edison, from ‘Day of the Dead’, a tribute album to the Grateful Dead curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, with all profits going to Red Hot Organization.
‘Day of the Dead’ is released on 20th May via 4AD.
After much anticipation and years of work, the massive tribute to the Grateful Dead organized by The National’sAaron and Bryce Dessner has finally been officially announced. Titled Day Of The Dead, the 59-track playlist features over 60 guests, and is split into three parts: “Thunder,” “Lightning,” and “Sunshine.”
The album is full of an incredible listing of special guests, including The War On Drugs, Jim James, Phosphorescent, Jenny Lewis, Courtne Barnett, Wilco, The Lone Bellow, Bruce Hornsby, Charles Bradley, Local Natives, Kurt Vile, The Flaming Lips, Lucinda Williams, Mumford & Sons, Joe Russo, Lucius, Perfume Genius, Stephen Malkmus, Bela Fleck, Tallest Man On Earth, Richard Reed Parry, and more! Bob Weir makes a handful of appearances throughout, including collaborations with Wilco and The National.
ABOUT RED HOT ORGANIZATION:
Red Hot is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3 organization dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS through pop culture. Its mission is to raise awareness and money around the AIDS crisis and related health issues. It was started in 1990 by Leigh Blake and John Carlin with the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue, which raised millions of dollars, helped reduce the stigma around AIDS at the time and supported organizations and efforts such as ACT UP and T.A.G., which took a stand and made the world pay attention and develop medication that let people with AIDS survive.
Over the past 25 years, over 500 artists, producers and directors have contributed to 20 compilation albums of original music, videos, events and media to keep people thinking about the implications of the AIDS epidemic as well as donate millions to organizations around the world.
Day of the Dead Tracklist:
“Thunder” (Volume One)
Touch of Grey (The War on Drugs)
Sugaree (Phosphorescent, Jenny Lewis & Friends)
Candyman (Jim James & Friends)
Cassidy (Moses Sumney, Jenny Lewis & Friends)
Black Muddy River (Bruce Hornsby and DeYarmond Edison feat. Justin Vernon and Megafaun)
Loser (Ed Droste, Binki Shapiro & Friends)
Peggy-O (The National)
Box of Rain (Kurt Vile and the Violators feat. J Mascis)
Rubin and Cherise (Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Friends)
To Lay Me Down (Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten & Friends)
New Speedway Boogie (Courtney Barnett)
Friend of the Devil (Mumford & Sons)
Uncle John’s Band (Lucius)
Me and My Uncle (The Lone Bellow & Friends)
Mountains of the Moon (Lee Ranaldo, Lisa Hannigan & Friends)
Black Peter (Anohni and yMusic)
Garcia Counterpoint (Bryce Dessner)
Terrapin Station (Suite) (Daniel Rossen, Christopher Bear, The National feat. Josh Kaufman, Conrad Doucette, So Percussion and Brooklyn Youth Chorus)
Attics of My Life (Angel Olsen)
St. Stephen (live) (Wilco feat. Bob Weir)
“Lightning” (Volume Two) If I Had the World to Give (Bonnie “Prince” Billy)
Standing on the Moon (Phosphorescent & Friends)
Cumberland Blues (Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band)
Ship of Fools (Tallest Man on Earth & Friends)
Bird Song (Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Friends)
Morning Dew (The National)
Truckin’ (Marijuana Deathsquads)
Dark Star (Cass McCombs, Joe Russo & Friends)
Nightfall of Diamonds (Nightfall of Diamonds)
Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald (Tim Hecker)
Going Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Lucinda Williams & Friends)
Playing in the Band (Tunde Adebimpe, Lee Ranaldo & Friends)
Stella Blue (Local Natives)
Eyes of the World (Tal National)
Help On the Way (Bela Fleck)
Franklin’s Tower (Orchestra Baobob)
Till the Morning Comes (Luluc with Xylouris White)
Ripple (The Walkmen)
Brokedown Palace (Richard Reed Parry with Caroline Shaw and Little Scream feat. Garth Hudson)
“Sunshine” (Volume Three) Here Comes Sunshine (Real Estate)
Shakedown Street (Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
Brown-Eyed Women (Hiss Golden Messenger)
Jack-A-Roe (This is the Kit)
High Time (Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear)
Dire Wolf (The Lone Bellow & Friends)
Althea (Winston Marshall, Kodiak Blue and Shura)
Clementine Jam (Orchestra Baobob)
China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks)
Easy Wind (Bill Callahan)
Wharf Rat (Ira Kaplan & Friends)
Estimated Prophet (The Rileys)
Drums > Space (Man Forever, So Percussion and Oneida)
Cream Puff War (Fucked Up)
Dark Star (The Flaming Lips)
What’s Become of the Baby (s t a r g a z e)
King Solomon’s Marbles (Vijay Iyer)
Rosemary (Mina Tindle & Friends)
And We Bid You Goodnight (Sam Amidon)
I Know You Rider (live) (The National with Bob Weir)
The Fat Angel Sings 