mountain bed

2300+, but I may be splitting hairs here.

This. The Mother of all Jam Bands. Fall '00 through Summer '02 I saw them a half dozen times, maybe more. OMFG some of those shows left me feeling like I was walking on air when I left the venue.

Now that I look it up you're right. They did the WRS Prelude 5 times between 11/19/72 (which I've had on tape and forgot about, it's a WILD segue into Dark Star there)and 4/2/73 (which I also had on tape but forgot because of the insane HC Sunshine > Space > Bobby McGee), and then they shelved the thing until 9/8, when the full Suite appeared (9/8 is with horns fwiw). My guess is they held a revolver to Weir's head until he finally finished the damn song. LOL

JUST the WRS Prelude? That's odd as hell. That said, I'm stoked. I might have went with 3/24 or 4/2, but wtf, I don't make these decisions, I'm just some guy.

My favorite thing they ever did live was Poor Places > Spiders. Even though it's just a slice of what makes them so damn good it's a mighty fine 15-20 minutes.

Well, the NRPS set from Veneta 8/27/72 was officially released on Kufala. And The Dead's show from 8/27 is an official release now. As far as collaborations there's a little bit of the end of the acoustic set from Harpur (Nelson & Dawson only) on a Dick's Pick & the same on a Road Trips from the Fillmore on 5/15/70. That's all I can think of now.

I'm pretty sure 7/31/82 is going to be the '82 show in the "30 Trips Around the Sun" box set.

Has anyone here heard any substantial rumors about what the next Dave's Pick might be?

Christ. Almost makes that 80 CD Dead box set (for $750) seem like a bargain.

Here's one for ya, LC. As we know, Trey was a unapologetic fan of "Classic Rock" as a kid. I would assume that early REO might have been included there. But here's my thing - every time I hear the "trill section" of David Bowie (at the very end) I always think of Richrath's trill section at the tail end of REO's tune Golden Country (easily their best tune imo). Check it out sometime and see if you hear the similarity.

I actually listened to a Eternicheese recently (10/5/94 iirc) and it definitely has the potential to "go places". A few years of seasoning and a healthier Garcia would have most likely taken that tune to some great spaces. I'd have to say IWTYH was probably my least favorite GD song EVER. Sorry, Brent. I was there for the first version and it might have been the biggest WTF? moment in my touring career.

It IS weird, especially since it was such a major jam vehicle. It was revived 2 months after Europe, played through September '73, then disappeared until September '80 - a gap of seven years! One shudders at the thought of the "just exactly perfect" band of '77 doing Bird Song.

Right fucking on!

Y'all hit all the really major covers The Dead "owned", but one that wasn't mentioned that I feel needs inclusion is Sittin On Top of the World. Played less than 50 times, mostly early on in their career. But for some reason every time I find myself coming across that tune while listening it just makes me want to CRANK the speakers & air guitar with a huge smile on my face. There's only maybe a half dozen versions after Keith joined, I don't think it ever got played after Europe. But those first ones (2nd show, Felt Forum!, 12/10) are all sandwiched out of Dark Star or Other One. That is

I'll say this - I love The Dead more than any band ever, but I had a half dozen shows or so where I felt like I should have went to the office and asked for a refund. But that's why we love 'em, right? The weird thing is the next night (or the night before) you could have walked out of the show and felt like you'd just witnessed some kind of epiphany. It was so nice to have that sort of leeway - I have never given any other group that much latitude with my time and money.

Yeah, that's a good tune, if a little different thing than what we're used to with Zeppelin. I always thought it had kind of a 50s vibe, it sort of presages the sort of thing Robert would pursue with The Honeydrippers a few years later. And Page achieves liftoff for a few brief moments in his solo.

This is the best thing I've read in this thread. As far as Zep's ITTOD goes I will say this: it's not horrible, I don't hate it, but it was pretty damn disappointing to me when it came out. Coming on the heels of what I consider to be Page's hard rock guitar masterpiece it just pales in comparison. I've never heard Page sound so lazy. Really, the only things on there that hold my attention are the opening of In The Evening, and Bonzo's work on Fool In The Rain. What Zeppelin had more than any other band in the genre was consistency - it's kind of a shame that this (imo) rather lackluster eff

My #1 - Absolutely Free Weasels right at the top of my list, too.

Tweedy is worthy, fer Chrissakes. NO GIL SCOTT HERON. Fucking blasphemy. No DONOVAN? The Pied Piper pf Peace? Really? RS should be beat senseless with a crowbar. Roger Waters/David Gilmour, anyone? I guess 800 fucking weeks on the Billboard charts (DSOTM) isn't worthy. Warren Zevon? I guess Page & Plant never wrote any tunes. Man, I need to calm the fuck down. LOL

I'm not here nearly as often - you know, Facebook has about 1000 Grateful Dead-related groups LOL. But that would be cool to hear how you're doing.

Holy shit - how ya been, man?

That HCS is undoubtedly one of the very best, if not THE best version ever done. Latvala himself has said as much, and who in their right mind would argue with Dick?

The Jed IS really really good, but that Wharf Rat! DAMN. Gotta be one of the best I've ever heard.

Haven't got mine yet, and I'm a bit nervous. The email saying it had been shipped was Tuesday.

Nice post, Shug. I agree that the Playin is the closest they ever got to live in a studio setting. I heard the Skullfuck version first, then not long after heard the Ace version. WOW, that song grew hair fairly quickly. I think it's amazing that during Europe in '72 Playin was hovering around 9-10 minutes (pretty close to the LP length) then on the last night of the tour it goes REALLY out, about 18 minutes. When they reconvened during the Summer all of a sudden it was a titanic monster that was at LEAST 18 minutes, leading up to 30 minutes in Oklahoma City in November. If I would have h