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

*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.

Worlds collided last month just outside of Nashville, Tenn., when Bertha, likely the first all-drag Grateful Dead tribute band in history, took the stage at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge with bewigged and pitch-perfect renditions of classics from "Sugaree" to "Scarlet Begonias." The eight-person collective, formed in defiant response to Tennessee's newly inked anti-drag and anti-trans laws, raised funds for local queer- and trans-supportive organizations.

But it's revolutionary for other reasons, too — namely, for merging a queer, feminist ethos with what's largely been a male-dominated, heteronormative Deadhead scene, says co-founder Melody Walker, who calls Bertha a band "for the girls, the gays and the theys."

i think this world needs a few less Dead cover bands right now, but that's great to see and i'll happily keep them and boot out one of the other boring existing ones

I have no interest whatsoever in seeing Dead & Company, or any other Dead-associated band, but I'd go to a Bertha show in a heartbeat. I hope they tour soon.

Another “Dark Star” as the Friday workday winds down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWV7fv0Rwcg

^Cheers, that's a properly trippy way to start your weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqnUWA4fYHk

It's 11/26/72 for me today. The circulating SBD tape of this show is murky, but that doesn't stop this "Dark Star" from being from being a top 5 of the year for me. The gentle melodic interplay in the first 10 minutes is as good as it gets

They had to move, really had to move

Just remembered that I want to download that 6/10/73 set for future listening

And thanks, j. Sam - gonna check out the Dark Star you posted shortly

Cool, enjoy! This recent remaster by Charlie Miller is probably the best sounding source for that show: https://archive.org/details/gd1972-11-26.158749.sbd.menke.miller.fix.flac16/21+Dark+Star.flac

Heads up that the "Dark Star" segues beautifully into "Me and Bobby McGee," so make time for that if you can

Dunno what it is, maybe seeing this thread, maybe my recent “give me heavenly vocal harmonies” desire coupled with my memory of how good “uncle john’s band is”, but i’ve been biting into some dicks picks for real for the first time. Jimmy Row on dicks pick 7, so so so so good. Blatantly ripped off by noted deadhead’s AnCo in Alvin Row which was one of my favs. If I like Jimmy Row, heavenly harmonies, what should I touch next/

4.5 hour podcast (with transcript) about the dead, may be of interest to the thread:

https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-165-dark-star-by-the-grateful-dead/

That episode is incredible — I’m on my third listen.

Is it fitting that the longest show he's done so far is on a band that specialised in expansive stretching out? & filled with extra tidbits that i hope people aren't seeing as noodling.
I see he excerpts teh Eleven which has to be one of my all time favourite songs too.
Glad he is conscious of how long the episodes have been getting and hope taht si going to mean he cuts back a bit. Thought he was pretty ill recently so hope this keeps coming and he can keep up to to 500. Got to be a lifetime project like.
I was thinking it was a shame he'd got to 1969 cos it meant he was moving out of one of my favourite eras and hadn't covered absolutely everything in it. Though maybe he has in passing.
Think I need to read some of his books now.

Dunno what it is, maybe seeing this thread, maybe my recent “give me heavenly vocal harmonies” desire coupled with my memory of how good “uncle john’s band is”, but i’ve been biting into some dicks picks for real for the first time. Jimmy Row on dicks pick 7, so so so so good. Blatantly ripped off by noted deadhead’s AnCo in Alvin Row which was one of my favs. If I like Jimmy Row, heavenly harmonies, what should I touch next/

― hrep (H.P), Saturday, May 20, 2023 12:51 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh man I love "Row Jimmy" so much. So beautifully world-weary. They played it at the vast majority of shows in 73 and 74, which were also peak years for the far-out jazzy end of their improv. Plus all the other new Wake of the Flood/From the Mars Hotel songs. It's hard to go wrong with any show in 73/74, but for more Dick's Picks check out 19 (10/19/73), 12 (6/26 & 6/28/74), and 31 (8/4 - 8/6/74). Also it's not officially released, but 8/1/73 has a nice "Row Jimmy" right before imo the single greatest hour of Grateful Dead music in the jam sequence of "Dark Star" -> "El Paso" -> "Eyes of the World" -> "Morning Dew": https://archive.org/details/gd73-08-01.sbd.cotsman.12222.sbeok.shnf/gd73-08-01d2t02.shn

76/77 is the sweet spot for "heavenly harmonies"; coming back from their 1975 hiatus their vocal monitor situation improved big time, so the harmonies are way stronger across the board. Donna in particular sounds great in those years. And Jerry's playing is at peak nimbleness, especially in 77. Check out Dick's Picks 33 (10/9 - 10/10/76), Road Trips 4.5 (6/9/76), and Dick's Picks 29 (5/19 & 5/21/77).

only halfway into that 500 songs podcast and it's incredible.