On Road Trips, in hindsight it seems like it would have worked better not as the regular releases like the DaPs, but more ind the irregular sense in the vein of the From the Vault shows. A compilation every other year or so (from runs or sources with issues or inconsistent playing) in addition to the typical full show releases seems to me to be the sweet spot, especially when you think about the source issues for a lot of 80s shows. The RT series seemed perfect for those and it's a shame nothing from 81-86 was put out in that series because for a lot of stuff RT might have been its best chance for release. Just my $0.02.
Yes, in a perfect world they would alternate full-show releases with compilations. IMO, there are plenty of average shows that have small 20-30 minute above average jams in them.
I wouldn't go so far as to say they should alternate between the two formats, just that the compilation shouldn't be thrown out all together. One every couple of years seems reasonable. Simply hoping this type of stuff will be used as filler probably won't bear much fruit.
I still love the original concept of Road Trips. If you remember, when the first Road Trips was released, they also put out two full show downloads from Fall '79, so you had a 'best of' compilation and full shows, too. Where they got into trouble with the fans was releasing only parts of beloved shows (like the Wall of Sound release) - archive.org would then pull the full show and fans were complaining that the show wasn't available to them anymore (which of course it was with only the slightest digging around). Although I don't think he will start doing it, there is nothing that prevents Dave from making one pick a year a Road Trips-style compilation of a tour to get the best of a certain run out there.
I also like some of the Dick's Picks releases where they trimmed the first set of a show so that it would fit on two discs, like DP 14 or DP 20. The problem with the early Road Trips releases is that it was an extreme cut and paste approach where they were creating set orders that would've never been played that way. Now, the end results were fairly good, but I can see why many fans didn't like it - the music selected was fantastic, but they didn't have the flow of a real show.
just taking the first plunge into 1985 with my official releases. Picked this up used at my local shop
Road Trips 1.2 October '77 is one awesome collection of music. 5/15/70 Fillmore East is hard to beat, featuring just about all the acoustic songs they did in the period.
I concur with most of the others here. My top 4 Road Trips releases: Boston '76 Vol. 4.5 Austin '71 Vol. 3.2 Frisco '68 Vol. 2.2 NYC '90 Vol. 2.1
While I like to jump around to all eras of the band, I can't go too long without listening to the joyous, celebratory vibes of "The Eleven". So I threw on set one from the "Be Mine" Valentine's Day, 1968 show. It's amazing how concise (but powerful) the medleys were back then. Dark Star>China Cat Sunflower>The Eleven>Lovelight clocks in at under 25 minutes. A year or so later "Lovelight" alone would be over 25 minutes!! Check out Bobby holding the ski pole. Could this pic be right before they headed to the "Trip and Ski" Tahoe shows?
That first-set medley from the Valentine's show at the Carousel is one of my very favorite slices of primal Dead. I absolutely love the way they did "Dark Star" and "China Cat Sunflower" before T.C. joined.
That means I'm a week away from the 40th anniversary of my first Dead show, 8-6-74 at Roosevelt Stadium. 40 freaking years, wowza.
I've wanted a copy of Reckoning on vinyl for a while now. I've passed on less than adequate copies in the past but today I found a copy in NM cover/vinyl today for $6. So I've been listening to that and enjoying acoustic Dead. It's a great sounding record too.
I'll be listening to this over the weekend. I was listening to the bonus disc from Landover on the train this morning. The WRS is scorching.
Ah yes, Boston '76 A special release for sure. CD has been sold out and megabucks for ages now, so I actually bought the FLAC download. Only "Digital Deadload" I ever bought. Totally a purist when it comes to buying physical discs but I had to bend my policy for this one. (On the other hand imagine if they issued downloads of bonus discs we might have missed here and there. Like the one that came with Closing Of Winterland. Or a digital version of the Fillmore West '69 box they have promised to make no more CDs of. Or Dave's Picks for people who missed 'em, like Vol. 11 which sold out in less than a day.) My replacement for Wall Of Sound '74 arrived today, can't wait to give that a spin.
Listening to DP 8 this morning. DP 11 is on the way from the ebay flipper that I bought it from. I can't believe it sold out in 18 hours.
Agree...and Truckin > Nobody's Fault > Other One > Spanish Jam is fantastic as well. Another in a long list of killer GD bonus discs...
