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

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.