DVD review: Grateful Dead: ‘All the Years Combine'

A massive flashback of the best possible kind awaits dedicated Deadheads in the hefty “All the Years Combine: The DVD Collection” box set.

A mind-blowing 38 hours of footage unwind on 14 DVDs, offering 12 Grateful Dead concert films and all the bonus features from previous releases of the DVDs, a bonus disc of five previously unreleased live performances from the Dead archive, the 1992 documentary “Backstage Pass” by Justin Kreutzmann and a new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David

The best of the bunch remains the band’s essential concert film document, “The Grateful Dead Movie,” filmed in 1974 during five pre-hiatus shows at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, then skillfully assembled by Susan Crutcher and a team of editors and finally released to theaters in 1977. The film stars one of the best incarnations of the Dead — the nucleus of Jerry Garcia, (lead guitar, vocals) Bob Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums), with Mickey Hart back on the other drum kit after a five-year absence, Keith Godchaux on keyboards and Donna Jean Godchaux on backing vocals.