The Grateful Dead

[jc4prez]

Yes - Ratdog was there last summer.

 

Or was it Phil Lesh, I can't recall.

 

seriously man, I think you need to go in for one day. Every year I hear you tell us how you live down the road and every year you tell your not going. GO A-MAN GO!

[Analogman]

seriously man, I think you need to go in for one day. Every year I hear you tell us how you live down the road and every year you tell your not going. GO A-MAN GO!

 

That is true.

 

I am actually surprised the festival has not been shut down. They received a lot of local negative press last year.

[mountain bed]

I have the opportunity to see Further tonight and I'm feeling very lukewarm about it. Not a good sign. Should I go? Lots of good friends are going, but after seeing the Dead in April, I don't know. It just wasn't that good.

My wife had a text from Ellen (Wilco Worshipper) this AM. Her & Jim (Merrick Section) went and saw them last night. It was her first time and she enjoyed the hell out of it.

[Moss]

I have the opportunity to see Further tonight and I'm feeling very lukewarm about it. Not a good sign. Should I go? Lots of good friends are going, but after seeing the Dead in April, I don't know. It just wasn't that good.

 

Heck yeah you should go. Beats shake and bake and TV (or whatever else you might have planned).

[RaspberryJam]

It was complicated. Too many days of skiing and feeling the need to get home. It's beers and a tasty webcast tonight at home instead.

[calvino]

It was complicated. Too many days of skiing and feeling the need to get home. It's beers and a tasty webcast tonight at home instead.

 

Well I can't think of a better alternative.

[Vacant Horizon]

I don't think it's just your opinion, Lammy. I would say it's a fact - '94 sucked it pretty hard, although when they came to the Creek they played really well. The 7/20/94 show is as good as anything they did all year.

 

That run, and the Fall run (MSG, especially) are the only things that stand out to me.

 

pretty much saw every thing except west coast in 94. what a year to have available to tour extensively. that said, each show had at least one nugget. i wish they would start putting out tour comps of the best songs from a tour. kind of like without a net. (although, they really need to release every damn show from 1990. i would by the whole box set of that.)

[Vacant Horizon]

seriously man, I think you need to go in for one day. Every year I hear you tell us how you live down the road and every year you tell your not going. GO A-MAN GO!

 

 

i purposefully forgot about the atlanta show. i don't want to stand the whole night anymore. i've listened to some of the shows, and they sound pretty good, but very jammy, in a bad sense. at least songs are bit faster than ratdog's slow pace. the mixes are good and damn if jeff is an awesome harmony singer.

 

btw, cant believe phil is gonna be 70 this year!!

[calvino]

Listening to the 7.2.88 show from Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. It seemed Phil was getting sick of people chanting his name. Nice write up in the Taper's book. I guess the scene around this and the 7/3 was a bit of a mad house.

 

I caught the five Chicagoland shows in 94. The 2nd set in the last Soldier Field show seemed to drag on forever. Some of the playing was okay. I haven't listened to the tape in a long time. I almost did not buy tickets for the 95 shows at Soldier's because of the that last 94 show, luckily I did end up going to the last one.

[Vacant Horizon]

Listening to the 7.2.88 show from Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. It seemed Phil was getting sick of people chanting his name. Nice write up in the Taper's book. I guess the scene around this and the 7/3 was a bit of a mad house.

 

I caught the five Chicagoland shows in 94. The 2nd set in the last Soldier Field show seemed to drag on forever. Some of the playing was okay. I haven't listened to the tape in a long time. I almost did not buy tickets for the 95 shows at Soldier's because of the that last 94 show, luckily I did end up going to the last one.

 

 

95 shows are unlistenable.

 

95 shows are unlistenable.

 

 

how was the 7/2-3/88 a mad house? just curious.

[calvino]

 

how was the 7/2-3/88 a mad house? just curious.

 

I guess a madhouse may be a bit extreme, the reviewer writes about the new influx of fans mainly due the Touch of Grey craze. The venue was in a rural area and of course their were a lot of ticket less fans/dogs. I guess it was your typical 90's crowd. It is a nice sounding show.

[Analogman]

I am celebrating the fact that I was able to walk on solid ground for the first time in a few weeks by playing this show:

 

Grateful Dead Live at Jai-Alai Fronton on 1974-06-22

 

Someone just put up a 24 Bit version of this show at bt.etree.org.

[Lammycat]

I was at the Oxford shows and it was a fantastic time. I did that summer tour and the scene was fine. There were large crowds but everything was still pretty mellow. The shows were very solid there. There's some nice banter from Phil in response to "let Phil sing" chants. Garcia chimed in too about calling for for crew to sing (Kidd, Steve, etc.) There was a dude circling over the audience in a paraglider during Birdsong, too. He landed in the crowd. Great memories of those 2-3 days there.

[mountain bed]

I am celebrating the fact that I was able to walk on solid ground for the first time in a few weeks by playing this show:

 

Grateful Dead Live at Jai-Alai Fronton on 1974-06-22

 

Someone just put up a 24 Bit version of this show at bt.etree.org.

Yay Charlie Miller!!

 

If you like that show, the next night is even better. My friend (my attorney) Eric, who is as committed a Deadhead as you'll ever find, always argues that the Dark Star from 6/23 is the best one ever. Plus - the only GD version of "Let It Rock", and an exquisite Black Peter, and other killer stuff.

[Analogman]

Grateful Dead Live at Jai-Alai Fronton on 1974-06-23

[Analogman]

Taper's Section (February 22 - February 28, 2010)

 

A warm welcome back to the Tapers' Section, where this week we'll cover 15 years of Grateful Dead history from 1972 to 1987.

 

Our first couple of stops this week are at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO, with our first selection being the end of the second set of the first night of a three night run in St. Louis on 10/17/72. From that excellent show, we have Ramble On Rose, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Sugar Magnolia, NFA>GDTRFB>NFA. as good as this show is, the next couple of nights are even better. from the second show on 10/18/72, we have a couple of great first set songs, Bird Song, Big River, with the bird song being particularly grandiose. please note that there is plenty of dead air/tuning between these two tracks, so don't give up; the big river rocks!

 

Next up, from 12 years later in Hartford, CT on 10/15/84, we have the entire first set made up of Hell In A Bucket > Sugaree > El Paso, Bird Song, C.C. Rider, Tennessee Jed, Jack Straw> Keep Your Day Job, starting and ending with two of the then-quite new tunes, Bucket and Day Job. Between RatDog, Phil and Friends, The Other Ones and The Dead since 1995, one of the only songs in the entire Grateful Dead repertoire never performed by any of these bands is Day Job. I wonder why that is…

 

Finally this week is another complete first set from the 1980s, from the opening show of a five night run at Madison Square Garden on 9/15/87. I was fortunate to attend this and the next night, and I was already a huge Meters fan thanks to my buddy Swinny making me a cassette featuring their two albums Cabbage Alley and Rejuvenation, a tape that was in my car for years. So, when the band opened with Hey Pocky Way, I was thoroughly blown away. The entire set, made up of Hey Pocky Way, New Minglewood Blues, When Push Comes To Shove, Me And My Uncle > Mexicali Blues, Row Jimmy, Queen Jane Approximately, Tennessee Jed, The Music Never Stopped. There's a nice, well-developed Beer Barrel Polka tuning break in there, too, after Brent's communist friends sabotage Weir. I was always a fan of When Push Comes To Shove, which only had a couple of years left in the repertoire. To digress, another In The Dark track I love is My Brother Esau, which would be gone from the repertoire just a couple of weeks after this show.

 

Be sure to stop by next week for more great music. Feel free to write to the email address below with questions or comments about the Tapers' Section, or anything Grateful Dead-related.

 

David Lemieux

[calvino]

What are people thoughts on Day Job. I was listening to the Grateful Dead talk show on the radio today and a caller called in and was wondering if Furthur has been practicing Day Job. I never saw them perform it; the song never bothered me much.

I always like Brother Esau, too.

[Analogman]

I've never heard it. As I said the other day, I am not very familiar with the latter songs. I do like West L.A. Fadeaway though.

[Lammycat]

What are people thoughts on Day Job. I was listening to the Grateful Dead talk show on the radio today and a caller called in and was wondering if Furthur has been practicing Day Job. I never saw them perform it; the song never bothered me much.

I always like Brother Esau, too.

 

I didn't mind it TOO much in the first set closer spot but didn't care for it as an encore. Kind of a poor man's U.S. Blues. Only tune ever to be removed from the repertoire by fan request. Pretty funny, that.

[Moss]

Listening to 3/26/73 right now. Wolfman Jack introducing the second set! What a voice. Followed by Ramble on Rose of course.

[mountain bed]

What are people thoughts on Day Job. I was listening to the Grateful Dead talk show on the radio today and a caller called in and was wondering if Furthur has been practicing Day Job. I never saw them perform it; the song never bothered me much.

I always like Brother Esau, too.

I never had a beef with Day Job, in fact I kinda liked it. As Lammy said it was VERY similar musically to US Blues, but that's not really a knock on the song (Push Comes To Shove is a close relative of Ramble On Rose, for example)

 

I think the reason it was despised by Heads was that they just didn't want to hear lyrics that told them to keep working, seeing that many of 'em didn't have a real job to begin with!

 

One odd thing about that tune was it seemed to pop up at shows that were really killer. Like, "we've just blown your minds, so now it's time to bring you down on the way out the door".

[Analogman]

New show up at Wolfgang's Vault -

 

The Grateful Dead, 03.24.1971, Winterland (San Francisco, CA)

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I never had a beef with Day Job, in fact I kinda liked it.

I think the reason it was despised by Heads was that they just didn't want to hear lyrics that told them to keep working, seeing that many of 'em didn't have a real job to begin with!

Seconded.

I always liked Day Job too, and thought of it as somewhat as a rarity. Same with Brother Esau, though when I heard Esau live it seemed a little more upbeat than most versions I've heard.

[Lammycat]

and thought of it as somewhat as a rarity.

 

I was curious about this because it seemed like I caught a shitload of them, so I checked DeadBase: It was in the rotation for less than 4 years and the longest gap between times played was 49 shows (between NYE '82 and September of '83). Besides that, it was played quite frequently.

 

Again, never hated the tune but as an encore I'd often start heading to the lot early to beat the slow rush out.....

[Analogman]

I decided to buy the new Volume of The Road Trips series. I don't think I have bought a GD cd since Three From The Vault.

 

It's up early again:

 

Taper's Section (March 1- March 7, 2010)

 

Greetings, and welcome back to the Tapers' Section. Over the last three and a half years, we've mostly been playing you things from the vault that have not been released on CD, and don't worry, that practice will continue. But the fact is that some of the best and most interesting Grateful Dead music has been released commercially, and we'd be missing out on playing you some of the best stuff ever if we only went for the unreleased material, so this week we'll be playing a few highlights from CD releases that were recorded 1970-1978. Even if you've heard them before, there is certainly never a bad time to hear them again.

 

Our first stop this week will be at Harpur College on 5/2/70, site of one of the finest and most legendary Grateful Dead shows ever. This show in its entirety, with the exception of Cold Rain ad Snow, was released as Dick's Picks Vol. 8. I think most of us who have been trading tapes for 25+ years had this as one of their first tapes ever. It was certainly true for me, a tape I received in my initial batch of 10 in 1984. From that magnificent show, we have It's A Man's World and one of the wayest of way out there versions ever of Viola Lee Blues. It goes on and on, and hits loads of peaks.

 

From Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on 3/23/75 when the Grateful Dead were performing their first show in more than five months, we have the entirety of their set (minus Johnny B. Goode), consisting of the new material they were in the process of writing and recording, Blues For Allah>King Solomon's Marbles>Blues For Allah. This was released in 2004 as part of a bonus disc, so if you weren't lucky enough to get that CD, here it is now.

 

From a couple of years later, at a show that took place north of the border in Toronto on 11/2/77, we have Estimated Prophet, part of Dick's Picks Vol. 34. Estimated was really common at the time, but this one goes above and beyond, with a jam that stretches out to some really great spaces. This and 11/24/78 have two of the better jams out of Estimated.

 

When people ask me for a good version of The Music Never Stopped, I give them this one, from 2/5/78, part of Dick's Picks Vol. 18. It is not only played very well, but the ending jam is one of the best, most inspired ever, with Jerry leading the band higher as the jam builds and builds.

 

Lastly this week, because we like playing examples of the Grateful Dead having fun, we have Dancing in the Street from 5/11/78 from Dick's Picks Vol. 25. Something must have been in the air (or punch!) that night judging by the laughter during the music. An A+ version of this song.

 

Be sure to stop by next week, and please do write the email address below with any comments or questions. Thanks for listening.

 

David Lemieux