GRAYFOLDED by Grateful Dead

versions:
v3.0 — 4 february 2021 — a new version of 'mirror ashes track zero'
beta 2.3 — 7 november 2020 —'mirror ashes track zero' to be revised
beta 2.0 — 6 november 2020
beta 1.0 — 5 november 2020

back in 1994, when GRAYFOLDED "Transitive Axis" was released as a single CD with its cliffhanger ending, it included this note:

There is in the Grateful Dead repertoire a song so legendary as to often be only referred to as "IT" by dedicated dead heads. The Dead have been playing this song in concert sporadically for a quarter of a century now, often using it as a vehicle for musical travels far beyond the predictable. When Phil Lesh asked me to plunderphonicize the Dead's music, this song seemed to be the obvious place to start. With the invitation of the band I've had the opportunity to comb through the (also legendary) Grateful Dead Vaults and to listen to all the performance recordings of this piece on file. These board mixes are the sources for Gray Folded. I've collected what I think are interesting portions from over a hundred performances, thereby accumulating 40 hours of digital copies of the master tapes. Fifty-one of these performances are featured on Transitive Axis. The music slides back and forth over the years, often shifting from the recent present back to 1969 or the early 70s in the twinkling of an arpeggio. Within this Tralfamadorian time scheme there are some familiar moments and many unique surprises. There are a few appearances by The Grateful Dead Orchestra (multiple Weirs, Leshes, Kreutzmanns etc., all playing together) and the Jerry Garcia Chorus (in which a time shifted Captain Trips is heard harmonizing with himself over the years). For some this disc will conjure specific memories. For others it will reveal how wild and embracing the music of the Grateful Dead can be. —John Oswald. 1994

the following year, with the addition of the 'mirror Ashes" disc to the package, the above note was replaced by Rob Bowman's extensive essay including exclusive Dead interviews, which we are including in the bonuses in pdf form.

plunderphonics is the genre title coined by John Oswald to 'cover the counter-covert world of converted sound and retrofitted music, where collective melodic memories of the familiar are mined and rehabilitated to a new life. The blatant borrowings of the privateers of sound are a class distinct from common sample pocketing, parroting, and tune thievery.'

plunderphonics.com