Comes a Time to Celebrate – Reflections’ 50th Anniversary for Record Store Day

Some albums outlive their era, carrying their magic from one generation to the next. The Jerry Garcia Family and Round Records celebrate the 50th anniversary of Reflections, “one of Garcia’s most artistically unified statements of harmony, affirmation, and joy,” with an expanded 3xLP set for Record Store Day on April 18, 2026. Reflections (50th Anniversary Edition) presents the remastered original studio album – famously described as “really two half-albums in one” – recorded with the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band, and includes two bonus LPs featuring studio outtakes, jams, and four previously unreleased live recordings.

Originally released in early 1976, Garcia reflected that much of the album’s energy “is really a continuation of the Blues for Allah groove that we got into. We sort of continued the same energy because we were having a lot of fun doing it.” The Dead-backed tracks were shaped in Bob Weir’s home studio, Ace’s, and feature a set of original songs composed with Robert Hunter, including “Might as Well,” “They Love Each Other,” “Comes a Time,” and “It Must Have Been the Roses.”

The rest of the studio album highlights the late-1975 Jerry Garcia Band core – John Kahn, Ron Tutt, and Nicky Hopkins – joined by Larry Knechtel of the famed Wrecking Crew. Like the Dead-recorded material, these selections were road-tested on tour, and include the seminal Garcia/Hunter ballad “Mission in the Rain,” alongside renditions of Hank Ballard’s rocker “Tore Up Over You,” “Catfish John,” and Allen Toussaint’s “I’ll Take a Melody.”

Much of the bonus material comes from the fall of 1975, when the Jerry Garcia Band took up residence at His Master’s Wheels in San Francisco. There, the band explored classics like “Mystery Train,” “All By Myself,” “Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie,” and “You Win Again.” Also featured is the Grateful Dead’s recording of  “Orpheus,” a track that later became “a significant addition to the Dead’s oeuvre,” heard here for the first time outside of the All Good Things box set.

Rounding out this expanded edition are four previously unreleased live recordings from three performances: October 17, 1975 at Concord Pavilion in Concord, CA; February 25, 1976 at Keystone in Berkeley, CA; and November 12, 1976 at Freeborn Hall, University of California, Davis in Davis, CA. These recordings reveal how the Reflections material grew and evolved onstage with the Jerry Garcia Band.

Pressed in a limited edition of 5,000, Reflections (50th Anniversary Edition) is housed in a tri-fold mirror board jacket and includes liner notes by Steve Silberman, along with archival photos and memorabilia. Visit RecordStoreDay.com for more information and to locate an independent, locally owned store near you.

Track List:

ORIGINAL ALBUM:

Side One

  1. Might As Well
  2. Mission in the Rain
  3. They Love Each Other
  4. I’ll Take a Melody

Side Two

  1. It Must Have Been the Roses
  2. Tore Up Over You
  3. Catfish John
  4. Comes a Time

OUTTAKES:

Side Three

  1. Mystery Train [Studio Jam]
  2. All By Myself [Studio Jam]
  3. Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie
  4. You Win Again

Side Four

  1. Orpheus

LIVE:

Side Five

  1. They Love Each Other (November 12th, 1976)
  2. Catfish John (February 25th, 1976)

Side Six

  1. Tore Up Over You (February 25th, 1976)
  2. Mission In the Rain (October 17th, 1975)