After one of the greatest 1991 sets with 10/28/91, night 3 is down on the X Factor but still excellent versions prevail. Reviews incoming.
10/28/91 – Oakland, CA ***************************************** Night 2 begins with a rocking Bertha. Right from the get go, the energy is flowing and Bruce is reclaiming his role as master of the keys. Seriously, the piano on this Bertha is insane. Jerry is still playing pretty laid-back tonight, but he's delivering the goods nonetheless, plastering this Bertha with leads left and right. An awesome opening to the show! Immediately we are into GSET so fast that you could almost consider it segued. This GSET features, again, loads of tasty licks from Jerry. Overall, it's really fun – not the hottest version by any means but definitely one to evoke a smile, if that makes any sense. A wonderful Peggy O is up next. For some reason, it gives me a big Bob Dylan vibe tonight. It sounds like it could be on Desire or something. Just great with the country piano and the tasteful picking and the drums keeping tempo. A freaking awesome Wang Dang is up next. If this one doesn't have you standing up and involuntarily gyrating and bopping your head, well then I don't know what to tell you. It's just awesome. A very tasty Loose Lucy is up next. This song is hit or miss for me in the latter era because it can suffer from the TLEO syndrome of plodding too much. But when it's hot, it's hot and this one is VERY 1974! Just rocking and chock full of Jerry. Just killer. Mobile Blues is the Dylan choice for tonight. It's very unique in that the drum pattern is different than normal giving it a kind of “half-time” kind of flavor. Bobby's vocals are out of this world good on this one. Overall, it's a 10/10 Mobile imo. It's freaking sick, as I like to say!!! For set closer, the boys wisely select Bird Song again. It's super chill tonight, sounding very much like a Dark Star instead. 17 minutes of X-Factor-ey bliss. That's all there is to say. It's 1991, it's Bird Song. You know it's must-hear! Great set! Just as surprisingly as the previous nights set 1 Sugar Mag is this set 2 opening Saint Of Circumstance. It is insanely perfect!!! Holy hell talk about a version!!! If I had to listen to one version for the rest of time, this is the one right here! What were doing during set break to make them kick so much ass on this?! Woah!!! IT'S FREAKING NUTS!!!! UNBELIEVABLE! HOLY S### THIS SAINT IS LIKE THE 6/16 CHINA>RIDER!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell posessed them, I would love to know. The only possible way to come down from such an orgasmically blissful high is to replace it with another. And into Crazy Fingers we go! And with this we drift dreamily down the lazy river to paradise. Ah, sweet, sweet paradise....Holy hell that ending jamming that transitions magically into a powerful PITB! Daaaannnngggg!!!! PITB is just a train speeding down the track. This one flat out ROCKS! Best part is the 11 minute jam! Just as ridiculous as the Bird Song was. The guys aren't just drinking the X Factor, they are drunk on it! It's FRANTIC and mind blowing. The guys are doing their best 1975 Miles Davis jamming on this. HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS THIS PITB THEY ARE POSESSED!!!!! Listen to Phil just walking up and down all over the place like it's nobody's buisness. Bruce and Vince's frantically maniacal piano bashing. Jerry and Bob's distorted stings with their guitars. This is what 1991 dreams are made of right here. This is definitely going in the Top 10 Jams Of 1991 list for me. And then just like that, it's into Drums and Space and out into Watchtower. It's pretty hot as usual but it's also not much more than “typical hot 1991 Watchtwoer”. Out of the blue, in 0 seconds flat, we segue into Stella Blue and the crowd goes nuts. I'm gonna have to atone for taking the lord's name in vain yet again, but holy god this Stella Blue is the stuff of legend. Seriously. It's the most POWERFUL Stella ever! It's far from quiet – it's loud and proud and emotionally explosive. This Stella has my mind blown. And with that the show ends on the highest of high notes with a roaring partytastic Lovelight and a great Weight. Easily as good as the best of the Boston run, imo. A must-hear show!
10/30/91 - Oakland, CA Holy hell, this second set is AWESOME!!! The first set was enjoyable but on the whole skippable. Not this second set!
10/30/91 – Oakland, CA (Skippable first set, fantastical 2nd set) Night 3 begins with an ultra groovy Picasso Moon. Sure it rocks, but it's got this uniquely funky swagger to it tonight that makes it sound like a 70s dance fest or something. Very cool version. A very nice FOTD is next. It doesn't hit any major peaks and it remains simply “ordinary”. Ordinary but definitely enjoyable. A rocking MAMU sees us speeding for the border like the Department Of Immigration is on our tails! Great stuff and as usual it segues into a very fun Maggie. Jerry is just shredding on Uncle like it's nobody's business – fantastic leads! Outside of that, the duo, again, aren't anything worth mentioning. Great stuff, but just ordinary like FOTD, if that makes sense. BE Women is next and the music is great but Jerry sounds a bit out of it now. His leads are slipping and his vocals sound tired. You can tell he's trying, but it's just not getting there. There are some very nice moments throughout, but on the whole it never hits that next level, ya know? Bobby saves the day with a rocking It's All Over Now. Great piano from Bruce! A fun T Jed is next but this falls squarely in the “enjoyable-but-skippable” category. Thankfully the set closing TMNS is the complete opposite. Jerry lets it rip and the guys are having a right party! I'd say this and the opening Picasso are probably the set highlights. With the first set-opening Eyes in a while, set 2 begins as perfect as can be. Eyes is terriffic – easily topping the entire first set in every way. It's romantic and breezy and relaxing as all hell. Bruce's piano solo around 3 minutes is exactly what I'm talking about – we're in 3/31/91 waters now! Thankfully, Jerry has his playing hat back on and his leads are all kinds of great. What an awesome Eyes!!! I'd even go so far as to say it's the best since the summer, at least. The guys are totally on a different level here. And from there it's of course into Estimated. It's definitely on the same level as the previous Eyes and I probably wouldn't hesitate to put this in the top 3 or 4 of the year – it's that awesome! Bobby sounds like he's preaching while being posessed by Satan or something. Jerry is reaching for the stars with his impassioned playing. Bruce is hammering away harder than you can imagine. Just...ugh 10/10 Estimated right here holy crap!!!! Also, you know it's great when Jerry busts out the midi flute and Vince breaks out the sax. Check out Jerry's soloing around 7:40 – the best stuff he's played in SHOWS! In one of the best segues ever, the guys drift from Estimated into Terrapin. Come to think of it, we haven't heard Terrapin in a while either. The guys are really making the best of stretching out the repertoire lately! And just like the previous Eyes>Estimated, it's every bit as powerful and ridiculous. Easily one of the best of the year, for sure. I mean, if the power evoked by this version doesn't make you feel something, I don't know what will! SICK! A cool standalone jam develops out of Terrapin around 11 minutes and carries it all the way until drums takes over. HOLY CRAP CHECK OUT THAT PIANO AROUND 15:40!!!Very, very cool! Out of Space it's time for a raging TOO. It's very unique because the song begins, dare I say, quietly and semi-psychedelically before slowly building to it's climactic peaks. Extremely cool and pretty different than your usual TOO for 1991. Still hot as hell. And just like that we leave hot psychedelia for Black Peter an then the fun rocking of Around and Around. With a great Mighty Quinn, night 3 comes to a close. Insane second set!
Yes I am down with that. I am reminded of something I said about Phil & Jerry's respective geniuses that I think supports your point, and I put the quote here only to note that I said it about two years ago, so a long held belief. Fare Thee Well - Show #5 - Chicago, July 5 - Live Thread
I hear what you're saying and respect your viewpoint but my view is that Jerry's guitar playing was an unbroken progression despite the coma. Through the 80s he was developing a more concise approach, which doesn't mean less adventurous. He was saying more in less time. I love all eras of the GD, and Jerry's playing, but I think he was actually a better guitar player -- a complete master of the instrument and his materials -- AFTER the coma. It depends on what you listen for though, or what you're in the mood for. At all points in his career he could compose in his solos, but I think that hit peaks in '77 and then more sporadically throughout the rest of his career, getting more consistent and pronounced from '87 on. Even some great playing in the last years.
OK, no one asked for this, but I have a Hoffman Grateful Thread meet-up report. I met @budwhite in SF today and we took a hike up Haight, saw the house at 710, and of course Amoeba Records. We were thinking about going to the De Young museum to see the Summer of Love exhibit with all the cool 60s era rock memorabilia and such, but ditched it to meet up with @Crispy Rob at a brewery in Oakland where we drank many beers and talked about the Dead and music generally. Because that's what we all do! Good times, good times. I am Grateful for this Thread.
From Bill Graham's memoir: ***************************************** ALAN ARKUSH: We didn't know anything about the Allman Brothers. All we knew is that they were opening for Blood, Sweat, and Tears at the end of December 1969. No one had ever heard them. The album wasn't out yet. But the album cover was up in the lobby of Fillmore East. It had a picture of these guys standing naked in a stream, and we thought, "What a bunch of redneck yo-yos." Our cynical New York attitude. Not only that but they were late for the sound check. A cardinal sin. We were waiting and waiting. We didn't realize they were driving up from Georgia. This van pulled up and they piled out of it with all their amps. It must have been their first time in New York. These rednecks with their crummy, beat-up Marshall amps. We were going, "These guys are going to be something else. Hope they don't get naked." John Ford Noonan was going, "You guys going to keep your clothes on while you play tonight?" They launched into "You Don't Love Me No More" and "One Way Out" during the sound check and people came out of their offices. Everyone stopped working and just sort of stood there and went, "Oh. These guys are for real." They played four forty-five minute sets that weekend and we couldn't get enough of them. We thought they were fabulous. Blood, Sweat, and Tears hated them. Because they had all their aunts and uncles and grandmothers in from Queens. I had given the Allmans a bunch of wine because we liked them so much. I blew the whole wine budget on the Allmans because they didn't want beer. I lent Duane Allman money out of my own pocket to eat dinner because these guys literally had no money of their own. But they did drink up all that wine and start chasing naked girls up and down the stairs, showing off their tattoos. Finally, one of the guys in Blood, Sweat, and Tears pulled me aside and said, "Can't you keep them on the third floor? Because my aunt saw one of them running into the bathroom, chasing some girl." This was not the Al Kooper Blood, Sweat, and Tears. It was the one with David Clayton-Thomas in it. The crew all voted to have the Allmans back. We just requested it so they brought them back six weeks later to play with the Grateful Dead. It was Love, the Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead. The Allman Brothers were still unheard and unknown. But these were legendary shows. After that weekend, the Allman Brothers were never the same again. Owsley dosed everyone that weekend. That was the night that Fleetwood Mac came down and got dosed. I have a cassette somewhere of Duane Allman, Peter Green, and Jerry Garcia jamming together. They played "Dark Star" and the Donovan song, "There Is a Mountain." Which the Allmans turned into "Mountain Jam" because of that night. Mick Fleetwood was so heavily dosed that he was sitting on the stage as the audience was filing out with the microphone in his hand. He kept going, "The f-kin' Grateful Dead. The f-kin' Grateful Dead." We didn't have the heart to turn off the mike. He was saying it like a mantra. "The f-kin' Grateful Dead!" MICK FLEETWOOD: I remember playing at Fillmore East, not officially, with the Grateful Dead. On acid. They had the two drummers and I didn't actually drum. I had a tom-tom and a snare drum and I was gooning around on the stage. Peter Green and Danny Kirwan were playing as well. That was one of the crazed nights there. *****************************************
20 years later, he would've fit right in to the new wave scene with that style. He could've tried out for The Attractions, Oingo Boingo, or The Talking Heads!
I don't recall seeing that gate before. The owners must have gotten tired of people posing on the stairway. Kinda sad to see that gate, a counterpoint to the all-are-welcome vibe that existed there for many years. You look like a Southern California Deadhead circa 1978.
Friends, what we have here is a Swedish Hippie on the hoof! Good to "see" you enjoying the Promised Land.
Another compilation from Rhino with a Summer of Love 'theme'. FWIW The Grateful Dead were at the cultural epicenter of the scene at Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love. This is a new compilation on 1 LP and 1 CD of core Grateful Dead tracks from this period.
Bull Moose listing says 7/11/2017 release date: Grateful Dead - Smiling On A Cloudy Day 1 The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) [Remastered] 2 Cream Puff War (Remastered) 3 Morning Dew (Remastered) 4 That’s It For The Other One (Cryptical Envelopment I)(The Other One)(Cryptical Envelopment II [Remastered] 5 Born Cross-Eyed (Remastered) 6 Dark Star (Single Version) [Remastered] 7 St. Stephen (Remastered) 8 China Cat Sunflower (Remastered) 9 Doin’ That Rag (Remastered) 10 Cosmic Charlie (Remastered)
Only 60 odd new pages in my absence? What's wrong with you guys? Why are ya not fighting about mastering issues and brickwalling which seems to be the focus of every other thread here these days? Had a lay-off from both the Dead and forums/interwebs in general due to some 'personal' problems. The Get Shown the Light box have been something of a lifesaver lately, I must say. I'm sure some of you absolutely hate it.
I love it as do most of us Glad you are back. I've had my share of issues over the years but I'm as 'chill' as ever these days!!!
Thanks, man. Nice to see ya, as well. And life goes on, to quote my favorite Kinks song. Yeah, I think it is very nice, very mellow and just what the doctor ordered. Not the best I've heard from the Dead by a long shot, but still awesome. I actually the the hallowed Cornell gig is the 'weakest' link in that particular chain. Weak being a very relative term of course.
That looks pretty cool, I could have made a mixtape like that at age 14. It looks like all studio versions? Glad you're back. Stay away from those metal threads. I'm sure it would have been more pages, but the Cornell box and Dave's Picks each have their own threads that absorb some of the topics.
