Initially released as a limited-edition box set so lavish it was on the verge of being absurd, is a deep exploration of a simple idea: tell 's story through unreleased live performances taken from every year of their life. This concept reaches its full fruition in its 80-CD incarnation, containing a full unreleased show for every year between 1966 and 1995, but the four-CD distillation operates in a similar fashion and may seem more attractive to Deadheads unwilling to immerse themselves in a monthlong listening session. The closest analogy to in their discography is 1999's , a five-disc box heavy on unreleased live material, but that set wound up skipping over the fallow periods a chronological march inevitably hits. Aware of this pitfall, the archivists behind selected the finest unreleased shows from each of these 30 years and, for this set, chose to showcase songs that rarely appeared in 's repertoire. This turns out to be a fairly broad category, encompassing singing "The Rub" in 1971 and debuting with the band in 1972 via a duet with on 's "Tomorrow Is Forever," as well as 's "Broken Arrow" in 1993 and a bittersweet "Visions of Johanna" from 1995 that closes out the set. As its considerably shorter than its parent, the four-disc never lingers upon the eras of that cause consternation among fans -- here, 's synths don't seem quite so prominent and 's penchant for sambas is hidden -- yet this shorter box still illustrates how these eras bled together or echoed throughout 's history. Most of all, illustrates how kept circling back to their folk and blues beginnings no matter who supplemented the core quintet of , , and . While the four or five main keyboardists brought their own signatures (particularly , whose rough-hewn growl provided a gritty counterpart to the band's spacy early explorations), come 1971, the year after the twin masterpieces of and maintained a groove more psychedelic in spirit than sound. Although this truncation emphasizes this continuity, it's still possible to hear how the band's first 15 years were a rapid progression while the second 15 were about reliability, but perhaps the most affecting thing about is the simple passing of time. By the end, 's voice sounds rough and fragile, 's confidence surges, 's lines are elastic, and the "Drums" showcase for turns exploration into schtick -- it's a mix of emotion and show that's endearing and even moving. If you take all 30 trips, 's journey feels long and sweet and unlike anything else in rock. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine