At 59 tracks and nearly six hours, the voluminous Day of the Dead is a difficult project to wrap a single critical opinion around. But compilers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National recognized that a true survey of the Dead needed to cover several dimensions, from their still-under-recognized songwriting prowess and deep roots-folk credentials to their improvisational journeys and experimental oddities. Better then to go track by track, examining how faces familiar and less so bring the catalog into the 2010s, with results as varied as, well, a typical Dead show.

Here’s a look at Volume Two (click here to read about Volume One).

“LIGHTNING” (VOL. 2)
01. If I Had the World to Give – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
A Beatles-esque tune hidden at the end of Shakedown Street and only performed three times, you’d be forgiven if you forgot this one even existed. But in an adorned voice and piano rendition, Will Oldham rescues the song from both obscurity and overproduction, one of the best functions a tribute album can perform.

02. Standing on the Moon – Phosphorescent & Friends
A better-known song, but another reclamation project, as the latter-day Jerry ballad is given a laid-back reading by Matthew Houck and the house band. The production is still era-appropriate (dig those “Chariots of Fire” drums) but less overbearing, and the tempo is less like a winding-down clock.

03. Cumberland Blues – Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band
Slamming together Daptone soul act Charles Bradley with the Dead’s hyper-bluegrass staple is some devilish scheming. But it works, with the song slowed down to a lascivious funk, the haphazard harmonies switched out for slinky call and response, and enough ad-lib expectorations to make Bobby green with envy.

04. Ship of Fools – The Tallest Man on Earth & Friends
Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson’s early-Dylan whine has mellowed out to a late-Dylan croak, so “Ship of Fools” has some Dylan & The Dead vibes, if that project hadn’t been a complete disaster. It’s fine and harmless and has sad, boozy horns, but the cover is maybe one of the few on Day of the Dead that falls short of its Deadicated equivalent.

05. Bird Song – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Friends
The best known from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s trio of contributions is the least satisfying, coming off thin without qualifying as sparse. “Bird Song” is a particularly unforgiving Jerry vocal to replace, and Oldham gives it a good go,but the straight-up arrangement and solos fail to add enough to fill what it subtracts.

06. Morning Dew – The National
Speaking of weird vocal matchmaking, Berninger’s deep tones are octaves away from the lonesome wail Jerry would reach in classic “Dew”s. The National tailor their arrangement around this difference, with their take on Bonnie Dobson’s post-nuclear folk song seething instead of building, an organ drone and near-martial drumbeat bringing out the homophone in “morning.”

07. Truckin’ – Marijuana Deathsquads
Interpret it how you will, but Bob-associated songs are few and far between on this set, and two of those that made the cut are radically deconstructed. (See also “Estimated Prophet.”) Minnesota noise-pranksters Marijuana Deathsquads come closer to the weirdo-punk Pop-O-Pies “Truckin’” from 1982, preserving only the vocals and filling out the rest with synth bleeps, sax and guitar fragments, and a manic drum freakout.

08. Dark Star – Cass McCombs, Joe Russo & Friends
In his appearance with Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Cass McCombs revealed himself as an uncanny clone for Jerry Garcia’s voice— signing him up for Fare Thee Well would have saved a lot of trouble. Here, he teams up with the current king of the Dead cover band scene, drummer Joe Russo, to kick off a miniature “Dark Star” suite with a faithful, live/studio hybrid reading of the song’s verses that segues into…

09. Nightfall of Diamonds – Nightfall of Diamonds
If you’re not going to take “Dark Star” deep, then what’s the point of a Dead tribute? A pseudonym for the house band, “Nightfall of Diamonds” provides the jamming essential to any “Dark Star” cover, eight minutes of commendable cosmic rock, eating away at the song structure until there’s nothing but pure sound. As it should be.

10. Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald – Tim Hecker
Paying tribute to the experimental tape-manipulation mastermind of Grayfolded lends the whole project strong Deadhead credentials. Experimental, electronic artist Tim Hecker is just the guy to do it, too, lending his talent for disquieting sonics to this strange “Dark Star” coda that simultaneously evokes the tinny MIDI psych of ‘90s “Space” jams.

11. Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad – Lucinda Williams & Friends
Lucinda Williams is a perfect candidate for any number of Dead songs, which makes this bland, slow-paced “GDTRFB” a deep disappointment. Williams’ singing is essentially the song name in vocal chord form, but playing a fast song slow (or a slow song fast) is truly the lazy first draft of tribute compilations.

12. Playing in the Band – Tunde Adebimpe, Lee Ranaldo & Friends
No Donna wails, but “Playing” is played straight, with TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe providing the Bobby-ish bookends. But the real meat is the compilation’s second serious jam in four tracks, where a violin-bow-wielding Ranaldo does battle with the Dessners in a proper three-guitar drone freakout.

13. Stella Blue – Local Natives
Deadheads will hate this one weird cover! But rebuilding this beloved Jerry ballad from the ground up is one of the collection’s boldest moves, basing it around drum-machine beats, sonar blorps and Coachella-band harmonies. An argument could be made that an honest tribute album should reflect its era’s trends, and this track is the purest demonstration of today’s prevalent indie-rock styles.

14. Eyes of the World – Tal National
After 32 tracks of Western rock music, the opening of this Nigerien band’s “Eyes of the World” is a much-needed jump cut of perspective. The Dead’s African influences entered primarily through The Rhythm Devils’ ever-expanding drum arsenals and segments, but Tal National deftly coaxes the global DNA to the forefront of “Eyes,” performing the second verse in French and adding an original coda that pays tribute to the song’s early status as an improv launchpad.

15. Help on the Way – Béla Fleck
The jamband community will feel comfortable with Béla Fleck handling “Help on the Way,” not to mention Edgar Meyer on bass and Planet Drum alumnus Zakir Hussain on tabla. It’s a sparse version, but by incorporating elements of “Slipknot,” there’s plenty of room for proggy runs and solos that suit the nimble lineup, which provides the closest thing to Phil Lesh-style bass on the entire set.

16. Franklin’s Tower – Orchestra Baobab
Coming after the brilliant Tal National “Eyes” doesn’t do Orchestra Baobob any favors, as their “Franklin’s Tower” is a less of an intercontinental fusion. Instead, the chords of “Franklin’s Tower” (very capably) provide the foundation for an extended vamp in their usual style, which doesn’t get around to rolling away the dew until the final seconds.

17. Till the Morning Comes – Luluc with Xylouris White
American Beauty’s odd psych tune-out gets a reading more in line with the rest of that album, in a collaboration between Australian indie-folker Luluc and the luteand- drums combo Xylouris White. Bad news: That puts the spotlight on some of Robert Hunter’s most tossed-off lyrics. Good news: It provides a more subtle platform for two pretty wonderful minutes of full-band interplay after the singing is through.

18. Ripple – The Walkmen
Before their indefinite hiatus began in 2013, New York indie-rockers The Walkmen found time to record “Ripple,” giving it a carnival-esque arrangement that suits the song’s sweet melody without making your teeth hurt. It’s less of a departure than the well-regarded Jane’s Addiction version from Deadicated, but might age better.

19. Brokedown Palace – Richard Reed Parry with Caroline Shaw and Little Scream (featuring Garth Hudson)
Yes, that’s Garth Hudson of The Band at the end of that lengthy artist credit contributing his trademark organ swells in the background of this arrangement by Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry. The near-choral blend of voices works well, though the music errs on the side of density by the end, a wall of sound swell that doesn’t fit the fragile lyrics.