This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
No, you’re not having a flashback. The Grateful Dead did issue a massive box set just a few years ago.
It came out in 2001 to be exact, it was called The Golden Road, and it collected all the seminal San Francisco psychedelicists’ classic albums from 1965 – 1973. But obviously, the Dead’s long, strange trip didn’t end there. Thus we have Beyond Description, another dozen-disc behemoth that compiles the second half of the band’s career. Beginning with 1973’s Wake of the Flood, the box includes all their ’70s and ’80s studio discs and most of their official live albums (minus 1976’s inferior Steal Your Face, which the band has basically disowned), culminating with their final studio effort, 1989’s Built to Last. Granted, these weren’t their most vibrant years — more experimental discs like Terrapin Station sometimes found the group’s reach exceeding their grasp, the disco-Dead excursions of 1980’s Go to Heaven still make some fans shudder and even their live discs didn’t quite reach the soaring, transcendent heights of their halcyon days. But for the dedicated Deadhead — and really, there is no other kind — there are still more than enough, er, high points in this rarities-filled set to make it an essential purchase.
DISCS: 12. Yes, 12.
TRACKS: 147.
YEARS COVERED: 1973 – 1989.
NEW STUFF: A whopping seven hours of previously unissued outtakes, live recordings, alternate versions, demos and rehearsal recordings spread across 68 tracks.
EYE CANDY: Like The Golden Road, Beyond Description comes in an impressively imposing black box, sporting a nifty faux-copper skull icon on the front. All the discs are in digipaks with original artwork, and there are two 100-page booklets with bios, essays about each album, zillions of pics and a discography.
DAMAGE: $165 — but just think how grateful the Deadhead in your world will be.
