GRATEFUL DEAD - Ramble on Rose (10 Select Cuts From The Dead's 70s Prime) (2015) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Included free with their September 2015 issue, British rock magazine Uncut offers this ten-song meditation on what the Grateful Dead might have included on a supposed successor to their landmark studio album American Beauty. A number of new songs were introduced into the Dead's live canon in the years following American Beauty's November 1970 release, yet they wouldn't produce a proper studio follow-up until 1973's Wake of the Flood, by which time much had changed for the band. The death of founding keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and the subsequent addition of keyboardist Keith Godchaux and his wife, vocalist Donna Godchaux, had altered their sound significantly, as did the absence of percussionist Mickey Hart. Over the years, there has been plenty of speculation about a supposed "lost album" that would have completed a trilogy that began with Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Uncut's take on this fabled follow-up is titled Ramble on Rose and its contents are taken from concert highlights of the band's legendary 1971-1973 era. Several of these songs, like Bob Weir's "Black-Throated Wind" and Jerry Garcia's "Loser," appeared in studio form on their respective 1972 solo albums and Uncut's omission of beloved non-album favorites of that era like "Tennessee Jed," "Bertha," and "Jack Straw" make for a somewhat puzzling playlist. Still, with a catalog and history like the Dead's, everything is up for debate and this is all merely the supposition of a rock magazine four decades after the fact. Even if Ramble on Rose doesn't quite have enough weight to complete what would have been one hell of a trilogy, it's still an entertaining venture full of great songs and performances. by Timothy Monger  
Tracklist :
1     Mr. Charlie 3:32
Robert Hunter
2     Brown-Eyed Women 3:46
Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter
3     Looks Like Rain 7:08
Bob Weir
4     He's Gone 8:10
Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter
5     Loser 6:38
Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter
6     Comes a Time 6:37
Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter
7     Ramble on Rose 6:13
Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter
8     Chinatown Shuffle 2:54
McKernan
9     Black-Throated Wind 6:29
Bob Weir
10     To Lay Me Down 5:40
Jerry Garcia