Album Notes

(August 11, 2004 / TORONTO) John Oswald's FONY label has decided to reissue the critically and popularly acclaimed 2CD Grateful Dead plunderphonic GRAYFOLDED. Out of print since June 2000, the 2004 edition (10th year anniversary) features exclusive background info and interviews with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Robert Hunter plus 2 "time maps" which chart the source Dark Stars used and a 10,000 word essay by musicologist Rob Bowman. Gary Lambert, editor of the Grateful Dead Almanac said : "The decade-leaping GRAYFOLDED is an astonishingly accurate evocation of that sublime, hallucinatory 'unstuck in time' feeling one gets at a really good Grateful Dead show."

"This double CD, lasting almost two blissful hours, has been rightly acclaimed as the ultimate Dark Star, the one you always hoped the Dead would one day get around to playing."

- The London Daily Telegraph

"Even casual Dead fans will be floored by this astonishing new project. Absolutely brilliant."

- John Sakamoto, Toronto Sun, album of the decade

"Oswald shoots fearless high voltage into this Grateful Frankenstein."

- Milo Miles, The Village Voice

There is in the Grateful Dead repertoire a song so legendary as to often be referred to as "IT" by dedicated dead heads. The Dead have been playing this song in concert sporadically for a quarter of a century now, often using it as a vehicle for musical travels far beyond the predictable.

When Phil Lesh asked me to plunderphonicize the Dead's music, this song seemed to be the obvious place to start. With the invitation of the band, I've had the opportinity to comb through the (also legendary) Grateful Dead Vaults and to listen to all the performance recordings of this piece on file. These board mixes are the sources for GRAYFOLDED. I've collected what I think are interesting portions from over a hundred performances, accumulating 40 hours of digital copies of the master tapes.

The music slides back and forth over the years, often shifting from the recent present back to 1969 or the early 70s in the twinkling of an arpeggio. Within this Tralfamadorian time scheme there are some familiar moments and many unique surprises. There are a few appearances by the Grateful Dead Orchestra (multiple Weirs, Leshes, Kreutzmanns etc., all playing together) and the Jerry Garcia Chorus (in which a time shifted Captain Trips is heard harmonizing with himself over the years). For some this disc will conjour specific memories. For others it will reveal how wild and embracing the music of the Grateful Dead can be. - John Oswald/1995

More info on John Oswald and plunderphonics :

http://www.plunderphonics.com

and

http://www.pfony.com

More info about GRAYFOLDED :

http://www.pfony.com/grayfolded/index.html

For more info about GRAYFOLDED, we invite you to download 2 GRAYFOLDED release sheets in pdf format :

http://www.pfony.com/grayfolded/Grayfolded.pdf

http://www.pfony.com/grayfolded/Lightshow.pdf