It's not just the country tunes themselves that were hot; many tracks and shows had a very distinct hot, but very GoGD as only they could do it, country vibe. My Media Player notes have several country-related notes from the latter half of '72, including: 9/17/72 Rider: "very country" 9/21/72 Rider: "very hard country" 9/21/72 Dark Star...23:00 "then Mind Left Country of Spain Jam (28:15-) Fanfreakintasticophied hootenany!!! 3/23/72 Dark Star (a companion to the 9/21 version): "Hoedown"
It's not that I dislike 1991. It has a lot of great shows, but based on what I saw, I missed most of them. Spring - Albany (all bad), Nassau (3/27 decent, 3/28 short, 3/29 not memorable), Greensboro (both essential) Summer - only Giants (6/17 great) Fall - all of MSG (some great 9/10, 14, 16.......others good to bad), 1st 3 Boston (some surprises, and 9/22 very good......but the wrong half of Boston) Sure it has great stuff as Shoreline, the 2nd half of Boston, and the Halloween run...........was just more up and down for me. I think Bruce dominates a little too much sometimes as well. I think 1990 is a much better year than 1991.........at least through Madison Square Garden. 1989 is great summer onward, but the best beginning to end 80s year is 1985.
You were at the May '70 WPI show? That's a totally lost show...not even a setlist known. Would love to hear any memories you have of it.
a top 10 Playing In The Band, possibly top 5. A better argument is made for it on the circulating pre-FM source vs. the odd sounding official multitrack.
7/31/71 is the first cd of RT Vol. 1 No 3. - summer '71. Does anyone know if the rest of the show has been released through bonus material?
Sing Me Back Home and Big Boss Man from this show were on the bonus disc that came with pre- and early orders of this Road Trips, but nothing else has been released.
It absolutely smokes, I agree. Probably underrated as far as official releases go, but I tend to be a bigger fan of '71 than most folks in this particular neck of the woods.
Digging the 4/15/78 Dave's on second listen, but do think the mastering is, while not brickwalled, a bit louder than ideal. I'm not familiar with the circulating Betty Boards for this particular show, though. In any event, other than the Brown-Eyed Women drumming weirdness, which didn't bother me as much as some of y'all, but was certainly noticeable, performance-wise it sounds as good the second time as it did the first.
It usually takes my wife a while to realise she's listening to GD. As a matter of fact I'm surprised at how much GD I've been able to play without her complaining. She must have given up hope. It's not that she dislikes it, she just thinks it's for old farts. Which amazes me, since the stuff I'm playing most is from when they were younger than I am now and their audience was too. Secondly she does like Neil Young (though not as much as me) and loves Graham Nash. Which are both from the same era.
I was busy for couple of days but finally managed to finish 2/18 today. While I can now say I slightly prefer 2/18 to 2/19, I totally agree with above said. These are bit raw and unfocused in general, with no epic highlights (except "Beautiful Jam" sequence from 2/18). But far still from bad! So: Port Chester February '71 < spring, summer, or fall of 1971. IMHO of course and based on what I 've heard until now.
This is one of my favorite Grateful Dead releases right here! BURNING HOT! Add bonus disc material from the legendary 8/6 and you have an absolutely must-hear essential Dead release. All in all, this is very rocking and aggressive sounding Dead, which is rather refreshing to my ears when I want to hear something a bit more different. Phil's playing & sound from that 8/23 China>Rider has been permanently embedded in my memory. He is high in the mix and this will rattle your bones. WOW. And this Truckin' whew... Bobby's screams are on point and I'd dare to say almost perfect. I know people love 6/8 transition from TOO>Uncle>TOO, but 8/23 is even better in my book. It's perfect. What a vibe. I could go on and on, but let's save something for the new Grateful Dead Archival Live Releases thread.
Sticking to mainstream large scale releases as usual, I'm giving Saint of Circumstance a spin. If 1991 was hit and miss, this surely was a hit! Loving that Eyes and Walking Blues and that's just the first 2 tracks.
That was about the right way to do it. Now go on and listen to Two From The Vault and Dick's Picks Vol. 4 and Vol. 8. You will be amazed on how good this stuff is. And off you go...
It was a wild and incredible show that ended in apocalyptic feedback. During the show Jerry broke a string and a tech/roadie helped him to replace it while he continued playing. The music was wild and frenzied with incredible jamming. Mickey and Billy were monsters. I had never heard anything like it in a live concert. The audience towards the end was doing circular communal dancing. Those are my memories after all of these years. My mind was blown for life!
My wife loves most Dead except for things like New Potato Caboose, tiger jams and feedback. She is a big listener to the singing portion (and singers in general) and she loves Bobby’s singing on most songs, adores Jerry (not initially but now loves him as much as I do for his singing) - and she also loves Donna, especially on Playing in the Band
May 1970 for me might be the pinnacle - I can only imagine the intensity of those guitars, bass and the 2 drummers with very little keys (Pig wasn’t playing that much during this time). The drummers must have sounded awesome live. How many people at the show? Outdoors or indoors?
Plus I’ve often wondered if there is another Viola Lee or two that was played at one of these unknown or under known Spring 1970 shows.
I slowly converted my wife through casual exposure as on the weekends she’s often across the room doing something else while I’m listening. Post-coma Knockin’ encores first caught her attention (she likes Jerry’s soulful singing) but it was the 5/5/77 Peggy-O from the GSTL box that really hooked her. Her other favorites include Loser, Box Of Rain, Uncle John’s Band, Bird Song and Terrapin Station. Meltdowns and feedback not so much but that’s understandable. She likes late era JGB too. However she usually makes a good-natured crack about the Donna scream in Playing, but I’m giving her time to adapt.
