Photo (C) Herb Greene

In an attempt to capture their live energy in the studio setting, the Grateful Dead blended live tapes with studio takes to create the pioneering album, Anthem of the Sun. To mark the 50^th anniversary of the record, which was released on July 18, 1968, a new two-disc deluxe edition will be released this Friday, July 13. Anthem Of The Sun: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will present two versions of the original record—one fully remastered from the original 1968 mix, and the other remastered from the 1971 mix. The package also will feature a previously unreleased performance from October 22, 1967 at Winterland in San Francisco, CA. This is the first-known recording with Mickey Hart, who joined the group a month earlier.

Today we premiere “New Potato Caboose” from 10/22/67. In Searching for the Sound, Phil Lesh notes that the song originated as “a little thing I had pecked out on the studio harpsichord when we were at RCA for our first album.” He later completed it “with some lyrics from my mad beatnik college buddy, Bobby Petersen.” Bob Weir sings lead on the tune because Lesh did not feel he was ready to tackle this role. The Grateful Dead only performed “New Potato Caboose” from early 1967 through June 1969.

Anthem Of The Sun: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is now available for pre-order.