I like that one. I've listened to about 13/16 of 1985 so far, they had a nice sense of adventure. Find one from 1985 on the archive or that Ronlisten app. LOL coffee indeed. I agree in general about Camus but I tried reading his articles for combat! and that was tough. I tend to read at least 3-4 books at once (I just looked at my records from various libraries, I have more than 25 titles checked out right now, (!) so Combat! may have been the product of diffuse attention.) I did read the First Man, which was an unrevised first chapter to a much longer novel he was working on at the time of his death, without regrets, though it doesn't approach the level of his finished masterpieces. Regarding the GD, I've come fully around to the 'full shows' camp, mainly because they approached the setlist creation with some amount of artistic intent, and as a corollary arrived at the conviction that there's always something of value to be found in any GD show and all of them are worth hearing at least once even if they don't live up to the level of their maximum greatness. Steve Silberman has talked about the GD set being like a mandala. I don't have the frame of reference to evaluate that assertion personally, but I will say if I approach each GD show as a type of commentary on the nature of existence and/or experience I've rarely been disappointed with what unfolds. (That's true of a lot of art, if I think about it.) And while I can certainly say "I think what Phil was up to c.69-74 is a heretofore unheard of level of creation and execution on his instrument and I'm not nearly as into what he played in later years," but I think it's nonsensical to propose they somehow descended into hackery and drug-addled incompetence in the 80s and 90s (not that anyone here has done that specifically, but it does seem to be the overriding narrative.) Shouldn't that be 'throwing stoneses?' That 92 show is coming up soon on my schedule but right now I'm listening to 5-28-77 in Hartford, and will probably stick with 85 for the next few days as I'm near the end of a notebook. I'm looking forward to the Dark Star. When I started out getting really into the GD, Led Zeppelin was my favorite group, and 68-70 was my favorite type of Led Zeppelin, so I was mostly into 66-70 GD also, the blues-rock and heavy riffing stuff with Pigpen. I even liked their 'Hey Jude' (still do...) One of the first GD tapes I got was 12-1-66, which has a great Same Thing, where they give it almost a 'Viola Lee Blues' treatment, and the 12-31-71 performance is also pretty cool. That and Lovelight are IMO the Pigpen tunes where Weir does the best job on the reprises. Good Lovin he kind of made his own, though it's not nearly the same animal after 72.
I wonder how many (if any) people who were collecting Dead music when Jerry was alive feel this way. By the time of the first Vault releases and Dick's Picks, a large part of my music collection (and virtually my entire GD collection) was not officially released, so the idea of having the music on physical product just sort of passed me by (in the sense that it wasn't something I considered desirable or even possible)
I think the answer to your question is an uncertain no, but check these out. These cover some ground: deadlists home page GD Miscellany Meanwhile, I just made a batch of yukon gold garlic mashed 'taters that beats anything anyone's ever made. We left a top round roast in the crock pot overnight and that practically evaporated when we took it out this morning. Dill carrots and almond green beans just for the sake of seeming well-rounded. My good wife made gravy from the drippin's. Gonna have a nice nosh. Cheers.
5-28-77 Hartford. However brief, this might be the 2nd 1977 appearance of something approaching Dark Star, between NFA and Wharf Rat. I've been a vocal detractor of 77, to me it's their most 'commercial' year, (there's only about 45 minutes of 'space,' generously calculated, in the entire first 30 of 60 shows in that year,) and I'm not wild about the overall sound, between Garcia's guitar tone, the disco mannerisms etc. That said, just as @Archtop above, it's growing on me a bit. It seems like they were sticking to the plan early on in the year, and as it progresses, the plan is going by the wayside. I've definitely liked late May better than early May.
Wow; listening now. It is very Dark Star like. I never absorbed this, but it's lovely. Great googly-moogly, I love 1977 Dead. Now off to that nosh.
Keep at it! That Hartford show is probably the highpoint of May for me. It has a lot of competition though... I’m definitely a Spring 77 believer.
I really like the album version of “Hell in a Bucket”, I was a little worried at first with HiaB on the 3/20/92 starting off sounding a little bit like a jumble of circus noise but after that I really settled into the show and it was just what the Dr. ordered. I know I’ve seen this mentioned here before, and I’ve noticed this in the later shows, but this time I got a good laugh out of “Comin’ around, y’all, now”. It even inspired me enough to get off my laurels canyon and pre-order the new box.
Had a 2 hour ride to ATL this afternoon and played selections from 5/11/72 Copenhagen Denmark. Had not listened to this show before. Check out the opening 1 2 combo of PITB and Sugaree. WOW!! Knew this show was going to be hor hot after that. After skipping around a bit, I left myself just enough time for the dark star/drums / dark star portion of the show. Jerry doesn't get to the vocals until about 22 minutes in. This DS has it all. Its epic, melodic, spontaneous, scary and intense. I think I read somewhere that this was the longest star of them all and they needed every minute. If I was taking notes on all the highlights and twists and turns, I could turn it into a thesis I'm sure. Above all it was a fun ride. For those Europe 72 Dark Star scholars, what are some other top shelf versions from the E72 tour? I remember @bzfgt highly recommending one that I did check out but cant remember the date offhand. I may just do a DS marathon on my 5 hour ride home although that may not make for the safest drive!!!
Lol, is there anything on the Real Gone website that is actually available for purchase? I clicked on dozens of items both GD and non GD but related genres and every single thing I clicked said "sold out". I mean, why list them in your store if they are not available? Also, I think they are a little overpriced but that's just me being picky.
Yeah, I get that — I have loads of downloads but I like the physical, collector's aspect of the box sets though.
All of them. Each and every one. Also, 5/11/72 was actually played in Rotterdam, Netherlands, not Copenhagen.
Seems like the most recent Road Trips they’ve released are still available. I’d be surprised if any of the Dick’s were still available as those seemed to be going out of stock the summer before last when I started getting them. I wish they’d find some more copies of Dick’s 28, I think that’s the only one of the few I’m missing that’d I’d really like to have. Even the newly released Airplane Woodstock vinyl is OOS already, glad I pre-ordered it.
Yep! Great, underrated year. The two Alpine shows, and then Iowa City two nights later, which I believe wrapped up that tour, are all excellent. Well worth having!
5/18 is among my favorites and 5/25 is also great. I’m probably in agreement with @bzfgt in liking those earlier April versions. In any event all E72 Dark Stars are mandatory Dead listening. Probably the best group of Dark Stars for any period of the band and they are all within a 50 day period plus we have multi-track recordings of all ten of them
The answer to the question of which E'72 Dark Star should be listened to is a simple yes. Of course, 4/8 and 4/24 stand out for me, and 4/17 has a gorgeous Let it Grow jam that springs forth from the great beyond at 25:18. Those would be my top contenders, along with all of the others. The thing about Dark Star that always slays me is how it captures the sensation of being alone in outer space and yet somehow, being completely comfortable with that.
Thank you! I think it was 4/8 I listened to. Incredible DS for sure!! I listened to that whole show and had forgotten that looks like rain made a couple of appearances that tour w some really nice pedal steel.