Eight months after the release of Wake Of The Flood, the GRATEFUL DEAD followed up that masterpiece with the second album on their Grateful Dead Records label, From The Mars Hotel. To this day, most of the songs on From The Mars Hotel are played frequently by the band members as they continue to bring the music to the people, and during the GRATEFUL DEAD’S touring career, more than half of the songs were important parts of their live repertoire.

“Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship Of Fools,” and “U.S Blues” arrived on the scene in 1974, with “China Doll” and “Loose Lucy” coming a year earlier, and they all quickly became staples of GRATEFUL DEAD live sets for decades, although “Loose Lucy” had a 15 year hiatus 1975-1989. Phil's two songs on the album are often played live these days when Phil performs with his rotating cast of Friends, and these songs, “Pride Of Cucamonga” and “Unbroken Chain” are elicit ecstatic responses. These would be the final two Phil-sung songs on a GRATEFUL DEAD studio album.

Peaking at #16 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in 1974, the album's terrific batch of new songs and exceptional production had Dead Heads scooping up the album 50 years ago upon its release.

Tracklist

LP
Side 1

1. U.S. Blues
2. China Doll
3. Unbroken Chain
4. Loose Lucy


Side 2

1. Scarlet Begonias
2. Pride Of Cucamonga
3. Money Money
4. Ship Of Fools

3CD
Disc 1

1. U.S. Blues
2. China Doll
3. Unbroken Chain
4. Loose Lucy
5. Scarlet Begonias
6. Pride Of Cucamonga
7. Money Money
8. Ship Of Fools -Bonus Tracks-
9. China Doll (Demo)
10. Wave That Flag (Demo)

Disc 2

1. Sugaree
2. Mexicali Blues
3. Tennessee Jed
4. Jack Straw
5. Brown-Eyed Women
6. Beat It On Down The Line
7. China Cat Sunflower>
8. I Know You Rider
9. El Paso
10. U.S. Blues
11. Greatest Story Ever Told
12. It Must Have Been The Roses
13. Me And Bobby McGee

Disc 3

1. Deal
2. Around And Around
3. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
4. Truckin'
5. The Other One>
6. Row Jimmy
7. Big River
8. Ship Of Fools
9. Sugar Magnolia