Grateful Dead Released Their Very First Greatest Hits Album (2025 In Review)

12-19-2025

Grateful Dead Released Their Very First Greatest Hits Album was a top 25 story of April 2025 in our look back at the Year In Rock. Here is the original report: (Rhino) While the Grateful Dead recently broke the record for the most Top 40 albums on the Billboard 200, the band will release for the first time an official greatest hits compilation. Out June 13th, Gratest Hits arrives in celebration of the band's 60th anniversary, and brings together some of the many songs that continue to unite generations - from "Truckin'" to "Touch of Grey," "Friend of the Devil" and more.

Available via Rhino on 1CD, 1LP Dead.net Exclusive Blue Smoke Vinyl, Digital, as well as multiple retail exclusive colored vinyl variants, Gratest Hits features studio recordings that span the best of such beloved and enduring albums as Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, From The Mars Hotel, Shakedown Street, Terrapin Station and In The Dark.

Additionally, in honor of the band's diamond 60th Anniversary, the Grateful Dead released a sweeping 60-CD collection called Enjoying The Ride on May 30th. Exclusive to Dead.net, and limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies, the boxed set maps an epic cross-country road trip along the "Heady Highway," with stops at storied venues where the music, the moment and the magic of the Grateful Dead reliably converged. Traversing 25 years of legendary live performances, the expansive compendium spotlights defining shows from 1969 to 1994, at 20 venues that consistently inspired the band to new heights-Winterland, Frost Amphitheatre, Madison Square Garden and Hampton Coliseum, among them. Across 450+ tracks, 60+ hours of music and 20+ shows, virtually all of the music is previously unreleased, as Enjoying The Ride journeys through eras of constant evolution, and serves as a thrilling testament to that endlessly adventurous spirit.

The special release was previewed with an advance listen to the previously unheard "Althea (Live at Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT, 3/14/1981)," which is available today

"From the Grateful Dead's third performance at the Hartford Civic Center (on the heels of their 1977 and 1980 shows), this 'Althea' is widely considered one of the greatest versions of the song the Dead ever played," says Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux. "Joining the repertoire in August 1979, and recorded in the studio for 1980's Go To Heaven album, 'Althea' started hitting instrumental peaks that you'll hear in this version. Coupled with Jerry's emotional, powerful vocal delivery, this is an 'Althea' against which all other 'Altheas' can be measured."

With a record-setting tally of 2,318 total concerts, the Grateful Dead never played the same set twice, and the shows on Enjoying The Ride include contributions from Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Keith Godchaux, Donna Jean Godchaux, Brent Mydland, Tom Constanten and Vince Welnick, along with Bruce Hornsby for the Shoreline '91 show. Originally recorded by Owsley "Bear" Stanley, Betty Cantor-Jackson, Kidd Candelario, Dan Healy and John Cutler, David Glasser and Jeffrey Norman restored and mastered the performances, with the analog ones using Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction for optimal sound quality.

Enjoying The Ride is housed in a custom keepsake box inspired by the experience of traveling from city to city to see the Dead at legendary venues across America. Inside, a beautifully detailed tour guide features liner notes by Jesse Jarnow (author and co-host of the Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast), a producer's note from David Lemieux, and other exclusive memorabilia, richly illustrated with photos, including many taken at the shows featured in the collection.

For those seeking a concise itinerary, The Music Never Stopped distills Enjoying The Ride into a shorter route through the band's 60th Anniversary celebration. Featuring at least one song from every venue in the deluxe set, it offers a briefer-but no less illuminating-trip through the music that shaped the Grateful Dead's live legacy. Stream the song below