Thanks for the rundown! Do you know, is the Complete Europe ’72 trunk an HDCD-utilized or not-utilized release?
Phil is very present and involved on this "Mr. Charile." Some bristle when I refer to Phil as playing lead bass, but you can't argue that he's not being very Phil, very Lesh, blessing the group with his Philanthropy. Definition of philanthropy plural philanthropies 1 : goodwill to fellow members of the human race; especially : active effort to promote human welfare 2 a : an act or gift done or made for humanitarian purposes b : an organization distributing or supported by funds set aside for humanitarian purposes 3 : how Phil plays friggin' bass, yeah!
Phil's playing during the Summer of '71 is particularly robust. Pig isn't contributing a lot on keys, leaving the band with just 4 voices, so Phil fills a lot of Space during this time. The 2 nights at BCT (14 & 15 Aug 1971) are prime examples of this. Also, both of these shows were returned to the Vault via the "Houseboat Tapes," and would make a nice 4 CD release. * hint hint * PS- One might say Mr. Lesh was being rather philanthropic!
Saturday jamming pre football. 10/11/77 Let It Grow -One massive highlight of a great show. Could be the best LIG of the year. The band is monstrous. Official bits and pieces of the show can be compiled from RT 1.2 and from 'hidden track's on DP 29. The NFA, Dancin and HSF (last for a while) are also slamming.
Who knows when Phil's Gibson bass was stolen and he went back to the (now alembicised) Guild? Had to be sometime around this time.
Only because it is typically used as a pejorative term, generally by other bass players who don't have the chops to play like him, so they justify their inability to do so by proclaiming that playing like that doesn't "serve the music."
In town out of the northern awfulness for a couple days. Sitting in Starbucks with 5/28/82 in my ears. The soundboard may be pretty rough but the guys are on FIRE! Check out the opening Alabama>GSET and find me a hotter pair - holy crap.
Weirdly enough, I just picked up a copy of this 2LP set at a used book store before the recent DSO show in Montclair, NJ. Pear Records and all, I couldn't figure out what the hell I had. I had no idea what it was. I realized the recordings were from the same Warfield/Radio City acoustic performances as Reckoning, but I've never actually listened to the album itself-- though I have listened to many of the shows that the album was curated from. Is this "For the Faithful" literally the same album as Reckoning, like, track for track? Because I know Reckoning is highly regarded around these parts.
Yes, it's the same recordings, minus Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie. I cannot speak to the sound quality. The sonics of the remastered CD's released some years back is excellent, if this info is helpful.
Thanks for the info! There's my Grateful Dead fact of the day I guess. So coincidental that I purchased this record recently and then it gets brought up in this thread! I haven't even gotten around to spinning it yet, it's on my list. Very curious now as to the sound quality v. traditional copies of Reckoning. Never heard of Pear Records either, they seem to be an NJ-based company that I GUESS has some relationship with the Grateful Dead/Arista.
Pair Records did a fair number of cheap reissues in the 80's. I remember seeing For the Faithful (in that mid 80's pre-In The Dark period when it seemed like the Dead would never make a new album) and not knowing if it was the same as Reckoning or something else. Apparently "Oh Babe..." was on the LP, but cut from the CD.
May I ask you to share your source for the artwork scans? That's lovely and I'd love to have that for my digital collection but I can't find any online.
*heavy breathing* I'm hyperventilating here. The show is almost over (currently on JBG) and I've honestly never heard a performance as unbelievably, stupidly, otherworldly, unimaginably, outstandingly, positively, magically, ridiculously HOT HOTTEST SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF ETERNAL EXISTENCE
5/28/82 – San Fransisco, CA – Vietnam Veterans Benefit Show (THE MOST ENERGETIC 90 MINUTES EVER!) A rip-roaring-tear-your-freaking-face-off one-two punch of Alabama>GSET kicks things off with a BANG!!!!1 Seriously! This soundboard might suck but this is SEARINGLY HOT STUFF HERE! KILLER OPENING! Up next is a fine Althea. It's not the smoothest version ever, but the energy propels it just fine and it's another keeper. A relatively tame-yet-hitting-all-the-right-spots Rooster is next. Not much to say. Just a good, sloppy, fun time. Oh no, the guys do the dreaded and pull out T Jed next. Thankfully it's just fine. Great piano from Brent and lots of smashing energy on this one. Good stuff! Since this is a one-set benefit gig, the faux second set begins next with a roaring Truckin. The guys waste no time jumping right to lightspeed and driving over everything in their path. Truckin is ON FIRE, YO! Too bad it's over relatively quickly because it FREAKING RAWKS!!!!! It is insane! THERES MORE ENERGY IN THIS TRUCKIN THAN IN ALL OF 1991!!!!!!!!!!!! After D/S it's into GDTRFB. Also, maybe it's just this static-ey soundboard, but this GDTRFB is every bit as stupidly hot as Truckin! What the heck was going on tonight!?! This energy carries through into Not Fade Away. The guys are at X Factor Energy Level 1000! In an awesome surprise, Boz Scaggs joins us next for the very first Walkin' Blues since 1966!!! Wow! It's pretty groovy and killer. The energy stays extraordinarily high throughout. Everyone takes their turns in the spotlight with Brent, especially, slaying it on the keys and Jerry on the slide. I'm guessing it's John Cippolina sitting in that's soloing it up as well. Amazing stuff! Everyone stays on board and segues straight into a super chill and bluesy Mind To Give Up Living. Jerry's blues soloing in the beginning is some of the absolute best i've heard out of him this side of 1980. Outstanding! Forgive me for not commenting too much on the guests – I'll admit to being unfamiliar, beyond name recognition, with Cippolina and Scaggs. That being said this is killer, killer, killer!!!! It's conjuring up images of 1970 and smoke filled barrooms with people down on their luck downing whatever next drink sits before them trying to escape the dreadful realities of their day to day existence. The soloing and performance is unbelievable and this is hands-down one of the greatest performances in the entire Dead history. For sure! Surprising us again, Bobby then whips out only the SECOND post-Pigpen Lovelight ever played! And it's a flippin' party! Yeowzers guys! ITS HOTTER THAN THE FACE OF THE SUN AND THE FOLLOWING JOHHNY B GOODE EVEN TOPS THIS! HOLY CRAP IM DYING GUYS! IF IT GETS ANY HOTTER I WILL LITERALLY COMBUST! And with that, the hottest show to ever exist comes to a close. Way to go guys.
^^^^ " Reviewer: Shootingsparks - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - July 31, 2016 Subject: It was a great Boz Skaggs show... Jerry was so wasted he could hardly stand, let alone play or sing.... Weir was high as #### too... It's not for no reason so many other folks stepped in to play with them during their set... Giving this show the highest rating, because they were really really high. " Guess this explains it, lol
One of the best shows of the tour! This reminded me - I bought the download of May ‘77 when it came out. Does anyone know of a digital version of the liner notes? Presumably there is an essay or something worth reading in there and possibly even individual show notes. I’d love to see them if anyone can point me in the direction.
This is THE MOST AMAZING SENTENCE YOU'VE EVER WRITTEN!!!!!!!!! You evoke Kerouac and Kesey with this poetic insight into life. Just beautiful.
Dead.net surprisingly enough. For 5/17: Featured Show: May 17, 1977 | Grateful Dead Similar pages exist for all 5 shows