I'm still in an early '80s mood with the fantastic Road Trips Vol. 4, No. 4, from the 1982 Spectrum run. This morning I'm returning to the highlight of the set - the jaw-dropping Playing>Ship of Fools>Playing sandwich from 4/5, the night before the main show on the set. When I first heard this jam segment years ago, I couldn't believe my ears, and I still can't whenever I listen to it. For those write off the '80s and haven't heard this sequence, get on a streaming service and check it out! It's a deep dive into psychedelic mystery, with Ship of Fools as the shimmering oasis in the center.
the top photo is interesting as I don't recall jg playing that Gibson back then as opposed to the black one in the other photo he's known for at the time.
City Park, Denver, CO- 24 September 1967. This is the last show by the original quintet before Mickey Hart joins the GD at their next performance a few days later at the Straight Theater in San Francisco- 27 September.
One thing I thought about this morning while listening to DaP 16 (3/28/73): is there a song that suffered more from Garcia's shift away from single coil pickups than Cumberland Blues? Maybe some of the other western/cowboy songs, too, but Cumberland NEEDS that twangy squeal in it. I'm not a gear head so that might not be the exact correct contributing factor - did Wolf have humbuckers? But regardless, many of you know what I'm talking about.
Wolf originally had three single coils, but was later modified to have two humbuckers in the middle and bridge with the single coil in the neck position.
"Dark Star?" How long does it last? Maybe the studio version? "Terrapin Station," and sync it up so 'in the shadow of the moon' plays right as it happens? Yes, that is fairly remarkable - I've only ever seen that one in summer 71 (like at the Yale Bowl.) I guess its possible that's not the same one, but it was a fairly rare guitar, so I suspect not. I'm not sure what exactly was the story on that gig, but they were hooked up with Babbs and the Pranksters and then Owsley right from the start. The rig they had with Owsley in 1966 in LA was state of the art in terms of volume and fidelity. You're absolutely right. I listened to 12-6-69 last night (the night before Altamont.) Garcia is still fairly new on the strat, and this is one of the first versions where I really notice him really making use of that single coil squonk. I've been meaning to write this to a question US Blues asked about Alligator vs. Wolf. My guess is Garcia never used Alligator again because all of the mods and features that went into the Nash Strat were built into Wolf from the beginning. It's wiring and pickups were initially the same as a stock strat with a gibson style bridge and alembic blaster (onboard preamp.) So it was just a matter of putting in a few tweaks going forward. To answer your question, one of the first mods to Wolf was tone controls for each of the pickups, but its setup remained single coil until sometime in 78, when humbucking pickups were added. However, like all of Garcia's future guitars, these had 'coil tap' switches, meaning they could function as either humbuckers or single coils as desired.
5/7/72: Dark Star>Drums>The Other One From Europe 72 volume 2 The slightly under 20 minute Dark Star alone is incredible enough. When Bill teases NFA, the Brits make as much noise as anything I've heard on any of the E72 recordings I've heard. I wonder if they were disappointed in the epic 30 minute TOO that I'm just about to listen to. Until they got a mini-version of the actual NFA over an hour later!!!
LOL you saw that?! That took like 4 hours to type up. I went through my collection and took a quick listen and then would comment on it. Glad it helped out someone, haha.
The only thing more confusing than wall-to-wall acronyms is great sheets of abstruse guitar-tech talk.
Anthem of the Sun I still would never recommend it as first listen to a newcomer to the Dead as it is if it's time even though it is very beautiful for what it is. The highlight for this listener will still be the live bonus tracks from 8/23/68: Alligator>Caution>Feedback that I will listen to later this afternoon. This sequence is priceless as it goes together with the 8/24/68 stuff found on Two From the Vault.
Disc 4 Uncle John's Band Big Railroad Blues Tomorrow Is Forever Sugar Magnolia He's Gone> Caution Jam> Drums> Space> Truckin'> Black Peter Sunshine Daydream Once again (for the nth time): I would love to see the complete run officially released.
Check out the big brain on bzfgt! I once misused that word with a friend of mine, and was embarrassed. Dick's 19 really hit the spot last night, and a big Dark Star coming up. Like a flower? No, not like a flower.
It's time for the remaining footage to be released. In fact, not just the stage stuff but out takes that Jer left out. Bet a decent director/editor could make a full on Pt.2 Also, the Festival Express people are sitting on much more footage.
Some brief unused 1974 material appeared in Long Strange Trip, if I recall correctly. I think it involved a Donna and Keith interview.
Donna has said that when she and Keith did their interview segment for the movie they were too stoned to talk coherently, so it wasn't included.
I'm just wrapping up listening the the Charlie Miller transfer of 3-28-73 (DaP 16) Some nice renditions earlier in the show, (BIODTL, Dont' Ease Me in, etc.) though no long jam to speak of in set I. However they made it up at the end with DS>Eyes of the World>Playin' in the Band. My Deadbase is all the way over there, but I'd wager this is a combo that didn't appear too frequently. Nor was it ever common to see a full Playin in the Band as a set 2 closer. (edit - looks like JBG is actually the closer, and there was no encore. Still, they didn't usually play it in that spot.)
Probably not used at every show, just ones where the set-up resulted in feedback if they weren't used. This might explain why some shows from '73 have thin-sounding vocals but others don't.