Release Date: 30 Sep 2008
After what has already been a great year for vintage Grateful Dead
releases (Winterland Box, The 'Road Trips' series...) you would have
been forgiven for thinking that might be it. Well, how about this....
"The Grateful Dead rises from its storied past on a three-disc set
that recaptures three historic shows at the foot of the Great Pyramid
in Giza" Released on September 30th. and containing three hours of
music on two CDs, plus a DVD with 'Fire on the Mountain', 'Deal',
'Bertha' and 10 other songs from the final show (shot during a lunar
eclipse) and previously unreleased "Vacation Tapes" of the band before
the trip. Only three of the 18 CD tracks have been released earlier.
The initial release will contain an exclusive eight-song bonus disc
with more unreleased performances, including 'Eyes of the World'.
The Dead Rock the Cradle of Civilization
2-CD/1-DVD Collection Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978 Celebrates The
30th Anniversary of the Band’s Historic Concerts at Giza With
Previously Unreleased Audio and Video
In the fall of 1978, author and counterculture icon Ken Kesey re****ted
to a close friend that he had recently witnessed the latest Rocking of
the Cradle of Civilization. The course of events that he went on to
recall was the Grateful Dead’s assorted family, friends and fellow
Pranksters Pyramidiots of various origins descent upon Egypt’s Nile
Valley that culminated in three legendary concerts performed at the
foot of the Great Pyramid in Gizah. Although perhaps unintentionally,
the entire adventure might have been easily seen, as Kesey did, as one
very special contribution to the then-critical Middle Eastern peace
effort. To commemorate the 30-year anniversary of this cosmic
convergence of sound and sphinx, Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino
will release ROCKING THE CRADLE: EGYPT 1978, a collection of
highlights from this historic three-night stand. The 2-CD/1-DVD set
will be available September 30 at regular retail outlets and
www.dead.net for a suggested list price of $34.98. Fans who pre-order
the set from Dead.net will receive an exclusive eight-song bonus disc
that includes additional unreleased performances from the Egypt run. A
digital version that includes all the CD content will also be also
available.
Recorded September 15-16, 1978 at the Gizah Sound and Light Theater,
the original 24-track recordings have been remastered for this set in
HDCD for superior sound quality. The two CDs contain 18 tracks
featuring more than three hours of music, including a version of Fire
On The Mountain that many fans consider one of the band’s best.
Except for three performances that appeared on 2004’s Beyond
Description boxed set, the tracks on ROCKING THE CRADLE have never
been released. The accompanying DVD features more than 100 minutes of
footage; including 13 songs from the third and final Egypt show, which
took place during a rare lunar eclipse. Legendary promoter Bill Graham
called this show one of the great experiences of my life. The DVD also
includes a featurette titled The Vacation Tapes which catches
never-before-seen candid band footage from the trip. The set comes in
pyramid-inspired packaging and features rare photos from the trip and
liner notes by longtime Dead associate Alan Trist, who was pivotal in
making the trek to Egypt happen.
Trist recalls that the Dead long dreamed of playing at the foot of the
Great Pyramid. However, pulling off this dream proved to be a
monumental task as no other American band had ever performed there.
The band spent months planning and making arrangements with the
Egyptian Ministry of Culture. The band agreed to pay all of its own
expenses for the trip and donated all of the proceeds from ticket
sales to several Egyptian charities, as well as the Department of
Antiquities, which preserves the country’s ancient treasures. Another
major challenge was the minimal amount of power available at Gizah,
which required the band to bring in an enormous generator to power its
state-of-the-art sound and recording equipment. In the end, the
massive effort paid off. The shows were spectacular successes,
attracting a mix of world cultures including American Dead Heads and
European fans as well as curious Egyptians and Bedouins on camels
drawn by the unusual spectacle.
Unbeknownst to the band at the time, these shows would soon have a
remarkable historical context. On September 17, the day after the last
show, the Camp David Peace Accords were signed after nearly two weeks
of secret negotiations. The Accords lead to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace
Treaty, which made Egypt the first Arab country to officially
recognize Israel and ended a near 30-year state of war between the two
countries. One has to wonder if the Dead’s message of peace and love
might have had some sort of impact on the negotiations.
ROCKING THE CRADLE features Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals), Donna Jean
Godchaux (vocals), Keith Godchaux (keyboards), Mickey Hart (drums),
Bill Kreutzmann (drums), Phil Lesh (electric bass, vocals), and Bob
Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals). These performances took place just a few
months before the band released Shakedown Street, its tenth studio
album. The shows featured performances of several songs from the
upcoming album, including the title track, I Need A Miracle, Fire On
The Mountain, and an updated take on the blues standard, Stagger Lee.
The band also peppered its Egyptian setlists with classics like Deal,
Truckin’and Stella Blue.
ROCKING THE CRADLE: EGYPT 1978
Track Listing
Disc 1
1. Jack Straw
2. Row Jimmy
3. New, Minglewood Blues
4. Candyman
5. Looks Like Rain
6. Stagger Lee
7. I Need A Miracle
8. It’s All Over Now
9. Deal
Disc 2
1. Ollin Arageed
2. Fire On The Mountain
3. Iko Iko
4. Shakedown Street
5. Drums
6. Space
7. Truckin’
8. Stella Blue
9. Around And Around
DVD
Track Listing
1.Bertha
2. Good Lovin’
3. Row Jimmy
4. New, Minglewood Blues
5. Candyman
6. Looks Like Rain
7. Deal
8. Ollin Arageed
9. Fire On The Mountain
10. Iko Iko
11. I Need A Miracle
12. It’s All Over Now
13. Truckin’
Featurette: The Vacation Tapes
Exclusive Bonus CD
1. Bertha
2. Good Lovin’
3. El Paso
4. Ramble On Rose
5. Estimated Prophet
6. Eyes Of The World
7. Terrapin Station
8. Sugar Magnolia
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