Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead

Skeletons from the Closet:
The Best of Grateful Dead

A line drawing of a skeleton holding a record, a woman holding a rose, and a man holding the woman

Cover art by John Van Hamersveld
Greatest hits album by Grateful Dead
Released February 1974 (1974-02) (LP)
October 1988 (1988-10) (CD)
Recorded 1967–1972
Genre Acid rock, jam, psychedelic rock, blues rock, country rock, folk rock
Length 44:53
Label Warner Bros.
WS 2764
Producer Stephen Barncard, Betty Cantor, David Hassinger, the Grateful Dead, and Bob Matthews
Grateful Dead chronology
Wake of the Flood
(1973)		 Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead
(1974)		 From the Mars Hotel
(1974)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling StoneMixed[2]

Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead was the first compilation album from the Grateful Dead. It was first released on LP in February 1974. The release was a ploy for Warner Bros. Records to cash in on the escalating popularity of the band in the early 1970s.[3]

Four of the tracks were not original Dead album studio recordings. This "Turn On Your Love Light" first appeared on the album The Big Ball, which was a loss leader sampler distributed by Warner Bros.; it had also appeared in longer form on Live/Dead. "One More Saturday Night" was taken from the band's live release Europe '72, while "Mexicali Blues" was actually a track from guitarist Bob Weir's solo release Ace. The version of "St Stephen" on the European release of Skeletons from the Closet is the identical recording from the Live/Dead LP with the middle jam edited out.

Warner Bros. released the album on CD and cassette in 1988 before re-releasing the LP in 1990. The album would be later re-released on by Rhino Records on May 24, 2004 as part of a greatest hits series by various bands. This iteration contains the complete "Love Light."

Certified triple platinum by RIAA in the United States, Skeletons from the Closet remains the Dead's best-selling album as of 2016.

Artwork

The artwork for the front and back covers of the album was created by John Van Hamersveld. The back cover depicts three men playing cards, with a globe in the center of the table. The futuristic Dymaxion car designed in 1933 by U.S. inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller is parked outside in the background. The three men appear as Marlon Brando from The Wild One, a long-haired bearded man in a graduation cap and gown and Cesar Romero as The Cisco Kid. The front cover features the Roman goddess of fertility, Venus, from the painting by Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus.

Track listing

Side one

  1. "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" (Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bob Weir) – 2:07
  2. "Truckin'" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Robert Hunter) – 5:09
  3. "Rosemary" (Garcia, Hunter) – 1:58
  4. "Sugar Magnolia" (Weir, Hunter) – 3:15
    • Originally released on the album American Beauty.
  5. "St. Stephen" (Garcia, Lesh, Hunter) – 4:26
    • Originally released on the album Aoxomoxoa.
  6. "Uncle John's Band" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:42

Side two

  1. "Casey Jones" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:24
    • Originally released on the album Workingman's Dead.
  2. "Mexicali Blues" (Weir, John Perry Barlow) – 3:24
    • Originally released on the Bob Weir album Ace.
  3. "Turn On Your Love Light" (Deadric Malone, Joseph Scott) – 6:30 / 15:08 (2004 re-release)
  4. "One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 4:45
  5. "Friend of the Devil" (Garcia, John Dawson, Hunter) – 3:20
    • Originally released on the album American Beauty.

Personnel

Grateful Dead

Additional performers

Technical personnel

  • Alembic – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
  • Stephen Barncard – compilation production; production on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Dick Bogert – engineering on "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)"
  • Betty Cantor – production, engineering on "Casey Jones", "Rosemary", "St. Stephen", "Turn On Your Love Light", and "Uncle John's Band"
  • Bob Cassidy – engineering on "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)"
  • Dave Collins – digital remastering assistance; pre-mastering assistance on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Tom Flye – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones", "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", "Truckin'", and "Uncle John's Band"; mastering supervision on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Joe Gastwirt – remixing, production; pre-mastering assistance on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • David Hassinger – compilation production; production on "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)"
  • Dan Healy – consulting engineering on "Rosemary" and "St. Stephen"
  • Scott Heard – equipment technician on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
  • Robin Hurley – audio production on "Casey Jones", "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", "Truckin'", and "Uncle John's Band"
  • Bob Matthews – production, engineering on "Casey Jones", "Rosemary", "St. Stephen", "Turn On Your Love Light", and "Uncle John's Band"
  • Andrew McPherson – authoring on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
  • David McLees – executive production on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Jeffrey Norman – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"; engineering on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Fred Ordower – engineering on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Ramrod – equipment technician on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
  • Bob Seidemann – art direction
  • Rudson Shurtliff – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"; engineering on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
  • Owsley Stanley – consulting engineering on "Rosemary" and "St. Stephen"
  • John Van Hamersveld – artwork
  • Ron Wickersham – consulting engineering on "Rosemary" and "St. Stephen"
  • Bill Wolf – editing

Charts

Billboard

Chart Position
Pop Albums 75[4]

RIAA Certification

Certification Date
Gold[5] March 14, 1980
Platinum[5] December 15, 1986
Double Platinum[5] June 27, 1994
Triple Platinum[5] January 31, 1995

References

  1. ↑ Lankford, Ronnie D., Jr.. Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Scoppa, Bud (April 25, 1974). Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead, Rolling Stone
  3. ↑ Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip . Jake Woodward, et al. Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2003, pg. 165.
  4. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/grateful-dead-mn0000988440/awards
  5. 1 2 3 4 "RIAA Gold & Platinum database-Skeletons from the Closet". Retrieved February 28, 2009.
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