| Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover art byJohn Van Hamersveld | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | February 1974 (1974-02)(LP) October 1988 (1988-10)(CD) | |||
| Recorded | 1967–1972 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:53 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. WS 2764 | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Rolling Stone | Mixed[2] |
Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead is the firstcompilation album from rock band theGrateful Dead, released in February 1974. As with other such packages, the album was a way forWarner Bros. Records to capitalize on the Dead's back catalog after the band had left the label. It was followed three years later by a second compilation,What a Long Strange Trip It's Been.[3]
Upon fulfilling their contract with Warner Bros. Records, the Grateful Dead left the label and started their own production and publishing arm for the release of their albums and other projects. AfterWake of the Flood was successfully released on the independentGrateful Dead Records, Warner Bros. compiledSkeletons from the Closet as a "best-of" package, with tracks representing six of the band's nine albums on their label (along with a track fromBob Weir's solo album,Ace).[4]
Eight of the tracks are from Dead studio recordings, and two are from live albums. However "Turn On Your Love Light" is an edited version that first appeared on theWarner/Reprise Loss Leaders albumThe Big Ball, rather than the complete version fromLive/Dead. "One More Saturday Night" is a live version fromEurope '72. Though "Mexicali Blues" is from Weir's solo album, he is backed by the Grateful Dead. Nothing is presented fromAnthem of the Sun,Grateful Dead orBear's Choice, nor versions fromsingles.
The album title is a pun, referring both to theidiom and to the fact that these are Grateful Dead tracks from Warner Bros.' "closet" (and skeletons being iconography associated with the band). The artwork for the front and back covers of the album was created byJohn Van Hamersveld. With no input from the band, it only vaguely represents the imagery associated with the Grateful Dead, and is not in keeping with the tone of previous releases.
The front cover shows a somewhat demonic, red-toned man (with flames reflected in his sunglasses),Botticelli's Venus holding a rose (presumably a reference toAmerican Beauty, the album most-heavily represented), and a smoking skeleton spindling a prescient gold record on its extendedmiddle finger. The stem of the rose touches the record, as astylus. The back cover depicts three men seated around a diner table playing cards, with a globe trophy in the center. A book of matches bears theecology symbol. Outside in the background, aflying saucer (fromThe Day the Earth Stood Still) hovers over a futuristicDymaxion car whose designer,Buckminster Fuller, sits in the driver's seat. The structure in the distance depicts the Johnson Wax Administration Building, designed byFrank Lloyd Wright. The three men depict Marlon Brando fromThe Wild One, a portrayal ofJesus inacademic dress, andCesar Romero asThe Cisco Kid.[5]
Skeletons from the Closet was certified as aGold Album in 1980, thereafter becoming the best-selling release by the band. It remains so despite the abrupt mix of styles presented (due to the band's stylistic evolution while signed with Warner Bros.), and despite a paucity of live performances, for which the band was more highly regarded by fans and critics.[6]
The album was first released onCD in 1988.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" | The Grateful Dead | 2:07 | |
| 2. | "Truckin'" |
| American Beauty | 5:09 |
| 3. | "Rosemary" |
| Aoxomoxoa | 1:58 |
| 4. | "Sugar Magnolia" |
| American Beauty | 3:15 |
| 5. | "St. Stephen" |
| Aoxomoxoa | 4:26 |
| 6. | "Uncle John's Band" |
| Workingman's Dead | 4:42 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Casey Jones" |
| Workingman's Dead | 4:24 |
| 2. | "Mexicali Blues" | Ace by Bob Weir | 3:24 | |
| 3. | "Turn On Your Love Light" (live, January 26, 1969 atAvalon Ballroom) |
| The Big Ball compilation | 6:30 |
| 4. | "One More Saturday Night" (live, May 26, 1972 atLyceum Theatre, London) | Weir | Europe '72 | 4:45 |
| 5. | "Friend of the Devil" |
| American Beauty | 3:20 |
Grateful Dead
| Additional performers
|
Technical personnel
| Chart | Position |
|---|---|
| Pop Albums | 75[7] |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[8] | 4× Platinum | 4,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
