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.[3]
Content
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).[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 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 Anthem of the Sun, Grateful Dead or Bear's Choice, nor versions from singles.
Title, cover art & release
The album title is a pun, referring both to the idiom 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 by John 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 to American Beauty, the album most-heavily represented), and a smoking skeleton spindling a prescient gold record on its extended middle finger. The stem of the rose touches the record, as a stylus. 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 the ecology symbol. Outside in the background, a flying saucer (from The Day the Earth Stood Still) hovers over a futuristic Dymaxion car whose designer, Buckminster Fuller, sits in the driver's seat. The structure in the distance depicts the Johnson Wax Administration Building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The three men depict Marlon Brando from The Wild One, a portrayal of Jesus in academic dress, and Cesar Romero as The Cisco Kid.[5]
Skeletons from the Closet was certified as a Gold 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]
Mickey Hart – drums, percussion on "Truckin'", "Sugar Magnolia", "St. Stephen", "Uncle John's Band", "Casey Jones", "Turn On Your Love Light", "Friend of the Devil"
Alembic – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
Stephen Barncard – compilation production; production on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Dick Bogert – engineering on "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)"
Betty Cantor – production, engineering on "Casey Jones", "Rosemary", "St. Stephen", "Turn On Your Love Light", and "Uncle John's Band"
Bob Cassidy – engineering on "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)"
Dave Collins – digital remastering assistance; pre-mastering assistance on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Tom Flye – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones", "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", "Truckin'", and "Uncle John's Band"; mastering supervision on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Joe Gastwirt – remixing, production; pre-mastering assistance on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
David Hassinger – compilation production; production on "The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)"
Dan Healy – consulting engineering on "Rosemary" and "St. Stephen"
Scott Heard – equipment technician on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
Robin Hurley – audio production on "Casey Jones", "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", "Truckin'", and "Uncle John's Band"
Bob Matthews – production, engineering on "Casey Jones", "Rosemary", "St. Stephen", "Turn On Your Love Light", and "Uncle John's Band"
Andrew McPherson – authoring on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
David McLees – executive production on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Jeffrey Norman – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"; engineering on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Fred Ordower – engineering on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Ramrod – equipment technician on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"
Bob Seidemann – art direction
Rudson Shurtliff – engineering, mixing on "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band"; engineering on "Friend of the Devil", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Truckin'"
Owsley Stanley – consulting engineering on "Rosemary" and "St. Stephen"
