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

Yeah, it's incredible. If you can get this bootleg from later that summer, 8/27/72, in Oregon (after Pigpen really is gone), not only is the "He's Gone" ever better, there's a ridiculously great cover of "Sing Me Back Home"---it's also on the So Many Roads box set, but the whole show is that great.

"He's Gone" is originally about their tour manager that swindled them, Mickey Hart's dad. (/grateful dead pedant>

Hence, "steal your face right off your head..."

So what's up with this new series? This seem worthwhile?

Here's the deal: We all loved the Dicks Picks series. Over the course of 36 amazing releases between 1993 and 2005, GD archivists Dick Latvala (R.I.P.) and David Lemieux continually blew our little minds plucking one righteous show after another from the vaults

With Road Trips we're going to try something a little different. We want to plug in a few more pieces of the Grateful Dead puzzle by putting the spotlight on different tours and series of shows that have been neglected through the years. Take Road Trips Volume 1, Number 1, for instance. This two-disc set (plus a special Bonus Disc for a limited time only) was culled from the Dead's blazing fall 1979 East Coast swing, when the band was just hitting its stride with new keyboardist Brent Mydland. You'll find killer versions of "Dancing in the Street" > "Franklin's Tower," long exploratory jams on "Playing in the Band" and "Terrapin," a rattle-your-brain "Shakedown," and lots more, all pulled from the master tapes in the vault and expertly mastered in HDCD for maximum power and clarity by Jeffrey Norman. The Bonus Disc offers another hour-and-a-quarter of highlights from the tour.

Also, every Road Trips release will come with a beautifully designed booklet containing an essay about how the music on the discs fits into the Dead's long history, plus many rare and never-before-seen photographs.

We think you'll agree it's a pretty cool package.

Is this the first big release post-archive-org-zapping of all GD SBDs?

Should be just as great as the DPs, although it's tough not to want complete shows; but, <i>Europe '72</i> is their best live album in a lot of ways, so who knows. It's a shame that they don't have the same over-dubbing options that they had for Euro '72.

Awful press release fwiw.

Has anyone heard the 73 Winterland recordings? I could get a reasonably inexpensive copy of the complete box and am very tempted. Been listening to a lot of live Dead lately (with the few discs I have).

This says it's good: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfixzujldde~T1

But I very much empathise with this statement:

Donna Godchaux. Oh dear, oh dear.
― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 18:14 (6 years ago) Bookmark

Been really appreciating Live 72 lately. Especially disc 2, from the point when Truckin' melts into "Epilogue" and "Prelude", finished off with a lovely "Morning Dew".

There was a time in highschool when I memorized Sunrise (a Donna singing song) off of Terrapin Station. I think I just wanted to teach myself how to sing.

I've never heard Terrapin Station. I thought it best to stop at Blues for Allah as far as the studio albums are concerned...

hmm too this day the only Grateful Dead albums I have ever purchased are (chronologically) Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Skeletetons from the Closet (their first greatest hits), Blues For Allah, Terrapin Station, Dead Set (I prefer the slow version of Friend of the Devil on this cd), and Dylan and The Dead (real mediocre if I remember correctly). I might own Aoxomoxoa as well.

The first time I heard the dead was when some guy at my highschool let me hear his walkman during class. I was surprised.. it was really the first time anyone had ever suggested 'soft' music. I was expecting something much harder (I had no clue who the grateful dead were).

I don't think I could ever collect live recordings and try to find the best version of dead songs (too much work).
I do have The American Book of the Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia which has a little write up for every song and recommended concert performances of each song... but I can't help but want a second opinion -who's to say which performance was the best? Seriously who. I mean, you would have to take 200 hardcore deadheads who have collected everything and have them vote or something.

i prefer the 74 winterland shows collected on the grateful dead movie 5 disc set, but i think thats kinda a minority opinion...haven't listened to that 73 winterland set for a while, but i remember being a little disappointed by the relatively samey setlist...quite a lotta repeptition, if i remember rightly - but 73 dead is 73 dead man!!

I might just go for it.

I do agree with you, captain about collecting the Dead live stuff -- I would just get lost. I have a total of about 6 or 7 live discs/sets of theirs only. I'm looking to add to that a little, without going totally over the top. (He says, contemplating a 9-disc purchase.....But it is cheap!).

today i listened to DICK'S PICKS#36 on gd headphones and the dark star>morning dew from 9/21/72 is reason enough to pick this one up if you happen to see it at a gd price - there's lotsa noodle but some surprisingly angry and chaotic jamming too, garcia playing at his most angular/circular while lesh is thunderous and aggressively entwined w/ him - heavy! 72 is def, to my mind/heart, the dead's primo year for dark stars

can't remember if i've linked to this ol deadhead's blog before - love his descriptions and more of dead music, trading lore, audience recordings etc etc (i first came across it via a link on david keenan's blog so that dude def has his uses):

http://deadlistening.blogspot.com/

I've been listening to quite a lot of the Dead lately: mainly the 3-CD 1969 Filmore West compilation and the 1973 Winterland box that I mentioned above.

Thanks for the link to that listening guide. It will doubtless prove useful for some future purchases. I know that I can download any number of Dead gigs, but I still prefer to buy CD sets -- it makes me focus a little.

i should get more of these dicks picks thangs -- i always enjoy live Dead when I hear it. But the only thing I listen to on the regular is a tape I have of Cornell, ummm 1977? I think it's supposed to be one of the classic shows. It's pretty sweet -- great driving music.

Yeah, the Cornell 77 show is often described as the best Dead show ever. Never heard it myself.

I'm just listening to Morning Dew from "Live 72", and it really is devastatingly wonderful.

You must get Cornell '77. Believe the hype. Best Scarlet/Fire you'll ever hear.

"It's pretty sweet -- great driving music."

Good while doing, uh, other stuff as well.

yeah the 'Fiyahhh! Fiyaahhh on the mountain!" part is hot! xpost

If money weren't so tight I'd have gotten that '73 box a while ago. I hope it's treating you good.

Good while doing, uh, other stuff as well.

you mean doing work around the house? yeah, probs. ;)

is 90s Dead looked down upon by the uh, Dead community? That's when I saw them live, when I was a kid. First show I saw was pretty great! '93 I think?

If money weren't so tight I'd have gotten that '73 box a while ago. I hope it's treating you good.
― Matos W.K., Tuesday, 11 August 2009 23:50 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

I got it at a good price (about 50 euros for nine discs), and I'm glad I went for it. I'm really enjoying it, but I haven't got to the bottom of it yet, not least because I'm also still listening to the 3-disc 1969 Filmore West set that I'd gotten previously.

yes, the Scarlet/Fire on cornell 77 is def. the best version i've heard, gerry plays some endless boogie on the dancing in the street, and the morning dew is pretty spesh too. but i actually prefer the Dick's Picks #3 Florida show from the same month/year - not only do you get a stunning 15 minute Sugaree but also a great Help on the Way>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower and, in the second set, Eyes of the World>Wharf Rat>Terrapin Station>Morning Dew. mmmm. personally i wouldn't take any 77 show over one of the great 72 sprawls (last Lyceum night and lots of the other Europe 72 dates, Renaissance Fair, etc), or some of the really jammy coked-up 74 Euro dates w/ the wall and sound and 'seastones', but as far as funky tight Disco Dead goes, 77 is def the year.

RE: 90s DEAD: much as i love the first ten years or so of the dead, once keith leaves i kinda lose interest really - hate all the keyboard etc sounds of the brent years, gerry's voice/gtr playing are increasingly for shit and - most of all - they pretty much all stopped writing good songs, Touch of Gray maybe excepted. most of the 80s and 90s shows seem pretty painful/dull to listen to, tho i'm sure given the right set+setting they could well have been awesome to see/experience.

yeah, I mean, I was 14 when I saw those 90s shows, so everything sounded pretty good at that age. I imagine if I heard a tape of one of those gigs, it might not be so wonderful. That said, my buddy raved about The Dead show he saw a couple months back. Dude was superbaked though, so grain of salt there.

s/d 1972 "Dark Star"s.

s: 8-27-1972 @ Veneta Fairground. My favorite Dead show period. The "Dark Star" -> "El Paso" -> "Sing Me Back Home" is the sequence that made me a Dead fan.

d: Dick's Picks #11, 9-27-1972 @ Jersey City. It never takes off. The last 3 minutes or so are nice, but otherwise it's meandering. The rest of that show is great though, not too far from what the Band were doing at that point.

destroy that "Dark Star" is way too strong, actually. But it's not at present one that I favor over others. The context is great, though; it's the only spacey moment of the set, so when the band erupts again on "Cumberland Blues" it's exciting. But I can't help feeling that on this one, it was a dope break for most of the band. And that's not always true on epic "Dark Star"s.

Man, thanks for link to Dead Listening Ward. I will be spending some time there.

re: 1990s dead - check for shows during the last year or so before Brent died (Dozin' at the Knick is the one CD set I can think of). He was really coming into his own as a member of the band. Also, the year after he died, Bruce Hornsby's enthusiasm and input did a lot for their playing.

When I got to see the boys in 1994 and 1995, they sucked. It was just plain bad.

Am I right in assuming that the Dick's Picks CD sets are all available from the Deadnet store?:
http://www.deadnetstore.com/Commerce/ProductCategory.aspx?CategoryGuid=a7b282e6-dfd4-42a2-b62b-d33057e65c42&ViewAll=true

It's just that they are so expensive on other online outlets, I'd sort of assume they were out of print.

I may consider getting a couple of them.

i should answer my own question: some of them are only available as downloads (e.g. Dicks Picks 36). Others still available as CD.

wanna stress again what I wrote last summer:

"s: 8-27-1972 @ Veneta Fairground. My favorite Dead show period. The "Dark Star" -> "El Paso" -> "Sing Me Back Home" is the sequence that made me a Dead fan."

I'm inside this sequence again, & I wanted to say again how magical it is. "Dark Star" tessellates out, with shards of color everywhere, & "El Paso" brings it back together, down to earth...but then "Sing Me Back Home" takes it into the earth, six feet down, with lots & lots of mercy shown.

I have THE DEAD: THE DEFINITIVE GRATEFUL DEAD ENCYCLOPEDIA sitting right by my computer. There is a blurb for every song. I've always wanted to hear some of the 'recommended concert performances' for my favorite songs. Some songs have tons of recommended concert performances (26 suggestions for 'Dark Star'. Old Renaissance Faire Grounds, Veneta, Oregon 8/27/72 is one of them). I can't help but be overwhelmed with the amount of live recordings (finding the best live version of every song would be an impossible task - but I wouldn't be surprised if some hardcore deadheads have claimed to have done this). I would listen to those mixes made by hardcore tapeheads (hoping that they weren't too stoned to put a lot of effort into this mix).

man, I just noticed that I wrote a very similar post 1 year ago in this thread

can you link me that performance Euler?

http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-08-27.sbd.orf.3328.sbeok.shnf

Will check this out.

Right, that's the one.

I thought about doing a Dead live mix for the ILM Fan-Made Anthology series, as I put a fair amount of time a few years back into finding definitive/legendary/etc. live version of Dead tunes. But it'd be difficult to fit onto two discs - a Dark Star, Scarlet->Fire, Eyes of the World and China->Rider and you've already filled up one disc.

Interesting:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/midnight_sun/blog/2010/11/free_grateful_dead_downloads_a.html

Dicks Picks vol 4 is amazing.

i see it's been recommended above, but i'm listening to this for the first time http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-08-27.sbd.orf.3328.sbeok.shnf
dangggg. so good.

The sound is incredible. Thanks for reminding us of this one.
My birthday is 8/27!

It's the wrong time of the year for that set for me, but yeah, it's the greatest.

Can someone give me a recommendation as to the Dick's Pick (or easily available bootleg) with best Help>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower?

Thanks.

And that Renaissance Faire grounds set is great.

RE: best Help>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower?

5/9/77 buffalo. Not sure if it ever became a Dick's Pick, but it wins the prize and disagreeers are crazy!

My second favorite is 6/3/76 in Portland OR. Not a big fan of that year, but there's a matrix version of the show on archive.org that is one of the best sounding Dead recordings I've ever heard. It's a long, slow, spacey version Slipknot in particular (realize those adjectives could bs applied to most of the lads' music!). Enjoy.

thanks for the recommendation. love hearing these shows, but whenever i go to the archive, i'm overwhelmed. i knew this deadhead girl with thousands of tapes, and i asked her which one is the absolute best, and she just said: "wow, man ... wow."

ha. she was completely otm btw

whle we're here, anyone have any garcia band bootleg recommendations?

5/9/77 buffalo. Not sure if it ever became a Dick's Pick, but it wins the prize and disagreeers are crazy!

^wow, never heard it, but if true, they had a great May in upstate New York that year.