Yeah, the 5/23/72 DS is pretty greasy in the middle there. But with about a minute and a half left, they slip into this really loose but somehow structured jam that wraps everything up quite nicely, suggesting a Wharf Rat that gets vetoed by Jerry in a rather haphazard entry into Morning Dew. This segment is always great (and Bobby McGee is a cowboy tune where the horse is a truck). Perhaps no more so than on 9/28/72 wherein Bobby McGee emerges from a steaming cauldron of emulsified protoplasm.
Now it's "Eyes of the World" time and that disco hi-hat beat has returned. The tempo is super speedy. DISCO EYES!!
I remember it well. My point, my dear fellow, was that since you're now so inconstant with the avatars, perhaps you need a little nudge because it seems like Mac is settling in....
Back to Providence '78 (5/14/78). After the hot "Disco Eyes", "Rhythm Devils" is quite uneventful - which is too bad because I like a lot of the '78 Drums that I've heard. NFA starts off really slow and kind of continues in that vein. In fact, it's sort of a "slow burn" rendition. I dig it. It put me in a nice, relaxed headspace. Phil plays really well throughout. The GDTRFB that follows is also chilled out for the first four minutes until that loud, obnoxious '78 sound comes back when they solo around 4:30. The energy is back! Fun stuff. Update: Jerry plays a killer solo at 2:30 on Around & Around.
I'm starting to come around to this Spring '78 > Spring '77 opinion that is frequently promoted around here. It's nice to live in a world where we can enjoy both, of course.
5/14/78 Bob's slide guitar-work on NFA gets a 7.2/10. Very tasteful. On US Blues though it rates a 3.6/10. Not so tasteful.
I still prefer '77, but '78 has gone up a lot in my estimation. It's amazing how much a difference 1 year made, even 12-13 years in.
Spring '77 is not as adventurous, loose, wild or crazy, but there is a crystalline beauty to it that is undeniable. The playing is tight and yet could still build into fantastic crescendos of improvisational brilliance.
Message received loud and clear. Everyone else: Sorry about the avatar confusion. I know you all thought that we had gotten past that.
I’m not a proponent of changing avatars as I figured out ONCE how to do it on the couple/three discussion boards I’m on - PLUS I stick with my Maneri based theme forever. As much as I love a whole bunch of music, what the great late Round Man represented and represents might be the core of all of it for me. I’ll never forget the first time I met him and heard him about 20 years ago when he said to me “this music (meaning his music) is gonna be huge”. Nothing like a 70+ year old mad scientist visionary with a dream. Not sure how he meant that but he was correct
Speaking of avatars, I've changed mine in honor of Miss Littlejeans, whose 17.5 happy and adventurous years came to an end on Thursday. It was unplanned but also unsurprising. Let's just say I appreciate Box of Rain and all those Wake of the Flood songs being so prominent in the PNW box, because I need them right now. Fall is my favorite season, and after it was in the mid-90s earlier this week it felt great to leave the windows open overnight and actually have to close them this morning because it's so chilly. I think my early autumnal listening is taking shape as follows: Dave's 9, the '74 shows in the PNW box, the next couple E72 shows (5/3 and 5/4), the five October '74 Winterland shows, 5/7/72, and the early November '77 official releases.
Listening to disc 2 of the Grateful Dead Movie soundtrack. One of my favorite Dead releases. Jeffrey Norman did a marvelous job.
I take comfort in the fact that at least one of us suffers from avatar madness at any given time. Speaking of madness, I was, um, challenged by some of Vince's stylings on the '90 30 Trips show. Thank God for Bruce.
Aarhus, Denmark, 4/16/72. 1 Truckin' 11:37 2 Jam 16:32 3 The Other One 3:32 4 Me And My Uncle 3:01 5 The Other One 2:38 6 Not Fade Away 5:56 7 Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad 6:32 8 Not Fade Away 3:06 One of the best segments of the best tour. Enough said.
As I just posted in the 73-73 thread (oops), 5/23/72 has a lot going for it. Dark Star Morning Dew He's Gone Sugar Magnolia Comes A Time Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad Not Fade Away Hey Bo Diddley Not Fade Away As I was listening to this last night, there is a segment labeled on Dead.net as Drums in the middle of Dark Star (cds are not tracked that way). This was much more of a Phil/Billy duet, not sure there was much drum solo at all. This is the perfect example of the Dark Star Corollary. The bass/drum section is Dark Star. If Phil had stopped playing, would it deserve its own track listing as "drums"? Clearly not. For those who may have missed it, Dark Star -> Drums -> Dark Star shall be considered as one single track of Dark Star. Hence, 5/11/72 Dark Star is the longest single song they ever played at 48:08 (despite the PNW label suggesting that Playing In The Band 5/21/74 is the longest at 46:59).
It's actually a bit longer than that, because set 2 of 5/11/72 is one of the handful of places in the E72 box that runs fast
Absolutely correct, the drum break is part of "Dark Star". Incidentally, I can't remember the show or the track now, but there's a short drum break that's not indexed somewhere in the PNW box. Goes to show Dave L hasn't got a solid criteria when cataloguing drum solos.
