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

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.

I've got 4, 8, 16, 30, 35 in my list. Will definitely check out 4 and 16 before a break.

Nice, glad you've found your '69 hot spot xyzzzz. And right on re: Dick's Picks 22. The drums on that one sound like firecrackers. For me '68 is the peak year for early Dead, all white-hot hard psych all the time. Check out Download Series 6 (3/17/68) for more of same.

And you're in for a major treat w/the "Dark Star" suite on Dick's Picks 16. You'd probably also dig Dick's 26, from April '69.

re: dicks picks 22, i thought my brother would like it and sent viola lee blues from it and he responded "they have two drummers, don't they? are they on the same stage?" it really hurt lol

Lol nothing you can do, this stuff really is like licorice.

I love the effect of listening to Dick's 22 on headphones, with the drum kits each hard panned to opposite channels, cracking at the edges of the sonic picture. Unreal how amazing it sounds for a live soundboard tape from 1968; thanks, Owsley

Garcia's proposed/rejected live album w Dylan (somebody preferred notorious Dylan and the Dead)---haven't listened to it all, but have heard some okay Dylan show excerpts on The Grateful Dead Hour, so maybe this is okay too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll1FV5VF-Us

Dave's Picks has covered 1977 pretty well, but also here's this handy-looking stsh from Real Gone Music (started by veterans of Collector's Choice, I think, and source of some real gone collections such as Dusty Springfield's Complete Atlantic Singles)

Spring ’77 shows get the ink, but the Dead’s Fall ’77 tour through some of the lesser-traveled byways of America goes toe to toe with that deservedly legendary series of performances. And by cherry-picking from three October ’77 gigs (10/11/77 in Norman, Oklahoma; 10/14/77 in Houston; 10/16 in Baton Rouge), this Road Trip offers the greatest show that never was. A great, 10-minute rendition of “Let It Grow” from Norman kicks the whole thing off, followed by a 17-minute “Sugaree” from Baton Rouge…and how about that epic, 13-minute version of “Black Peter,” also hailing from the Baton Rouge show (which contributes the lion’s share of the songs here). And for you obsessive Dead Head collectors, the Houston excerpt also captures the last time the “Help on the Way”/”Slipknot!”/”Franklin’s Tower” medley was played for six years. A 16-page booklet featuring notes by Steve Silberman accompanies this “Betty Board” recording, mastered by Jeffrey Norman and presented in HDCD sound. Great performances lifted from superior shows from one of the Dead’s best tours…hard to beat that combo!
Disc One

1. Let It Grow
2. Sugaree
3. The Music Never Stopped
4. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
5. El Paso
6. Help on the Way
7. Slipknot!
8. Franklin’s Tower

Disc Two

1. Playing in the Band
2. Drums
3. The Other One
4. Good Lovin’
5. Terrapin Station
6. Black Peter
7. Around and Around
8. Brokedown Palace
9. Playing in the Band

Grateful Dead Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 2 (2CD-Set)
$ 31.99

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0810/5567/products/6d3aa626eba0ce4825764c6e595c5be9_1024x1024.jpg?v=1657222636

I need to listen to that projected Dylan/Dead live album, but I can already tell it will be much better than the one that was released.

The always impressive Albums That Never Were included a bonus disc of Dylan/Dead highlights along with their reconstruction, for those wanting more: https://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2018/05/dylan-dead-jerry-garcias-original-mix.html

"This tour ushered in Dylan’s “Cookie Monster” era in which much of his lyrics were indecipherably mumbled in a vague melody escalating upward, rather than the actual vocal melody of any given song. " hehe

And by cherry-picking from three October ’77 gigs

http://image.email.dead.net/lib/fe93127176650d7b77/m/2/6b6b81f0-22e7-460e-8045-70cfcd1a4bc3.png

October 1 & 2, 1977: Portland OR

What a setlist!... Made me jealous of those who saw this era live. Great sound… like ‘77 was yesterday. @derekb192 on 10/1/77, YouTube
Wow! Just as when you think eyes is gonna go to drums out of the bliss comes dancing! One of my all time fave moments! Not just classic 77 but classic ever dead! - @emrysdavies1215 on 10/1/77, YouTube
...this show was off the hook from the very get go. The Casey Jones is the best I've heard... beginning a jam that goes through each member going off on an instrumental solo. The end has them jamming so hard you can no longer hear them singing through it. Now you know you're in trouble (The Good Kind) when a show starts like that... Weirtheir on 10/2/77, Dead.net
Holy hell, the 10/2/77 Betty Board sounds incredible... I just wanted to pay homage to this unreleased gem, which features the lovely, tight playing you'd expect of a 77 show with some of the highest audio quality I've ever heard ... What a treat. u/monsteroftheweek13 on 10/2/77, Reddit
I told my mother I was going into Portland with friends. I never told her where I went... @jamesmoore3694 on 10/1/77, YouTube
We know where you've been and we're taking you back with the twice as nice DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 45: PARAMOUNT THEATRE, PORTLAND, OR - 10/1/77 & 10/2/77. Back-to-back complete previously unreleased shows on 4CDs? You betcha! Why? Because we couldn't pick one over the other of these two nights that have been described as "fire," "mind-frying," and "crispy" (bit of a theme here) too many times to count. Witness it for yourself when you dig into the inventive medleys and pristine sound, not to mention the first "Dupree's Diamond Blues" since '69 and the first live "Casey Jones" since '74.
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, this release was recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson (with a boost from Bob Menke, more about that in David's video below) and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.
Limited quantity available

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

couldn't stop laughing when Etta James is given a bouquet of flowers and she tokes on it in front of the crowd.

Yikes, Jerry's pretty out of it. He's looking at his guitar like, "What...what is this thing? What do I do with this?" But as guest spots with the Dead go, this isn't bad, even if the Tower of Power horns can't really grok the Dead's ecosystem (or vice-versa).

After listening to an insane amount of GD last summer, I stopped almost entirely from late September until tonight. 4/23/77 is such a great show with which to brake the drought.

brakebreak (ugh)

I can almost never listen to a full Dead show, I either get turned off by ropey vocals or bored by noodly performances, but I left this one on all day while I was working. Great setlist, really nice, laid back performance.

I'm finishing it up tonight. It's really good! That Help/Slipknot/Franklin's Tower is sweet. Good energy throughout.

Bob doing ‘Around and Round’
Bob pulling out the slide
= hit next

There is one — and only one — truly great Dead Chuck Berry cover, and it’s “Around And Around” from 9/27/72. It’s nearly Stonsey in its intensity. I don’t know why it only clicked on this (and on no other) show, but it did.

They played it a LOT, so you would hope one time it did not sound like they were on ludes.

At least for me New Minglewood Blues has a comedic factor of this squirrelly voiced blues guy saying how he is going to steal yer woman, but you pull out that slide and hell practice on your own time.