Grateful Dead live, Dick's Picks etc - S&D

Dick's Picks #4 -- Fillmore East, February 13-14, 1970 -- Better than Live Dead, but do have a chance of finding it? 9.4

Nightfall of Diamonds -- Winterland, 10/10/89 -- Great sound; a bit noodley in places, but right nice. 8.6

Dick's Picks #8 -- Harpur College, 5/02/70 -- Three-Quarters of this is impeccable; good form, nice song selection - one disc acoustic, one disc electric, and one disc rave-ups (i don't much care for their R&B covers like "Dancing in the Streets" and "It's A Man's Man's Man's World"). 8.5

Ladies & Gentleman... The Grateful Dead -- Filmore East, April 1971 -- A good listen, but it delves a bit too much into the Helter Skelter for strict listening. Works better as background -- but is noteworthy for the block of Pigpen's blues numbers. 7.8

my alma mater! (aka "the liberal arts college of SUNY Binghamton")

will do

You can still get any of the Dick's Picks from the Dead's own site (gdstore.com). DP4 is $21 plus postage.

So I don't know why they don't release more albums that take stuff from a variety of performances (and eras), cherry-picking the really juicy tracks. 'The Phil Zone' is a good example of this - it's got a great range of stuff, even some not-bad performances from the late 80s. And it's got an absolutely monster version of 'Hard to Handle', which not only rocks like a bastard, it's from an audience tape so you can hear everybody going mental as they crank it up.

(I also wish you could hear more audience on a lot of the Dick's Picks. They capture the music well, but not always the whole occasion. OK, I know they're mostly taken from the mixing desk so maybe that's not possible.)

Aaron or chaki - could you recommend any good Dick's Picks from 73-4 or 77?

search GRAYFOLDED - Oswald's "plundering" of over 100 versions of Dark Star from 69-95. Essential drone

Anthem of the Sun and Live/Dead are pretty much perfect legit albums btw

And I've just looked at the tracks for 22, that also looks tempting. I listened to Two From The Vaults over the weekend, from the same year (and with a similar set). There's something about the sound of the band/Garcia's guitar from that time (68/69). I can only describe it as having a lot more bite.

Completely agree with you roger about Live/Dead - that's the benchmark for me, both the version of Dark Star and the album as a whole.

I was surprised the first time I heard Grayfolded how 'ordinary' a lot of it sounded i.e. not ordinary as such but just like a great extended version of Dark Star, the first CD at least. The vocal 'swooshes' and 'folds' sound good though.

Just listening to vol 12's lovely version of China Cat Sunflower, as mentioned above by Aaron M.

Any new opinions?

i'm too tired to elaborate, but if you consider that Neil Young has Candian citizenship, and if you exclude the American contingent of Fleetwood Mac at their absolute peak, The Dead are the greatest American rock and roll band of all time.

Trux and the Drive By Truckers are tied for me personally, but we're looking through history's lens here, people. The Dead. the fucking DEAD!!!!

http://usa.festivalexpress.com/

I do have to admit, I didn't get that excited about Closing of Winterland though. THen again, I watched it at like 3 in the morning a couple months ago when I was pretty wiped out. I'll give it another go.

haven't tracked down that Arista set - 71, eh? I'm more a 72-77 kinda guy, but will check it out - thanks!

Yeah, the Ladies and Gentlemen thing is '71 but it's pretty song-oriented. Sort of midway between the psychedelic blow-outs and the Europe '72 stuff. It's a nice, pleasant listen. GREAT version of "Bird Song".

Donna was probably just as proficient a musician as Phil Lesh (making her twice as proficient as Bob Weir) and an all around great, great vocalist. Her live performances were hit and miss due to lack of proper monitor support, everyone knows that.

She never gets a fair shake. It's not like she was Linda McCartney fer chrissakes.

The Godchauxes broght so much life (not to mention a a very vital jazz-informed musical eloquence) to The Dead. I love Pigpen and Mydland as much as the nxt guy, but the 70s are where it's AT because of Keith and Donna!

Rocking the Rhein is good stuff as well.

Au contraire. Au contraire.

i take umbrage with this comment.
and so would CCR.

me rawk.
you snow.

Help/Slip/Frank rules

Thank You

Does this new version sound better:
Europe '72 Remastered with bonus tracks?

And LS, Europe 72 sounds better (though the original still sounds fine to me) and the bonus tracks are worth it.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPEND MONEY ON GREAT LIVE DEAD RECORDINGS. Archive.org and Furthur both have plenty of 1st rate SOUNDBOARD and other high quality recordings.

Download these for starters FOR FREE:

1977-05-08 - "one of the best" (5/7 and 5/9 were good, too)

1972-05-26 - soundboard

1977-05-26 - (same month/day as above, but different year)

1977-11-06 - "one of he best"

1970-05-02 - Harpur College (hard to find, but available as a Dick's Pick if you can't find it as a free download)

1971-04-28(?) - Fillmore East

1971 - Port Chester

1969 - Ark

1973 - Pavillion

1978 - Red Rocks

1973-11-11

1972-05-26

1968-02-14

1969-03-16

1970-02-13

1970-05-06

1981-02-21

1985-04-08

Lots of these are available as soundboard (SBD), just look for it. The Soundboards from 77 were especially high quality.

Sorry the dates are not in chronological order, but I started out doing it highest quality first and then I just went through my discs and chose the best for sound quality and performance. The above represent a good many hours of great live Dead: flub-free, energetic and good singing.

... and YES, I did learn all about bold punctuation from comic books!

As far as paying $$...

I think "Go To Nassau" is just FANTASTIC! "Live Without A Net" is way overlooked, too, although I can see why people wouldn't like it. It grows on you, though.

1977-06-09 - soundboard
1977-02-26 - soundboard
1977-04-22 - soundboard
1969-02-22 - soundboard

all totally killer quality top notch, but I'm not familiar enough to tell apart the 77's yet. I think 06-09 is the one that really is blowing me away lately.

'77 - '78
'72
'69 - '70
'74

I like the warmer, funkier mid-70s stuff more than the turn of the '70s acid, I guess. Curious if there is anything in the '80s that might interest me. Downloaded a couple of supposedly great shows from '79 and Jerry was already sounding pretty rough.

It's incredible: early Dead at their greaser/psychedelic-Tex-Mex best. The fidelity is insane too, it's like these cuts were recorded yesterday. It sounds way better than even the stuff on that Birth of the Dead comp. so crazy. There's a slowed down version of "Cream Puff War" on here that's great, a studio "Standing on the Corner", a version of "Stealin" that has an arrangement that's totally cooler than the one from the 1st single!!!!! I am not shitting you! this version of "Stealin'" is just tough ... it's just incredible. Any 1st album fan (and if you're *not* a first album fan yer nuts, get outta my face) needs to get this at once..

Two From the Vault (1968) - really good

Grateful Dead Download Series Number 6 (also 1968)- also very good

but Dick's Pick's 12 (1974) - which is a favourite of Suzy Creamcheese, I think , from another thread - is a soft ultra-noodley show.

Which were the more harder jamming/ rocking years?

in his autobiog Phil Lesh sez that 74 (the 'wall of sound' era) was the Dead's finest year musically, and i sorta agree w/ him - personally i like the noodle-jazz stuff they got into round about 72-74, def. post-Bitches Brew rock music (and they cld still get pretty intense when they wanted to - just a diff. sound/emphasis). garcia certainly swapped gtrs round abt 70 and that seemed to make a major diff. to his playing

I'm looking for the best recording of Dark Star - other than Live/Dead (which is just incredible). Is there another recording that is nearly as awesome, yet different?

Is the Greyfold 1-hour remix any good?

And I don't know, '73 Dark Stars are my favorite ('73 was my favorite year). There is a capital Dark Star from one of these '73 DPs ... Dick's Picks Volume 19, maybe? '73 was a great year for Playings and Eyes, both of which are represented well on this DPs.

I bought one but I'm keeping it in shrink-wrapped mint condition as an investment for the time being.

Has anyone heard Three From the Vault yet? I'm definitely going to pick this one up.

RELEASE 8/27/72 SBD WTF
35 YEARS SOONE HOMMIE

lots on webarchive.org, tho i think i've got several (on ancient cassette, so mebbe time for refreshments)

Ugh, that's a sore spot, dow. Archive.org used to have about 1,000 soundboards up; thanks to Bobby, Archive took them down a few years ago.

I haven't been keeping up w/ the Dick's Picks for the past few years, but no doubt they've probably released some good ones. Don't have the patience right now to rank all of the DPs, but off the top of my head I love DP 12 (Boston '74).

Jesus Christ "He's Gone" on Europe '72 is so, so solid & great

Yeah, it's incredible. If you can get this bootleg from later that summer, 8/27/72, in Oregon (after Pigpen really is gone), not only is the "He's Gone" ever better, there's a ridiculously great cover of "Sing Me Back Home"---it's also on the So Many Roads box set, but the whole show is that great.

"He's Gone" is originally about their tour manager that swindled them, Mickey Hart's dad. (/grateful dead pedant>

Hence, "steal your face right off your head..."

So what's up with this new series? This seem worthwhile?

Here's the deal: We all loved the Dicks Picks series. Over the course of 36 amazing releases between 1993 and 2005, GD archivists Dick Latvala (R.I.P.) and David Lemieux continually blew our little minds plucking one righteous show after another from the vaults

With Road Trips we're going to try something a little different. We want to plug in a few more pieces of the Grateful Dead puzzle by putting the spotlight on different tours and series of shows that have been neglected through the years. Take Road Trips Volume 1, Number 1, for instance. This two-disc set (plus a special Bonus Disc for a limited time only) was culled from the Dead's blazing fall 1979 East Coast swing, when the band was just hitting its stride with new keyboardist Brent Mydland. You'll find killer versions of "Dancing in the Street" > "Franklin's Tower," long exploratory jams on "Playing in the Band" and "Terrapin," a rattle-your-brain "Shakedown," and lots more, all pulled from the master tapes in the vault and expertly mastered in HDCD for maximum power and clarity by Jeffrey Norman. The Bonus Disc offers another hour-and-a-quarter of highlights from the tour.

Also, every Road Trips release will come with a beautifully designed booklet containing an essay about how the music on the discs fits into the Dead's long history, plus many rare and never-before-seen photographs.

We think you'll agree it's a pretty cool package.

Is this the first big release post-archive-org-zapping of all GD SBDs?

Should be just as great as the DPs, although it's tough not to want complete shows; but, <i>Europe '72</i> is their best live album in a lot of ways, so who knows. It's a shame that they don't have the same over-dubbing options that they had for Euro '72.

Awful press release fwiw.

Has anyone heard the 73 Winterland recordings? I could get a reasonably inexpensive copy of the complete box and am very tempted. Been listening to a lot of live Dead lately (with the few discs I have).

This says it's good: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfixzujldde~T1

But I very much empathise with this statement:

Donna Godchaux. Oh dear, oh dear.
― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 18:14 (6 years ago) Bookmark

Been really appreciating Live 72 lately. Especially disc 2, from the point when Truckin' melts into "Epilogue" and "Prelude", finished off with a lovely "Morning Dew".

There was a time in highschool when I memorized Sunrise (a Donna singing song) off of Terrapin Station. I think I just wanted to teach myself how to sing.

I've never heard Terrapin Station. I thought it best to stop at Blues for Allah as far as the studio albums are concerned...

hmm too this day the only Grateful Dead albums I have ever purchased are (chronologically) Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Skeletetons from the Closet (their first greatest hits), Blues For Allah, Terrapin Station, Dead Set (I prefer the slow version of Friend of the Devil on this cd), and Dylan and The Dead (real mediocre if I remember correctly). I might own Aoxomoxoa as well.

The first time I heard the dead was when some guy at my highschool let me hear his walkman during class. I was surprised.. it was really the first time anyone had ever suggested 'soft' music. I was expecting something much harder (I had no clue who the grateful dead were).

I don't think I could ever collect live recordings and try to find the best version of dead songs (too much work).
I do have The American Book of the Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia which has a little write up for every song and recommended concert performances of each song... but I can't help but want a second opinion -who's to say which performance was the best? Seriously who. I mean, you would have to take 200 hardcore deadheads who have collected everything and have them vote or something.

i prefer the 74 winterland shows collected on the grateful dead movie 5 disc set, but i think thats kinda a minority opinion...haven't listened to that 73 winterland set for a while, but i remember being a little disappointed by the relatively samey setlist...quite a lotta repeptition, if i remember rightly - but 73 dead is 73 dead man!!

I might just go for it.

I do agree with you, captain about collecting the Dead live stuff -- I would just get lost. I have a total of about 6 or 7 live discs/sets of theirs only. I'm looking to add to that a little, without going totally over the top. (He says, contemplating a 9-disc purchase.....But it is cheap!).

today i listened to DICK'S PICKS#36 on gd headphones and the dark star>morning dew from 9/21/72 is reason enough to pick this one up if you happen to see it at a gd price - there's lotsa noodle but some surprisingly angry and chaotic jamming too, garcia playing at his most angular/circular while lesh is thunderous and aggressively entwined w/ him - heavy! 72 is def, to my mind/heart, the dead's primo year for dark stars

can't remember if i've linked to this ol deadhead's blog before - love his descriptions and more of dead music, trading lore, audience recordings etc etc (i first came across it via a link on david keenan's blog so that dude def has his uses):

http://deadlistening.blogspot.com/

I've been listening to quite a lot of the Dead lately: mainly the 3-CD 1969 Filmore West compilation and the 1973 Winterland box that I mentioned above.

Thanks for the link to that listening guide. It will doubtless prove useful for some future purchases. I know that I can download any number of Dead gigs, but I still prefer to buy CD sets -- it makes me focus a little.

i should get more of these dicks picks thangs -- i always enjoy live Dead when I hear it. But the only thing I listen to on the regular is a tape I have of Cornell, ummm 1977? I think it's supposed to be one of the classic shows. It's pretty sweet -- great driving music.

Yeah, the Cornell 77 show is often described as the best Dead show ever. Never heard it myself.

I'm just listening to Morning Dew from "Live 72", and it really is devastatingly wonderful.

You must get Cornell '77. Believe the hype. Best Scarlet/Fire you'll ever hear.

"It's pretty sweet -- great driving music."

Good while doing, uh, other stuff as well.

yeah the 'Fiyahhh! Fiyaahhh on the mountain!" part is hot! xpost

If money weren't so tight I'd have gotten that '73 box a while ago. I hope it's treating you good.

Good while doing, uh, other stuff as well.

you mean doing work around the house? yeah, probs. ;)

is 90s Dead looked down upon by the uh, Dead community? That's when I saw them live, when I was a kid. First show I saw was pretty great! '93 I think?

If money weren't so tight I'd have gotten that '73 box a while ago. I hope it's treating you good.
― Matos W.K., Tuesday, 11 August 2009 23:50 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

I got it at a good price (about 50 euros for nine discs), and I'm glad I went for it. I'm really enjoying it, but I haven't got to the bottom of it yet, not least because I'm also still listening to the 3-disc 1969 Filmore West set that I'd gotten previously.

yes, the Scarlet/Fire on cornell 77 is def. the best version i've heard, gerry plays some endless boogie on the dancing in the street, and the morning dew is pretty spesh too. but i actually prefer the Dick's Picks #3 Florida show from the same month/year - not only do you get a stunning 15 minute Sugaree but also a great Help on the Way>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower and, in the second set, Eyes of the World>Wharf Rat>Terrapin Station>Morning Dew. mmmm. personally i wouldn't take any 77 show over one of the great 72 sprawls (last Lyceum night and lots of the other Europe 72 dates, Renaissance Fair, etc), or some of the really jammy coked-up 74 Euro dates w/ the wall and sound and 'seastones', but as far as funky tight Disco Dead goes, 77 is def the year.

RE: 90s DEAD: much as i love the first ten years or so of the dead, once keith leaves i kinda lose interest really - hate all the keyboard etc sounds of the brent years, gerry's voice/gtr playing are increasingly for shit and - most of all - they pretty much all stopped writing good songs, Touch of Gray maybe excepted. most of the 80s and 90s shows seem pretty painful/dull to listen to, tho i'm sure given the right set+setting they could well have been awesome to see/experience.

yeah, I mean, I was 14 when I saw those 90s shows, so everything sounded pretty good at that age. I imagine if I heard a tape of one of those gigs, it might not be so wonderful. That said, my buddy raved about The Dead show he saw a couple months back. Dude was superbaked though, so grain of salt there.

s/d 1972 "Dark Star"s.

s: 8-27-1972 @ Veneta Fairground. My favorite Dead show period. The "Dark Star" -> "El Paso" -> "Sing Me Back Home" is the sequence that made me a Dead fan.

d: Dick's Picks #11, 9-27-1972 @ Jersey City. It never takes off. The last 3 minutes or so are nice, but otherwise it's meandering. The rest of that show is great though, not too far from what the Band were doing at that point.

destroy that "Dark Star" is way too strong, actually. But it's not at present one that I favor over others. The context is great, though; it's the only spacey moment of the set, so when the band erupts again on "Cumberland Blues" it's exciting. But I can't help feeling that on this one, it was a dope break for most of the band. And that's not always true on epic "Dark Star"s.

Man, thanks for link to Dead Listening Ward. I will be spending some time there.

re: 1990s dead - check for shows during the last year or so before Brent died (Dozin' at the Knick is the one CD set I can think of). He was really coming into his own as a member of the band. Also, the year after he died, Bruce Hornsby's enthusiasm and input did a lot for their playing.

When I got to see the boys in 1994 and 1995, they sucked. It was just plain bad.

Am I right in assuming that the Dick's Picks CD sets are all available from the Deadnet store?:
http://www.deadnetstore.com/Commerce/ProductCategory.aspx?CategoryGuid=a7b282e6-dfd4-42a2-b62b-d33057e65c42&ViewAll=true

It's just that they are so expensive on other online outlets, I'd sort of assume they were out of print.

I may consider getting a couple of them.

i should answer my own question: some of them are only available as downloads (e.g. Dicks Picks 36). Others still available as CD.

wanna stress again what I wrote last summer:

"s: 8-27-1972 @ Veneta Fairground. My favorite Dead show period. The "Dark Star" -> "El Paso" -> "Sing Me Back Home" is the sequence that made me a Dead fan."

I'm inside this sequence again, & I wanted to say again how magical it is. "Dark Star" tessellates out, with shards of color everywhere, & "El Paso" brings it back together, down to earth...but then "Sing Me Back Home" takes it into the earth, six feet down, with lots & lots of mercy shown.

I have THE DEAD: THE DEFINITIVE GRATEFUL DEAD ENCYCLOPEDIA sitting right by my computer. There is a blurb for every song. I've always wanted to hear some of the 'recommended concert performances' for my favorite songs. Some songs have tons of recommended concert performances (26 suggestions for 'Dark Star'. Old Renaissance Faire Grounds, Veneta, Oregon 8/27/72 is one of them). I can't help but be overwhelmed with the amount of live recordings (finding the best live version of every song would be an impossible task - but I wouldn't be surprised if some hardcore deadheads have claimed to have done this). I would listen to those mixes made by hardcore tapeheads (hoping that they weren't too stoned to put a lot of effort into this mix).

man, I just noticed that I wrote a very similar post 1 year ago in this thread

can you link me that performance Euler?

http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-08-27.sbd.orf.3328.sbeok.shnf

Will check this out.

Right, that's the one.

I thought about doing a Dead live mix for the ILM Fan-Made Anthology series, as I put a fair amount of time a few years back into finding definitive/legendary/etc. live version of Dead tunes. But it'd be difficult to fit onto two discs - a Dark Star, Scarlet->Fire, Eyes of the World and China->Rider and you've already filled up one disc.

Interesting:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/midnight_sun/blog/2010/11/free_grateful_dead_downloads_a.html

Dicks Picks vol 4 is amazing.

i see it's been recommended above, but i'm listening to this for the first time http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-08-27.sbd.orf.3328.sbeok.shnf
dangggg. so good.

The sound is incredible. Thanks for reminding us of this one.
My birthday is 8/27!

It's the wrong time of the year for that set for me, but yeah, it's the greatest.

Can someone give me a recommendation as to the Dick's Pick (or easily available bootleg) with best Help>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower?

Thanks.

And that Renaissance Faire grounds set is great.

RE: best Help>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower?

5/9/77 buffalo. Not sure if it ever became a Dick's Pick, but it wins the prize and disagreeers are crazy!

My second favorite is 6/3/76 in Portland OR. Not a big fan of that year, but there's a matrix version of the show on archive.org that is one of the best sounding Dead recordings I've ever heard. It's a long, slow, spacey version Slipknot in particular (realize those adjectives could bs applied to most of the lads' music!). Enjoy.

thanks for the recommendation. love hearing these shows, but whenever i go to the archive, i'm overwhelmed. i knew this deadhead girl with thousands of tapes, and i asked her which one is the absolute best, and she just said: "wow, man ... wow."

ha. she was completely otm btw

whle we're here, anyone have any garcia band bootleg recommendations?

5/9/77 buffalo. Not sure if it ever became a Dick's Pick, but it wins the prize and disagreeers are crazy!

^wow, never heard it, but if true, they had a great May in upstate New York that year.

Thanks tobo!

Never really understood why 5/8/77 is such a big deal. I think it was just widely available in the tape era and got a rep as best-ever. Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of this era but the band was as tight as ever and lots of good-sounding recordings exist.

this is weird. I just put on Dick's Picks no.16 -- the first Dead I've listened to in a long time, and now this thread. I normally listen to GD in the summer, but I'm in the mood right now.

^LOOOVE vol 16.

haha http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/alternate-take/the-grateful-dead-unveil-giant-box-set-europe-72-20110119
60 CDs!

Ridiculous. Awesome.

"There were so many reasons to do this," says producer David Lemieux. "There isn't a bad night. There isn't even a bad set. Every song was played so well."

Straining credulity here...

Yeah...this tour was def. a peak though.

ha yeah was lolling about the lemieux quote. i mean, i'm sure a lot of it is good, but saying the Dead played *every* song well is not really describing the Grateful Dead I know and love.

We weren't sure how what we did would travel. It is a uniquely American experience. But there are some great memories: riding the ferry from Newcastle to Copenhagen; the double rainbow we saw while riding in the bus through Switzerland.

weir confusing youtube vids he's watched w/ actual memories again

60 cds! But really, that's the way to do it, because it's a selling point this way; o/w we all dl'd the soundboard mp3s off the archive back before the band withdrew them---the ~~music~~ never stopped therefore, the packaging remains a horizon.

here's a trick:

save the the streaming .m3u playlist to your desktop
open it in a text editor
turn the mp3 urls into links
save file as dead.html
open dead.html in web browser
right-click on the mp3 links, save mp3s to hard drive

friend of the devil is a friend of mine

Q: Is Dark Star Orchestra as good as they were 8-10 years ago?

ehh, I'm not sure if I want to go. John Kadlecik has joined Further. He did a great Jerry Garcia voice. And another founding member, keyboardist Scott Larned, had a heart attack in 2005.

This isn't making me want to shell out $25

Now they have Jeff Mattson from The Donna Jean Godchaux Band
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2010-05-29.flac16

According to the current DSO keyboardist Rob Barraco:
"The one thing that Jeff has above everybody else is that he really understands the earlier bend on the Dead. The late '60s, early '70s. He does it so well and that's something that we really haven't concentrated on in this band until now. Jeff brings just a little more grease, that psychedelic greasy element that was missing in John's playing. Not to demean John's playing, because he's brilliant. That's just what Jeff brings that is different."

I haven't formed a good enough opinion on Jeff Mattson's voice but that link to him playing with DSO up above really highlights his guitar playing (from what I heard of it so far). I think I want to go again.

When I saw DSO for the first time they did this show (I'll link the Dead version):
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1984-06-12.nakcm304-mikeg-suraci.suraci.78162.flac16

People who want to hear The Dead freak out should listen to this show. I particularly remember having no clue that the Dead had music like this. Lots of psychedelic stuff on speed

I went to the site to read about this Europe '72 box, and it says that all 7,200 copies were sold at $450 each in four days. 7,200 x 450 = $3,240,000. I find that just astounding.

lol that is nuts

That is 432,000 units

well Dark Star Orchestra was really impressive at Atlanta tonight. Interesting that this show had a crazy amount of hits compared to all the streaming shows I've seen at archive.org. Like 'friend of the devil' into 'new minglewood' and 'truckin' into 'sugar magnolia' into 'bertha'(I believe). They did stuff like 'alabama getaway' and 'johnny b. goode'; and 'friend of the devil' and 'passenger'; 'wharf rat' and 'morning dew' (I believe). 'ripple' was right near the beginning of the night along with the countryish songs.

we left when the encore started and they started doing 'casey jones'. lol, the guy in the bathroom was talking out loud and he said the two songs he really hates is 'casey' and either 'drums' or 'space'. and yeah they did those ones as well. some of my favorite songs of the night were the ones I didn't recognize after 'space' and 'drums' because they obviously went into heavy psych/"jam band" territory at that point - although none of the freak out sort of psych like in the "dead version" link I put upthread.

huh, i'm always kind of tempted to go see these guys (they play in colorado constantly it seems). kind of afraid of the "scene" but maybe i should just suck it up and go. it's probably be fun.

I thought Dark Star recreated specific shows?

Was just going to mention the 60cd box but obviously been beaten to it by some way. Apparently sold out in 4 days & the band's store is selling the music without the extras for the same price. Shame you miss the box.

Not seen if there's been talk of Veneta and Sunshine Daydream the movie. But that set has to be one of their peaks 28/7/72 I think

& May '70 seemed to largely be a peak too as did august '68.

I'm mainly into them up to the '74 retirement but there are peaks after that.

My guess is that Sunshine Daydream will be the centerpiece of a future Dead box -- it is great!

here's a trick:

save the the streaming .m3u playlist to your desktop
open it in a text editor
turn the mp3 urls into links
save file as dead.html
open dead.html in web browser
right-click on the mp3 links, save mp3s to hard drive

friend of the devil is a friend of mine

― Mangrove Earthshoe (herb albert), Wednesday, January 19, 2011 7:15 PM

ha awesome

I found the live dead recording corresponding to the DSO show I saw last night
1980-10-27 - Radio City Music Hall, NY. 3 set show

you should go this year, tylerw. there's 4 shows around colorado in april. i've been to boulder and i don't think you should be afraid of that "scene". maybe you know more about that scene though... i wouldn't mind hearing your opinions about it

I never saw the Dead (no interest at the time) and I've only seen DSO once, but I thought they did an excellent job of recreating the sound of the '70s Dead. "The scene" I saw was really just a bunch of tie-dyed 20-somethings in Phish shirts, no cause for fear imo.

I will give the next local Dark Star Orchestra show a chance, I suppose.
Unless it's on like a Monday night or something.

so does DSO announce what Dead show they're playing beforehand or is it a surprise?

afaik it's always a surprise. A few old heads near where I was standing at the back of the bar kept trying to "guess the date/venue" throughout the show.

RIP Owsley "Bear" Stanley -- the guy responsible for most of the Dead's live recordings. And umm other stuff too.

Oh damn. RIP. :(

Designed my favorite lightning bolt.

Shit, I hadn't realized that was why my buddy shared this on FB. interesting story, one of a kind dude.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F07%2F12%2FMNGK0QV7HS1.DTL

yeah, quite a life, even aside from any grateful dead stuff.
bear's choice is still one of my fave Dead experiences

supposedly stanley had a ton of non-dead live recordings from the late 60s in his archives that he was really protective of, and mainly kept unreleased -- wonder if any of that will start to surface? selfish, i know, but can't help wondering.

A lot of my favorite Archival Dead releases are from his tapes
http://www.thebear.org/albums.html
His site is refreshingly stark.

This from that page: "I have a lot of tapes stored in the Dead's tape vault. Virtually every band that played on the same bill with the Grateful Dead during my years as soundman, and who did not bring their own soundman, was recorded. I would be very interested in working with any of the bands concerned to see if the tapes represent anything worth releasing. I will post the list once it is OCR'ed (a big job!)."

would love to see that list, jesus christ.
the flying burrito bros. live thing from a few years back was one of his tapes.
some people have suggested he has some unheard Velvet Underground stuff too.

Maybe you could peruse the archive at UC Santa Cruz?

road trip!
this show is the VU one: http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-04-25.sbd.2596.sbeok.shnf

a happy pairing it sounds like "According to Ron Ramsey, who attended the show, the other bands on the bill were SRC (a local group), and the Velvet Underground. The Velvet Underground played a very long set and as a result the Dead only got to play one set on this date. According to Ramsey the Dead did the same thing to the Velvet Underground the next night."

this is the show i really want though
http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/live/1969/vu_ad_690207_the_pittsburgh_press_february_5_1969.jpg

Love that poster

a happy pairing it sounds like "According to Ron Ramsey, who attended the show, the other bands on the bill were SRC (a local group),

So not the Quackenbush brothers band? Who were from Detroit, this was a Chicago show you were talking about was it? i wasn't aware there were 2 SRCs

and the Velvet Underground. The Velvet Underground played a very long set and as a result the Dead only got to play one set on this date. According to Ramsey the Dead did the same thing to the Velvet Underground the next night."

Would love to hear those shows. I take it they're not in circulation already? Would love it even more if it was a year earlier with Cale onboard.
Did i read recently that there were supposed to be a number more Cale era tapes somewhere. Think I've only heard the normal few, Gymnasium NYC, Columbus Ohio '66, think there are a couple others but can't think what.

dunno, coulda been the quackenbush band?
yeah, the VU sets with the dead have never been bootlegged if the tapes actually exist.
here's a funny thing from unterberger's site about the shows:
10. The Kinetic Playground, Chicago, April 25-27, 1969: For the second and last time, the Velvet Underground shared a bill, unbelievably, with their ultimate antithesis in attitude, the Grateful Dead. According to Doug Yule's recollection in the fall/winter 1994 edition of the fanzine The Velvet Underground, "That show the Dead opened for us, we opened for them the next night so that no one could say they were the openers. As you know, the Grateful Dead play very long sets and they were supposed to only play for an hour. We were up in the dressing room and they're playing for an hour and a half and, hour and 45 minutes. So the next day when we were opening for them, Lou says, 'Huh, watch this.' And we proceeded to play a very long set. We did 'Sister Ray' for like an hour and then a whole other show." But for all the differences between the Velvets and the Dead, they do share one thing in common: sheer volume. "There was a guy standing over by the sound mixing board, and somebody said, 'that's [Grateful Dead soundman] Owsley,'" remembers Milwaukee radio DJ Bob Reitman. "I walked over to him and said, 'Are you Owsley?' He turned to me to answer, and the whole sound system just—and it probably was him—it's like somebody turned the whole thing up so loud that we couldn't hear each other. We just looked at each other and shrugged."

so i guess owsley was definitely at these shows -- whether he taped the VU, who knows?

I'd say for people looking for a second place after live dead that really like the electric rock improv angle, I'd say the 2nd disc of Hundred Year Hall is one to check. They pretty much explode on The Other One and that jam starts with Casey Jones and goes pretty much full tilt for an hour. It's crazy for any band really. When Lesh rockets that main bass line for the Other One, they just take off. Some of the jamming when they get past the head/song part is really intense on this take and wouldn't sound out of place with Ash Ra Tempel or Cosmic Jokers, but really more melodic as Garcia could really soar.

I think the Cryptical Envelopment/The Other One is one of the best jamming tools the original Dead had and definitely one of the most 'rockin'.

psyched that a bunch of the dick's picks things are on spotify. listening to winterland 1977 now, sounds amazing.

There was a show from Dallas, '77 that they were playing today on the GD channel on XM and it was incredible.

Dunno if anyone's posted this yet, but all of the Europe '72 shows are being released individually:
http://store.dead.net/store/europe-72-shop

oh man you are gonna buy that box set aren't you? keith moon is frowning in heaven. even frowning he looks like a dirty and adorable little imp though.

You had to play the Moon card, didn't you?

I've heard the first two shows, and man, they just come charging right out of the gate. The first show (London, 4/7/72) is stronger than the second (London, 4/8/72), though.

The 72 box is ridiculous.

I mean, you can make a case for the Dead as one of the top three greatest American bands using these shows as evidence.

how many discs is the box?
also, can i borrow it.

There is a palpable sense of some higher presence/consciousness on some Dead boots. I think I was listening to "Not Fade Away" from the London set that I became aware.
They're the only ones, etc.

"more than 60 CDs"

xp tyler I think it's like 40 discs, and of course I didn't shell out the $500 for it - who the hell would? Anyway, it's OOP as a set already. But I've found it via unscrupulous means (you can too!) - I'm five shows in right now. All good, even the weird cafeteria show in Aarhus, 4/16/72.

The original, limited box set was 72 discs, but for some reason the newer, less fancy version you can buy is quoted at "more than 60 CDs".

Nah, they've repressed a sparser version with none of the fancy trimming to buy.

lol @ "more than 60 CDs."
can't even be bothered to count, man. just a lot of discs, ok?

grateful dead die hards are nuts, though, right? a 72-disc set for $450 that sells out pretty much immediately? kaching.

I had friend in High School that would listen to nothing but fucking boot tapes. Road trips got boring quick.

lol @ 'sparser version' - only $450.

Thats actually the same price as the full version, they didn't want to piss off all those people that paid for the original by suddenly offering the same damn thing with less artwork for significantly cheaper (can't say I blame 'em, tbh).

14-minute sugaree on this winterland 77 thing is killlller. the dead!

I've never heard a bad "Sugaree." Ditto "Loser."

on to "europe vol. 2" now...a dead kind of day. I can probably live with four discs worth of highlight from this tour. OR CAN I.

i actually prefer the Dick's Picks #3 Florida show from the same month/year - not only do you get a stunning 15 minute Sugaree but also a great Help on the Way>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower and, in the second set, Eyes of the World>Wharf Rat>Terrapin Station>Morning Dew. mmmm.

I was reading this thread waiting for someone to post this. Dick's Picks 3 is the JAM. Along with One From The Vault, probably my favorite live Dead.

Can someone give me a recommendation as to the Dick's Pick (or easily available bootleg) with best Help>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower?

Thanks.

― Randy Moss' dog's personal chef (Bill Magill), Thursday, December 16, 2010 2:27 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark

Look no further - this show. This is my favorite suite of tunes too and this one smokes. The "Slipknot!" is mindblowing.

xp Never heard a bad "Black-Throated Wind," even though they're all pretty similar.

There is a palpable sense of some higher presence/consciousness on some Dead boots. I think I was listening to "Not Fade Away" from the London set that I became aware.
They're the only ones, etc

Hey, there's a reason people followed this band around... it wasn't just the songs themselves, there was this strange, trance-like groupmind thing that occured at shows (and actually still does). Rave kind of had a similar dynamic actually.

"on to "europe vol. 2" now...a dead kind of day. I can probably live with four discs worth of highlight from this tour. OR CAN I."

Hundred Year Hall, Rockin the Rhein and Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead are both multitrack releases from the same tour. Hundred Year Hall is pretty much a complete show, Steppin' Out is kind of a best of the dates in England (with I think one track from Holland) and Rockin the Rhein is a compilation from the other shows in Germany withe a couple of Pigpen features from England. I don't think any of the tracks on these three duplicate with now what is on the two volumes of Europe 72. Add it up, there is quite a bit already out there from that tour.

They are also going to put out the individual shows from the tour outside the box.

I think you can look at that particular version of the Dead and pretty much call it a zenith point. Pigpen was still around to do the raveups and you got a bit of organ and piano on some tunes, which was a cool mix. They had a piano player that could go out, but was much more honky tonk and fit better on the cowboy tunes. Phil still sang, while not a great singer, it added to the country tunes like He's Gone. Donna was a featured player instead of singing through the whole set. They only had one drummer, so on a lot of tunes, it's just tighter and swings more, especially on the rootsy numbers. The guitar tones also hadn't turned into that super clean no bite tone on both guitars, which too me, I don't really like on later Dead music.

A friend sent me four discs of the complete 4-disc boot of Jersey City 8/6/74 with great annotation and I have to say '74, just on the evidence of this show, might be an underpraised year. They come outta the gate really hard on this show and there's a Seastones interlude that's really pretty out - whole show is tremendous although the opening Bertha/Mexicali Blues/Don't Ease Me In/Beat It Down the Line/Jack Straw is just so good. Shoot, even "Eyes of the World" is pretty good, and I don't like that song much at all.

Hey, there's a reason people followed this band around... it wasn't just the songs themselves, there was this strange, trance-like groupmind thing that occured at shows (and actually still does).

which shows do you mean on the "actually still does" bit - which acts? b/c I will go to these shows. unless it's Ratdog, I don't care for the Ratdog I've heard.

well I couldn't vouch for the quality of the music necessarily, but I guess I was still experiencing the "magic" at the Phil and Friends shows and even Other Ones shows... and I assume with Further the whole phenomenon is still happening... that was always the point of it all, that acid-test group-ritual thing

which is what I mean by magic btw... not as metaphor for it being a particularly high-quality show musically, but rather that the band and audience would literally create this kind of ritual space by vibing off each other, sending energy back and forth. in a way, the band was always beyond "coolness" or conventional conceptions of taste because the focus within the scene was always more on the energy, it's a self-contained world

and Rockin the Rhein is a compilation from the other shows in Germany withe a couple of Pigpen features from England. I don't think any of the tracks on these three duplicate with now what is on the two volumes of Europe 72. Add it up, there is quite a bit already out there from that tour.

RtR is a complete single German show, Düsseldorf 4/24/72, plus two songs from London, 5/24/72. Definitely compares favorably with Europe '72, despite a dodgy moment or two (forgetting to play the bridge of "He's Gone," for instance).

Pro tip: The 2-disc Europe '72: Volume II is $9.99 at Best Buy right now.

Listening to 3/24/90 this morning (part of which became Dozin' At The Knick.) I visited a Deadhead friend out east and told him I wasn't much of a fan of the band, but to pick out something to change my mind. The unbroken Playin'> Uncle John> Terrapin> Mind Left Body was his choice, and I gotta say, the fusion/prog elements of that era were a big surprise to me.

I actually like Dozin' At The Knick, thats a weird era, but it hits some sweet spots for me.

Just listening to "Drums" on that now, which is really spacy.

It is, one of my favorite "Drums".

Pro tip: The 2-disc Europe '72: Volume II is $9.99 at Best Buy right now.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, October 4, 2011 10:17 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

What is on this?

Disc One:
1. Bertha – Tivolis Koncertsal,Copenhagen (4/14/72)
2. Me and My Uncle – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
3. Chinatown Shuffle – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
4. Sugaree – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/3/72)
5. Beat It On Down the Line – Theatre Hall, Luxembourg (5/16/72)
6. Loser – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
7. Next Time You See Me – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/4/72)
8. Black-Throated Wind – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
9. Dire Wolf – Jahrhundert Halle, Frankfurt (4/26/72)
10. Greatest Story Ever Told – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/3/72)
11. Deal – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/4/72)
12. Good Lovin’ – Jahrhundert Halle, Frankfurt (4/26/72)
13. Playing In the Band – StrandLyceum, London (5/24/72)

Disc Two:
1. Dark Star > – Bickershaw Festival, Wigan (5/7/72)
2. Drums > – Bickershaw Festival, Wigan (5/7/72)
3. The Other One > – BickershawFestival, Wigan (5/7/72)
4. Sing Me Back Home – Strand Lyceum, London (5/26/72)
5. Not Fade Away > – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
6. Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad > – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
7. Not Fade Away – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)

Thanks.

sounded rad on spotify yesterday...$9.99 eh? even though i hate the place, with the dead and the floyd at such reasonable rates, i am going to have to schedule a trip to best buy.

Floyd no longer at $9.99; just checked the other day, the remasters are $11.99 now.

>:O

They must have juuuuust changed the price with today's new releases because they were still $9.99 last night. The price tags say $11.99 though.

Wow...I'm a doofus, because I resignedly picked up More, Obscured By Clouds, and Meddle thinking they were $11.99 each, but the total rang up to the $9.99 price. Sorry, disregard above.

:D

I've felt the hippie group mind at a few overnight bluegrass type festivals a little over a decade ago. One of those weekends was probably the best weekend of my life

Listening to these Europe '72 shows I'm pleasantly surprised at how together the vocals are (supposedly they were thought to be too rough for release, hence the overdubs on Europe '72)...then I hit the first "Jack Straw" (Newcastle, 4/11/72). Dudes, pick a fucking harmony note and stay with it.

Is that because you can now hear Donna Godchaux in the mix? Cuz you cant hear her at all on Europe '72, at least not that I can tell. She's kind of a harmony-killer.

Nope, she only appears on "Playin' In The Band" and maybe one other song.

Ugh, Donna-bashing. Sigh. I'll never tire of the irony of Deadheads who've been listening to Bobby and Jerry croak along for years complaining that Donna Jean, who once sang backup for Elvis, "can't sing."

Im not bashing her. I actually like the period she was in the band the best. But she can be a little screechy.

I don't mind her so much, except for that "whoooaaAAOOAAA YEAaAaAHHhh Ah HAY YAAAYAAaAaAaaa" thing she always did coming out of the long jam in Playin'

Ye gods, the dead. Years ago a workmate pushed a tape on me, his best of. I was open minded. Closed my mind ever since.

The "Truckin'" on Dick's Picks Vol. 1 (Tampa, 73) sounds like Loaded-era Velvets, but with better guitar players.

I've found '73 to be hit-or-miss. I love the Denver Road Trips set, but couldn't make it through all of the Winterland box. Maybe they were at their laziest when playing to SF audiences or something.

Maybe they were at their laziest when playing to SF audiences or something.

cannot concur. I got a partial Winterland '70 set this week that's among the best Dead I've ever heard - St. Stephen swinging for the fences, Dark Star in full bloom

have to agree w this^

Jerry w the elusive Owsley/Bear, in case you ever wondered what the dude looked like:

http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/600+web-bear.jpg

cannot concur. I got a partial Winterland '70 set this week that's among the best Dead I've ever heard - St. Stephen swinging for the fences, Dark Star in full bloom

The '69 Fillmore West stuff (including, but not limited to, Live/Dead) is indeed ace. But the '73 Winterland box is too draggy, and Dick's Picks #16 from SF is a sloppy bore, with the exception of "Feedback," which may be the best one.

I've only heard the whole thing twice, but I think the Winterland 73 would be a better listen edited down to the best of the 2nd set extended jams.

This disc is pretty good...
Disc 5

"Weather Report Suite" (Weir, Andersen, Barlow) – 18:26

November 10, 1973 — Second set:

"Playing In The Band" > (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 11:59
"Uncle John's Band" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:39
"Morning Dew" > (Bonnie Dobson) – 12:24
"Uncle John’s Band" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 1:50
"Playing In The Band" (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 7:38

This part is pretty good too...

Disc 9

"Dark Star" > (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Keith Godchaux, Hunter) – 35:41
"Eyes Of The World" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 13:36

so this came up in conversation yesterday--

is the original DICK still PICKIN or has the mantle passed to a younger dick?

A guy named Dave is the currently designated picker:
http://store.dead.net/live-shows/daves-picks-2012-subscription

seems like they should change the name to dave's faves

listening to roosevelt stadium 1973, radical version of "bird song"! http://archive.org/details/gd1973-08-01.sbd.sirmick.patch-12222.92478.sbeok.flac16

Oh yes! Archive.org's massive Dead section is good for that. Also went to dead.net for the first time in ages; nowadays they stream from The Grateful Dead Radio Hour and the Taper's Section. That pic of Owsley reminds me to ask: how do Bear's Choices compare to Dick's Picks, quality-wise and stylistically? Did he prefer the early days?

The Dead had a pretty unique relationship with their production people, especially Owlsey aka Bear, who really was about as close to a member of the band as you can get. Real early on, Owlsey pretty much bankrolled them and was the sound man. Because he was the early sound man, he started them recording every show (possible) and pulled off some pretty amazing live 2-track recordings considering the sound equipment of the time. Bear eventually got busted and went to prison for a couple of years in the early 70s and he still worked with them but in some different capabilities after he got out and until he left working with them for good (I think in the early 80s).

Bear's Choice was a Dead album from the early 70s that was taken from some recordings Bear did in 1970 and features Pigpen who had just died. The rest of the concerts were released as Dick's Picks Vol. 4.

If it is a late 60s live recording of the Dead, there is a good chance Owlsey recorded it.

Heh, today felt like a summer day in NYC, have been wading through summery Dick's Picks tracks on Spotify all day, starting off w/ the already-mentioned Chinacat -> MLBody -> I Know You Rider from DP 12.

Owlsey aka Bear

... aka Kid Charlemagne!

yeah, i'm super happy that i can explore the dick's picks thing via spotify/mog.

Owlsey aka Bear

... aka Kid Charlemagne!

Wait. Really??

I always figured Kid C. was about a coke dealer, but I would believe it if it was about Owlsey as that dude was a character with a capital C.

'Two From the Vault' is v.good...it's mastered or mixed really well for headphones.
― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, September 29, 2004 4:26 PM

^^ dark star and the eleven are good on this

It was my gateway to the Dead. The Other One and New Potato Caboose also notable imo.

yeah the ending of the other one is sweet

i've been going through archive.org for the last month or so, listening to one show from each year. totally fun! i think i'm just going to do this every summer. up to 1979 now. sort of scared but also excited for the 80s.

isn't I think '87 supposed to be a great year?

well, i've heard dylan and the dead...

I remember an Alpine Valley show I taped from a Dead radio hour on the Memphis station WEVL (lol HEAD JAMS) that starts with super speedy (stimulant fueled?) takes on Touch of Grey and Jackstraw. May have been from '87. The host's commentary that preceded the music were pretty classic ("...I remember it fondly, it was my first show...)

Jerry's tone during that era is an acquired taste, though.

i want things to get sort of 80s cokey/synthy. i just finished reading the mcnally bio (which is great) and was interesting to read about nerdy things like rig setups, etc. like each of lesh's bass strings having their own monitor mix or some shit.

Yeah the tech stuff is total nerd fodder. WALL OF SOUND!

just funny how this group of stoner musicians suddenly had like NASA-style technicians working for them. guess the kind of thing that could only happen in northern CA.
& yeah, already in 79, something a little kooky is happening with garcia's tone. not sure what exactly, kinda smoothed out?

You should look into the evolution of his custom guitars.

ha, was just googling.
http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/tiger/tiger_ai.jpg
this guitar looks cool. not sure about the sound.

oops thought that would be the whole guitar: http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/tiger/info.html

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Uz50LIsRni4/S6A5srhU8aI/AAAAAAAAA78/osyu1wLykrc/s400/Garcia+tiger.jpg

like each of lesh's bass strings having their own monitor mix or some shit.

Each string had its own bus.

http://www.amazon.com/Grateful-Dead-Gear-Instruments-Recording/dp/0879308931/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1341977883&sr=8-32&keywords=grateful+dead+books

This book is a good read if you want to geek out on some of the music technology the Dead used. Quite a few things out of the Alembic (and others including Furman) designs really became kind of standard done things in music tech. I can't remember the guy in the book they mention, but I guess working for the Dead was a heck of alot more fun than working on missles.

i want things to get sort of 80s cokey/synthy. i just finished reading the mcnally bio (which is great) and was interesting to read about nerdy things like rig setups, etc. like each of lesh's bass strings having their own monitor mix or some shit.

― tylerw, Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:15 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That wall of sound thing, of which Lesh's strings were a part, didnt last too long. Began in '74, dismantled not long after.

I just recently found out what the Phil Zone was. Too funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUa_j6JIEk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXCuA2nt_6A

omg. this is so good. listen to the whole 12 minutes. r.i.p. brent. Fuck you for dying and fuck everybody who doesn't celebrate you as much as you deserve.

sounds good. haven't gotten quite that far in my listening project, but the Mydland years are better than I expected thus far! first show i listened to with him had an unfortunate keyboard sound and a kind of listless performance from the rest of the band, but the rest have been awesome.

Yeah, if you don't like Brent's keyboard sound, I don't know if I can reconcile you to it. To me it's pure acid. And the 80s mediocrity definitely hits him too. But when he's on, he's very very on and I love his songwriting in general. The spring and summer 90 runs right before he died are generally regarded as his best period.

YES! Someone else gets Brent's sound. Pure acid is EXACTLY right. Pity he often sang like Richard Marx, but that's another thread. I'm more a Keith man, but I love Brent.

Dudes upthread who are relatively new to the Dead - don't fear the eighties! The eighties were awesome. I always say if you shave off the first five and last five years of the band's existence, the Dead are my all time favorite band. 72-77 is my idea of perfect music.

Also, audience tapes >>>> soundboards.

yeah! the auds have been sounding better than the sbds in the 80s.

view from the vault 3 has some pretty good late-period footage but whenever they get in the zone... there are cheesy video effects :(

what was up with jerri's midi-guitar thing

the 80s seem like weird times for guitarists who had money to burn, i don't know.
i think there are supposed to be some theater showings of the grateful dead movie for garcia's birthday next month or something?

like everybody heard Brothers in Arms and was like THAT'S THE SOUND I WANT

Ha! Probably pretty accurate. Knopfler and Jerry are not too terribly far off style-wise relative to other guitarists of the era (or, you know, speed wise).

Dudes upthread who are relatively new to the Dead - don't fear the eighties! The eighties were awesome.

I gotta say, I've been trying my durndest, and I'm having trouble making it past (or even through) 1973. After '72, everything seems to slow down, and a certain dullness creeps in; the interaction just wasn't as sharp anymore. I've listened to the Cornell '77 show, and I do think Jerry's on fire -- "Dancing In The Street" was a pleasant surprise. But tempos no longer surge and pull back: "Jack Straw" plods along at one tempo, one dynamic level, and falls flat for me, as does much of the rest of the show.

I haven't given up, though.

try Pembroke Pines '77? I just love '77 to bits tho

Tarfumes, have you heard Reckoning? Slow at times, maybe slightly dull at times, but so much heart&soul and it's immacuately recorded.

"to lay me down" from reckoning is especially beautiful

tbh this 81 show has been one of the faves i've listened to in my little listening project: http://archive.org/details/gd1981-12-09.senn421.wise.82199.sbeok.flac16

Wish there was a Grateful Dead app where you could listen to every set.. 1st world probs

when I rent a car sometimes there's satellite radio & I find the Dead channel and just groove on down the damn road & it rules

yeah, i've only had one rental car/satellite radio experience and that's exactly what i did! it was the right thing to do.
don't know if this has been posted, but this is a good dead through the years listening guide: http://deadlistening.com

I have considered getting satellite radio for just this reason. But then I remember I have 236 cassettes, 60+ CDs (many multiple sets), and untold hours of mp3s full of live Dead music.

Tarfumes, I think the slowdown you refer to is part of the appeal of the band's early middle period. Much as I love Pigpen in spirit, I don't really find myself reaching for 25 minute rave-ups with Pigpen 'raps' much these days. My primary area of interest is 72 through 77, stopping right before Egypt, and picking up again in the early eighties. The band only played four shows in 1975 and all four of them are crucial, some of my all time favorites.

I think the band just found their groove in the mid seventies, became more distinctive, and I think a lotta that has to do with Keith's narcoleptic jazz style (and a lot of it has to do with Jerry taking less acid and getting into, err, "Persian"). It may just be an aesthetic thing, because, to me, the lazier and more languid the tempo, the more I get out of the jams. 66 through 70, to me, can sound very conspicuously 'sixties' in that dated sort of way, and some of the jams from this era could just as easily be the Airplane or Canned Heat, at least when Jerry isn't soloing. Not a bad thing, of course, but not what I want out of a Dead tape.

Wish there was a Grateful Dead app where you could listen to every set.. 1st world probs

I've had good luck with the Archivist app for iPhone. Crashes a bit, and takes a minute or two to load the entire vault, but once it loads, you've got the entire archive.org collection available to stream. My external hard drive has been collecting dust since I got the app.

Nice, thanks for the tip!

on another note, the Dark Star lp (record store day, I think ) taken from Europe 72 tapes really hit the spot on a tired Thursday night

It's weird, because I fucking love Keith's playing (and am pissed that it's buried in the mix on the Europe box relative to Europe '72). If there's a missing link between Andrew Hill and Nicky Hopkins, it's Keith. And I think Jerry's playing on the one '77 show I've heard is tremendous, regardless of tempo. And it's not just the slowness: I love all the '72 "Morning Dew"s I've heard, but find myself nearly falling asleep on the '73 versions. A certain "bite" seems to be missing, like they're not prodding each other (or themselves) like they used to.

I can totally accept that '77 is a different thing, and I dig how they embraced elements of disco...like I said, I haven't given up, and I may end up loving '77 (and later) Dead. I mean, I hated Europe '72 when I first heard it, after falling in love with Live/Dead; I was all, "the fuck? What are they, Poco now?"

and xp haven't heard Reckoning, but you're the second person to recommend it (thx sseward), so I'll check it out.

72 Keith is absolutely great but i feel like he got sleepier and sleepier from there on out. This is their peak.

73 is my fave year for spacey jams and improv, but things could get a bit too mellow and lacking in the rock dept.

74 they just seem to painting by numbers much of the time. maybe you had to be there for the WOS.

75 great and wierd but v small sample

76 blah

77 so overrated. i dont get it. i guess they were very tight and coked up.

78/79 super blah, things get good again around 83.

FYI

gotta say, no matter what your era preference is, the whole archive.org dead collection is a fucking thing of beauty, even if the sbd downloads are gone now. if only more artists would get into it. i know aerosmith is cool w/ it, but it'd be great if more of the dead's peers just put the curating of their live recordings in the hands of fans.

are there other bands that have a volume of recordings that's anywhere near the GD?

probably not -- only artist that comes close in terms of live recordings is probably Dylan and even he sat out most of the 70s and a good portion of the 80s. maybe neil young, he's been playing consistently since the 60s, but he wasn't as obsessively documented (by anyone other than himself, I guess).

If there's a missing link between Andrew Hill and Nicky Hopkins, it's Keith

Totally otm!

Yeah, he and Kreutzmann play off each other beautifully; it feels like that interplay, among other things, was lost once Hart rejoined.

if only more artists would get into it.

^ this. There are scads of Moon-era audience Who shows, and for a few years longliverock.org hosted torrents of them. Despite being officially sanctioned by the band, I guess someone got squeamish, because the site was shuttered a couple of months ago.

"are there other bands that have a volume of recordings that's anywhere near the GD?"

Fugazi's archive is pretty impressive.

I think it takes kind of a unique live band/artist to really be able to carry such an extensive archive, as so many bands really don't change up their set lists/shows enough to make each night a unique experience.

yeah the fugazi thing is cool. yo la tengo have an archive of live tapes, almost 30 years worth of consistent gigging. it's true, some bands wouldn't warrant such obsessive documentation, but it'd be cool if more of 'em signed off on archive.org. might just be a case of fans asking the artist, though, i don't know. would be nice if yo la tengo was competing with the 500 jason mraz shows on there.

Would hit up a comprehensive YLT archive.com page for sure

you never know, they might be into it. the recent ylt bio reveals that ira kaplan was a deadhead who even taped a few shows in the mid 70s.

Also, he listened to Wake of the Flood and he was high.

hahaha

If YLT were to get a space on archive, they would be right next to Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band . : /

Come to think of it, have YLT ever covered the Dead? I mean, they've covered pretty much everyone else.

Wonder if that indie-rock Grateful Dead tribute album ever got off the ground.

I play Ripple on a Gibson LG-1 for aero jr. as a lullaby and he really seems to love it

aw. bet that's adorable. anytime I pick up my guit to play for my little girl, she wants to join in with strumming, which makes playing most songs pretty difficult. it's awesome that she wants to learn though. today I caught her with a pick shoved down the front of her onesie.

Pearl Jam are notable for having commercially available recordings of pretty much every show they've played for the last 12 years, but that's still probably not as many as there are GD bootlegs over the decades

listening to some of these mid 80s live shows and actually digging mydland's keys -- he definitely has some weird sounds, but he's making them work!

though good lord, someone needed to tell weir to relax and quit hamming it up.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna pop for the 2CD highlights of the spring 90 tour.

http://www.dead.net/store/spring-1990-shop/spring-1990-so-glad-you-made-it?eml=dn/080112/sprin90CD

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/207822_10151069074089024_1508498336_n.jpg

woah there was already a thread for this?? but ilx spent so much of 2012 discussing it in every other thread ever

I'm relatively new to these guys, but I'm really, really enjoying Dick's Picks 22. Previously, the only live records of theirs I heard were Live/Dead and Europe '72, so I don't have much to compare it to, but damn, I've just been having "this record is exactly what I need right now" moments with this thing all week. Anyway, thanks to everyone who recommended it on this and (I think) other Dead-related threads!

That's a great one! Might be my favorite Dead record.

if you like the early dead stuff - and who doesn't - then this road trips set is equally smokin:

http://www.dead.net/store/1960s/road-trips-vol-2-no-2

The "Casey Jones" on Dick's Picks Vol. 4 (Fillmore East 2/13-14/70) is so good - and interestingly you can really hear how this is the same band that made Aoxomoxoa - people sometimes talk about Workingman's Dead as a reinvention but this "Casey Jones," all high-octane and enthused instead of laid-back, really sounds pretty psychedelic San Francisco

just listened to the branford marsalis nassau 1990 show on the archive. http://archive.org/details/gd1990-03-29.aud.nawrocki.29191.sbeok.flac16
pretty good? listening to these latter day shows has been interesting anyway, they're almost a weirder band than ever at this point.

Would just like to say that the old CompuPost would've been so disappointed in the present CompuPost for not paying closer attention to all the new vault releases over the past five years. So much to catch up on.

Love skimming through '90s shows-- each show tends to have a few highlight songs, and the performance usually sounds totally nutty compared to the song's '70s/'80s incarnations.

So, I was thinking of proposing a Grateful Dead Live Tracks ballot poll, restricted to official live releases only. Is this something anyone would be interested in? A quick look at Spotify shows that there's a wealth of live stuff (think all of Dick's Picks / Download Series / etc.) on there for people to browse through.

Would definitely be a valuable resource if enough people participated. By the time its turn comes up on the ballot poll list, I might actually have heard enough material to vote!

Heh, yeah, there's a lot of shows to consider, even if you just keep the voting to officially released live albums. Plus, I might have to do some split between Songs That Don't Really Jam / Songs that Always Jam. In which case, songs like "Tennessee Jed," "Ramble on Rose," etc. -- ie, songs that were usually done in a standard way but every so often drifted into longer, jammed renditions -- into the first category.

But yeah, I'd love to helm a ballot poll, if for no other reason but to use the results as a resource. Before Archive.org zapped all of the GD SBDs, a group of people I know basically went through and did Top 20s for all the big songs (Dark Star, Playing, Eyes, etc.) and I used the hell out of those lists before the SBDs got wiped.

seems that Dick's Picks is disappearing. Prices rising where available. Drag, since there were several others I had meant to get hold of. Physically even in some cases where I just have the files.

should have bought them on amazon mp3 a month ago whn they were all on sale for under $5.

I don't really like Mp3 that much, wouldn't be buying i that form anyway. & it's not likely that that will be the stuff that sells out. I meant physically having the discs as i think I say in the message above.

my mistake - that's exactly what you said! well, I cleaned up at that sale anyways.

just finished my lonnnnnnnng trawl through archive.org live dead, 1966-1995, one show per year. totally a fun thing to do!

Were you looking for acclaimed "best" shows, or just grabbing at random?

kinda just grabbing at random or going off or recs from friends who are more steeped in this stuff. got to be a bit more of a slog there towards the end, but there were a few 80s/90s shows that were a pleasant surprise. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/summer-of-dead

haha tyler i have seen all of those on tumblr and every time gone 'i must get around to catching up with those'

ha, not sure if they were the most popular things i've posted, but it's been a good time! just such a cool thing to have available, a band's whole (well almost) career onstage there to check out.

It is a unique, sometimes wonderful and sometimes horrible, thing.

http://brookvalerecords.com/the-grateful-dead-dicks-picks-vol-1-vol-2-now-available-on-vinyl/

too
much
money

wonder if them coming out on vinyl might mean a rerelease of any of the cds that are disappearing/

I was sorta just hoping that with the release of the series on vinyl, the price / value of the CDs I'm missing will go waaaay down.

and yeah, these vinyl reissues, too expensive. Huge Deadhead here but not one of those 1% Deadheads. The bummer about stuff like this is that if I ever do decide to hop on board and buy this series on vinyl, the first few will already be sold out (limited to 2000?? That's crazy) and I'll spend a lot of time (and money) trying to track them down to 'complete the collection' (which I haven't even done with the DP CDs yet).

Still, DP1 (73, Tampa) is way underrated and one of my favorites.

I restrained myself from buying the Spring 1990 box set and I'll restrain myself again now.

"Still, DP1 (73, Tampa) is way underrated and one of my favorites."

took me a long, long time to realize it but this is so true

these are two of my favorites! garcia solos in top form on tampa/73 and on columbus/71 song selection & pacing rule, dark star ->rockout

Aside from the lovely 'Sunshine' that kicks things off, the best thing abt DP1 = no Donna!

Aside from the lovely 'Sunshine' that kicks things off, the best thing abt DP1 = no Donna!

No! Best thing is major Phil bombs during Space. A big part of why I love Nov and Dec of 73 so much.

The Space is frightening, the Truckin' sounds like Loaded-era Velvets, and Nobody's Fault But Mine! The whole second set of this is incredible.

just listened to 12/18/73 and it is another A+ Space gem (am sure my kids appreciated it as bedtime background music).

Such a rich and tasty era for the lads.

This is the wrong forum for this, but I couldn't quickly find a good Music Book thread... Can someone recommend a good book about the Dead?? I'm really in the mood for a GD biog, if there is such a thing.

I was wondering the same thing. Every Dead bio I've come across seems to be written by an uncritical insider.

thought the mcnally book was great, though yes, it is insidery (not wholly uncritical).

Good to know. I can only imagine a Dead bio being insidery ("dude, everything they did, was...like...magic...wait...what was I talking about?") or outsidery ("everything they did pales in comparison to the overwhelming genius of everybody else"). So it's nice that there's a somewhat critical Dead voice out there.

best/worst rock biographies

is probably the most active thread for books on bands.

Cheers for the McNally tip. I can get it secondhand for less than a Euro on Amazon marketplace.

lonngggggg nyer dead article: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/11/26/121126fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all

Guys, dead.net is doing their 30 Days of Dead thing again this week. Each day a free high-quality live song for download. Nice way to get a daily Dead fix.

again this "month", that should read

That NYer article is a fantastic read.

yeah, i think even if you're not a deadhead, it's just an interesting look at the whole phenomenon.

It addresses what I think is the most interesting aspect of the Dead, for sure.

Thanks for posting that, tylerw. As good an overview of the Dead and their periphery as I've come across.

it has set me off on a big 1973 kick

yeah! listening to this 73 "betty board" right now. http://archive.org/details/gd1973-05-26.sbd.cantor.diebert.83438.sbeok.flac16
[that may be the most deadhead thing i have ever written]

are you streaming it from archive or do you use a workaround? I hate listening in-browser.

http://fuckyesgratefuldead.tumblr.com/post/20881414507/kezar-stadium-may-26th-1973-another-great-show

you are the best

first set is killlller.

A whole section of the vault housed the sixteen-track fourteen-inch reels from the Dead’s tour of Europe in 1972. Last year, the Dead released the entire tour: a seventy-three-disk boxed set containing all twenty-two concerts and more than seventy hours of music. It came in a small steamer trunk and cost four hundred and fifty dollars. A run of twelve thousand two hundred sold out in four days. It is a pinnacle of completism, by the standards of any genre, and even a diehard might find it a test of patience to work through twenty-one versions of “Sugar Magnolia.” I got bogged down somewhere around Luxembourg.

wild

i liked the nyer piece but i'm so sick of people picking on the studio albums. very few memorable studio albums my eye! but i've always kinda listened to the studio albums more than live stuff so i guess i'm the oddball.

That article is incredible, really well-written and researched. I'm not anything like a Dead fan but the whole mechanism of the band & the tapers has always fascinated me.

Yeah I consider myself pretty diehard but never knew anything about how the tapes made it from the Vault or Betty's collection into circulation before archive.org.

also loved the anecdote abt The Edge visiting the vault and running into Weir. What a meeting of the minds that must have been.

And, of course, had a very easy time relating to the writer's tales of obsessing over certain tapes with high school bros. love it!

The bird song on the 30 days site today -vs- the bird song on Spring 1990 site -- holy cow -- discuss?

listening to that right now. is it 72? don't think i've met a bird song i didn't like.

otmfm

i liked the nyer piece but i'm so sick of people picking on the studio albums. very few memorable studio albums my eye! but i've always kinda listened to the studio albums more than live stuff so i guess i'm the oddball.

I agree, I think Aoxomoxoa especially has some really wild recording techniques to be appreciated, and of course Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are stone cold classics. Also the studio version of Terrapin Station is so well constructed.

Would it kill the dudes over at dead.net to slap some metadata on those songs though?

i just feel like so many people - even desdheads like the new yorker writer - downplay how amazing the songs are. he wonders what to shoot into space? how about really faithful renditions of great songs? i realize that the live thing is its own world but it still bugs me. lesh has the right attitude. people singing the songs a hundred years from now on their porch. they are great modern folk/americana songs! (the paragraph where he plays devil's advocate and lists all the negatives like the "fruity" lyrics, etc...)

Listening to Dusseldorf '72 today, "Loser" and "Deal" stuck out for me, in a good way, in the "how amazing the songs are" way.

listening to the Ace album last week, man, what a great record. maybe the studio naysayers just need better pressings or something. i have this beautiful german copy of jerry's reflections album and it makes me want to weep it sounds so beautiful. two unforgettable records right there. though not strictly speaking dead records.

I think the "studio/radio" Dead kind of hijacked their own career the way they got out of Warner Brothers with those final two live records and how those early solo records happened, which contained some of the best material they ever had. They had kind of built up a following and got radio play on Workingman's Dead/American Beauty and didn't really follow up on them for a few years. The live record Grateful Dead (aka Skullfxxk or Skull & Roses) seems to have been received as a let down going by a couple of reviews at the time. Then they did Europe 72 and Bear's Choice and then some of their most long standing tunes came out on Ace and the first Garcia album. I don't know if they would have had a bigger hit LP if the best tunes would have been done as a Grateful Dead album with high quality studio recordings, but you never know, timing is everything.

i just feel like so many people - even desdheads like the new yorker writer - downplay how amazing the songs are. he wonders what to shoot into space? how about really faithful renditions of great songs? i realize that the live thing is its own world but it still bugs me. lesh has the right attitude. people singing the songs a hundred years from now on their porch. they are great modern folk/americana songs! (the paragraph where he plays devil's advocate and lists all the negatives like the "fruity" lyrics, etc...)

Would it kill the dudes over at dead.net to slap some metadata on those songs though?

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, November 19, 2012 10:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ otmfm

It's been taking me a long time to get through that article. Despite the Deadhead deep in my heart, I just haven't been in a Dead mood lately. But I just got up to the part where Lesh listens to Brad Paisley these days.

ha, yeah, hmmm.
the author of the nyer piece picks some of his fave recordings here: www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/11/nicks-picks-paumgarten-picks-his-thirteen-favorite-live-grateful-dead-recordings.html

Ward Fowler's above recommendation of Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 2 much appreciated! Finally got around to it today. Pretty sure it's only a matter of time now before I completely submerge myself in this band. Will probably do Two From The Vault next.

Well, this is one testifyin' pilgrim, not the last word. he aptly quotes Lesh on all these versions of the songs:"like fairy tales, they're all true." So yeah, I'd like him to feel the albums more, and the acoustic sets. Also, while Weir has his quirks, he could belt out the ol' roadhouse covers effectively enough; he's no Pigpen, but he sure fills some of the 'pen gap. Also, leave us not forget the Ace album, or some Other Ones songs he and Hart came up with (his suaver side, not so far from the "Weather Report Suite". which Paumgarten does favorably mention here). Phil Lesh and Friends (when they include Warren Haynes) and 7 Walkers, Kreutzmann and Papa Mali's band, are also robust, spacey and adventurous enough for me. But this is the single best Dead road trip map I've seen in quite a while.

conversations with the dead by david gans (the oral history book) is really interesting for audio/tech stuff. mostly cuz he interviewed people like bear who don't get interviewed a lot.

The Lesh part where he has no idea what the author is talking about when he mentions "Scar->Fire" is priceless

“Scar-Fire?” he repeated, unfamiliar with the shorthand.

Oh yeah. "The shorthand." As if anyone other than Paumgarten had ever abbreviated Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain that way.

ive heard it referred to "Scarlet>Fire" quite a bit

Yes! That! But not the other one.

ScarFire kind of sounds like the name of a lady you might meet in a Grateful Dead parking lot.

sorry. just makes me think of an angry dom passantino. doesn't do it for me.

30 days of free Dead downloads, starting today:
http://www.dead.net/30daysofdead/

^yes

This is weirdly hilarious: a seamless 90 minute edit of the Dead tuning up between songs, from 1977:

hxxp://archive.org/details/gd1977-12-31_505

I'm so far gone that I find that a really pleasant listen

I've actually been kind of enjoying it myself - it's like a super mellow counterpart to Neil Young's Arc.

haha, nice!

not quite tuning up, but archive.org also has the longest ever dark star here: http://archive.org/download/DarkStar-/1972-05-11DarkstarComplete.mp3
47 minutes!

things get nuts around 34 minutes.

This morning I was thinking I would really like to listen to a '73 show (haven't heard any from that year yet) and figured I'd come here for a recommendation and looking back through the thread there are plenty from that year. So now I'm kinda overwhelmed and don't know where to start!

The Denver Road Trips set is pretty good-to-great. The only one I've heard on Archive is Evanston, IL 11/1/73, which has its moments (particularly "Morning Dew").

i can recommend this one - Grateful Dead - Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA, June 30, 1973 - http://archive.org/details/gd1973-06-30.aud.weiner.100346.flac16

Thanks! I'll start with those and see where I end up...probably gonna check out those '75 shows soon, too. I've been listening mostly to '68 and '72 so far, so it's time to branch out a bit.

i was listening to dick's picks vol. 2 from 1971 last night. with the dark star/tighten up jam. god help me, i think i'm a deadhead.

I saw the Dick's Picks vol1 vinyl box in a record shop this afternoon. Looked great, but soooo expensive.

how much are they going for? $50? more?

My favorite thing about Spotify is their Dead selection. Between that and archive.org, I don't think I'll need to spend money on this band for a long, long time. Thank God, because otherwise I would be the one buying Dick's Picks on vinyl, which is sadly still tempting in spite of everything I just said.

I've only seen them for $75 and up.

Tyler, they were going for 90 euros. Might be a little cheaper in the US, but prob still over 70 dollars.

Interview with Dick Latvala (from 1996, but just posted)

Those prices are outrageous.

This morning I was thinking I would really like to listen to a '73 show (haven't heard any from that year yet) and figured I'd come here for a recommendation and looking back through the thread there are plenty from that year. So now I'm kinda overwhelmed and don't know where to start!

― xanthanguar (cwkiii), Thursday, January 3, 2013 11:16 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

FWIW if I had to pick just one GD year to keep / throw out everything else, '73 would probably be my keep year-- non-jam songs sound tight, jam songs vary a ton from performance to performance. The jam stuff is especially good if you like that "Huh wtf song did they start this with?" feeling; the '73 Playing in the Bands are just about my favorite GD things from any era.

Think you can pick any of the '73 Dick's Picks at random and you're bound to find a great show. You could do worse than DP Volume 14, Boston Music Hall Dec. '73 (haven't checked to see how many of these are on Spotify).

>lonngggggg nyer dead article: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/11/26/121126fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all

Not a deadhead at all, and never really listened to them recorded or live, but read this great article last week. Anyway, I sought out the live recording the author was talking about, and listened to the mythical "transition" that the author and his high school buddies worshiped. I wasn't impressed by it (like most Grateful Dead fans, according to the author)-- but loved the idea that I was somehow listening to a 'sacred moment' that had been listened to millions of times and obsessed over by this guy and his high school. Really fun.

hadn't really been in the mood for these guys for months but had "bird song" going in my car yesterday and now i'm all in the mood.
ordered dead set this morning which though maybe not quite as great as reckoning is ten times better than without a net

these are great:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/12/28/moog-intros-grateful-dead-expansion-pack-for-animoog/

The Denver Road Trips set
Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA, June 30, 1973
DP Volume 14, Boston Music Hall Dec. '73

Really dug all three of these! Thanks again, everyone, for the recommendations! I think I'm gonna get lost in archive.org this weekend...

http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/gratefuldead_may77_productshot3-575x575.jpg
http://www.dead.net/may1977

Saw this link posted on another thread - good stuff.

https://listentothedead.com/

xpost Nice! I just heard 5/8/77 for the first time last week (actually the first '77 show I've heard so far) and really enjoyed it; it has an absolutely transcendent version of "Morning Dew", the best I've heard, which was not played at any of the shows in that box, unfortunately.

spring 77 is slightly overrated, maybe, but it's still a pretty awesome period for the band.

I was pretty much about art rock and new wave in '77, never saw the Dead during this period (or at all until way after Jerry died,) but seeing Dark Star Orchestra replicate the St. Paul May '77 show turned me around on the Dead a bit.

I've finally been broken down and, at 32, gotten into the Grateful Dead.

As I dig in deeper and buy more albums, I notice that I like the slightly jammy blues rock performances just fine, but the ones that really hit hard for me are the real floaty/pretty performances of tunes like 'Dark Star', 'Bird Song' and 'Morning Dew.'

Anybody fairly well-versed in the Dead able to recommend a live set that focuses more on this side of the band?

There's really no on show that does this, but you wanna hear some second sets in general. First sets were primarily (but not exclusively) straighter material, singalongs, rockers, covers, etc. Second sets were when they got weird / out / spacy. I'd be happy to list you some favorite Dark Stars if you like.

Also, John Oswald's Grayfolded to thread. Do you know that one?

err, really no "one" show that does this, I mean....

what JD said. austin, this is an all-over-the-place thingy i've been playing the hell out of the past week or so. super-spacey "playing in the band" performance

http://www.dead.net/30daysofdead

Cool, I figured as much, but thought it was worth a shot at asking.

I picked this up this morning and had to fight the urge not to just skip straight to disc three. "Dark Star" just started and I got a little goosebumpy.

"Morning Dew" changed character markedly from 1968 to 1972; not necessarily qualitatively, just a change in perspective (went from agitated to reflective). But if you're looking for an epic "Dark Star," the one on Rockin' The Rhein is pretty amazing (and the rest of it isn't too shabby, either).

I'm a broken record on this, but check out the Veneta Fairgrounds 8/27/72 set (recently officially released in the Sunshine Daydream with the movie of that name finally released too). It's the best Dead ever. Even on the first set, the "China Cat Sunflower" hits the groove you're seeking. Then from "Playing in the Band" to "Sing Me Back Home"---nearly two hours of music---they ride this groove. it's the best.

Ahh! My choice this morning at the bookstore was between the Fillmore East and the Veneta set. I went with the Fillmore East set because it was the better buy (four discs $35, as opposed to the Veneta set which was three discs at $40). I'll start saving my milk money back up and get the Veneta set soon. The packaging alone is very enticing on that one!

Anybody fairly well-versed in the Dead able to recommend a live set that focuses more on this side of the band?

'72 Cleveland Dark Star, just so perfect: https://archive.org/details/gd72-10-28.sbd.cotsman.20301.sbeok.shnf

Veneta set is 3 disks plus the dvd of the movie and the movie is dope, much naked hippie

THe only disappointment with the Sunshine Daydream Veneta set is the absence of a booklet on the more widespread version. That's probably because the deluxe limited edition thing came with a substantial book, but still I'd've thought they could have included something with background etc written in it.
The tracklisting is only printed on the back of the trays.
But it is a great set.

I was thinking 74 or 73 might have some more drifty stuff. It's when they were doing rock as jazz in something of a Bitches Brew style but the bass may be too bubbly to allow it to be really ambient. Really like those 2 years in places anyway, not very big on the added horns on '73 though. But I guess taht was pretty short-lived anyway.

Second or third the Venta set - all time top ten Dead show, and the newly released version sounds GREAT

I also second Rockin' the Rhein, which is the Dead at their Sonic Youth-iest

Austin, you have Europe 72, right?

Austin, you have Europe 72, right?

And Volume 2, yes. Great 'Dark Star' on that one. 'Loser' too!

veneta is so good, i love almost any version of "bird song" but that one is insane. ditto "dark star." garcia turning rays of sun into pure sound. did any of y'all get that acoustic 1970 show they put out for record store day?

Also, John Oswald's Grayfolded to thread. Do you know that one?

Seconding this.

did any of y'all get that acoustic 1970 show they put out for record store day?

I've become so bitter towards RSD that I wasn't even aware it.

But we've already discussed that elsewhere.

For all-acoustic GD, all I know thus far is Reckoning (the expanded two disc set) and yeah: to fall back on simpler terms, it's hella good.

Listening to disc 3 of Rockin' The Rhein right now, super jazzy 40 minute "dark star". dudes are freakin out.

Yeah, Godchaux's the hero of that one.

re the question that revived this, would suggest Dick's Picks 4.

My guess is that Sunshine Daydream will be the centerpiece of a future Dead box -- it is great!

― Mark, Saturday, February 5, 2011 9:26 PM

Called it.

Great AUD recording right here, download it:

https://archive.org/details/gd1971-08-06.fob-SonyECM22p.miller.88816.sbeok.flac16

Mountain Bus' lp Sundance should appeal to people into the early Dead. Version have has several live tracks on it.
But Hexahedron the long lp closing instrumental is the bees knees.

Yeah, that Mountain Bus LP is great - and they were from, like, Philly or something, right? Definitely not SF.

RSD acoustic Dead release (not 'officially' a Dead show, as it was billed as Mickey & the Heartbeats with Bobby Ace and His Cards From The Bottom Of The Deck) is worth getting for the solo Pigpen jams, but the fidelity on the whole thing is pretty lousy, even for an archival recording. More cash grab than must-have, I think. I second DP8 if you want acoustic Dead.

yeah I just wish they'd done more acoustically in the early 80s - that Harpur set is really good, but Reckoning is just amazing.

Fans of Jerry at his stoniest and sleepiest should track down a JGB boot from 1976 called Don't Let Go - just incredibly beautiful and a nice antidote to some of the cornier Keystone boots (which I have never really taken to). Also features probably some of the best Keith playing before he started his descent into, you know, not being conscious onstage.

One day I will write an article about how underrated Keith is; he's become something of my personal crusade. It's almost criminal how ignored he is. Sunshine Daydream and The Grateful Dead Movie are perfect examples: the fucking roadies get, like, four times the amount of screen time! Every time the camera would get close to his piano, it would cut to something else. I get that he wasn't Mr Personality, but dude was probably the third best overall player that band ever had (after Jerry and Phil, and I say this as a notorious Bobby apologist). Even his lone songwriting credit, "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away" is a great and underrated song in the Dead canon; it's like Little Feat does Canned Heat!

haha, yeah, i wonder what the story with the lack of keith godchaux footage in those movies is, it's kind of hilarious in sunshine daydream. he can definitely be a great player.
here's another reallllly good acoustic dead show i discovered this year on the archive, from 1970: https://archive.org/details/gd70-08-05.sbd.jupile.17271.sbeok.shnf
http://25.media.tumblr.com/5f792089c81f51726767a8e6d604c9a7/tumblr_mpslhqrIKo1qzy30io1_500.jpg

Man I love it when they did "Dark Hollow" that year.

austin, i don't know if you have "two from the vault," but it has incredible versions of both "dark star" and "morning dew." easily my favorite live dead album, possibly my favorite dead album from my favorite dead era. another obvious live album with a spectacular "dark star" is "live dead" from 1969. tbh for me the dark stars all fell in quality and dynamism after '68-'69.

I do not have Two From the Vault, but I do have Live/Dead. The 'Dark Star/St. Stephen' on L/D is indeed very mighty.

TFtV looks to be very enticing after some research.

It was my gateway into the Dead and will probably always be my favorite.

THe Eleven on Live Dead is very tasty as is the other one on the Fillmore 3cd.
But Two From The Vault is from their '68 peak month August. I think all the live sets I've heard from that month have been quite stunning. It's also the source of the extra material on the Golden Road version of Anthem Of The Sun, but I have some other stuff from then too.
Seemed to be really hot months for most of those first few years May 70, not sure when in 69, might be February though which is that Fillmore run.

i find it pretty hard to go wrong 68-72, and these days 73-75 is sounding pretty great too.

Yeah ditto what Tyler says. I especially find 68-72 endlessly compelling, just a great run from a band.

I know it's cliche as hell to say so in regards to the Dead, but it's just astonishing how much better the live performances of most of the tunes are in comparison their studio counterparts.

I mean, I used to hate 'Uncle John's Band', but that seems like it was because I'd never heard a live rendition before.

Those harmonies! The Garcia/Weir live vocal harmonies have to be some of the most underrated of all time. The version of 'UJ'sB' on that Fillmore East set I just picked is just magnificent in that regard.

i'm generally on board with the notion that live is better, but not for workingman's dead or american beauty. even for the others, if i prefer live i still like some studio dead quite a whole lot

Has anyone else heard Dick's Picks #16 (11/8/69)? I'm curious if late '69 is considered crapulent, or if this is just an off night. It does have my favorite "Feedback" ever, but the rest, wow, the songs are barely holding together, and not in a fun way.

Dick's Picks 16 is a weird one. Some of the best noise jams the Dead ever laid down but HOLY SHIT I can't find the stop button fast enough once the encore cover of "Hey Jude" starts up.

I don't think "Hey Jude" is on that; it's on another Fillmore East dealie (not a Pick of Dick's). And yeah, it's horrendous.

oh my bad

the dead consistently did terrible beatles covers all through the years

Yeah, doing covers of songs where the focus is on the singing wasn't the best strategy for a band whose vocals were an afterthought.

the last time I saw them they opened with "rain" and it was so bad that i had wiped it from my memory until i finally listened to a tape the show this summer.

Do you think they thought they were good singers? I always wonder that, because you don't wind up with four singers in your band, none of whom can sing, unless it's on purpose.

I just don't think they gave it much thought when they didn't have to. On their studio records (and for the overdubbing on Europe '72), they obviously put a lot of effort into the vocals (relatively speaking).

But live, for one thing, they rarely listened to their live tapes (unless I have that wrong, but I know Phil and Bob have said things along the lines of "ugh, I never listen to those!")

So unless they realized in the moment how weak and off-key the singing was (which, given their drug intake, I'm going to assume they didn't), there wasn't anything that needed to be fixed. You always hear members of the Dead reference good nights and bad nights purely in instrumental terms; I've never read/heard a single interview where one of them said, "Oof, some nights the singing is really off!"

i think i've read quotes from them saying they really wanted to sound like CSN but could never sing things the same way twice.

Do you think they thought they were good singers? I always wonder that, because you don't wind up with four singers in your band, none of whom can sing, unless it's on purpose.

― Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Monday, December 9, 2013 3:46 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's no way Phil Lesh thought he could sing. No way.

I just realised with DP16 that I tend to go for the 2nd 2 discs and not the first which I think I would tend to do anyway. Normally go for the jam section instead of the shorter song one when I listen to a dead live set that isn't on disc so maybe that's why I'm not dismissive of it.
I stuck disc 2 on my walkman I think.

I really enjoy DP16, but I've read a few negative reviews of it. My enjoyment of live Dead recordings is tied to how well they perform st stephen->the eleven, and DP16 has a fantastic Eleven. Am I the only one who hears this song as free jazz extrapolation of "Joy to the World"? Probably...

So unless they realized in the moment how weak and off-key the singing was (which, given their drug intake, I'm going to assume they didn't), there wasn't anything that needed to be fixed. You always hear members of the Dead reference good nights and bad nights purely in instrumental terms; I've never read/heard a single interview where one of them said, "Oof, some nights the singing is really off!

Well, if you believe Bob Weir, Donna was fired because she wasn't hitting the notes.

So unless they realized in the moment how weak and off-key the singing was (which, given their drug intake, I'm going to assume they didn't), there wasn't anything that needed to be fixed. You always hear members of the Dead reference good nights and bad nights purely in instrumental terms; I've never read/heard a single interview where one of them said, "Oof, some nights the singing is really off!

Well, if you believe Bob Weir, Donna was fired because she wasn't hitting the notes.

― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, December 10, 2013 1:24 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Donna wasn't also an instrumentalist though, which would probably factor in.
& it seems that she couldn't hear herself onstage in the early years, would think that would have been corrected by 1974 though with the wall of sound. But not sure how that worked in terms of individual players being monitored in a way that meant they could hear themselves individually properly.
& she was the one member of the band that actually was a professional singer, having done session work elsewhere.

http://deadessays.blogspot.ie/2009/08/crowded-dead-stage-1967-1975.html
List of live guests that somebody just linked to on Dime.

I caught something off a local college station the other morning which sounded like Etta James fronting the Dead. Turns out that's exactly what it was (with the Tower of Power horns, too). It was fine -- Etta sounded great, the Dead a bit less so, given that it was '82 or '83 -- but at the end she said "Give 'em a big hand! The best rhythm & blues band in the world!" I love the Dead, but...no.

that was on one of the first dead tapes I was ever gifted. was a NYE show iirc.

Well, if you believe Bob Weir, Donna was fired because she wasn't hitting the notes.

^thank god Jerry could play guitar then. I mean the guy couldnt remember the lyrics half the time. Singing with the Dead was beside the point.

The best rhythm & blues band in the world!

AHAHAHA, thank you for my morning laugh! They did about the worst Chuck Berry covers I've ever heard.

Yeah, some of the '50s rock and roll covers they did were just awful. Country tunes, on the other hand....

re: Donna, I think the problem was she was the only on-pitch singer in a band with four other off-pitch singers. By comparison, she sounded like the one who was off.

And yeah, their rock 'n' roll covers rarely, if ever, worked.

I was listening to 11/9/79 Buffalo last night and the second set clicked with me in a really, really big way. The run of "Prophet", "He's Gone" > "Drums" > "Space" > "Wharf Rat" was gorgeous.

And yeah, their rock 'n' roll covers rarely, if ever, worked.
Well...they kinda made "Not Fade Away" their own. And the set with Bo Diddley guesting is pretty solid!

It' weird, because one of the things that got me into the Dead at all was the JGB's version of "Don't Let Go." Jerry actually could effectively sing (his own take on) R&B when he was on.

Pigpen too, but I'm not a big fan of his vocals or that era.

lol at etta, i'll have to hear that one.

There's a review in I think Mojo Navigator, Greg Shaw's mid 60s zine saying that the 1st s/t lp is the most authentic r'n'b lp since the Stones' debut. Definitely in one of the 2 Bomp compilation books.

Jerry always identified himself as a guitar player. Even songwriting was a distant 2nd job in his mind, what he really did was play guitar. Through the 70s and a little into the early 80s I think he often sang quite well, he had a sweet voice if a little thin. He forgot a lot of lyrics but was mostly on-key. He sang even better with Jerry Band it seems like, maybe he knew he had to carry it.

I never really liked Bob's voice very much, though I do like a good number of his songs. They gave him too many gruff rocker covers.

Donna often sounded really bad, people mention the monitor thing, but she really just had a big issue with pitch, period. I never really minded her presence but I can't say she ever improved a song for me.

Phil was a different thing entirely. Everyone on this thread can sing better than Phil. Meaning we all have a "Box of Rain" in us.

Interesting piece on the history (and current restoration) of the Betty Boards:
http://www.relix.com/articles/detail/whats_become_of_the_bettys

yeah kind of cool, though jesus christ, if there's one band that could probably take it easy with the archival digs...

looks like this explains why no official release of Cornell?

yeah kind of cool, though jesus christ, if there's one band that could probably take it easy with the archival digs...

I will have been dead for fifty years and Weir will have been dead for seventy and they'll still be releasing live albums from the mid-seventies

it's kind of awesome

Yeah I will admit to being pretty deep in the hole as far as live dead goes. Seems like I can't go a couple days without firing up something from archive .org. And as everyone knows there is no better driving music than live shows from 72.

And as everyone knows there is no better driving music than live shows from 72.

ha, i know, why is that?

perfect ratio of choogle to jam?

^^^ new screen name! I kinda never listen to the Dead until this thread reactivates and prompts me. 3-21-90 this morning (Ontario). They segued Crazy Fingers into Cumberland Blues, not altogether successfully, but A for effort.

And as everyone knows there is no better driving music than live shows from 72.