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Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead

Skeletons from the Closet:
The Best of Grateful Dead
A line drawing of a skeleton holding a record, a woman holding a rose, and a man holding the woman
Cover art by John Van Hamersveld
Greatest hits album by Grateful Dead
Released February 1974 (1974-02) (LP)
October 1988 (1988-10) (CD)
Recorded 1967–1972
Genre Acid rock, jam, psychedelic rock, blues rock, country rock, folk rock
Length 44:53
Label Warner Bros.
WS 2764
Producer Stephen Barncard, Betty Cantor, David Hassinger, the Grateful Dead, and Bob Matthews
Grateful Dead chronology
Wake of the Flood
(1973)Wake of the Flood1973
Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead
(1974)
From the Mars Hotel
(1974)From the Mars Hotel1974

Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead is the first compilation album from rock band the Grateful Dead. It was originally released in February 1974. As with other such packages, the album was a way for Warner 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.

Certified triple platinum in the United States by the RIAA, Skeletons from the Closet remains the Grateful Dead's best-selling album, as of 2018.

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. After Wake of the Flood was successfully released on the independent Grateful Dead Records, Warner Bros. compiled Skeletons 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 from Bob Weir's solo album, Ace).

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 the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders album The Big Ball, rather than the complete version from Live/Dead. "One More Saturday Night" is a live version from Europe '72. Though "Mexicali Blues" is from Weir's solo album, he is backed by the Grateful Dead. Nothing is presented from previous albums Anthem of the Sun, Grateful Dead or Bear's Choice, nor versions from singles.


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