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Totally agree. One of last great shows / jams with Keith. His demise was a real drag. In my opinion, he wasn't the same after 1974. 1975 / 1976 he was ok but very sedate. 1977 he seemed much more percussive rhythmic than the improv rhythmic of 72/73/74. 1978 he was sloppy (drunk?) percussive rhythmic. 1978 he almost sounded like a drum.

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Totally agree. One of last great shows / jams with Keith. His demise was a real drag. In my opinion, he wasn't the same after 1974. 1975 / 1976 he was ok but very sedate. 1977 he seemed much more percussive rhythmic than the improv rhythmic of 72/73/74. 1978 he was sloppy (drunk?) percussive rhythmic. 1978 he almost sounded like a drum.

The final year I've noticed a lot of just mimicking Garcia's licks.....Lazy, uninspired, repetitive.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that 40 years ago yesterday was a REALLY hot set of music. It's one of the best of the last 6 weeks of the Keith & Donna Era. Yes, yes, I know. The Miracle > Shakedown opener. It's undeniably good. But I'm here to talk about the Playin into the Drums > Jam > Playin Reprise. 40+ minutes of Essential Dead. 

 

Following the lyrics Jerry goes right into some inspired extreme noodling, which goes on for nearly 15 minutes. Jerry doesn't want to stop! Eventually he does and The Devils immediately go with a Middle Eastern feel that reminds me of 12/30/78 with Hamza. Jerry and Bob dig it and come back out for a jam that is like a hash den in Morocco or somewhere similar. Finally the Reprise comes and it's good and celebratory. It always amazes me to read about how extremely dysfunctional and unhappy the band was at this time - you sure wouldn't know it from this example. This is the consecrated fucking noodling of the gods. 

 

https://archive.org/details/gd1979-01-15.111592.mtx.chappell.sb32.flac16/gd79-01-15s2t06.flac

Where there's a hot PITB, there will be mountain bed. Gottta re-check this out after work.....

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1/15/79 is also being discussed over on the Hoffman board - someone posted Dick L's notes on the show. "Brain Frying" is an apt and great description. (Jesse Jarnow posted the notebook page in his twitter feed).

 

I am sure I mentioned this before, but one of the highlights for me seeing the Grateful Dead exhibit when it was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was seeing the original pages of Dick's notes.

 

 

Dw_-7SMXcAApZgq.jpg

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1/15/79 is also being discussed over on the Hoffman board - someone posted Dick L's notes on the show. "Brain Frying" is an apt and great description. (Jesse Jarnow posted the notebook page in his twitter feed).

 

I am sure I mentioned this before, but one of the highlights for me seeing the Grateful Dead exhibit when it was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was seeing the original pages of Dick's notes.

 

 

Dw_-7SMXcAApZgq.jpg

Note the " ' Jack-A-Rogue' ." Reminds me of when I bought Reckoning on cassette when it came out and "Rosalie McFall" was written as "Rosalie No Fall."

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Where there's a hot PITB, there will be mountain bed. Gottta re-check this out after work.....

:thumbup

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10/19/74. The penultimate show before the retirement. Probably better than the next night. Nice Eyes>China Doll in first set. Set two has a great run thru a number of standard tunes, starting with Big RxR Blues that finds Jerry really messing with the intro - very exciting! Strong takes on Race is On, Tomorrow is Forever, and Mexicali follow. There's just a little bit something to each version, and you can tell the band is on. Dire Wolf follows, and feels a bit flat. Then Sugar Mags starts a great jam suite, that includes the Truckin intro before they drop into Caution and a prolonged jam, before returning to Truckin proper. Wowsers! Doesn't sound like a band ready to hang it up. Strong take on Black Peter prior to a return to Sunshine Daydream. Recommended listening fo sho.

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10/19/74. The penultimate show before the retirement. Probably better than the next night. Nice Eyes>China Doll in first set. Set two has a great run thru a number of standard tunes, starting with Big RxR Blues that finds Jerry really messing with the intro - very exciting! Strong takes on Race is On, Tomorrow is Forever, and Mexicali follow. There's just a little bit something to each version, and you can tell the band is on. Dire Wolf follows, and feels a bit flat. Then Sugar Mags starts a great jam suite, that includes the Truckin intro before they drop into Caution and a prolonged jam, before returning to Truckin proper. Wowsers! Doesn't sound like a band ready to hang it up. Strong take on Black Peter prior to a return to Sunshine Daydream. Recommended listening fo sho.

Bunch of naked twanging from Weir on that missed voacl Big RR opening, ha.

 

Do you skip the Phil and Ned (for sanity's sake)?

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I couldn't tell it was due to a missed vocal cue, but dug it. I always try to listen to minute or two of the Seastones stuff, with no payoff yet. Maybe it was cool coming from the Wall, but doubt it. 

Yeah, it just sounded liked he missed the intro vocals to me (which is fantastic, regardless). Fun shit.

 

That Seastones stuff takes some fortitude to bull through. God bless the effort and experimentation, but, uhhh......

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My very favorite set of the 5 nights is set 2 from the middle night (10/18). Phil & Ned > Jam > Dark Star > Dew. 

 

Sadly enough, that was the last time they ever did Star > Dew. 

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Did the whole fall tour and that Augusta show easily the best of the tour. On the rail right in front of Jerry both nights. Ah, memories...

DUDE!  :love

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Wow...nice... I never got that close. Milwaukee Mecca 4/15/1989 i was about 10th row...

I think I was lucky enough to be on rail or first 5 rows about 75-100 times out of the 209 dead shows I saw. I will have to count. An obsession but it's pleasing and I seem to be repeating that approach with Wilco!

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