Various Artists - Day of the Dead, review: ‘six hour Grateful Dead tribute offers extraordinary range’ | London Evening Standard

Various Artists - Day of the Dead, review: ‘six hour Grateful Dead tribute offers extraordinary range’The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner present a tribute that likely features several of your favourite artistsCurators: Aaron and Bryce Dessner have pulled together a huge tribute to the Grateful Dead

Review at a glance

Dark Was the Night, from 2009, was a consistently marvellous indie rock compilation.

Various Artists - Day of the Dead

Now its curators and producers, Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, have upped the ante considerably with a 59-track, six hour tribute to The Grateful Dead that very likely features several of your favourite bands.

Even if the hippy legends aren’t your bag (and a few of the contributors admit as much) the range here is extraordinary, from acoustic richness on Perfume Genius and Sharon Van Etten’s exquisite To Lay Me Down, to restless Afrobeat on Tal National’s Eyes of the World.

Read More

There are fresh delights around every corner – I’m currently favouring Box of Rain delivered by king slackers Kurt Vile and J Mascis, and The National’s drone rock on Morning Dew – but still feel I’ve only scratched the surface of a towering endeavour.

(4AD)