Grateful Dead to celebrate 50th anniversary of “Wake of the Flood”

After a nearly three-year break in studio recordings, the Grateful Dead returned in 1973 with the mighty “Wake of the Flood.”

The band’s sixth studio outing was a strong follow-up to the twin 1970 masterpieces — “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty” — and featured such fan favorites as “Eyes of the World,” “Stella Blue” and “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo.”

The album was released in October of 1973, which means that it’s 50th anniversary is right around the corner.

To celebrate the milestone occasion, the Grateful Dead family and Rhino Records are releasing “Wake of the Flood (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)” on Sept. 29.

It will be available as two-CD and digital sets, which offer up a remastered version of the original album as well as previously unreleased demo recordings of “Eyes Of The World” and “Here Comes Sunshine.” The sets also feature live material from the last night of a short concert tour that immediately followed the release of the “Wake of the Flood” — at Northwestern University’s McGaw Memorial Hall on Nov. 1, 1973. (Deadheads will especially love that “Morning Dew”>”Playing in the Band”>”Uncle John’s Band”>”Playing in the Band” jam!)