Grateful Dead: Backstage Pass (1992)

This six-song, 35-minute, chronologically arranged compilation of heretofore-unseen Grateful Dead material is pretty slim pickings. For the historically minded, there are some home movies of Jerry Garcia's 1964 bluegrass band and shots of the Dead's 1978 visit to Egypt. For completists, there's a song by late keyboardist Brent Mydland and a black-and-white studio rendition of the Bob Dylan classic ''She Belongs to Me.'' The remainder of Grateful Dead: Backstage Pass is just indifferent footage from a couple of the band's trademarked psychedelically sloppy live performances, none particularly compelling (in fact, watching another late keyboardist, Pigpen, mangle ''Hard to Handle'' makes you appreciate the Black Crowes). Fans of the group may find this video compendium engaging — but they're not called Deadheads for nothing. C+

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