Coming on September 23 is the latest massive Grateful Dead archival set — In And Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden '81, '82, '83. The 17-disc boxed set premieres six previously unreleased shows recorded at MSG between 1981 and 1983 and is available now for pre-order. Production of the set is limited to 12,500 individually numbered copies and is available exclusively from Dead.net for $179.98. Full audio will also be available in its entirety as a digital download exclusively at Dead.net in Apple Lossless ($119.98) and FLAC 192/24 ($149.98).
The boxed set includes six unreleased concerts recorded at Madison Square Garden on March 9th and 10th, 1981; September 20th and 21st, 1982; and October 11th and 12th, 1983. In And Out Of The Garden features newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes, was mastered by Jeffrey Norman and produced for release by Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux.
On the same day, the March 9th, 1981 show from the boxed set will be released separately at all regular retail outlets. Madison Square Garden, NY (3/9/81) will be available as a triple-disc set ($29.98) and digitally.
A while back, the late, great Jerry Garcia spoke about his time in the Grateful Dead: “A large part of my life, I've spent doing something, which has turned out being more fun than I thought it was going to be, and it's lasted way longer than I imagined it might, and it's taken me places that I would never, ever imagined. It's hard to separate myself from the experience. After all, it is my life. For me, it's 24 years of all kinds of stuff like everybody goes through — y'know, life and death, and kids grown' up. And, y'know, the Grateful Dead has been this one, constant, continuous source during the whole thing.”
On the upcoming collection, fans will get a healthy dose of beloved Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, who died of an accidental overdose on July 26th, 1990. Drummer Mickey Hart remembers Mydland's time with the band with mixed emotions: “Brent was a beautifully charming, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed kind of a guy and crazy as a loon, y'know? He just went off the road, y'know? He just couldn't take the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead killed him, like it killed almost all of our keyboard players. You wouldn't wanna be a keyboard player in this band. It's almost like a. . . It seems to be almost prophetic.”
