After four years and 17 releases, Rhino will discontinue their archival Grateful Dead “Road Trips” collection. The series—a successor of sorts to the popular “Dick’s Picks” releases—collected highlights from a range of Dead tours and multi-night stands as well as some complete concerts. Rhino will continue to release archival Dead recordings, though the exact nature of their program is still unclear. A statement from longtime Dead scribe and “Road Trips” advisor Blair Jackson says, “So, what’s all this talk about the end of Road Trips? Well, we figured that four years and 17 releases was a pretty good run for that series, and now it’s time to try something new. Don’t worry, there is definitely going to be another release program dedicated to putting out the best material in the vault. We’ll be revealing details of the new series very soon, so stay tuned!”

The final “Road Trips” release, Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 5, documents the Dead’s June 9, 1976 show at the Boston Music Hall. The disc is expected to ship on November 1.

Jackson explains the show’s historical significance:

1976 was a pivotal year for the Grateful Dead. After an 18-month hiatus that saw just four Bay Area appearances by the band, but also a phenomenal studio album, Blues for Allah, and a slew of solo projects, the Dead returned to the road at the beginning of June ’76. Mickey Hart was officially back in the fold after a long absence, and the band came back with a batch of new songs and fresh approaches to playing their old ones. It was the summer of America’s much-ballyhooed bicentennial, the country was still going through Watergate withdrawal, and we needed our Grateful Dead back!

During their time away, the Dead radically simplified their stage setup. They put their remarkable (but cumbersome) Wall of Sound P.A. out to pasture, in favor of a more conventional (but still great) system. And, as a treat to their fans, they booked their entire first post-hiatus tour into acoustically solid small theaters, eschewing the large arenas that their snowballing popularity and their massive sound system had forced them into. They hit the road well-rehearsed and refreshed; clearly thrilled to be out there playing Grateful Dead music onstage again. And we were, needless to say, psyched to be seeing them again!

No. 4. Vol. 5, was drawn from two shows early on what was dubbed by many Heads at the time as the Dead’s “comeback” tour. It contains the truly awe-inspiring complete June 9, 1976 Boston Music Hall show (just the third of the tour, but you’d never guess that), and also a handful of hot tracks from the June 12 show at the same venue. The 6/9 show has long been a personal favorite, so I’m really delighted that it is finally being released! It’s definitely one of the strongest of ’76.

The first set includes stand-out versions of then-new songs such as “Crazy Fingers” and “The Music Never Stopped,” just the third version of “Cassidy,” a neatly jammed “Scarlet Begonias” and a potent “Ship of Fools,” among other gems. The second set opens with a long, circuitous “St. Stephen” (the first in five years!), then goes into a tremendous “Eyes,” followed by “Let It Grow,” which was now independent of the first two parts of “Weather Report Suite.” “Samson and Delilah” and “Lazy Lightning” > “Supplication” were brand-new to the Dead repertoire, while the bevy of rearranged songs included “High Time” and the famous disco-influenced “Dancing in the Street.” The encore was another recent one: “Franklin’s Tower” (which would never be played in that slot again). For a band that hadn’t played together in eons, the Dead sound remarkably self-assured and on-the-ball throughout. The 6/12/76 songs include one of only five versions of “Mission in the Rain” the Dead played, “The Wheel” (a few years old, but new to the stage), the revived “Comes a Time” (last played in ’72) and a “Sugar Mag” sandwich with a great “U.S. Blues” as the meaty filling.

Tracklist

CD 1:

1. Cold Rain and Snow
2. Cassidy
3. Scarlet Begonias
4. The Music Never Stopped
5. Crazy Fingers
6. Big River
7. They Love Each Other
8. Looks Like Rain
9. Ship Of Fools
10. Promised Land

CD 2

1. St. Stephen>
2. Eyes of the World>
3. Let It Grow
4. Brown-Eyed Women
5. Lazy Lightning>
6. Supplication
7. High Time
8. Samson and Delilah
9. It Must Have Been The Roses

CD 3

1. Dancing In The Street>
2. Wharf Rat>
3. Around and Around
4. Franklin’s Tower
Bonus tracks from 6/12/76
5. Mission In The Rain
6. The Wheel
7. Comes A Time
8. Sugar Magnolia>
9. U.S. Blues>
10. Sunshine Daydream