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

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.

Jerry doing Chuck or anything is mostly fine.

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 curious: what is everyone’s modus operandi when it comes to 3-4 hour Dead shows? Do you listen to them when you have time to absorb the whole thing, or spread it out over time? Listen to the whole thing, or skip overly familiar tracks?

Even on the shows I dig, I find I get restless after an hour and a half, and seem to thus rarely finish shows. Last year, I thought it’d be fun to commemorate the Europe ’72 by listening to each of the shows on the day it happened, but didn’t make it; three hours was just too much for me to sit through multiple times a week, and when I got the the fourth time that week hearing “China Cat" or whatever, I felt a bit burnt out.

Do find it odd that you would want to listen througha whole gig if it is one of teh longer ones., I thought the fact that it was improvised heavily did mean that some of it just wasn't going to work certainly not for repeated listening. THought part of their magic was that they flew by the seat of their pants and could heavily misfire then find a way back to communal communi9cation. So you would find a significant part of it not being exactly stellar.
Have been struck previously about the need to catch all of a past performance whether live or studio in a cinema verite like way as in not fast forwarding though bits of it etc. Like if we're in teh current now as opposed to teh performer's present one can just edit out a lot of things which I think is a usual process. You do probably want to know or work out for yourself what those bits are and may come back and revalue some of it as worthwhile but just forcing yourself to sit through misfiring is not something I would necessarily think of as a mandatory voluntary sentence, like.

Like looking at things in hindsight I would concentrate on the highs and not necessarily listen to the lows. You're not a young person stoned out of their head (or possibly less comfortably, not)at the actual performance or anything. Or finding that this is the moment to check out the concession stand or whatever other activity was available to the audience if they are stuck waiting for the next high point. Does leave you open to missing good bits possibly but is it worth teh wait?
There were at least a couple of books and possibly threads on which bits of certain gigs you needed to hear and what to avoid. I have one of them the Deadhead Taping Compendium from back when you wanted to know what you were trading for in terms of tapes. It's only been more recently that you have had the whole show being sold in one spot. I think the trading network would intentionally only have part gigs and concentrate on the best bits, possibly mix them up on sides of tapes etc

*always skip Chuck berry cover
*If Bob's already sung one song about being sad in the rain, skip the rest
*Most of Bob's songs suck except for Sugar Mags
*I don't care for PITB
*Starting with a second set is always a good idea
*China Cat rules, I always want to listen to it. . .

all of this is ymmv, but it sounds like you might need some dead rules.

If I listened to this

https://www.discogs.com/release/9956898-Grateful-Dead-Europe-72-The-Complete-Recordings-Jahrhundert-Halle-Frankfurt-West-Germany-42672

I'd likely skip Black Throated Wind, Next Time You See Me, Playing, Chinatown, Greatest Story, and One More Sat Night

I'd extend that idea beyond the Dead and think of what one actually wants to hear if listening back to things when not in the moment of performance. Like definitely dropping songs that don't work for you from listening to an lp. Or possibly going back and reediting out sections of tracks that just don't work for you. Like I did wonder to what extent a listener would remix tracks one would listen to if not for that one turn off bit etc.
Probably a lot more work than necessary but might be interesting to hear the results. Presumably already happening.
& authenticity is often a chance element isn't it? The way the performer was feeling at taht moment might have been different teh next day or 10 minutes later .
I thought Gadamer's comments on the process of tradition were quite interesting the way that elements were continually reinvented to keep things relevant for the performer at whatever interval. That it doesn't come down as a non changing monolith but one kept vital by that reinvention while still keeping a core of the original.
Just thinking about the idea of what is relevant in one's current horizon. Which is an extrapolation on the original thought

*Starting with a second set is always a good idea

Honestly I'm the opposite, I've discovered I'm a first set guy. I like the songs as songs, with a certain amount of improv. I'm interested those first few selections and from that I'll determine the quality of the recording, and if the vocals are on point. And then I'll listen until they wear out my patience.

They pick some weird songs to jam out in the first set. I love "Sugaree" and "Row Jimmy" and "Bird Song" but none of those need to be as long as they often are imo. Second set, when they hit the 20 minute "Playin' in the Band" is when I completely lose interest. Hence why "Dark Star" has never been a big deal for me.

I'll often cherry pick a show for my favorite songs or head straight for the second set jams, but when I decide to listen to a whole show I try to commit to it, no skips. Most recent full show listen was 3/26/73, which is amazing pretty much all the way through--example of a great second set without a "Dark Star" or "The Other One."

The key to unlocking the Dead for me was realizing that while the big jams are in the second set, these guys were really jamming through every moment of every show. The foundation for this is Phil's constitutional inability to ever play the same thing twice, which sets the stage for Jerry, Bob, et al. to precisely fill in the space around him in an ever-shifting wall of polyphony that is busy yet always, to my ears, clean-sounding. The key to this cleanliness and clarity is in Bob's playing; instead of playing big blocky chords like most rhythm guitarists, he tends to play cleanly voiced chords and quasi-lead lines higher on the neck, leaving ample space in the mix for Jerry and Phil to do their thing. And then of course you have Jerry attempting to improvise the sickest guitar solo imaginable in every song (and often succeeding). The result is that no song is ever played the same way twice, and there are unique instrumental interactions happening at every moment if you care to look for them.

So this is why I like to make time for whole shows, because I'll often encounter versions of ostensibly uninteresting/overplayed songs like "Beat It On Down the Line" and "Don't Ease Me In" that blow me away for one reason or another, whether it's the overall energy, a particularly great Jerry solo, or interesting/unique polyphonic interactions among the players.

The occasional bum notes and flubbed lyrics are part of the deal, and I've made peace with that. I listen to a lot of 72 and 73, and in those years they were operating at a consistently high level, so the screw-ups are less of a problem than you might think.

If I listened to this

https://www.discogs.com/release/9956898-Grateful-Dead-Europe-72-The-Complete-Recordings-Jahrhundert-Halle-Frankfurt-West-Germany-42672

I'd likely skip Black Throated Wind, Next Time You See Me, Playing, Chinatown, Greatest Story, and One More Sat Night

I get not caring for the song itself, but those Europe 72 PITB jams are like perfect bite-size journeys into Dorian-mode lava lamp deep space before they started routinely stretching it out to 20+ minutes. To each their own tho...

yeah for sure--I love Dark Star and get plenty out of their jams on that one and (ha) The Other One. I just kinda hate the wah on it

I can't listen to just part of a show. I'm not sure why, but I have to listen to the entire thing in sequence, and even if I really want to skip a song, I just can't. There's something about...um...well, the journey. Even sub-par shows like Chicago 12/3/79 or Richmond 11/1/85 I have to listen to all the way through because I know something fantastic will happen, and the meh events that surround it are just part of that journey.

The only show I can only listen to one song of -- "Feedback" -- is Dick's Picks 16 (11/8/69). Everything else in the show is (and I may be overstating this) flat-out listless meandering garbage, but the "Feedback" is my all-time favorite.

I love 16 or at least the Dark Star that has an instrumental Uncle John's Band (pre-release) in between parts 2 and 3.

I’ve listened to 2-3 sets straight through but mostly I listen in pieces.

PITB might be tops on my list of songs of theirs i don't actually like but will listen to just because of where they'll take it at times. I used to actively skip it if i saw it showing up longer than 10+ minutes, but now when i see one stretching 20+ minutes i get excited. Some weird, proggy, Pink Floyd turns they'll go to that the basic arrangement wouldn't necessarily lead you to think they'd go.

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

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 bookmarkflaglink

Listened to all of these over Xmas/NY. A magical time.

A box set of five three-set stadium shows from mid 1973? Yes, please!

https://store.dead.net/en/grateful-dead/special-collections/here-comes-sunshine/here-comes-sunshine-1973-dead.net-exclusive-%5B17-cd%5D/081227847036.html

Des Moines, IA 5/13/73
Santa Barbara, CA 5/20/73
San Francisco, CA 5/26/73
Washington, D.C. 6/9/73
Washington, D.C. 6/10/73

6/10/73 = legendary on the level of Veneta/Cornell, longest show they ever played, third set w/Allman Bros. Jam sequence for the ages: Dark Star > He's Gone > Wharf Rat > Truckin'

Also I think 5/13/73 is the first show where Keith played Fender Rhodes. Ground zero for fusion Dead

In retrospect, I'm really glad I didn't buy a single thing on Record Store Day so I could buy this instead.

Always on board for 1973 Dead, but this set is just *chef's kiss*

Hoping them working out a deal to get the set with Dickey and Butch included here means they are closer to working out a deal to get a full Watkins Glen release.

Yeah, and

Recorded by Kidd Candelario, Betty Cantor-Jackson, and Owsley Stanley
Newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes
Mastered by Jeffrey Norman

Limited Edition Individually Numbered To 10,000
Exclusively At Dead.net
Digital convert? We've got you covered too. On the very same day you can collect your hi-definition download.

I like how this version of “Dark Star” takes its sweet ass time firing up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoWRbf5ZkdY

6/10/73 = legendary on the level of Veneta/Cornell, longest show they ever played, third set w/Allman Bros. Jam sequence for the ages: Dark Star > He's Gone > Wharf Rat > Truckin'

Thanks for this, J. Sam. I'm about an hour in and it's great so far. The Race is On is not a song I've ever paid any attention to, but this one is pretty tight for that kind of Dead song.

(Actually never fires up but that’s OK)

This is just distended “Dark Star” Friday, I guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-rwgxBZjpY

xp That "Dark Star" from Dick's Picks 7 is broken into two tracks on the CD; the latter part of the jam is titled "Spam Jam", where they get spacey and go into a super noisy/atonal meltdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAZ5uYTNouc

But yeah, I never tire of 73-74 fusion Dead. Sometimes the jams get a bit aimless, but that's all part of the journey, man

Thanks for this, J. Sam. I'm about an hour in and it's great so far. The Race is On is not a song I've ever paid any attention to, but this one is pretty tight for that kind of Dead song.

― This machine bores fascism (PBKR), Friday, May 5, 2023 6:08 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hell yeah I love their country covers from that era. That one, "Big River," "El Paso," Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" with Donna singing lead, and probably many more I'm forgetting. Jerry usually took the opportunity to rip an outrageous twangy solo on those

...or to solo through the whole damn song, as in "El Paso" (which is why I never skip an "El Paso" haha)

6/10/73, here I come

https://archive.org/details/gd73-06-10.sbd.hollister.174.sbeok.shnf/FOLLOW-ME+%40BYPIKENO

Mellow, bluesy set

Yeah those three-set 73 shows have a nice "we've got you all day/night, sit back and relax while we play a few tunes" vibe. Sunny day cookout music.

That 5/20/73 show has some slow ones early on, but when it starts kicking with The Race is On it's straight fire.

'73 country Dead my absolute favorite. Big River always just a kick

^^^
This Big River off 5/20/73 is really great. Pretty fast pace!

quick jump back to the 6/10/73 show because that has a pretty unhinged rendition of “sugar magnolia”

Kinda short “Dark Star”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCi5ok5kMdc

Latest Dave's (Hollywood 1972) is absolutely great — no real surprise there, I suppose. Incredible "Bird Song", perfect "China > Rider", demonic "Other One." Bonus disc is ace too.

What’s that site that compiles the best versions of each song? Need to do a Terrapin deep dive

headyversion dot come

lol

may the best versions of terrapin make you come

Just now catching up with Dave's Picks 46, "The Other One" absolutely smokes.