Grateful Dead’s Anthem Of The Sun set for 50th anniversary reissue

Grateful Dead’s album Anthem Of The Sun is to be reissued this summer to mark its 50th anniversary.

The band’s second album launched on July 18, 1968, with the remastered deluxe version set to arrive on July 13.

It will be presented on two discs, with the first featuring the original 1968 mix along with a 1971 remix, while the second disc will have a previously unreleased live recording from the Winterland in San Francisco from October 22, 1967.

The album mixes were mastered by Grammy-winning engineer David Glasser from the original analogue master tapes, while the live cuts have been newly remastered by Jeffrey Norman.

This is the first known recording of the band with Mickey Hart, who joined in September 1967. The rest of the lineup features Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann.

Anthem Of The Sun will also be released as a limited edition picture disc on July 13 featuring the 1971 remix. It’s limited to 10,000 copies. 

Archivist and producer David Lemieux says: “This is one the most thrilling albums the Grateful Dead ever produced, mixing portions of live recordings from the first six months of Mickey's tenure with the band, along with studio experimentations that would hint at where the Dead would go when they started recording to 16-track tape the following year.

“The 1971 remix, produced in order to make the album more accessible to the newer fans who were brought on board with Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, has been the most commonly heard version for the past 45-plus years. 

“However, having this side-by-side with the original 1968 mix demonstrates countless differences, with the original being more primal, psychedelic, and experimental. 

"Add to this the first extant live recording featuring Mickey as a member of the Grateful Dead, and you have a very special release in every way.”