2019 Grateful Dead Tournament - Best Meltdown Ever!

It's a great feeling. Top of the world stuff!
Thanks for the links for round two. Hopefully tomorrow night I can get some listening in. I'm going to leave my notes alone from round one and start fresh. That way, once the tournament is over
I can go back and see how what consistency, if any, there was.

 

First - Doc, you're SHF's Martha Stewart of creative contest presentation, the Dick Vitale of forum bracketology....aaaand, that didn't take long to get stupid. Anyway, nice flourish w/ the links. That said...

Being easily influenced by flowery scatological metaphors, I was beginning to doubt the tenability of my AW-5 choice until @birdstrike looked into the porcelain Thunderdome and similarly assessed 8/6's triumphant merits on the Couric Scale. All hail Master Blaster. (Context: At this moment I'm thinking about @samurai's response in the senior citizen listening thread, which was "The More Fiber Band" (I actually looked it up; sadly, it's not a thing.))


Having said half as much as I'd like and twice as much as I should, here's the balance of my selections:

AW-6: 06/08

CN-5: 06/26
CN-6: 12/19

JJ-5: 12/18
JJ-6: 09/10

SJ-5: 06/18
SJ-6: 11/23

 

Sorry!

 

I am curious as to what the generally accepted first meltdown was...

 

I bet there was a feedback segment from the 60s...unfortunately I don’t know that time period all that well.

 

On disk 2 of 11/10/67, there are a few lead-ins that sound like something is brewing, but only to return.

 

Wild guess: 11/8/69 Dark Star?

 

It's gotta be well before 69

 

August West

AW-5 7/21/74 PITB - I like them both but this felt more intense and freaky
AW-6 6/8/74 PITB - downright scary

 

Cowboy Neil

CN-5 11/13/72 DS - these two are so different and both good in their own way but I give the edge to the ‘72. Fierce.
CN-6 5/14/74 DS - another tough one; going with the ‘74 for its peak (plus the build up is nice - bouncy?)

 

I think a true meltdown didn't happen until late '71 or early '72. Of course, this is subjective, but things like Feedback aren't true melts. And the spacious meanderings after the verse in Dark Star are just that; not melts. Melts are true free-form spasmodic, instrumental blatherings that destroy inner ear stability, cause beta-endorphins to scuttle their crafts and make dogs cock their heads in earnest to ask "What's wrong with Daddy?"

Will do some research and report back. Not that I'm the authoritative source, but I enjoy doing this sort of thing.

Edit: The earliest example I can find in a brief search of officially-released material is The Other One on 11/14/71 (bonus disc for Road Trips Vol. 3, No 2). The second part, after Me and My Uncle. Melt starts at 6:15 (again, very subjective). This makes me think that there are earlier examples wiff Keef. Perhaps the 7/31/71 Yale Bowl Dark Star or 8/23/71 Auditorium Theatre The Other One has one. I deleted that release from my computer because the sound makes me feel as if I'm chewing on aluminum foil.

 

It's weird listening to their music now after playing in this thread.

I am listing to a relatively short show tonight, 10/20/68 from 30t, and I feel like they could have, but did not, in a couple places in this first two songs. lol, now I am at least mindfully listening for their approach.

 

So yes; there's a proto-melt from 10/22/71 during That's it for the Other One, starting around 17:45 (DaP 3); it ends at 19:05. This leads me to believe that the melts were largely a Keith-era thing. The filler from 10/21/71 provides ample room for a melt but they don't don't do it in Dark Satr [Edit]: the last few seconds before Sittin' is a mini melt. The slog in Dark Star that might dissolve into a melt becomes a brilliantly exuberant jam starting around 11:25. I mean, I haven't listened to all of the shows of this era, but my limited research pins the start of the melt era at late October-early November 1971. Prove me wrong; I'd be happy to be wrong; just a challenge to y'all.

To me, it's always weird listening to their music. If it isn't, I move to something else.

 

Jack and Jill

JJ-5 12/18/73 DS - I went back and forth on this one but 12/18/73 has a spooky quality that I like
JJ-6 9/10/74 DS - another tough one; 12/8/73 has a nice ethereal quality but the intensity of 9/10/74 won out

 

SJ-5 winner is the 6/18/74 TOO. I wouldn't say that either entry was fantastic, but 6/18/74 was less not fantastic than was 12/2/73.

SJ-6 winner is the 5/11/72 Dark Star by a nose.

 

Love this bit here:

 

Sweet Jane

SJ-5 6/18/74 TOO - I thought I’d pick the ‘73 after describing it as “giant insects devouring the world” in the first round but in this matchup the ‘74 feels fiercer with more going on
SJ-6 5/11/72 DS - they’re both good but this one is more intense overall

 

CN-5 - The Other One 06/26/73 (the 45 seconds or so from the 7:00 minute mark was my justification for the 73 pick.)
CN-6 - The Other One 12/19/73 (05/14/74 has some peak Jerry from 19:50 to about 20:15 but the 1973 segment from 12:00 to 13:30 or so was maybe a little better.)

AW-5 - The Other One 08/06/74 (2:35 to 3:30, Jerry Garcia.)
AW-6 - Playing In The Band 06/08/74 (14:05 to 15:23, Jerry Garcia.)

 

AW-5 7/21/74 - PITB
AW-6 6/8/74 - PITB

CN-5 6/26/73 - TOO
CN-6 5/14/74 - DS

 

good time guys. I just bought a new computer and am setting all this new **** up. I'll vote soon.

 

AW-5 TOO 08/06/74
AW-6 BFA 03/23/75

CN-5 TOO 06/26/73
CN-6 TOO 12/19/73

JJ-5 PITB 05/21/74
JJ-6 TOO 12/08/73

SJ-5 TOO 02/23/74
SJ-6 DS 05/11/72

 

Could take years....

 

JJ-5 5/21/74 - PITB
JJ-6 9/10/74 - DS Jam

SJ-5 6/18/74 - TOO
SJ-6 11/23/73 - TOO

 

No rush man

 

Yes, no rush. I have not had a chance to do round 2, and that won't happen for some days yet.