The Grateful Dead - Blues for Allah

Sometimes remix projects I’ve worked on take a minute to come out. The forthcoming Deep Purple Made in Japan remix is a case in point, as it was originally done back in 2014 (though I've revised it for the new edition, let’s say I’ve learned a lot since those days). I’d actually got used to the idea that it would never be released, so that was a pleasant surprise. Meanwhile there are other projects abandoned on my hard drive that are presumably the victims of inertia, changing record company plans, artist politics, or a combination of all of the above. Anyway I digress…

In 2022 I had the pleasure of remixing Grateful Dead’s albums American Beauty and Europe 72 in Atmos. However 3 years before that I had also been invited to create a new mix of their 1975 album Blues for Allah, which for whatever reason never got the green-light at the time. Now to celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary the SW version will finally be issued, and even better it's being made available in high resolution on a physical blu-ray which includes my 2019 stereo, instrumental stereo, and 5.1 mixes, plus a 2022 Atmos mix. It also has 2 bonus alternate stereo mixes, including a version of the 12 minute title track which includes many parts that were not used in the original. I’m happy about all this, it sounds great (well I think), and it’s my favourite Dead album, their most experimental and progressive you might say. So better late than never.

The blu-ray is limited to 3,000 copies, which doesn’t seem like a lot to me for such a massively popular band like the Dead, so if you’re interested I wouldn’t hang about! https://burningshed.com/grateful-dead_blues-for-allah-50th-anniversary_blu-ray

"BLUES FOR ALLAH is the Dead’s unique vision, a deeply humane parable that framed their own artistic renewal in the most inclusive, expansive terms. Fifty years later, it remains one of their most musically successful and resolutely experimental albums.” Nicholas G. Meriwether, Executive Director of the Grateful Dead Studies Association