6 April 1969- Avalon Ballroom, SF. This show was broadcast on KPFA/KPFB- Berkeley. As such it has been in circulation forever, I had a cassette 40 years ago. It's a long time favorite and one of the first 1969 shows I had on tape "back in the day." Highlights- It's All Over Now, Baby Blue; King Bee; That's It For the Other One > Death Don't Have No Mercy; Viola Lee Blues. During VLB all the power to the stage is cut just as the boys are reaching the crescendo, so they finish the tune a cappella (the vocal mics are still working) and call it a night.
Funny you mentioned The Grateful Dead Movie; I showed it to my brother the Phish phanatic last night.
This morning's listen. "And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole No one could steer me right but mama tried, mama tried Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied That leaves only me to blame 'cause mama tried" S/T ("Skull & Roses", "Skull ****") (original Warners CD mastered by Joe Gaswirt) I haven't decided if I'll buy the new CD but I would get any new vinyl.
They had plenty of film the first night. By night 5 they had to skip filming the first set, and missed a classic China > Rider.
I seem to remember reading they only shot a few songs the first night, fortunately including Playing.
No, the one on the album is from 17 October. The first set of the 20th circulates, and is well worth seeking out. As it should be on a Sunday night in San Francisco- The Grateful Dead! ~ Uncle Bobo, introducing the band on 20 October 1974
It was very weird. I was killing time before picking my wife and kid up from a flight from the promised land.
How Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh’s Alembic ‘Mission Control’ pioneered the concept of the boutique bass | Guitar World In which we find out why the original Alembic bass disappeared from the stage and wandered for 40 years in the Underworld: a roadie spaced it out. There are a lot of shots of the exterior detail- the lamination, carving, abalone inlays, and such- but, strangely, no shots of the electronics. There is some discussion of their functions, although not much detail. As is already well-known, most of the elaboration had to do with providing the bass with quad capability- separate channel settings, filters, and EQ for each of the four strings. But I hadn't realized that the ten ivoroid dots on the body are push-button switches. (Wonder of wonders! Phil finally has a venue where the latent potential of those subtleties could be activated and made audible to a concert crowd - his home room at Terrapin Crossroads.) There's an Etsy business to be built on making guitar straps like the one that Phil got for that bass, incidentally.
Hmm, I'm confused by some of the dates given in that article since there are photos of Phil playing Big Brown in front of the Wall of Sound.
right, and I'm supposing that the little brass compartment by the strap peg is for a 9 volt battery, to supply power to the active electronics. There's a scene in The Movie where Phil opens up the electronics compartment, yes? It's been some years since I last viewed the film in its entirety.
The Wall of Sound was first deployed in late March of 1974, and the article mentions that the Alembic made its first appearance on June 16 1974.
He played both basses in '74, I believe. Big Brown had a similar electronics setup retrofitted. Apparently, the electronics weren't very reliable on the road, so the Alembic spent a good amount of time being repaired. Interestingly, I've spent the last two months or so listening to all of 1974 back-to-back, and I only recall one instance (in a Seastones) where the quad pickup/WoS speaker placement feature is noticeable on the soundboard recording. It's the kind of thing that's great in theory but way too fussy to use much in practice.
I know GD are anything but progrock, but which lp is the nearest to prog. (I recently saw a lp copy of Terrapin Station and I think that's the one to go for.)
