Analogman Posted October 28, 2014 Author Share Posted October 28, 2014 That gear book is great. So is the Beatles one. Now there are Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin versions of those books. I want to get those at some point. Link to post Share on other sites
jw harding Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I also found Phil's book dissapointing. It was like a quick breeze through the history of the band without much depth. Maybe a half a page on Pigpen's death, and similar treatment of other seemingly important topics. Some nice moments, but not much I hadn't heard before. Not sure if Phil had a co-author or did it on his own. The guy writing with Billy is a head and pretty good writer, so it has some potential. Link to post Share on other sites
NoJ Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 The sordid stuff is important too. I suspect Billy is/was a wild man so his tome should be juicy. Link to post Share on other sites
Mizzy Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Is there a consensus "best book about the Dead", or even "best book written by a member"? Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Is there a consensus "best book about the Dead", or even "best book written by a member"?I don't know about a consensus, but the gear book mentioned above (this is pushing it, for the casual fan, though) is excellent, as is Jay Blakesberg's photo/essay book Between the Dark and Light. Blair Jackson's Garcia: An American Life is (imo) the best straight-up and in-depth take on the man and the band, from the author's personal connection to the band . It's well-written and covers it all in a lot of detail and personal insight. Link to post Share on other sites
worldrecordplayer Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I don't know about a consensus, but the gear book mentioned above (this is pushing it, for the casual fan, though) is excellent, as is Jay Blakesberg's photo/essay book Between the Dark and Light. Blair Jackson's Garcia: An American Life is (imo) the best straight-up and in-depth take on the man and the band, from the author's personal connection to the band . It's well-written and covers it all in a lot of detail and personal insight. I'm with Lammy on both counts. I'll add that the gear book may be my favorite of all rock n roll books. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I don't know about a consensus, but the gear book mentioned above (this is pushing it, for the casual fan, though) is excellent, as is Jay Blakesberg's photo/essay book Between the Dark and Light. Blair Jackson's Garcia: An American Life is (imo) the best straight-up and in-depth take on the man and the band, from the author's personal connection to the band . It's well-written and covers it all in a lot of detail and personal insight.Blair's book is very VERY good stuff, but I might give the nod to Greenfield's "Dark Star". I like the approach he took (as he did with Bill Graham's book) by taking a particular time frame or subject and interviewing a number of different people on the subject at hand. Everyone has their own version of "what went down" and maybe by getting a number of different perspectives you can form your opinions as to what the 'truth' might be. ESPECIALLY in a band like The Dead, where it's pretty amazing anyone remembers anything at all, given the copious amount of sacrements that went on. Link to post Share on other sites
Bart Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 My favorite is probably Rock Scully's book, Living With the Dead. It's downright hilarious at times and also doesn't sugarcoat any of the darker issues (he was Jerry's main drug buddy for many years after all) I also liked Greefield's Dark Star for the fact that he gave a lot of time to the later years and Jerry's diminishing health. It was a bit shocking to read, but very interesting. My biggest hang up about most Dead books (and probably the upcoming movie) is that 90% of them cover the years 60 - 72 and 10% covers the next 23 years. Link to post Share on other sites
i'm only sleeping Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 When I read Scully's book I was surprised by his apparent disregard of Phil's playing. I wonder if there was something personal between them Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Not sure if I ever read the Dark Star book (Greenfield's) - requested it through my library system. Link to post Share on other sites
NoJ Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I like to hear Scully's bass playing. Link to post Share on other sites
winterland121072 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 15 Feb 1973...great show... Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Dave's 12 in da house. Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Heartbreak Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Got mine this weekend as well. Been listening to bits and pieces in the car.Hope discs 2 & 3 are significantly better than disc one, which will not likely be getting much future play. Looking forward to the Playing > Eyes, Scarlet > Fire and Terrapin. Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 The Bob Minkin book arrived last week. Haven't read the forwards yet but some nice shots in the book I never seen before.Well done. Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Furthur hangs it up:http://www.jambands.com/news/2014/11/04/furthur-officially-call-it-quits Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Only caught one of there shows in 2012 and it was fun. Much better then when I saw the Dead a few years previous. Guess this leaves open the possibility of some 50th Anv. shows. Link to post Share on other sites
Vacant Horizon Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Furthur hangs it up:http://www.jambands.com/news/2014/11/04/furthur-officially-call-it-quits This kind of sucks. I've recently been digging some Furthur shows and warming up to JK's playing. I wonder what the future will bring? If the Dead do tour, I really hope they rehearse and get a good guitar player before hitting the road. The thing I liked about Furthur is that they became a seasoned band where as the one off bands always were a mess live…under rehearsed. I bet we see everyone from Furthur plus Mickey and Billy for 2015. That'd be fun! Link to post Share on other sites
jw harding Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Billy has been pretty vocal about his distaste for JK and preference for Warren, or some other superior lead guitar player. Best guess is it would be the 4 plus Jeff and Warren, as things ended with "the Dead." Only saw that lineup once, and it was incredible. But I think they largely go as Bob goes, which will be the case for any lineup. Link to post Share on other sites
dagwave Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 wow - mixed feelings on the news. I was down on Furthur initially (based on some recordings), but believe they progressed and I finally heard some sweet shows and got to see them live a couple of times. That being said, possibly there was nowhere futhe new to go with the music. Definitely a good solid run - the pessimist in me considers the fact that the machine might be lining up schedules for a 50 year anniversary stadium/ arena money grab. I really hope I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure I'm not a pessimist. Link to post Share on other sites
worldrecordplayer Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Too bad about this news, saw some fantastic Furthur shows. I always liked JK's guitar playing and singing, never got why some folks were down on him. But all in all, over all the years,Phil and Friends was always the best take on the songbook I thought. As witnessed by this past weekend's shows. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites
dagwave Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (beating it like a dead horse) QUINTET Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Not saying anyone here, per se, but it's amusing seeing the praise for Furthur after several years of people carping on them as a "cover" band, etc. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, and all. I always had fun at Furthur shows but it's not like I spin Furthur discs at home often. They were fun to catch but I'm not too sad about a demise, either. Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Heartbreak Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Okay, I'm going to be the first to say it: Dave's Vol. 12 is yet another mediocre release in an ever-increasing series of mediocre releases. It might be the most compelling argument yet against putting out full shows. Don't get me wrong, there are some great highlights. Jerry shreds like crazy at the end of a very good version of Let It Grow, an early highlight. And the Playin' > Eyes is decent, too, although the Eyes is way too fast for my taste. On disc 3 - the "filler" disc - there is also a decent Scarlet > Fire, very nice to have, as are most any '77 Scarlet > Fire combos, of course. These are all release-worthy versions, and would have been great on a Road Trips-style comp. Other than that, there is really nothing exceptional about this release. Most of us Heads have many better versions of all these songs from a variety of eras, probably even better versions of most of these songs from '77, in fact. Aiko and Dupree's are both rare for '77, but they are not played particularly well here. Most distressing is the large number of flaws throughout, not only in the performances (including a few near train wreck transitions), but also in the sound quality. Of course, you don't find too many Dead shows where every song is "just exactly perfect," but this one...good grief. Lyric flubs in Bertha, Dupree's...I think there are even some flubs in Stella Blue and on the filler disc, like in Terrapin or Scarlet > Fire. I didn't make notes, but to be honest it's hard to keep track when there are that many. I mean, a release where there are lyrics botched in 4 or 5 out of 30 songs is a pretty high percentage. They aren't even all from the same show! As for the sound issues, I know this stuff is mastered from 2-track tape, but could they not get the vocals any higher in the mix? EVERYTHING is louder than the vocals throughout. It's frustrating to have to crank the thing up to a very loud level to actually enjoy the vocals. I don't need the bass vibrating my bowels to enjoy a show. The way people are raving about this thing on Dead.net makes me wonder whether they took too much acid back in the day, or possibly even more recently. This is '77 Dead, and there is already a ton of "official" '77 Dead made available, including a whole box of Spring shows (though, sadly, 5/7-5/9 are apparently not in the vault). So it's still better than plenty of the other stuff out there floating around. As mountain bed has indicated, there are some mighty fine Brent shows from the 80s that haven't seen the light of day, but I'm also fairly sure there are other shows even from Fall '77 itself that would eclipse this release by far...if I'm wrong about that, well, then they truly are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Sorry for such a long rant (of course, no one is forced to read this), but this Pick is another one that will be getting ripped to iTunes and sold on Amazon. I have a sinking feeling that trend will continue next year with Dave L. in charge. He came up aces with that Wichita show from '72, but other than that...pretty much a goose egg for me. Unlike Dick Latvala, who only occasionally came up with a stinker, Dave is almost batting a thousand in that department, for my money. Link to post Share on other sites
winterland121072 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Ya... The colgate show had some good moments, but others from that era are much better and are in need of quality upgrade....like 15 October 1977 ---- in my opinion the best second set of 1977... Link to post Share on other sites
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