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

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?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY7vbqbNrRM

praying the woody harrelson midi ass solo performance is real

8/17/91 Shoreline has both a Tennessee Jed & Drums->Space

Until last year, the Dead held the record for largest crowd at a show (single band, so not counting Watkins Glen, Woodstock, etc...) with 107,019 people.

George Strait set the new record, at 104,793 people.

sorry, wrong Strait show- the actual record is 110,905 people.

Probably less nudity at the Strait show.

There is a little jam at 9:45 during the The Other One on Dick's Picks 36 (from the 09/03/1972 show from Folsom Field, Boulder, CO) that sounds like one of the parts of Help on the Way (released 1975). It's a pretty simple little riff, but . . . .

Holy shit I’d never heard the 72 Rotterdam “Dark Star” until today. That one is something special.

thanks, that's my next 47 minutes of listening sorted

Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks

Really loving the 5/7/72 Bickershaw Festival show - I'm no fan of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" but Jerry just goes completely off the rails with a wild solo on that one. And has a definite top-10 Pigpen creep rap during "Good Lovin'".

that show is ridiculous, kind of sums up everything great about the Dead imo

The Bickershaw "Ramble On Rose" RIPS. Jerry's tone is extra-hot at that show

the deadcast ep about that show is worth a listen too: https://www.dead.net/deadcast/europe-72-bickershaw

Thanks, Mr. Flavor, pulling that up

Oh yeah it's really cool to hear Elvis Costello's reminiscences

Just thirding(?) the love for the Bickershaw show, that was one of the first Europe '72 full shows that I fell for when I started to dig in.

that Bickershaw "The Other One" should have been my gateway into the dead 20 years ago when i was getting into Oneida.

Another reminder to keep up with the official Deadcast, Jesse Jarnow is doing some amazing work. Still somewhat stunned that an officially branded podcast from the band has turned out to be so impressive.

Love how he connects "King Solomon’s Marbles/’Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin’ the Turkey" to what CAN was doing in a similar timeframe on the new ep.

absolutely one of the best podcasts!

The two German live collections 'Rockin the Rhein' and especially 'Hundred Year Hall' are the two Europe 72 shows I listen to the most of that tour outside the original LP. They set course to the sun on Hundred Year Hall, that one has some pretty inspired psych jamming.

Somehow the deadcast is turning Music Never Stopped into a fascinating window into a GD era that doesn’t get much attention. These ppl are doing great work.

Yeah, this episode is great too!

The early and fast China Cat Sunflower on Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 2 (02/24/68) is so good. Makes me wish we got a 68 Truckin' or Sugar Magnolia or something.

Been spending a lot of time this week on Phil & Friends Quintet era shows, getting convinced this was the best post-Jerry band and really wishing I’d have been dialed in enough back in 2001 to see them.

There absolutely needs to be an official Phil Bombs series of official live recordings.

When was the quintet era? I saw them in November 1999 opening for Dylan at Temple U. and wasn't a big enough Dead fan to appreciate it. In fact, I could have seen them in July 2000 at Merriweather Post Pavillion , but I left after Dylan opened :(

September 2000 to December 2003, mostly. The shows I love most are in 2001 mostly though.

Got listening to some Jerry Garcia Band. That live show from 76 put out as "Don't Let Go" is an interesting listen. The title track is a total New Orleans/Little Feat groove.

His take on “Don’t Let Go” was my entry point to the Dead, and yeah that New Orleans groove was what did it.

i saw Phil a bunch of times in that 2000-2002 era, with Steve Kimock and either Warren Haynes or Jimmy Herring as the guitarists. They were spectacular. John Molo on drums really conspired with Phil to keep things loose and exploratory and psychedelic.

I assume Phish connections are a turn off for some of you (though I know you are sympathetic, jvc!), but I believe the very first shows billed as "Phil & Friends" were April '99 with Trey and Page from Phish, alongside Kimock and Molo. They are excellent, and mythic in the Phish world. Highly recommend, and there are great recordings out there on archive.org and other places

Oh yeah, I love those shows! So much better than the Fare Thee Well shows with Trey. Seconding that highest recommendation, if you can plug your nose at the Phish connection.

I have a soft spot for Fare Thee Well cause it's the only time I saw Phil play (and I like Trey a lot actually). But the more I hear Further, the Dead, Phil and Friends etc shows from the late 90s early 2000s the more I think they're so much better than Dead and Slow. I'm not mad about the D and C shows I saw but I haven't been in 5 years and don't see going anymore.

Going through things trying to get organized, I got my Dead CDs out. Gave Dicks Picks 24 which was the maiden voyage of the Wall of Sound and the Road Trips from Valentines Day 68. They play "Dark Star" so fast on that one. I always really liked both of those live shows.

The early and fast China Cat Sunflower on Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 2 (02/24/68) is so good. Makes me wish we got a 68 Truckin' or Sugar Magnolia or something.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Saturday, October 11, 2025 6:22 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

That 68 show is the same one I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (though I had a typo in the date). Dark Star > China Cat Sunflower > The Eleven with the gas to the floor is so good.

If you ever want a fresh listen of DP24, the full-show soundboard on archive.org is absolutely worth a listen – imo wildly better in some places and makes some DP24 tracks sound quiet / aggressively mixed (compare the Chinacat -> Rider).