New Riders Of The Purple Sage: N.R.P.S. / Powerglide auf 2 CDs

This 2 on 1 CD features the band#s eponymous debut album from the second half of 1971, originally released on the Columbia / CBS label, which was an above-average hit. It peaked inside the Top 40 of the US album charts, where it remained for over 3 months. Here, it is coupled with their second album which was released in mid-1972, and which performed as well as the first LP, spending over four months in the US Top 40.

'N. R.P. S.' features the giant talent of Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead.

The story goes that circa 1969, Jerry Garcia had acquired a pedal steel guitar which was not really appropriate for use in The Grateful Dead. As a result, he needed a group in which he could play his new instrument, and starting rehearsing / formally working with Dave Nelson and John Marmaduke Dawson whom he had met in the early 60s when they were members of bluegrass bands in the Bay Area. Before long, two of Garcia's Grateful Dead colleagues (drummer Mickey Hart and bassist Phil Lesh) had become the rhythm section of the new band, which inevitably attracted attention amongst 'Deadheads', especially when Grateful Dead concerts involved The New Riders as the opening act.

Only Garcia was still a member of NRPS when they signed to Columbia / CBS. The replacement for Hart was the equally celebrated drummer Spencer Dryden, who had joined Jefferson Airplane on their breakthrough second album, 'Surrealistic Pillow' the first to feature vocalist Grace Slick. The new bass player was Dave Torbert, with whom both Dawson and Nelson had worked with in the New Delhi River Band.