Speaking of Friend of the Devil, this Garcia & Grisman performance on Letterman in ‘93 was in my YouTube recommendations yesterday. ‘93 was kind of a rebound year and it felt good to a see a late era, healthy-ish and smiling Jerry seemingly having a good time.
Listened to 10/10/82 (Frost Amphitheatre). Oh man, Bob Weir was certainly a talented young man (and he still is, though he’s no longer young). He completely dominates this show, and he pretty much takes on the role of the frontman wholeheartedly. At times it's as if the rest of the band are merely backing him up similarly to how the band often served as a backing band to Pigpen back in the very early days. Jerry’s good on his songs as well but it is by far a Bobby-centered show. Though it should be noted that Brent does rise up to the challenge of competing with Bobby for the frontman-spot once in a while. Highlights includes a beautiful heart wrenching Looks Like Rain (one of the best versions), a fantastic Sugaree, a very enjoyable Little Red Rooster and a top-shelf China > Rider. The band sounds very good and the quality of this matrix is stellar.
It was also in mine! I was going to say, I forgot about that rare intersection of the GD and Funkadelic (Bernie Worrell was in Letterman's band.)
Favorite part of that video was their version of As Tears Go By - never heard that version, before. Thx.
Re: the slow "Friend of the Devil". This is one of those songs that was never one of my favorites. I often sighed a little bit when it came up in concert since there were a lot of other first-set ballads I would have rather heard (e.g. "Candyman" or "Loser"). That said, by the end of the performance, I was usually loving it. It was often the setting for some great soloing by Mr. G. And no, it's not garbage in either arrangement. Don't be silly.
So it turns out I have some roadmaps sitting in my listening pile and so I'm currently listening to... History of The Grateful Dead, vol. 1 (Bear's Choice) (Joe Gaswirt CD)
Bob Weir & RatDog (2005) Setlists 5/3/2005 Regatta Bar, Cambridge, MA * Blackbird@3 > Deep Elem Blues@ > Victim or the Crime@ > Jam, Bird Song > Jack Straw, Little Red Rooster, Row Jimmy > Eyes of the World > Bird Song Jam > She Says > Throwing Stones E: Ripple "Truckin" tease before "Jack Straw" (Benefit for The Farm School)
Yeah same with me, I usually thought I didn't want it until I heard it. I think the slow version is actually probably better right now at this moment as it's more expressive, allows a great Garcia solo whereas the fast version rarely had a very memorable one, it just kind of zipped by
Thanks for sharing this. I just listened to the jams into and out of Drums/Space that you highlighted; that was indeed cool. EDIT: Another thing that you pointed out, Jerry coming out of Truckin’ into Black Peter but then shifting to Wharf Rat in a not particularly seamless way is also interesting to listen to even though it’s a gaffe.
27 March 1972- Academy of Music, NYC No big jam in this show, just a lot of very nicely played songs. In a casual listening setting this morning the tunes are basically indistinguishable from E72 versions.
It's the little things that made this band so special. I mean, it's easy to say "Go listen to 11-11-73" or "Go listen to 5-9-77" because those shows are smoking from front to back. But it's the little unexpected treats in otherwise unremarkable shows that are the icing on the cake. Check out the "China>Rider", too, to see if it's as hot as I remember.
Slow, loping "Friend" or fast, bluegrass-y "Friend"? May I like both, please? Because I do. That being said, there is such a thing as a too fast, race to finish it, "Eyes."
I'd add the GD Movie Soundtrack and the So Many Roads box for sure, probably the PNW box sampler and Ladies and Gentlemen..., and I'd second the recommendation of Without a Net and would add to that So Glad You Made It -- gotta have some spring 90 in the collection. RT 1.2 (fall 77) and 2.3 (Wall of Sound). Ugh, and the Winterland 73 box!
Count me in as someone who thinks there's good in all of it. Since 2017 I've been listening to entire shows in order from a given year, running several years concurrently. (e.g right now I can choose from 72,77,80,88 and 92.) I like the variety but there are times when I'll latch onto a certain sound and listen to 5-10 shows from a certain year in a week. My favorites so far are 1969-70, 74, 78, 83, and 91. I've definitely gone back to revisit moments or shows from those periods (e. g. I've put on that Playin in the Band from 5-21-74 at least half a dozen times in the last year, ditto Dark Star>Morning Dew from 9-10-74, or the Big Rock Pow Wow from 5-24-69 etc.) My work situation has been such that I've had tons of time to listen to music, variously spending hours a day in my car or in front of my computer at home, and it's been about 90% GD over that span (and another 5-8% solo Garcia...) There have been a couple of periods where I backed off it a bit, like a month or two, but I feel like I wouldn't have much of a problem listening to hours of GD a day for the next 4 years. There's that much out there and enough good to be found in any given performance to keep me coming back.
I was actually listening to this in the car this morning en route to and from the grocery store. I'm no longer sure this isn't my favorite GD studio album. It's an awfully strong batch of songs, if nothing else.
Oh sure, use the internet and not a DeadBase book. You young 'heads kill me. Dave's 30, "In the Midnight Hour" at 9AM PST. Mr. davemar77, did you attend 3/24/90 Albany? Any thoughts?
Most of the time I think that if I had to pick just one song that was emblematic of the GD it would be Mississippi Half Step. Meantime I'm playing 10-9-77 from McNichols Arena. I started this last night, it's a solid first set. I get annoyed at some of the tempos on the first set tunes from the late 70s, maybe from hearing too many jacked-up 80s renditions. But Lazy Lightning>Supplication was burning up, and this Sugaree should be in the conversation of best ever. Garcia's Wolf 2 tone is smoking, especially here and again on Estimated Prophet and He's Gone. I thought this show was a Dave's Pick, but it doesn't say so on the archive notes. It probably will be if the tape exists, Dave has to give the punters what they want I suppose. It wouldn't be a bad choice.
I did not attend that. I live in the area now but I wasn't here in 1990. i'm pretty sure fellow member bill cormier was there. You young 'heads kill me young, me?
Eyes of the World is one of my absolute favorites. While I really like the early, primal Dead, I'm finding myself leaning towards the jazzier side of the band.
"Wave that flag, wave it wide and high. Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my." From the Mars Hotel (Joe Gaswirt CD)