Grateful Dead

[liebzz]

Took me a few days but at the end of the St. Louis show they just released from 12/10/71. This is one of those shows where they were consistently very good from front to back, but there’s not a moment where you think you are hearing the best version of any particular song - but absolutely nothing drags - they were on the whole show. Plus I am always happy to hear them play in that ‘70-‘73 timeframe. The perfect mix of them playing Americans, blues, and jazz all together seamlessly.

[Kevin Davis]

Took me a few days but at the end of the St. Louis show they just released from 12/10/71. This is one of those shows where they were consistently very good from front to back, but there’s not a moment where you think you are hearing the best version of any particular song - but absolutely nothing drags - they were on the whole show. Plus I am always happy to hear them play in that ‘70-‘73 timeframe. The perfect mix of them playing Americans, blues, and jazz all together seamlessly.

I've got the box set en route! Looking forward to it -- '71-'73 is the sweet spot!

[doug rr]

hey...a question coming from someone who has always appreciated them but has only owned one bootleg and a greatest hits..anyway can i get a yes or no on this or another vinyl box that would be better? thanks

[liebzz]

It’s very good from listening on Spotify, but my favorite of theirs is Ladies and Gentlemen…the Grateful Dead, which is from the Fillmore East in I believe 1971.

[Kevin Davis]

Fillmore West '69 is phenomenal. Do not hesitate.

[doug rr]

thank you

[Kevin Davis]

From one jazz lover to another I think a '69 "Dark Star" is going to be right up your alley

[doug rr]

thats all i needed to hit the buy button..

[knee tunes]

Jesus Christ

[knee tunes]

"I've led a kind of unusual life."
--Bob Weir



(Netflix)

[Kevin Davis]

thats all i needed to hit the buy button..

Oh hey, how did this turn out?

[liebzz]

Almost missed this…

50 years ago today, Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, Garcia, came out. That is one beast of an album.

[rick malone]

Almost missed this…

50 years ago today, Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, Garcia, came out. That is one beast of an album.

Frickin awesome album. Studio Sugaree is the tops.

[liebzz]

Almost missed this…

50 years ago today, Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, Garcia, came out. That is one beast of an album.

Frickin awesome album. Studio Sugaree is the tops.

There’s an 18 minute Sugaree from Hartford 77 that I am obsessed with.

[Kevin Davis]

Dick’s Picks Vol. 16 - Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 11/8/69

Set: Good Morning Little School Girl, Casey Jones, Dire Wolf, Easy Wind, China Cat Sunflower, I Know You Rider, High Time, Mama Tried, Good Lovin’, Cumberland Blues, Dark Star>The Other One>Dark Star>Uncle John’s Band>Dark Star, St. Stephen>The Eleven, Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)>The Main Ten>Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks>Feedback, And We Bid You Goodnight, Turn On Your Lovelight (might be from the night before)

I am not sure what to say about this show because it’s largely perfection. The band here is in great form on this release that stretches over 3 hours. Good Lovin’ was really strong as was Good Night Little School Girl, Mama Tried, and so far my favorite version of Dark Star. St. Stephen>The Eleven is epic - I can’t say enough how much I love this combo. That I think tacked in Turn On Your Lovelight is also the best version so far. This is simply a profoundly great pick.

What’s Next: Workingman’s Dead

I need to hear this pick. I've never really listened to anything from late '69.

Definitely agree with the Dick's Picks 8 recommendation for 1970.

Only took two years from this post, but I'm listening to this 11/8/69 Pick for the first time today. So far, nothing resembling a complaint.

[liebzz]

It feels like it’s been a long time. I anticipate another long Grateful Dead listening experience once the weather gets warm.

[Kevin Davis]

It feels like it’s been a long time. I anticipate another long Grateful Dead listening experience once the weather gets warm.

We had a few nice spring days here last week and it immediately put me in the mood for some Dead

[Captain Termite]

I did some highway driving this past weekend and listened to (most of) a couple of random shows, one from '73 and one from '77. I don't know if it was these particular shows, but Bob Weir singing bugged me more than normal. Songs like Dancing in the Streets and Playin in the Band went to some interesting places and had some nice improvs attached, but the actual verse-and-chorus parts were abysmal.

[liebzz]

I usually don’t mind his singing. Sometimes I get annoyed but never by enough to care. On the live recordings in that time, I have more often gotten annoyed at Donna Godcheaux who has a great voice but would over sing to the point where her voice was out of control. Alternatively it could just be the quality of the recording.

[Kevin Davis]

I did some highway driving this past weekend and listened to (most of) a couple of random shows, one from '73 and one from '77. I don't know if it was these particular shows, but Bob Weir singing bugged me more than normal. Songs like Dancing in the Streets and Playin in the Band went to some interesting places and had some nice improvs attached, but the actual verse-and-chorus parts were abysmal.

I think there is a desensitizing effect that happens with Weir's voice over time -- I found it so grating when I first started listening to the Dead. Then one day I just...didn't anymore. It's weird how many people report being specifically irritated by Weir's voice, which is so ordinary and unremarkable it seems like it should be incapable of provoking any kind of strong reaction. There's just something about the timbre and delivery of it. But I've softened on it a lot, and now feel like I couldn't imagine the Dead's music without it.

I have mixed feelings about Donna. I feel like, from '72-'74, she generally sounded pretty bad -- her voice was rarely mixed properly, and her harmony parts were undisciplined even by Dead standards. Her screams during "Playin' in the Band" and "Scarlet Begonias" could shatter glass. I feel like you either accept this as a kind of ridiculous artifact of the band's sound at the time (not unlike Brent's plinky keys in the early '80's, or Jerry's MIDI guitar solos in the early '90's), or it drives you crazy. I go back and forth depending on the day, on all of those things really.

But post-hiatus ('76-'78), she sounds way, way better. Perhaps with a leaner sound setup they were able to mix her in a little more naturally, and maybe she just got more confident in her technical ability as she got more grounded in the band's music. Whatever it is, it's a night and day difference for me. I definitely find myself missing Donna's backing vocals by the time Brent with his overwrought Bryan Adams-isms takes her place.