The Grateful Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JRM, Apr 11, 2014.

  1. ianuaditis

    ianuaditis Matthew 21:17

    Location:
    Long River Place
    I'm in the middle of 4-24-70, Mammoth Gardens, Denver, just at the post-verse space in Dark Star (not quite full silence, though it gets damn close.) This is an AUD, a good one, especially given the state of bootleg concert recording in 1970. You can hear kind of a confused reaction to the acoustic set; Live/Dead would have been the last anyone had heard from the band, Workingman's Dead was finished, but still more than a month away. And the band hadn't played Denver since fall of 67, though they'd made Colorado appearances in Boulder and Colorado Springs. So this 'Feedback' segment in Dark Star, followed by some Alligator-esque solo Garcia (quickly joined by Phil pushing that 1970 Feeling Groovy theme so frequently played in this spot,) would have been much more familiar to the audience than Monkey and the Engineer.

    Feeling Groovy doesn't last long, but they move instead to 'tighten up' (soulful strut, right? I forget which is which.) Whatever it's called, this goes on for some time, building up and down in intensity more than once. It seems like it might be sliding off into space again before Garcia starts playing double and triple stops reminiscent of the Dark Star theme (but not completely out of the soulful strut realm.) Then Phil changes tack, banging on his Feeling Groovy riff - for a minute or two they toy around with it, never quite hitting a full band version of it, before Garcia comes into one of his Live/Dead Dark Star set pieces, which builds to another burning crescendo before elegantly winding down into verse 2 and St. Stephen. (AUDs always server as a reminder of how much the audience really loved St. Stephen. As a 12 year old obsessed with Led Zeppelin, it was my favorite GD song for a while.)

    A Dark Star worth the trouble, and really not a bad recording, as 1970 AUDs go.
     
  2. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Tinkling notwithstanding, Brent is very good. But Phil's lines are dancing and Jerry is nails.

    Tighten Up is so 00's. It is indeed Soulful Strut to be sure.
     
  3. US Blues

    US Blues Undermining Consensus Reality

    Mammoth Gardens is now the Denver Fillmore, and has been for quite some time. In one area of the venue there is a magnificent collection of photos of shows from Mammoth Gardens, back in the day. There are some photos from the two GD shows in April 1970 hanging on the wall.

    It's a great venue, I saw Phil there a number of times, relatively intimate and always a delight!
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2018
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  4. ianuaditis

    ianuaditis Matthew 21:17

    Location:
    Long River Place
    OK, I will make notes.

    Next up for me:

    Dark Star>Heaven Help Jam>Eyes of the World>'Stronger than Dirt'>China Doll from 11-11-73

    Yes, a reviewer (not you I think, though I've seen some forum members comments over there) made note of that.

    Anyway, also an excellent reading of the Eleven on this, the second to last time that was played (at least per Deadbase IX. One of the last, even if more have been discovered.)
     
  5. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Is there really a Heaven Help jam in there? I know that Mind Left Body creeps in around the 31:00 mark and firmly establishes itself at about 31:16. Also, I'd contend that there's no Stronger than Dirt in that Eyes, it's simply the standard out jam from '73/'74.
     
  6. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    Isn't HHJ just an alternate name for MLB? I see it used that way once in a while, I don't think there's a difference.
     
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  7. Tom H

    Tom H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kapolei, Hawaii
    Dearborn Music! Just down the road.
     
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  8. ianuaditis

    ianuaditis Matthew 21:17

    Location:
    Long River Place
    I should also mention last night I listened to 3-26-83 at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas. I had to come up with a symbol for 'sucks' (alongside my star for great,) because the 2nd ever rendition of Brother Esau, unlike the first the previous night, is pretty much a mess. Also I think Weir played slide better in 78 than in 83 (at least what I've heard so far.)

    Still, nice versions of Brown Eyed Women and Althea, and even Mexicali Blues got a star, which is pretty rare. A standard set list for set 2, but some entertaining transitions between Scarlet and Fire and especially Estimated and Eyes, and a long Other One wrapped around the Drum solo kept my interest. Touch of Grey has that weird choppy feel, but I like it as an encore.

    Now I'm onto the brand new Charlie Miller transfer of 3-27 at Irvine Meadows.
    I was just messing around with the evolving denominations of GD jams.

    My Deadbase (IX) notes on page vii, "Heaven Help Jam has been renamed Mind Left Body Jam in reference to Your Mind Has Left Your Body from Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun. We would be interested in corroboration for this source, or other possible sources for this theme." IIRC Phil basically shot down the 'mind left body' angle. I think the most he would commit was 'maybe, who knows?'

    Per @US Blues, (IIRC) the ending jam of Eyes was often labelled Stronger than Dirt on tapes. I agree with you - apart from a superficial resemblance in the riff, it's not the same as what they played in 75 and/or what came out on Blues for Allah.
     
  9. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    Yeah, a stick in the eye vs. a kick in the nuts. If you're making that distinction you've gone way beyond Jimmy's level!
     
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  10. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    But I will say some of his most egregious cacophony comes on some of the Scarlet>Fires of 1978...
     
  11. US Blues

    US Blues Undermining Consensus Reality

    Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin' The Roses
     
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  12. ianuaditis

    ianuaditis Matthew 21:17

    Location:
    Long River Place
    I'm about 25 shows into 78, the slide has been far better than advertised. A couple of howlers, but he equaled that in one rendition of Esau from 3-26-83.

    His solo yucks up an otherwise great Minglewood from the following night.
     
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  13. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
  14. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    The Scarlet>Fire from 4/24/78 is a crime of enormous magnitude!
     
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  15. ducksdeluxe

    ducksdeluxe A voice in the wilderness.

    Location:
    PNW
    Their business model is confusing. This is the part that confuses me the most.
     
  16. warewolf95

    warewolf95 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    You've been marathoning 78 and didn't tell me brother?!
     
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  17. trd

    trd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berkeley
    Do you guys keep a notebook handy to jot down show notes when you’re listening?
     
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  18. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    I think it's his alternate when he's weary of 1970...he's told us!
     
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  19. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Yeah, I dunno. I'm spinning HHTF from Reckoning as I type and it bears more resemblance to Cassidy than to MLB, although there's a descending passage that's similar to MLB.

    I have a Word file that I update on occasion. It must be at least 10 pages long by now. Chock full of needless hyperbole, but so be it.
     
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  20. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    No but it's a great idea.
     
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  21. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    I'm not arguing for it on the merits, just reporting on the common nomenclature...I mean there's not a "difference" between what is called MLB and what is called HHJ.
     
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  22. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    I'm not discussing merit either. My observation was intended to suggest that I would certainly not consider HHTF jam and MLB jam to be in any way synonymous.
     
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  23. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    That's a fair observation. But one could argue that "MLB" is not an apt designator to begin with....or "tighten up"...etc. The band didn't use these terms, I don't think...but what did people mean by HHJ then? I always thought they were talking about MLB.
     
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  24. warewolf95

    warewolf95 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    Color me blind.

    It's easy to pop in for a quick post but I don't usually have the time to read up on most of the thread that I've missed. :)
     
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  25. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    The band most certainly didn't and I know some of the "crew" resented these designations as they implied that these jams were something other than divinely-inspired works of spontaneous genius from the band. Until today, I had never heard the term Heaven Help jam.
     
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