Birth of the Dead is a two-CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 chronicling the early years of the San Francisco psychedelic band

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 the Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

. The set was originally part of the twelve-CD box set The Golden Road (1965-1973)

The Golden Road (1965-1973)

The Golden Road is a twelve-CD boxed set retrospect of the Grateful Dead's studio and live albums during their time with Warner Bros. Records from 1965 to 1973. After 1973, the band went on to create its own label, Grateful Dead Records....

, released on October 16, 2001, but was released as a stand-alone album on March 25, 2003. The album consists of various studio and live tracks of seven original songs and a number of covers

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

.

Labeling

The two CDs are labeled "The Studio Sides" for the first CD and "The Live Sides" for the second. The Studio Sides comprise three separate recording sessions: "The Autumn Sessions", "The Scorpio Session", and "The Hendricks Session".

The Autumn Sessions was recorded at Golden State Recorders in San Francisco in November 1965. The band used the space under the assumed name of The Emergency Crew. The Scorpio Sessions, comprising tracks seven through sixteen of disc one, was released in limited supply by Scorpio Records in July 1966. The Hendrick Session, consisting of only the song "Fire in the City", was recorded for use in the documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 Sons and Daughters. It was later released as a single by Verve Records

Verve Records

Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...

.

Disc one

• The Studio sides

1. "Early Morning Rain" (Lightfoot
   Gordon Lightfoot
   Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
   
   ) – 3:22
2. "I Know You Rider" (traditional) – 2:41
3. "Mindbender (Confusion's Prince)" (Garcia
   Jerry Garcia
   Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
   
   , Lesh
   Phil Lesh
   Phillip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career....
   
   ) – 2:41
4. "The Only Time Is Now" (Grateful Dead
   Grateful Dead
   The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
   
   ) – 2:24
5. "Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)" (Grateful Dead) – 3:17
6. "Can't Come Down" (Grateful Dead) – 3:04
7. "Stealin' (instrumental)" (Cannon) – 2:40
8. "Stealin' (w/ vocals)" (Cannon) – 2:36
9. "Don't Ease Me In (instrumental)" (traditional) – 2:01
10. "Don't Ease Me In (w/ vocals)" (traditional) – 2:02
11. "You Don't Have to Ask" (Grateful Dead) – 3:35
12. "Tastebud (instrumental)" (McKernan) – 7:04
13. "Tastebud (w/ vocals" (McKernan) – 4:35
14. "I Know You Rider" (traditional) – 2:36
15. "Cold Rain and Snow (instrumental)" (traditional) – 3:15
16. "Cold Rain and Snow (w/ vocals)" (traditional) – 3:17
17. "Fire in the City" (Krug) – 3:19

Disc two

• The Live Sides

1. "Viola Lee Blues" (Lewis) – 9:39
2. "Don't Ease Me In" (traditional) – 2:43
3. "Pain in My Heart" (Neville) – 4:24
4. "Sitting on Top of the World" (Chatmon, Vinson) – 3:51
5. "It's All over Now, Baby Blue" (Dylan
   Bob Dylan
   Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
   
   ) – 5:12
6. "I'm a King Bee" (Moore) – 8:52
7. "Big Boss Man" (Dixon, Smith) – 5:11
8. "Standing on the Corner" (Grateful Dead) – 3:46
9. "In the Pines" (Bryant, McMichen) – 4:55
10. "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (Johnson) – 4:15
11. "Next Time You See Me" (Forest, Harvey) – 2:47
12. "One Kind Favor" (Hopkins, Taub) – 3:44
13. "He Was a Friend of Mine" (traditional) – 4:45
14. "Keep Rolling By" (traditional) – 7:57

Personnel

Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

:

• Jerry Garcia
  Jerry Garcia
  Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
  
   - guitar, vocals
• Bob Weir
  Bob Weir
  Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
  
   - guitar, vocals
• Phil Lesh
  Phil Lesh
  Phillip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career....
  
   - bass, vocals
• Bill Kreutzmann
  Bill Kreutzmann
  Bill Kreutzmann is an American drummer who played with the rock band the Grateful Dead for their entire thirty-year career...
  
   - drums
• Ron McKernan - organs, harmonica, vocals

Additional performers:

• Jon Hendricks
  Jon Hendricks
  Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
  
   - vocals

Production:

Autumn Records sessions (Disc one, tracks 1 to 6)

• Producers - Tom Donahue, Bobby Mitchell
• Engineer - Leo De Gar Kulka

Scorpio Records sessions (Disc one, tracks 7 to 16)

• Producer, engineer - Gene Estribou

"Fire In The City"

• Producer, arranger - Jon Hendricks
  Jon Hendricks
  Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
  
  

Live performances (all of disc two)

• Engineers - Owsley Stanley
  Owsley Stanley
  Owsley Stanley also known as Bear, was an essential and transitional personality in the development of the San Francisco Bay counter-culture. Spanning the Beat-era years of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters scenes, he was equally pivotal to the explosion of 1960's Psychedelia culture...
  
  , Rock Scully
  Rock Scully
  Rock Scully was the manager of The Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1985. He is the co-author with David Dalton of the book .Living in The Haight before and during the Summer of Love, Scully first saw the band play at one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests under the name "The Warlocks." He signed on as the...
  
  

Production details

Autumn Records sessions (Disc one, tracks 1 to 6)

• Recorded on November 3, 1965 at Golden Gate Recorders, San Francisco, CA

Scorpio Records sessions (tracks 7 to 16);

• Recorded during June, 1966 at Buena Vista Studio, San Francisco, CA

Fire In The City

• Recorded during March, 1967 at Columbus Recorders, San Francisco, CA

Live performances

• Recorded during July 1966