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

Just here to say '71 dead shit is awesome. The 2/18/71 show on the 50th anniversary Workingman's Dead is really interesting:

Ooops, meant to say:

First "Bertha" - First "Greatest" - First "Loser" - First "Playin" - First "Wharf Rat" - Mickey's last show until 10-20-74 - E.S.P. show - also: NRPS - this run was recorded for "Skull Fuck"; none of it was used.

You can hear all these songs that became staples in 71-74 being tentatively worked on - all the later possibilities are there but hadn't yet occurred.

Maybe a better way to say it is they hadn't figured everything out yet so you can sort of hear other possible roads they could have taken.

Also 71 is really interesting to me because it's the last year of the OG Dead - by 1972 things have changed and they lost some of the early roughness (gaining a lot obv). You still have the faint remnants of pre-1969 acid test Dead, the folky stuff from the 1970 studio albums is still fresh, and you have the beginnings of a lot of live staples from 72-74.

It's all laid out (with a complete lack of self-awareness) in Jefferson Airplane's "The Farm"

??
Disagree

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but "The Farm" always struck me as the perfect expression of the hippies who had the means and privilege to live out the stoner fantasy of, "What if, like, we could just not have to deal with the hassles and responsibilities of the world, man, and just lay back and groove out in the country?" That said, I actually like the song (and that album) a lot, having only discovered it relatively recently.

I mean yeah, the song's "about" that, but I don't think it lacks self-awareness -- I think of it as a gentle (good-natured?) nose-tweak of that particular slice of the counterculture.

(fwiw, I think the same is also true of, say, the song that pairs "up against the wall, motherfuckers!" with "we are very proud of ourselves...". I think the Airplane were steeped in straight-faced irony)

Speaking of 60s etc. communities in San Francisco, Jay Babcock has created a Wordpress about the Diggers, with lots of research, incl. interviews he conducted---here's a deep 'n' wide one with a couple about life before, during, after Diggers (they are not happy to report that Emmett Grogan, one of the relatively best-known Diggers, called them up, looking for volunteers to work security at Altamont, but they already had dibs on a big work party for a house raising, so that was one reason Grogan or somebody got the Angels to do it)
https://diggersdocs.home.blog/2022/03/05/we-had-a-far-more-profound-effect/

(also: Christopher Hill's The World Turned Upside Down is a great read on the original (17th century) Diggers (and Levellers and Ranters and etc.)― papal hotwife (milo z))

And here's the article about Pigpen I mentioned, which doesn't say he was drinking at 13, specifically, but his buddy from way back does remember them hitting it pretty hard from then on, in Pig's case---also shows some attitudes, and mention of "the orphan of the Haight"---quite a time lens, possibly triggering for some, re alcohol abuse:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pigpen-mckernan-dead-at-27-46215/

I wonder if the tape of his songs mentioned in that article has surfaced, is posted somewhere---?

I mean yeah, the song's "about" that, but I don't think it lacks self-awareness -- I think of it as a gentle (good-natured?) nose-tweak of that particular slice of the counterculture.

― Disarm u with a SMiLE (morrisp), Wednesday, August 10, 2022 1:03 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

(fwiw, I think the same is also true of, say, the song that pairs "up against the wall, motherfuckers!" with "we are very proud of ourselves...". I think the Airplane were steeped in straight-faced irony)

― Disarm u with a SMiLE (morrisp), Wednesday, August 10, 2022 1:07 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I can almost see that (the irony, that is). I rarely associate '60s SF bands with irony, straight-faced or otherwise, and Ian MacDonald's assertion that '60s US bands lacked irony entirely is often stuck in the back of my head. I don't think he's completely correct, but I think there's more examples that prove his point than refute it.

And "we are forces of chaos and anarchy, everything they say we are we are, and we are very proud of ourselves" feels less like slight tweaking of their contemporaries/audience, and more like "this is what the establishment is saying about us, so fuck 'em, we'll embrace those labels, true or not."

Here's a thing about Pigpen as songwriter:
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-only-self-penned-pigpen-track-on-a-grateful-dead-album/ (title is misleading, since it mentions several things, incl. on the expanded Europe '72

xp Hmm, yeah... good read on that line.

Btw (completely tangential) - the lyrics of "The Farm" were written by this dude Gary Blackman, who I don't know much about... he was some kind of "associate" of the band (part of their management team?) who has a few songwriting credits here and there on their stuff.

(I don't know who gets credit for the farm-animal SFX, lol)

The Farm was released on the pre-altamont Volunteers album though. The post-altamont spaceship fantasy cocaine album that Kate hints at was paul kantner's Blows Against the Empire in 1970. And the Dead had already moved away from Haight Ashbury by 1968 so the SF hippie "back to the land" movement wasn't really a reaction to Altamont, it continued to grow after Altamont for sure, but it i think it started more as a reaction to the overcrowding & commercialization of hippies in the Haight.

Btw (completely tangential) - the lyrics of "The Farm" were written by this dude Gary Blackman, who I don't know much about... he was some kind of "associate" of the band (part of their management team?) who has a few songwriting credits here and there on their stuff.

― Disarm u with a SMiLE (morrisp), Wednesday, August 10, 2022 1:36 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh weird, didn't know that about "The Farm" lyrics!

And looking up the lyrics to "We Can Be Together," I see they were written by Kantner. Maybe this is an unfair comparison, but since he also wrote the following, I don't believe he had an ironic bone in his body:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxnsmRl8x14

Well he wrote a memoir titled Paul Kantner's Nicaragua Diary: How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Or, I Was a Commie Dupe for the Sandinistas... that's kinda ironic!

Ha! Good point

I also have to believe for myself that whoever wrote the lyrics to "Come Up the Years" (Balin or Kantner) was being at least a little ironic, or I'd feel guilty loving the song so much.

Worth mentioning that Blows Against the Empire contains a follow up to "We Can Be Together" called "Let's Go Together" also by Kantner and also devoid of irony:

Pre-Altamont Kantner wants to fight America:
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive we steal cheat lie forge fred hide and deal
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young
But we should be together
Come on all you people standing around
Our life's too fine to let it die
We can be together
All your private property is target for your enemy
And your enemy
Is we
Da da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da da
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves

Post-Altamont Kantner wants to escape Amerika:
Shall I go off and away to bright Andromeda?
Shall I sail my wooden ships to the sea?
Or stay in a cage of those in Amerika??
Or shall I be on the knee?
Wave goodbye to Amerika
Say hello to the garden
So I see - I see the way you feel
And I know that your life is real
Pioneer searcher refugee
I follow you and you follow me
Let's go together
Let's go together
Let's go together right now

Yeah, by hijacking a fuckin starship!

(that KBC Band "America" song is such a jam, btw... never heard it before)

well, he did hijack the word "Starship" for the name for the band going forward from there so it's not as ironic as it sounds.

the thing you have to understand about kantner's airplane lyrics is that he unrepentently stole half of them. "we can be together", a lot of that stuff _isn't_ him but is cribbed from the pamphlets of the radical group Up Against The Wall Motherfucker (associates of Valerie Solanas) - they called themselves a "street gang with analysis". UAW/MF are specifically a group that has a huge influence on the way i look at how to live in the world, which means that i'm very specifically interested in their failures as an organization. i linked this before but here's a piece i wrote a couple weeks ago where i talk a little bit about UAW/MF and call Bob Dylan a sellout for going electric:

https://www.alanauch.org/wtob/2022/07/26/being-there/

since i know people don't often click on links in message thread posts, i will call out specifically that "we are very proud of ourselves" is an _important_ statement to me. it has a certain resonance and meaning for me, resonance and meaning that the radical hippies of the '60s by and large didn't understand the _significance_ of, i'd argue.

Some trivia to tie this discussion back to the thread topic: both “We Can Be Together” and “Volunteers” are reportedly based on an old banjo lick that David Crosby played for Kantner, which is also the foundation of the Dead’s “St. Stephen.”

Just finished Long Strange Trip, which I really enjoyed. It made me finally break the 1980 barrier - I listened to Go to Nassau for the first time in its entirety and it's mostly awesome. I was surprised how good the vocals are and how energized they sound. My main complaint about post-74 Dead is how the energy/pace flags, but this was fine.

One of my all time favorite Dead moments is the Uncle John's Band, Live at Winterland, 1970, on Complete Live Rarities Collection. It apparently was the show closer and when the instruments come back in after the a cappella last chorus it's so ecstatic and the crowd responds and goes nuts and I want to live in that 45 seconds.

Oh yeah, that's an incredible version. I think Phil's voice sounds great in the harmonies, like he can barely contain his enthusiasm.

Also happy Veneta Day! 50 years!!

I listened to Veneta this afternoon! One of my favorite Dead memories was listening to that Dark Star while walking around the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix on a really hot day, matching the vibe of that show.

#onthisday pic.twitter.com/hVe4Fqvgek

— Record Crates United (@RecordCratesUTD) August 27, 2022

xp listening to that right now!

At least it wasn't "Naked Pole Guy For The Future"

Speaking of the Grateful Dead yogurt concert, my old Vermont band had a song inspired by a certain special segment of Sunshine Daydream. It was called "Boob Montage for the Future"

— Emily Hilliard (@hey_emhilly) August 30, 2022

To wit,

"I painted my boobs with a sun and a flower/ I'm peaking just before Franklin's Tower"

— Emily Hilliard (@hey_emhilly) August 30, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4_D6P6Hrc

posting this just so we can appreciate weir dressed like an amusement park employee and lesh's glorious dolphin shirt/sweatpants combo

One of my favorite Lesh outfits outside of the Heineken years.

I hate that they dressed like shlubs. If you look at the Europe '72 photos and footage, they made an effort to dress up a tiny bit onstage (except for Weir)...but man, by the '80s, it was like, "Thanks for coming, guys, we really need our lawn mowed...oh wait, you're the band?"

https://store.dead.net/dw/image/v2/BHCC_PRD/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-warner-master/default/dwd4a88a95/pdp-img/Dead/daves_picks_vol_44_product_shot_1000x1000.png?sw=550&sh=550&sm=fit

We're easin' on into the last Dave's Picks of the 2022 series with the complete show from AUTZEN STADIUM, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, OREGON, 6/23/90 and you're going to need your sunglasses because the forecast for this one is bright. Doors were at noon with Little Feat opening (fun fact: Little Feat's Lowell George produced SHAKEDOWN STREET) and the Grateful Dead taking the stage at 2pm to deliver what is surely one of their longest later-era performances and what can most certainly be classified as an upper-echelon late-Brent era show.
It's lazy in the best possible way, with the band taking their time to get each note just right, giving Dead Heads a real chance to soak in the day's incarnations of long-worn favorites like "Cumberland Blues," "Tennessee Jed," "They Love Each Other," and "Cassidy" in the first set, and the occasion to lose themselves in the second set's crescendo of jams capped off with a shimmering "Morning Dew" and of course, a rocking "One More Saturday Night."
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 44: AUTZEN STADIUM, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, OREGON 6/23/90 was recorded by (no, not Dave himself, as you will soon learn from the liners) Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.
P.S. Remember how we couldn't fit "Cold Rain and Snow" from Dallas 12/26/69 on Dave's Picks 43? You'll have it here now to complete the two shows from Volume 43. Huzzah!

what can most certainly be classified as an upper-echelon late-Brent era show.

damning with faint praise...

sorry not fair, i don't know the show and i retract that in the spirit of this thread remaining a safe space for dead fans of all stripes

after 77, 74 and 69, dave probably wanted to dive into (slightly) less explored waters. 1990 definitely has its moments!

Gotta shout out Download Series 6, 3/17/68 Carousel Ballroom, SF. As far as official live releases go I tend to overlook the Download Series, which feels relatively tossed off and low profile coming between Dick's Picks and Road Trips. But there's some really great shows in the series, and this one has become my absolute favorite 1968 release. The China Cat -> Eleven -> Caution -> Feedback is as Primal as it gets if you need to be reminded how hardcore and tripped-out these guys were in that era.

1990 definitely has its moments!

Based on my one incomplete listen to Dozin' At The Knick, I wouldn't have thought this was the case. The "Space" section on it sounded like someone in a music store going through all the DX7 presets. "Oh cool, this one sounds like lasers! Pew pew!" But that Dave's 44 is surprisingly solid, and a "Morning Dew" certainly never hurts.

I just listened to that chunk of 3/17/68. I've often said 60s Dead pretty much isn't my deal (my eyes roll when Pig starts his "gypsy woman" rap in "Caution") but that was good, especially the drumming.

Speaking of "I've often said..." I rep for Dozin' based on the "Playin'/Uncle John/Terrapin" segment, thanks to an evening spent with a hippie friend with a kickass stereo and kind bud. That was my first time ever hearing "Terrapin." We stopped before "Drums" though, so I missed the space lasers. (lol Tarfumes, you've told that tale before as well!)

xp yeah, i mean, I'm not going to go all in on 1990 Dead, but I have been enjoying most of the new Dave's. That "Morning Dew" is great.

Ha, yeah, I posted that elsewhere I'm sure. This Dave's is also fortunately light on the digital vocal harmonizer.

xp

So, 19 years after saying I'd check these I'm in lol

Live/Dead is my go to Dead, it's the only thing of theirs I really care about so I'm gonna keep to that.

Dick's Picks 22 is really amazing. Jams hard (as ward f talks about up thread). Garcia's playing has an edge, the band are very on it. The organ playing makes me think a bit of Dylan's band in those Judas concerts, it's all very spicy. It was the late 60s after all.

i choose to believe that this james ball is that james ball

Vol 4 and "Two from the Vault" will be next xp lol no

Also check out the Fillmore West 1969 box, which are expanded versions of the concerts from which Live/Dead was taken.

I'm also a huge fan of Dicks Picks 16, which is from the same venue later that year.