I suffer from first world problem of too much music. There was a time I had 50 CDs and that's all I needed. Many of us have more than that in DaPs alone.
So, after the distraction and excitement of the Dave's announcement, I returned back to the 10/19/73 (Dick's 19) set... ummm, yeah, great stuff there and I only made it to the end of the first set (not even to Dark Staaarrrrrrrr... yet). Tennessee Jed was great there, I think that's become one of my favorite first set tunes, and the Playin' also was standing out.
A nice accomplishment, although the best show of that Spring 78 tour was held at Huntington Civic Center and not eligible for the tournament.
I'd say LST is fine for a beginner, but it's an overview that's more visual and episodic, so far less in-depth than any book. I read Captain Trips and also Rock Skully's book in high school, and apart from that nothing much in print, except many many interviews available on the internet. Grateful Dead Guide is worth a dozen print books IMO, if not more when you add in the comments and his Grateful Dead Sources page.
4/15/78 from William & Mary College. Fine show, and if I remember it was a semifinalist in the college tournament. And it's in the Vault now. Wouldn't be a surprise to see it in the near future. I, however, do not need any more 78 for a while after this next one. Counting the new one, I already have 14 officially released shows from that year and I'm good right there for a while. The inflexible set lists are a problem.
I'd forgotten how unique the 6/4/77 set is. Estimated>Eyes>Drums>Good Lovin' (brief break) then Terrapin->Playin'>Franklin's(!)->Space(!) - an early one with lots of Phil action ->China Doll->NFA (much faster paced than any of the May versions)->Playin' Reprise. Don't be scared off by the lack of a soundboard (hopefully something that will someday be rectified, but apparently not in the returned storage locker tapes), if you haven't heard this show before, it is worth your time.
I was curious why the site had seemingly been taken down after being online for so many years. So I checked the public WHOIS records for the domain and was able to contact the person who created and administers it. He told me that it's temporarily down because he wasn't able to cover the hosting costs for it at the moment. But he's collecting some funds and is expecting it to be back online in a month or so.
Dennis McNally's "biography" is essential, IMHO, even though it is a bit cleaned up. Captain Trips is a waste of time, and it's hard to separate fact from fiction in Scully's book, although that doesn't detract from its entertainment value.
Yeah, I finally tracked down files of this (I didn't have a way to listen to the CD) and I listened to it last night for the first time in years. One of the greatest shows ever!
I was limited in the mid-90s to whatever my local library carried. Rolling Stone's Signpost to New Space is the best GD book I've personally read, though it's obviously not a career overview. I also had some kind of Grateful Dead calendar book thingy that had some good blurbs in it. With the amount of excellent GD history on the internet these days I haven't felt the need to get into too many of the books, though if I came across one I certainly wouldn't turn up my nose.
Last night, wanted to hear an early Stella Blue & settled on 7/21/72 Seattle. Decent enough, then a wicked PITB starts up - Billy astounding, Donna, uh, very high in the mix. Then a Tennessee Jed that hit me just right groove-wise. Reminded yet again that there's no such thing as just one song before I hit the sack. Had the guys not taken a break, I'd probably have stayed up to the end.
Tennessee Jed has been treating me well today, I listened to two versions already, from Dave's 22 (12/7/71) and Dick's 19 ('73, sorry, forgot the exact date on that one).
I get the impression that the sentiment @rbbert had about reel/recording quality goes a long way in Dave’s mind. I guess on some level I am very glad about that. I also agree with @Crispy Rob that they seem to be falling behind on the video front, what with that great Alpine ’89 in the can on a shelf; and so maybe that 87-92 range, I think it was, would have some more video opportunities than other releases. Finally I was just thinking of and agree with all of your comments, maybe call it the “Cassette Series”, consider hiring Charlie Miller to master those if Jeffrey Norman is too busy; I’d love for Plangent to fix them up if they can do cassettes now but perhaps that does not fit the budget; then put those on download. Someone might say well there is etree etc.; but if you picked great shows, or packaged them like you say a Greek box, a Summer ’85 portion, and it was demonstrated they were better than what is available, I would bet it might do ok as a download series, at least worth a limited test run; that plus I think a lot of people don’t do the etree thing anyway.
Just as an aside, the Huntington Civic Center is (back in '78 as well as today) within walking distance of Marshall University. Not sure if that changes results of the tournament, though
Can I just claim my undying love for the Dead and congratulate Dave on another great Pick without sounding like a suck-up? It is not like I dig all the picks. The last one was underwhelming and I do not care for #6 at all.
My night-night GD last night was the 48 minute Dark Star from Rotterdam. My first listen. Words are inadequate. This show cost me $75 for a sealed copy, and it was worth it. Now I have to relisten to 4/8/72, which many say was the best DS from the tour. After last evening I wonder how anything could be better than 5/11.
Now I just have to figure out how to watch it. I'm not a Prime member, it's not on iTunes. I was looking only briefly last night so I may need to explore a little more but I didn't notice away to rent or purchase it from Amazon.
Huh, I always thought Rotterdam could be 15 minutes shorter. Not that a 45-minute Dark Star isn't perfect on paper, but that one seems to meander a little. I really have to revisit that, it's been about 7 years since I've heard it. I do like 4/8 about the best, although some people prefer 4/24 and it's really almost a tie for me between those two.
A good rule of thumb ( for me, anyway) is a Pick (or any show or box) is underwhelming until it isn't. I've written off a fair number of shows and then, a while later, listening again....
I'd go as far as to say that the 4/8/72 Dark Star is considerably better than the 5/11/72 version. Of course, all this stuff is completely subjective. But the 4/8 Star isn't just all about the exquisite jam out of the meltdown (many call this Mind Left Body, but I'm not convinced, although it could be an embryonic version). There are lengthy sections of top-shelf, highly original improv scattered throughout. In case you feel like playing along at home, here are my Media Player notes on the 4/8/72 Star: 6:03-10:30; 18:10-22:25; 25:00 melt; 28:09 release - 1,000,000*. Oddly enough, some of the most inspired moments are sections where Jerry plays a single, repeated note in various rhythmic patterns and uses this to build tension for his eventual breaking of the tension with a melodic flurry.
You can sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime, just make sure to cancel when you're done watching.
In some ways the 5/11 DS is beyond 4/8 because PIGPEN starts playing on it. Shows that it went from way-out to listenable to PIGPEN and therefore playable by Ron McKernan.
