Out Now: Grateful Dead, PORTLAND 5/19/74 LP / PACIFIC NORTHWEST BEST-OF

Gosh, has it really already been two weeks since we offered visitors to Rhino.com the opportunity to check out an advance stream of a track from The Grateful Dead’s PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74? My, how time flies…unless you’re a Deadhead, of course, in which case time has no doubt been dragging in a profound fashion, since you’ve undoubtedly been waiting with bated breath for the release of this new set.

Good news, everyone: it’s finally here!

Make that they’re finally here, since today marks the release not only of PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS but also of PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: BELIEVE IT IF YOU NEED IT, which culls the best material from the complete recordings, and PORTLAND 5/19/74, a vinyl release of the entire concert from – you guessed it – the band’s 5/19/74 performance in Portland, Oregon.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS contains 19 discs worth of live performances – that’s six shows, in case you’re curious – that were recorded at the Grateful Dead’s shows at P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C. (6/22/73); Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR (6/24/73); Seattle Center Arena, Seattle, WA (6/26/73); P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada (5/17/74); Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR (5/19/74); and Hec Edmundson Pavilion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (5/21/74). Perhaps unsurprisingly, this will be a limited-edition set – only 15,000 individually numbered copies will be released – and it’s only available from Dead.net

PORTLAND 5/19/74, meanwhile, is a 180-gram vinyl release of the complete 5/19/74 Portland Memorial Coliseum show, and it’s also a limited-edition situation, so only 7,500 fortunate folks will be able to pick up a copy.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: BELIEVE IT IF YOU NEED IT, on the other hand, is not limited in its number of copies, so feel free to loiter around for awhile before you add it to your collection, but just know that doing so is liable to result in you being shamed for your slowness. Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of shaming about anything. Why put yourself through that? Save yourself the agony and just go buy a copy right now!

Here’s the track listing for the latter two releases:

PORTLAND MEMORIAL COLISEUM, PORTLAND, OR, 5/19/74

LP Track Listing

Side A
"Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo"
"Mexicali Blues"
"Big Railroad Blues"
"Black-Throated Wind"

Side B
"Scarlet Begonias"
"Beat It On Down The Line"
"Tennessee Jed"
"Me And Bobby McGee"

Side C
"Sugaree"
"Jack Straw"
"It Must Have Been The Roses"
"El Paso"

Side D
"Loose Lucy"
"Money Money"

Side E
"China Cat Sunflower"
"I Know You Rider"

Side F
"Promised Land"
"Bertha"
"Greatest Story Ever Told"
"Ship Of Fools"
 

Side G  
"Weather Report Suite (Prelude/Part I/Part II -            
Let It Grow)"
 

Side H
"Wharf Rat"
"Big River"

Side I

"Peggy-O"

Side J
"Truckin'"
Jam

Side K
"Not Fade Away"
"Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad"
"One More Saturday Night"

Side L
"U.S. Blues"

PACIFIC NORTHWEST '73-'74: BELIEVE IT IF YOU NEED IT

Disc One
"China Cat Sunflower" (5/19/74)
"I Know You Rider" (5/19/74)
"Bird Song" (6/22/73)
"Box Of Rain" (6/24/73)
"Brown-Eyed Women" (5/21/74)
"Truckin'" (5/19/74)
Jam (5/19/74)
"Not Fade Away" (5/19/74)
"Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad" (5/19/74)
"One More Saturday Night" (5/19/74)

Disc Two
"Here Comes Sunshine" (6/22/73)
"Eyes Of The World" (5/17/74)
"China Doll" (5/21/74)
"Playing In The Band" (5/21/74)

Disc Three
"Sugaree" (5/17/74)
"He's Gone" (6/22/73)
"Truckin'" (6/22/73)
"The Other One" (6/22/73)
"Wharf Rat" (6/22/73)
"Sugar Magnolia" (6/22/73)