You asked for good pics, but it reminded of this video of what is supposedly his last interview in ‘95. He was looking a bit worse for wear that day and seemed a bit out of it at times.
That's pretty much what I caught as well - last two nights of Landover and then all of Albany and Nassau.
Ive seen that around but never watched it til now. That had me laughing and smiling straight off the bat. Cool too when he mentions the 78 show from the box set.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=sN4E5GQIZao Cool uncut MTV interview from 83 of all years. Really cool to hear Jerry talk about switching from acoustic to electric and pedal steel etc. Apparently he thought his guitar playing was affected by it. Anyone heard enough 1970 material when he played with NRPS that can comment on if they notice any quality drop?
Thanks, yes, - I read that shortly after it came out in 1995, so I was pretty proud of remembering that (slightly off the mark) detail. IIRC Liddy shows up in the Bear book because as DA he had raided Milbrook before Owsley got there, which started the surveillance that led to Owsley's bust. Yes and Hell no.
Also, serendipity alert - I just listened to 5-15-83 last night, so that interview is exactly in chronological order for me. I get his point about the different instruments requiring different chops, but that doesn't come across in his playing in 1970. He was a perfectionist, remember. It just occurred to me while typing to wonder how much of Weir's 'just exactly perfect' comment was targeted at Garcia.
Damn. 2/14/68 is smoking. I’m only part way through the first set closing Lovelight and I’m dancing in my seat. The set starts off with Morning Dew and Schoolgirl, and while both are fine, they’re nothing special. But from the moment the band drops in to Dark Star they are a band possessed.
“We opened the Carousel on St. Valentine’s Day 1968, an event that was clouded for us by the loss, ten days earlier, of Neal Cassady... I truly believe we were channeling Neal that night. The music was such a living thing: growing and changing from bar to bar, with his turn-on-a-dime responsiveness to context and novelty. More than once I thought I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a nine-pound sledgehammer describing a graceful arc through my field of vision. When we listened back to the show, it was spectacular—vivid, protean, and relentless.” - Phil
I was very impressed with Phil's book. It'd be impressive enough just that he wrote it alone without a ghost writer, but he's also quite the wordsmith.
For those with Dicks Picks 25, do you prefer the recording by Bear on 5-10, or Betty's 5-11? I'm leaning towards Bear's recording. 5-11 has the better Peggy-O, but so far I think 5-10 also wins set 1 in terms of performance.
I started the 5/10 show today. I much prefer this show to the 5/11 show. First set is better and the second set is FAR better than the kooky nutty 5/11 show. Not that I don’t like the 5/11 show but second set from 5/10 is stunning. Great Estimated>Eyes and one of best TOO spacey intros I’ve ever heard. The drums are both good but too long.
Yes, and I haven't found drums are too long much in 78 yet, though they are long, but the last couple have been dragging out a bit. That 5-10 Other One is indeed worth a mention, that was unorthodox and very cool. This 'Supplication' jam from 5-11 is also kind of a vintage 78 moment, though not as unique. But I also meant soundwise, I feel like Bear's was 'clearer,' wondering what others thought of that too.
Both are early remasters so the Betty recorded 5/11 show doesn’t compare well sound wise to 4/22/78 (Dave’s 15), 1/22/78 (Dave’s 23) or the 5/14/78 show from the 30 Trips box - let alone the amazing sounding July 78 box which sounds holographic. The biggest improvement is the sound of the drums on the more recent issues.
I should check this out immediately. My “Must Check Out” List is getting longer and longer by the day. Thanks all.
All I can say is that primal Dead (primarily from '66-'69) can be on my play list, but it's lacking in improvisational elements (especially in '69) that are quite present in the '71-'75 period. It sounds very improvised, and certainly there are improvisational elements, but pre-'70 Dead is very much hit or miss for me. It's more written than it sounds in many cases.
And as someone who gets a more visceral pleasure out of the music the power of their playing is the draw of the primal years, especially when Jerry was playing the SG. Phil was such a force and Bob's playing was strong and inventive. I'm one song away from the 29 minute Dark Star on Dick's Picks 4 (2/13/70). I will see how much improvisation is going on there. I do agree that certainly in 1968 they were mostly staying on script, so that isn't something I reach for that often either. But an occasional interjection of that crazed energy is to be embraced. It was a hell of a script. I'll have to dip into 2/14/68 a little tonight.
I simply prefer the balls-out improv of '72-'74 as opposed to the visceral '67-'71. It really is that simple for me.
Whoa! Your copy of 3/2/69 is out of order and missing some stuff. "Doin' That Rag" actually opens the second set. The entirety of the first set is the Dark Star>Stephen>Eleven>Lovelight sequence. There is a hard stop after "Death Don't Have No Mercy" which is followed by "Morning Dew" (missing from your copy?). The final jam sequence begins with "Alligator>drums>jam>" before they get to the ">Caution>Feedback>Bid Ya G'nite". Just to let ya know...
2/14/68 is far more psychedelic than ‘72-‘74, which is a large part of its appeal. Less improvised and more rehearsed, really a different band in many respects. But that show is really something!
It bothers me intensely that the switch to an inferior tape source during Alligator> Caution also results in the music being at a different pitch. I can understand entire releases being off-speed (well, I sort of understand it even if it’s not good enough) but I cannot understand them not noticing the music suddenly being at a different pitch (and, of course, the band is playing at a different tempo). It baffles me they they didn’t correct this. Perhaps one could call much primal Dead more “signposted” than the music that followed in subsequent years? That doesn’t include the terrorising feedback that commences the recording from the Fillmore East on 14 (I think it is) June ‘68. That is out there.
Same problem throughout the Live Dead box set. The multi-track reels gradually change speed/pitch during each 30 minute reel segment; the change to and from the more stable 2 track patch source can be jarring. Applying the Plangent Process to the original multi-tracks could fix that, at considerable expense