I got timed out... the 30 min edit window fly by fast. Speaking of bass and Phil in the mix... I had a rant going on about the Texas 18th November 1972 show... My short rant was going strong until I actually pushed play on the remote. Then I remember how good the music was. Yes, Phil is to loud in the mix. I think we can agree on that. But, the recording is great and very dynamic. Meaning= Phil is loud when he's playing agressive/loud. He is not that loud all the time, and that's what great. You can really hear the range of the bass notes in his playing. I have two 10" subwoofers and after my last(self made) calibration I think I really dialed it in. I'm far from an expert and I'm not an audiophile but this is the best my big rig have ever sounded. I can play my favorite Grateful Dead recordings and it sounds better than ever, more natural, great bass response an overall clarity and detail. The Montana '74 Dave's Pick's is a monster for example. But be carefull, the dynamic range can wreak havoc on your neighbours. Thankfully, I'm living in a cottage on the farm, 20 meters from the main house. I can play pretty loud. My landlord has not complained so far...
July 1976 The tour is getting better, the last ten days of June feature some really inspired playing and song choices. Then came the six show at the Orpheum theatre in San Francisco. The only shows that months. A bit strange 40 years after, they clearly hit a stride in late June, followed by a two week break, came back playing six pretty rad shows, then another two week break.... ...for just two (big) shows shows early in August, which was really good! One of them is on yootobe, proshot black&white. Then another (bigger) break, this time until late September. But then they played 12 shows (almost everyy night) ending in mid October. I don't think I've heard more than six or seven, but those I know are pretty great. Especially the legendary two nighter i Oakland at Day on the Green. And the last one, the 15th is a really good one! Weird tour. Some excellent playing that was more in the vein of '74 than the so called proffesional tour of May '77. More space in '76 but... also, slow. Not every night qnd the tempo picked up as the summer moved along. 1976 had some wild and crazy song choices/segues, some never before heard. Crazy Fingers was amazing. To bad that they gave it up (at least I got to hear it at my one and onlyDead&co show).
New Years Eve 1976 Cow Palace, Daly City, CA One of my favorite end of the years gigs. Two and half month since the last show, no warm up dates as far as know. Jerry played all the time with the Garcia Band so at least half the band had not began to rust. But never mind that, this is a special NYE show, very well rehearsed I take it, and it also has many amazing jams and song selections. Maybe because of the rehearsals .. I think this is the bands last "professional" show of the classic line up. Is that fair to say? The other shows from 77/78 that was mulitracked is not that well played in that regard. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are bad, far from it. But it's another vibe, more loser. More free, also more drink and other mind altering substances... Fast forward one circle around the sun: NYE 1977 was not multitracked as far as know. The band(it's like another band yeah.. ) is sloppy and having fun, probably a big reason because they are not "recorded" for the record company?? Certainly not my favorite show of that run. Scarlet>Fire is fun though and on the video(that's out there) you can tell it's a weird night. Just look at Phil, he is in his own space/place . He plays good though, stoned and in another galaxy traveling through space and mind in the infinte expanse of the cosmos. No one ever talks about that night. It's always the 29/30th. But if you're curious about the 12/31 '77, I recommend watching the video instead of listening to the audio versions. Was anyone there? I like to know more about this night. Davmar or your brother? Bertrando?
Listening party for 11/06/76 (from the new box) is up on Dead.net June 1976 15CD Boxed Set Grateful Dead
I bought some new headphones. Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon. I've got about 25 hours listening so far and my ears are enjoying. Last week was 05/03/72. Currently I am finishing up 05/03/72. Next up, maybe 04/07/72. It seems as good a time as any to have another run through the Europe 72 shows. They never disappoint.
All y'all know I love Phil and he's probably my favorite improvisational musician of all time, but I can't for the life of me come up with a full show where he's on fire the whole time. That's not his style. He's someone that really needs to be inspired by what's happening in the moment and when that occurs, he fully invests himself to the point of unsustainability. So he has stretches of absolute brilliance followed by stretches of recovery within a single show. 3/23/75 is a good example. Once STDOMTT/KSM gets going, Phil opens the riff in 6, 8, resets for an 11 or so and finally settles into the proper 7. Not his finest moment, but he eventually brings it. 8/13/75 might be among his finest efforts, but that show is quite rehearsed. So for Phil, I go with moments. The Slipknot! from 2/26/77 is probably the most beast-like performance of his career and the 1/22/78 St. Stephen his most baroque. Versatile guy, brilliant improviser and a rock solid bottom-end when needed, but not a consistently over the top performer within a single show - but who that innovative was? (OK - 'Trane, Dolphy, Mingus...see where this is going?) I'll take the trade-off. Surprise of the day for new members: check out 12/28/91, Peggy-O and Minglewood for Phil really chawin' it (thanks, @Crispy Rob for the Minglewood recommendation).
I suppose that's a healthy way of looking at things. Jerry wasn't on all of the time, no one was. That was not way of the Grateful Dead pre hiatus 1974. What other people call noodeling in the hour long jams of 1972, I see it as the middle of a dirt road that can lead anywhere. But sometimes you are just plodding along like everyone else, until someone in the band catch a lightning of inspiration, and when that happens, that road can take you anywhere on the good old earth, to the ancient pyramids of Egypt or to a Corn field in Iowa(1982), or even to the upper stratosphere, ready to head out for the last frontier in the mighty cosmos. I love when that happens. Not to many other bands does that for me in that way. Probably no other. Right now I'm listening to the end of Englishtown September 3rd 1977. That Not Fade Away makes for a good ride!
And in Summer-Fall '76, apart from a one-week tour of NY/NJ/PA in September, Jerry played JGB shows only around the Bay Area. I guess he was working on The Grateful Dead Movie, or writing and rehearsing for Terrapin Station.
As a non-guitar player, I can't watch more than a few minutes of these. His enthusiasm is genuine and it is excellent to see someone discovering the depth of GD music. I do agree with some of the comments to this video, which is that he hasn't really even scratched the surface of what makes the Dead great. West LA, Cold Rain and Snow and Deal are excellent songs, but he really should go deep. Dark Star, Playing or TOO may be too much to digest, but the Bird Song or China->Rider from Veneta would be very interesting for him to analyze.
Just when you think you know a guy. But really, 4 Aug 1976 is the one show that features Phil as THE predominant voice from front to back. I turned @Archtop onto this show a few years back and even he was impressed. Of course there was an early morning many years ago, settling down from a very exploratory evening, when Phil's bass on The Music Never Stopped from 4 August ate my pre-frontal cortex. I have never been the same, in the best way possible.
I honestly have no memory of that, but I'm not saying you didn't...Listening to Slipknot! now as I'm between periods Broons/Flames in a sick game. [edit]: Yeah, Phil's in charge. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure that out.
I agree with both of these posts completely. Phil is good for a few clams that totally stand out but he more than makes up for it most of the time. I'm almost always a fan of taking risks and making mistakes vs perfectly played safe playing because in the case of the former the highs are much higher than the latter if that makes sense.
Re: Samba in the Rain Why don’t you warm yourself up with a hot Pigpen Hey Jude, a smokin’ I Need a Crapicle, or a groovin’ Money, Money. Good old classics and fan favorites that pleased the crowds and built on their legacy!
Even though this show is in August, it has always felt even ssslllooowerr than any of the June shows. I was never able to listen to it all the way through.
What's tragic is that the GD never heated up an encore of Imagine, which was tailor-made for PigPen's vocal style.
