15 April 1978- The College of William & Mary. Playing In The Band goes there, so I am listening to it again.
Continuing on with starter kit "Dark Star" on 10/20/68. Also snorting some major nose candy--saline solution and generic Flonase. I took the CA bar exam at the Cow Palace, in a side room off from the main hall. During a break I walked into the floor area of the main hall and thought, "Wow, this was a good place to the Dead" based on size. I have no idea what the sound was like. I'm sure they had the acoustics figured out. The Wall of Sound looks like if you had a friend that just couldn't stop buying speakers.
Put on 7/14/76 this afternoon and got completely thrown by the first-set Drums. Thought I'd traveled through time or something.
In one of the books in my recent GD book binge, I seem to remember reading the sound was bad, that's why they only played there twice (the second was New Years Eve 76, and that was because the Greg Kihn Band and Montrose played Winterland that night.)
In The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Kesey and MG and others go to the Beatles at the Cow Palace, and I think they're all dosed, but I think it's mentioned that the sound was horrible. But I didn't know if that was just because of the state of PAs at the time. I mean, it seems every Beatles show in a big hall had crappy sound based on what I've read. This made me go to Dead.net and look for a new box. Wishful thinking. Now on 2/22/69, 30 Trips.
See, the Garcia model is what the GD should copy - unlimited presses on the archive releases, limited edition fancy vinyl for the collector's market.
How did I reply to a post that came after the reply post I'm quoting? This 'Drums>Space' from 5-4-91 that I'm listening to is messing with my head.
The curved tone arm directed you to a parallel universe. I'm all about straight tone arms with angled cartridges, but that just makes me a snob.
I don't have a record player listed in my profile, so I believe forum rules prohibit me from entering this discussion. Or something. Anyway, Standing on the Moon is another late period song that delivers, IMO. My high school self is rolling his eyes at me right now. I'm trying to decide if I should start up the Closing of Winterland movie. I might not get to it for a couple of days otherwise, but it's also getting late. 3-26-73 in Baltimore is my other option.
Watching Closing of Winterland is a whisper I keep hearing in my ear. I just ordered the 5 disc soundtrack a few days ago. I remember I was turned off by it when it first came out because of the reverb on the sound. 5 disc of multitrack Grateful Dead for 20 bucks is impossible to pass up though.
Best bang for the buck on your local auction site. Cow Palace NYE 76 is cheap as well. Nice artwork too.
I'm guessing you are talking about the 1974 movie soundtrack (getting 5 discs for $20), but since you started by discussing "Closing..." I thought you were talking about a 5-disc Closing of Winterland release, which had me double-checking that there was no such thing. Well, dammit, there is, the 4-disc concert with a 5th bonus disc! I know a lot of folks complain about the limited-release model of releases, and I see both sides of that argument, but what has driven me absolutely nuts are all the bonus discs from these past releases. I view the Dave's bonus discs as separate, that's been a standard as part of the subscription, but I swear every day I find out about another bonus disc. Cow Palace 1976? Bonus disc. Egypt? Bonus disc. Rockin' the Rhein? Bonus disc. Argh! I know, I know, to the Archive I go, but GoGD fanatics NEED everything, dontcha know?
Watched Truckin Up To Buffalo last night. Typically solid '89 Dead. I wasn't giving it my full attention (kids) until the middle of set 2. I was surprised to hear the quick Playing reprise which got a little interesting before dropping into the chorus. Post-drums was scorching hot after I Will Take You Home. Watchtower has Garcia shredding through the solos. Morning Dew is outstanding, with very powerful full band dynamics. The highlight is probably Not Fade Away with Jerry and Brent trading bars for a long time. It was great to see Jerry so animated and just having fun on stage. I remember reading that he usually didn't like when others repeating his lines, but Brent is doing that with embellishments and they both looked energized by the other one.
I didn't even know Greg Kihn Band was around yet in 76...that was well before "ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah."