The Grateful Dead ? What A Long Strange Trip It's Been 1977 Vinyl LP - 2W 3091

$

25

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is the second compilation album by American rock band Grateful Dead. It was released August 18; 1977 by Warner Bros. Records; three and a half years after the Skeletons from the Closet compilation. Both albums are subtitled "The Best of the Grateful Dead". Unlike the previous compilation; What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is a double album.

The title comes from the bridge of "Truckin'"; which ends with the stanza: Lately it occurs to me What a long strange trip it's been. The cover art is darkly themed; with red; Old English Gothic script and a black skeleton graphic against a black background. The metallized skeleton (less distinct on some printings) is an air-brushed image by Rick Griffin; who had created several previous album covers for the band. The back cover features the rear view of the skeleton; with the text reversed. The inside of the gatefold features the first appearance of the iconic "dancing skeletons" graphic; rendered in white. Also featured are photographs of the band in concert. However; rather than dating from the Warner Bros. Era; they are from October 1976 (see Dick's Picks Volume 33).

Maintenance:

Each record is clean and ready to play. Every record has been brushed with a mobile fidelity record brush, then clamped into a WEWU ROUNDS vinyl record label saver. Next, each record sprayed with a tergikleen/distilled water solution and allowed to sit for several minutes before being wiped with a double-layered plus microfiber cloth with zero decolorization or fiber shedding. This is followed by another spray of pure distilled water and a final wiping with single layered microfiber cloths. Finally, each record is released from the WEWU ROUNDS vinyl record saver, set in a rack to dry for several minutes, blasted with a can of compressed air to remove residual water (if needed), and placed into a fresh archival inner record sleeve. Cotton gloves are worn for all handling of records.

While old and yellowing record sleeves are discarded if they are plain, if the original record sleeve has any distinguishing features such as colors, pictures or writing I have included it empty just for the collectible value it might provide. However, I do not recommend using this sleeve again, as it will not be totally clean inside. I would place the record only in the fresh archival inner record sleeve.

Shipping:

All records are packed in new cardboard record mailers with square pre-cut cardboard back boards and the free shipping is via USPS Media Mail with one business day for handling time.