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!

i've def spent more time with 5/9

so J Sam can you recommend some fave good-sounding archive.org shows from, say, each year of the 70s? I am looking for a nice Help/Slip/Franklin in particular but I love all yr recommendations so far

― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Monday, May 29, 2023 9:48 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Oh hell yeah, will do this in a bit!

Those collections have become pretty stupid expensive. These regular live releases seem to be not crazy expensive looking through eBay.

Hundred Year Hall (awesome The Other One)
Two from the Vault (68 show, well recorded for time)
One from the Vault (75)
Ladies and Gentleman the Grateful Dead (72 tour)
Fillmore West 1969

Dicks Picks vol 2 - single disc but good dark star

A lot of Deadheads say that 5/9/77 is better than the previous night (Barton Hall).

I haven’t found a H/S/F more to my liking than One From the Vault. It’s so tight and energetic, they seem to be audibly happy to be back from hiatus.

A lot of Deadheads say that 5/9/77 is better than the previous night

oh man this rules, thanks all

excellent, I actually need to listen to that myself.

I haven’t found a H/S/F more to my liking than One From the Vault. It’s so tight and energetic, they seem to be audibly happy to be back from hiatus.

I love this one so much. The way the intro gives way to the song is A+ Dead.

I remember walking into the GAMH for the first time for Wilco in ‘96 or 97, and being pretty amazed at what a cool room it is and of course how much that ‘75 show must have ruled (I assume PF have always been too big to have played there? Would have ruled obv).

I remember reading somewhere that the GAMH show was mostly for industry types to hype a release?

Dick's Picks #4 is pretty good it comes from May 70 and has them stretching out a few numbers to 1/2 hour length.
I think DP8 is also from May 70 which I think is a peak month for them that year. Not sure how great it is in comparison to 4 but should be worth hearing. I never got it but always meant to.

I do enjoy them in August 68 which is when Two From The Vault comes from and also the bonus tracks on the Golden Road version of Anthem of The Sun. I think its a peak for a certain sound they had. The band themselves were apparently far from happy with where they were at the time since they nearly fired Bob Weir and Pigpen right around then.

I’m a big fan of the H/S/F on Dick’s Picks 3 - Kreutzmann and Hart get that one into an extra grooving rendition.

The first set on 3/24/73 (The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA) is really great, starting with The Race is On.

I've always liked Row Jimmy for a slow Dead song, but it's really been killing me lately. I find myself humming/singing the "ever since they tore the jukebox down" section all the freakin' time now, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JukZBGgv8I

I probably have more tolerance for Playing in the Band than the average listener, but the middle jams of these Spring 1973 versions are really so much fun to get lost in.

Recommend divks picks 5, 1979, weird electric slow versions

put a random 76 show (LA 10/15/76) on and was pretty surprised at how great it went front to back - stellar closing run of He's Gone/Drums/Other One/Comes a Time/Franklin's/Sugar Magnolia. Crowd was going absolutely bonkers for the final two.

It's hard to go wrong with any show in 73/74, but for more Dick's Picks check out 19 (10/19/73), 12 (6/26 & 6/28/74), and 31 (8/4 - 8/6/74)

Don't think I'd ever listened to DP31 (8/4 - 8/6/74) ... just 10 minutes into the opening Playing, absolutely sick. Feel like Keith's keys have way more reverb than usual, sounds great. We'll see if I make it through 4+ hrs.

Had started DP7 and had to turn it off because the drums seemed mixed waaaay more up front than I rememeber.

man those 76 show can be great. check 10-15 at the Shrine

oh ha that's the one you're listening to

lol

since there's some 74 talk, too. I'll stump for Dave's Picks Vol. 34 (June 23, 1974), which was one of the first Dead shows I really clicked with. It also has the bonus of being recorded at a Jai Alai Fronton so the album art incorporates appropriate sports imagery.

^^^^ fantastic release, I think the night before another top-tier release, DP12. Another comp that gets lost in the shuffle is Road Trips Vol 2 #3, which is a best-of from three June '74 shows and is essential listening if you like that sound ... basically like new 2nd versions of all the DP12 stuff + a 30min Playing tacked on. I wonder if they found a mixing/recording sweet spot around then – a lot of these shows have a shared sound venue to venue on recording, maybe the most neutral they ever sounded?

Something small (1hr of mindless tagging) but really consequential in my GD listening habits via streaming from Apple Music finding a way to force a UI where I could easily see ALL of their live releases ordered chronologically, something I had 20 years ago with a finely-metatagged mp3 file collection that sits on some external hard drives I will never touch again.

I'm sure there's a simpler way, but I ended up:
- adding all live albums / comps into one single playlist folder
- manually changing the metadata year to the year it was played (comps listed as something like "2022")
- Set View to Albums
- Sort by Artist - Year - Ascending
- Let the warm wash of calmness wash over you as you browse

In Apple Music, it's ~115 live albums total (missing stuff like Dave's Picks, but lots of random releases as well ... I also left like 15 of the Europe '72 releases because I simply don't need that much choice, like 5-7 is enough). It's made browsing so enjoyable – and for the first time in the streaming era, I feel like I can browse through as I would've on iTunes in 2008, which is all I want! – that I ended up doing the same for a bunch of other live music that I like to browse by year/era (Miles Davis, Zappa, JGB, Phish). It also makes it pain-free to just line up all the Dark Stars or Playings, or search for a song, sort by year, and just plow through some '77 Dancings or w/e.

I don't spend a lot of time in the Vince era, but giving 10/14/94 at MSG a shot right now and it's surprisingly good. A short 50-minute first set that is really well paced, love the sleazy "West L.A. Fadeaway". But it's all about the massive "Scarlet > Fire" to kick off these second set, nearly a half hour long and about as inspired jamming I've heard from '94. I also like the jam out of "Corrina" that sets up "Drums > Space".

https://archive.org/details/gd94-10-14.sbd.perkins.9054.sbeok.shnf

Shame about that "Samba" that got dropped in there though, it's rough even by that song's standards.

I have been naming the Album Name for live albums as "Year-Month-Day - Album Name" since I started collecting bootlegs so they always order appropriately on digital platforms.

xp

I’m currently seeing my second Dead cover band in a week. I think I may have finally succumbed.

One of us, one of us!

There's (or was) a whole festival of Dead tribute bands in Ventura, CA. I always enjoy going to this divey place in Pasadena that does "Dead Night" once a month. Through strange circumstances, one of the best bands to ever play that place later opened for Vampire Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. Blew my mind.

Any chance that was Taper's Choice? Not exactly a Dead tribute band, but jam adjacent and Vampire Weekend's Chris Tomson is a member...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYauWP1boZg

that's honestly a really fun game to play along with imo

I love how they can't help but get into that Sugar Magnolia.

Maxmillion: not Taper's Choice, but I have seen them too. This was Richard's Pictures.

listening to 10/28/79 at Cape Cod this morning, not sure how I'd missed this one until now, it's a pretty hot show and one of those where the first set damn near bests the second set. you know you are in for a treat when the first set opens with a 12-minute "Half Step" into an 18-minute "Franklin's". the outro jam on the set 1 closing "TMNS" is fire too.

lol that's about 50% more "Franklin" than I need! I did listen to set one this morning, Jerry starts creaky but warms up. Good setlist, nice "Althea."

yeah it's a lot of "Fraklin's" but I think it's 100% justified

the second set "China > Rider" is worth it for the Phil bombz and when Bobby mistakenly tries to steal Jerry's "I wish I was a headlight" verse

79 fall tour is pretty great, I've always been partial to 10/31/79 Nassau Collisium.

dipping into some '83 shows - an absolutely unhinged Jerry performance on "New Minglewood Blues" from 9/2/83 went waaaay beyond my expectations.

Yeah, that was a surprisingly decent show when it came out as a Dave's Pick a few years ago, I dug large parts of it. Although I always laughed when Phil opened the show with his, "Citizens of Boise, submit or perish – you are a conquered people" intonation and the band promptly launched into...... "Wang Dang Doodle".

Ha. I don’t think the dead doing WDD conquers anyone.

xp i clipped that exact section afterwards!

New to me, the "Dark Star" from 2/21/69 at the Dream Bowl. Really liking this version a lot, feels like one of the earliest versions where it feels like the entire band is locked into the improv.

Thanks, Jon!

https://archive.org/details/gd69-02-21.sbd.owen.7859.sbeok.shnf/gd69-02-21d1t03.shn

Not the longest version, but nonetheless an epic, prismatic one.

Thanks for this. I needed a good Dark Star>St. Stephen>The Eleven to lift my spirits. That last one is just so joyous to me.

Listening to without a net, was wondering who the smokin trumpet player was on “let it grow”, realized it’s Jerry’s midi guitar lol