Grateful Dead: Curated Song Selection or Full Live Shows?

I prefer whole shows, but without compilations we would miss some classic material, especially in the 67-70 range.

Actually compilations that eliminate Minglewood, El Paso, Row Jimmy, and Greatest Story would be welcome.

 

Hey man I have been listening to a lot of 73-74 shows. Too many El Pasos and too many Row Jimmys.
Sorry...

 

Both for me too!

I LOVE "Ladies&Gents" and the "Steppin' Out" set.

That said, "One From The Vault" is one of my very favorite Dead releases. So, as with all things, your mileage may vary! Enjoy the ride though

 

Okay, so I listened to about 90 minutes of Ladies and Gentleman... and started to feel fatigued. The playing was obviously of high caliber but it wasn't totally grabbing me, so I took a break. Then I came back and decided to try One From The Vault, and holy cow! Now I get why people dig this band so much.

 

I know L+G gets very high marks around here, but it isn't my favorite. I used to really like 1971. They were more of a song-oriented band that year. As I got more into them, 1971 kind of lost its shine for me. Before and after 1971 things started to stretch out and get more interesting.
One From The Vault is just a great show. I haven't heard it in years, may have to dig it up soon.

 

Ah...the first negative comment about Ladies and Gentlemen... I gotta believe 4CDs can be overwhelming for anyone new to any band. I first tried to get into the Dead by listening to Dick's Picks vol. 4 based on the amazing reviews. While I could appreciate the greatness of it, it's a lot for someone new to the band. Lots of long jamming as one song leads into another. I didn't listen through the whole thing very often. I picked up Workingman's Dead and American Beauty and loved those, but it wasn't until I heard Skull & Roses the live Dead "clicked" for me. From there it was Live/Dead and Europe '72 and Europe '72 vol. 2 and I was hooked. Looking now for next steps...full shows or curated song selections from tours or a run of shows...thus my original post.

 

I would also say that with Ladies and Gentlemen, while a good listen as a whole, the really good stuff is the jam sequences on Disc 3 (starting with Dark Star) and Disc 4. There is of course a lot of nice stuff before it, but the main reason this release is getting so much praise here won't reveal itself until well past the 90-minute mark.

 

'75 and '71 are worlds apart in a lot of ways so that may be part of the comments about aspects of '71 being more straight forward, but as Crispy Rob says every year has its jamming charm and eventually 3 discs into L&G you will see it is there spades. It is daunting at first but there are real differences from year to year that you will pick up. If you are looking to stretch your legs beyond '69-'72 you could do a lot worse than '73 next; but maybe as a test to see if you are ready to venture out, try Sunshine Daydream, it is '72 but it is late summer where they started to stretch out and loosen up from the Europe '72 try to get it just perfect sound; this new vibe got refined, along with some new songs, into what became '73 which is a pretty unique year and my favorite. That is in many ways where they locked in a base style for the remainder of the 70's with of course new songs, refinements and unique characteristics thrown into and out of the hopper each year.

 

Thanks! I have Sunshine Daydream and love it. Would you recommend any particular '73 show?

 

Full shows !

 

Care to share the iOS App's name?

 

It's called Listen to the Dead. The icon is yellow.

Check it out. It's good stuff.

 

And if half a book sucked, I probably wouldn't read it. Fortunately, a GOGD show is not really like a book. The individual moments do not all need context. Some do, and in those cases, compilations typically recognize this and include the contextual necessities. I don't need a dragging first set Cosmic Charlie or Dire Wolf to make a second set Dark Star--> The Eleven--> St. Stephen--> New Potato Caboose--> Death Don't Have No Mercy--> The Other One--> Bobby McGee--> The Other One--> Playing in the Band--> Dark Star--> Morning Dew--> Sing Me Back Home mean something to me.

I don't remember what show that was, I wasn't there.

 

If there's a set list like that out there, I have GOT to hear it. You didn't just make that up, did you?

 

Good post. As I said earlier, I'm into '72 right now and was looking to check out individual shows from Europe '72. What did you think of Europe '72 Vol. 2 as a curated compilation?

 

"New Potato Caboose" and "Me And Bobby McGee" never in the same show, at least with Garcia.

 

For official releases DiP14 is a fave, or DiP1 for late ’73— maybe you could say showing you a tad of what ’74 will become; Dick’s Picks 28 for an early ’73 and maybe more of a connection with ’72. The Winterland ’73 box is great; Plangent Processed which helps, but OOP and I can see where box set is not the way to go quite yet. I don’t have any ’73 Dave’s Picks and they are OOP and not downloadable if that is the way you are picking these up.

If you are talking about Archives I would head for starters to the Charlie Miller versions of 3/28/73, 7/1/73, 12/6/73, 6/10/73, 2/22/73; these have good sound quality and are solid shows.

 

My favourite 1973 release is Dick's Picks vol. 28, which is a 4-disc set of two magical shows. Consistently great from head to toe.

 

That is a great point, sure they had whole shows where they nailed it the entire night, or a little easier, nailed a whole set— I am looking at you 2nd set 10-2-77 Paramount Theatre Portland OR But just as often if not more, they had stretches within a show where their game somehow gets raised and the tumbler slots all drop into place unlocking heretofore unseen greatness; so I like full shows plenty, even better when they nailed the whole thing, but I won’t be dogmatic enough to miss the action if that is all that is usable, or even to cut to the chase when the mood strikes.

 

Looks like I'll be on the hunt for Dick's Picks 28 as well! Thinking of making a short shopping list and just picking things up as I find them used...supplemented by one or two Europe '72 shows from dead.net (4/26, 5/26). I was on the phone with their customer service...really awesome I thought.

 

Actually, I disagree completely. I won't complain much about these types of things, but I thought mixing Keith (and Pigpen too) as far back as they did on that box set was the worst decision made on any of these big GD releases. As long as the guitars aren't mixed back, the keyboard work is never going to detract from the other guitar work and one of the biggest, yet subtle, reasons the Europe '72 tour is so amazing or any different from the previous or following eras are that they had 2 keyboards, piano & organ (for a good portion of the tracks) and Keith's playing is so new and fresh. He would remain amazingly fresh through 74, but there is this excitement in his playing and with Pigpen there, aside from also getting his organ on a good portion of songs, we also get his originals and his cover songs. I absolutely love the Europe '72 era and I get pretty devastated on a handful of those shows when Keith is playing and you can't hear him really at all, until one or 2 little things burst through... Honestly, what's the point, just put on 71 show from before Keith wasn't there.

Rant over... that being said, I am actually a big fan of hearing the difference of what the various members who weren't always there brought to the band. Obviously, that means the keyboards are always pretty important to the sound and the era. And honestly, why wouldn't they be? Other than that period of 1970-1971 when Pigpen only sometimes played organ, they always had a keyboard player.

For me, it's hard to go wrong with that late 71 to 72 period. And of course even a little before through 74 is pretty consistent with amazing musicianship. But the vocals really started clicking around 71.

I am also a huge fan of the 69 era, especially the intense jamming of things like "The Other One" from that period. And of course the 76-78 period is well loved by most deadheads and usually with good reason.

I think a lot of the Brent era is marred more by poor recording and change in technology than performance. Although the 80's aren't without their dip in quality performance as Jerry's health decreased (as well as other problems), but the late 80's through 1990 sure has some amazing music too. I always felt that 1991 was a really unique and under-rated time in the band's playing as well.

Now to answer the initial question: I prefer a full show, but that's so I can nitpick and take what I love from it! I guess because I love so many bands, I don't often have time to continue to go back to full shows. But I don't like someone else picking my highlights for me!

 

I see no reason why a Deadhead can't have both. Sometimes I like to hear a whole show, since the Dead were more about shows than anything else, I like to hear it all ebb and flow. However, even at their best, not every song was a winner; so a judiciously chosen best-of live performances can be a very good listening experience. It is a different experience from listening to a show, but I always thought that only hearing the Dead via shows is a very limiting way to experience what was good about them.

 

Full shows only. I can "curate" on my own with the remote.