The keepers of the Grateful Dead vault recently discovered 152 minutes of unfinished music from the 1970 sessions that produced Workingman’s Dead and released all of it as a digital LP. 

Dubbed Workingman’s Dead: The Angel’s Share, the streaming-only album presents rehearsals, demos and false starts from the LP’s eight songs presented in the finished album’s running order. The 64 cuts – which sound nearly pristine despite their age and the fact they’ve been sitting in unmarked boxes for the past half-century – include 15 versions of “Easy Wind,” but only one incomplete stab at “Cumberland Blues.”

“Nothing to lose but our lives,” Jerry Garcia says as the collection begins with six acoustic, instrumental runs through “Uncle John’s Band,” many of them quite similar, but fascinating nevertheless. 

At its best, The Angel’s Share gives fans an unprecedented glimpse into how numbers like “Dire Wolf” (14 attempts) and “New Speedway Boogie” (11) took shape in the studio. 

The worst that can be said for it is listening to iterations of the same songs for 20 minutes can grow tiresome. But by the time a nearly finished “Casey Jones” wraps things up, Dead Heads will have a better understanding of how Workingman’s Dead came to life. 

And from a group with more than its share of completists in its fan base, that’s a real gift.