Grateful Dead Drop 1975 Rehearsal Outtakes and Alternative Versions of ‘Blues for Allah’ Material on All-Instrumental ‘Angel’s Share’ Album

Earlier this month, the Grateful Dead’s seminal eighth studio album, Blues for Allah, reached its 50th anniversary and received a deluxe rerelease. The collection, known for its capacity to carry a Middle Eastern edge and also demonstrate the group’s unconventionality when it comes to incorporating intricate time signatures, has garnered the Angel’s Share treatment, through the arrival of 15 newly unearthed session recordings. 

Blues For Allah: The Angel’s Share presents expert-picked outtakes, alternative versions, unexpected rumblings, and musical revelations, and packs them into a set of songs that were recorded during rehearsal on Feb. 28, 1975, via instrumental “Distorto,” which bears similarities to another feature off the album, “Crazy Fingers.” Other rarities from the late February practice session include “Pronto 18 Proper,” “Strong Than Dirt,” and “The Music Never Stopped.”  

The set, an entirely instrumental collection, also offers recordings made during the Dead’s rehearsal on March 5, 1975, including “Sand Castles and Glass Camels,” a jam on the title track, and “Surf Jam.” A month later, in April 1975, “Crazy Fingers” and “Help on the Way/Slipknot!” fill out the collection. Two versions of “Help/Slip” were captured during the band’s June 5 practice session and appear beside “Franklin’s Tower,” which was also played the same day.

The final features of Angel’s Share allow folks to experience“King Solomon’s Marbles,” and a piece of Garcia’s solo repertoire, “They Love Each Other,” before Kingfish pairing, “Lazy Lightnin’/ Supplication,” which, like the Reflections cut, sparked pieces of Bobby Weir’s other endeavor during the mid-70s, following their hiatus. 

Stream Blues For Allah: The Angel’s Share.

View purchase option on store.dead.net/collections/blues-for-allah.