The Very Best of Jerry Garcia

The Very Best of Jerry Garcia is a two-CD compilation album. It contains songs, mostly previously released, by Jerry Garcia, the Jerry Garcia Band, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, Old & In the Way, and Reconstruction. It is meant to showcase Garcia's work outside the Grateful Dead. The first disc contains studio recordings and the second disc contains live recordings. It was released on September 26, 2006.

The Very Best of Jerry Garcia
Compilation album by
ReleasedSeptember 26, 2006
Recorded1971 – 1990
GenreRock, folk
LabelRhino
Jerry Garcia chronology
Pure Jerry: Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991
(2006)
The Very Best of Jerry Garcia
(2006)
Live at the Boarding House
(2008)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
The Music Box [2]

Some copies of the album include two bonus discs called More of the Best and Twisted Radio Waves.[3]

The Very Best of Jerry Garcia was released for Record Store Day as a five-disc LP, in a limited edition of 4,000 copies, on September 26, 2020.[4]

Track listing edit

Disc one (studio)

From Garcia:
  1. "Deal" (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 3:14
  2. "Bird Song" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:26
  3. "Sugaree" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:54
  4. "Loser" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:10
  5. "The Wheel" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:12
From Compliments:
  1. "Let It Rock" (Chuck Berry) – 3:12
  2. "Russian Lullaby" (Irving Berlin) – 3:04
From Reflections:
  1. "Might as Well" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:54
  2. "Mission in the Rain" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:04
  3. "I'll Take a Melody" (Allen Toussaint) – 9:28
From Cats Under the Stars:
  1. "Rubin and Cherise" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:17
  2. "Cats Under the Stars" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:31
  3. "Rhapsody in Red" (Garcia, Hunter, John Kahn) – 5:11
From Run for the Roses:
  1. "Run for the Roses" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:41
  2. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan) – 7:40
  3. "Without Love" (Clyde McPhatter) – 4:26

Disc two (live)

From Breakdown:
  1. "Catfish John" (Bob McDill, Allen Reynolds) – 4:06
From Almost Acoustic:
  1. "Deep Elem Blues" (traditional) – 6:09
  2. "Ripple" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:21
From Garcia Plays Dylan:
  1. "Positively 4th Street" (Dylan) – 10:46
From Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, July 29 & 30, 1977:
  1. "The Harder They Come" (Jimmy Cliff) – 12:43
From How Sweet It Is:
  1. "Gomorrah" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:37
Previously unreleased performance by Reconstruction on July 8, 1979:
  1. "Dear Prudence" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 11:38
From Jerry Garcia Band:
  1. "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)" (Dylan) - 7:45
  2. "Evangeline" (David Hidalgo, Louie Perez) – 4:47
From Way After Midnight, the bonus disc for After Midnight: Kean College, 2/28/80:
  1. "Deal" (Garcia, Hunter) - 9:12

Personnel edit

See individual albums for musical personnel.

Production edit

  • Compilation producers – James Austin, Joe Gastwirt, Blair Jackson, Peter McQuaid
  • Product manager – Jimmy Edwards
  • Tape research, liner notes – Blair Jackson
  • Remastering – Joe Gastwirt
  • Discographical annotation – Reggie Collins
  • Editorial supervision – Dorothy Stefanski
  • Art direction, design – Jean Krikorian
  • Photography – Herb Greene, Jon Sievert, Richard E. Aaron, Dave Patrick
  • Painting – Jerry Garcia
  • Project assistance – Karen LeBlanc, James O'Toole

References edit

  1. ^ Jurek, Thom. "The Very Best of Jerry Garcia". AllMusic. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  2. ^ Metzger, John (November 2006). The Very Best of Jerry Garcia, The Music Box
  3. ^ "The Very Best of Jerry Garcia". Grateful Dead Family Discography. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  4. ^ "Jerry Garcia: The Very Best of Jerry Garcia". Record Store Day. Retrieved November 29, 2020.