Here Comes Sunshine: Grateful Dead’s ‘Wake of the Flood’ Expanded for 50th Anniversary

Several albums will turn 50 years old this fall, from Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to the Who’s Quadrophenia. That also includes the Grateful Dead’s Wake of the Flood, which will be expanded for its anniversary on Sept. 29.

Released in October 1973, Wake of the Flood marked an album of change for the Dead. It was their first record without Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, who died that spring, and drummer Mickey Hart, who temporarily parted ways with the band. It was also the debut of their new label, Grateful Dead Records.

Rhino’s deluxe edition of Wake of the Flood includes a set at Northwestern University’s Mcgaw Memorial Hall, as well as tender demos of “Here Comes Sunshine” and “Eyes of the World.” You can hear the latter, recorded earlier that year, below.

“I was enthralled with the beautiful arrangements of some of the Dead’s greatest songs, everything so clear and present,” archivist David Lemieux said in a statement. “The songs and vocal treatments all sounded so mature, like these were guys who knew things and they wanted to share what they’d learned in the eight years since forming the Grateful Dead. And what REALLY caught my ear were the many additional sounds that were striking at first, but I can’t imagine these songs, on this record, without these many additional contributors.”

Wake Of The Flood (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) Tracklist
Disc One
1. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
2. Let Me Sing Your Blues Away
3. Row Jimmy
4. Stella Blue
5. Here Comes Sunshine
6. Eyes Of The World
7. Weather Report Suite
8. Eyes Of The World (Demo)
9. Here Comes Sunshine (Demo)

Disc Two
1. Mcgaw Memorial Hall, Northwestern University Evanston, Il (11/1/73)
2. Weather Report Suite
3. Morning Dew
4. Playing In The Band
5. Uncle John’s Band
6. Playing In The Band
7. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo