Thank you sir. One thing that’s great about all these Dead recordings is that we really get to study the growth of songs in arrangement, style, length of jam, etc.
My pleasure. And indeed; I made a comp for myself from the versions I have from official releases that contains these versions of Playin': The Evolution of the Jam 11/15/71 3/22/73 3/26/72 3/27/72 3/28/72 4/7/72 4/8/72 The first one that really stands up and screams at me is 3/27/72 ("filler" on disc 1 of DP 30). 3/28/72 is also strong and by 4/8/72, Jerry's already found at least one remote asteroid.
When I popped in Dave's 26 and it kicked off with a standalone Truckin' followed by an eight-minute Sugaree, I knew I was in unfamiliar territory.
Here is what I have lined up to listen to later. I might not get to it all today, but as long as my feet hit the ground tomorrow I can finish it then. A day to remember... 04/08/72 - Dark Star-Sugar Magnolia-Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) 12/31/72 - Truckin'-Drums-The Other One-Morning Dew-Sugar Magnolia 06/26/74 - Jam-China Cat Sunflower-I Know You Rider 11/05/79 - Eyes Of The World-Estimated Prophet-Franklin's Tower 03/03/81 - China Cat Sunflower-I Know You Rider 12/03/81 - Black Peter 08/03/82 - Shakedown Street-Samson And Delilah-To Lay Me Down 06/25/85 - Big Railroad Blues-Jack Straw-Might As Well 03/27/87 - Drums-Space-Uncle John's Band-Morning Dew-Johnny B. Goode 06/19/89 - All Along The Watchtower-Black Peter-Throwing Stones-Not Fade Away 08/19/89 - Drums-Space-The Other One 06/16/90 - China Cat Sunflower-I Know You Rider 09/20/90 - Drums-Space-Dark Star-Playing In The Band Reprise-Dark Star
Take a listen to the 8/6/71 version that was inexplicably left off of DP 35. It's not stand-alone but it's relatively short and the last 2 minutes before drums is worth it, trust me. David Crosby plays 12-string during this segment (and possibly more or possible less than all of it) and there's a really interesting minute or so at the very end of TOO into the first bit of Dew that sounds exactly like 1981 King Crimson. Really.
If you are thinking of the box set versions, they are all from the multitracks Betty recorded and have a consistent sound. The exception is 4/24/72 where they reused the earlier mix from Rockin' the Rhein, where they took some more liberties compared to the box set mixes.
I would think it is the unique character each place imparts to a Grateful Dead performance...and how that aligns it with the particulars of the tripper's circumstances...
Listened this week to 5/15/83 Greek Theatre. Very good early 80's Help-Slip-Frank. Not sure how it compares overall to the Boise version from the recent Dave's Pick, but it doesn't have the mistakes of that version.
They played it solo a lot through 71, often as a show opener, they'd just kind of wind the jam down. Sounds like a pretty good custom title.
The Crimson bit is TOO--> Dew from 12/31/72. Your quoting of me suggests that you may think it's from the 8/6/71 Truckin'. Just FYI.
Hmm me too. Now set me straight here, are we talking about 8/6/71 or does this tie back to the comments on 12/31/72 @Archtop - EDIT OK I see you just clarified this above.
Speaking of the evolution of “Playin’ in the Band”, anyone know the first version to feature Donna’s battle cry? The version from 3/28/72 features a righteous one, but then I put on the 3/23/72 version from the Rockin’ the Rhein bonus disc and there was no Donna. I don’t have the 3/27/72 version handy to check. I recall reading somewhere, probably here, that, aside from a guest appearance sometime near the end of ‘71, Donna’s first appearance as a member of the group was sometime during this Academy of Music run of performances, which certainly would explain her absence on the 3/23 and presence on the 3/28 versions.
3/25 was the first live Playing with Donna, but she was absent on 3/26. Here is a writeup from Deadessays about the Academy run mentioning it.
I checked it out, but may be in the wrong spot. TOO has a fairly dissonant bit at the end, but it doesn’t go into Dew. Sugar Magnolia is the song before Dew on the source I found. Not sure I hear Crimson, but it definitely sounds a little atypical and dissonant.
You misread my post. I discussed 8/6/71 in the context of Jerry's solo at the end of Truckin. Then, in a completely unrelated statement, I discussed the Crimso thing at the end of TOO--> Dew from 12/31/72. I always consolidate my posts rather than having disparate concepts in consecutive posts. In any case, it's the last ~40 seconds of TOO and the first ~10 seconds of Dew. You'll hear it and you will immediately think of a specific track on Discipline.
It was on a different reel to The Other One > end of show, that's why - per the discussion here a few days back (I know how hard it is to keep up here!), only the end of the show was known to exist & available when DP35 was compiled. It IS very good, though!
The '71 material was discussed at length the other day, the houseboat tapes did not have the Truckin' from 6 Aug 1971, a later batch of SBD's brought that to our ears. So, you're saying the Dead were a full 9 years ahead of King Crimson?
Well, I've had that Truckin'--> Drums from 8/6/71 on a very decent sounding cassette for over 30 years. It's not exactly the same mix as used for DP 35 (Phil is more prominent on DP 35; not in terms of overall volume but in terms of what notes you can and cannot hear) but it has a very similar "crunchy" sound as what was released.
That's the audience recording. Until the houseboat tapes (Dick's 35) not a moment of the SBD's circulated. This stuff can be quite confusing at times.
There is this factor as well, which is why the Egypt shows don't sound or feel like a show from the Philly Spectrum, or Winterland. Some folks out in the wider world are only interested in when they "rock out," yet overlook the subtle nuances that smaller venues and mellower scenes brought forth.
