2019 Grateful Dead Tournament - Best Meltdown Ever!

Jack and Jill are giddy! How is it we have another set of finalists from 1974!!! Because 1974 might be the finest year ever? I was born that year. Well...these 1974 finalists in very close matchups beat the combo from December 1973. 12/8/73 and 12/18/73 couldn't pull through. This is big time. The longest ever song on record (PITB, 5/21/74) up again a drug infested blaze of glory from Europe 74.

JJ-7
5/21/74 - PITB (13:10 - 14:55, 1m 45sec)
archive.org/details/gd74-05-21.sbd.belkin.2597.sbefail.shnf/gd74_05_21d2t05.shn?start=790
VS
9/10/74 - DS Jam (26:00 - 28:30, 2m 30sec)
archive.org/details/gd1974-09-10.135699.sbd.new.patched.miller.flac16/18-DarkStar.flac?start=1560

 

Truckin' along with Sweet Jane, the sticky icky has pronounced a final match between a monster TOO from 6/18/74 and a devilishly creepy melt from Europe 72. Really depends on what kind of herb you fire up here. Both of these winners easily won their prior matchups.

Out of the final 8 slots, 1974 has 6! What a year.

SJ-7
6/18/74 - TOO (8:00 - 11:30, 3m 30sec)
archive.org/details/gd1974-06-18.sbd.miller.89690.sbeok.flac16/gd74-06-18d2t05.flac?start=480
VS
5/11/72 - DS (6:20 - 10:20, 4min 0sec)
archive.org/details/gd72-05-11.sbd.ashley-bertha.7364.sbefail.shnf/gd72-05-11newd3t04.shn?start=380

Looking forward to this.

 

The Peggy-O tournament came down to 1978, and the Meltdown tournament comes down to primarily 1974. Why am I not surprised?

 

My round 3 picks:

AW7- 6/8/74 PITB
CN7- 5/14/74 DS
JJ7- 5/21/74 PITB
SJ- 6/18/74 TOO. My fave: pure mystical savage wizardry.

(Listening to 12/28/69 right now. Great show.)

 

Wa

Sweet man! Way to go. You have a final four all from 1974!!

 

Today seems like a good day for a meltdown, or eight.
Only one 1972 segment left, ditto for 1973. 1974 corners the market, guaranteed to win at least two brackets this round. It could win all four. Time will tell.
We are getting down to the nitty gritty now, big boy melts to the end!
Thanks again for compiling the latest round - away we go. Hold on tight.

 

You know what? I was so focused on listening to the melts I didn’t even realize they were all from the same year until you mentioned it. ‘74 is amazing though!

Wish I was lucky enough to have seen it in the flesh.

 

AW-7 - 06/08/74 Playing In The Band - (a plethora of melting)

CN-7 - 05/14/74 Dark Star - (in less than half the time this one melts harder)

I need some more time/a few more listens for the other two brackets, they are going to be more difficult to pick a winner.

 

J&J-7 - 09/10/74

SJ-7 - 05/11/72 ( This one could have gone either way. 06/18 had the goods the last 1:30 of the segment, but the last 2:00 of the 05/11 show was just a little bit better.

 

AW-7
6/8/74 - PITB

CN-7
5/14/74 - DS

JJ-7
9/10/74 - DS Jam

SJ-7
6/18/74 - TOO

 

Good times let's keep them coming!

 

no DS 12-5-71-eee, no playee

 

Back on the Bus.

Sweet Jane: 18 June 1974. My notes say: Phil!

Jack & Jill: 10 September 1974: Great contribution from Keith.

August West: 8 June 1974: Mesmerizing and terrifying.

Cowboy Neal: 26 June 1973: Snuck up on me! The Archive source for this show is atrocious. I do have a fun note regarding 14 May 1974- "Strange enough to get the cowboys to throw beer bottles at Weir!"

 

This round is only 4 matchups, shouldn't take long. How much time do we need?

 

I totally dropped the ball on round 3, but can probably complete it today.

 

Wow; this band was certifiably insane. I love it. I know that I've listened to all of these at least twice, if not many more times (having voted in the first two rounds and owning most of these releases), but given the lack of tonal center, tempo and melody, it's difficult to recall previous perceptions of this stuff.

AW-7: Winner is 7/21/74; a complete toss-up but both are completely synapse-frying. I had to choose.
CN-7: Winner is 6/26/73; 5/14/74 starts as a meandering into aural abstractness and eventually really gets there, but again, I had to choose.
JJ-7: Winner is 5/21/74; there's a bit too much structure to the 9/10/74 melt for my personal taste. Not in the bigger picture, but for the purposes of this effort.
SJ-7: Winner is 6/18/74; despite my adoration for all things 1972 and Phil being a demon on both of these, I have to give the nod to the more melty effort from '74.

 

Tough choice, some recent discoveries for me, but also some sentimental favorites in the running.

AW7 - 7-21-74

CN7 - 5/14/74

JJ7 9/10/74

SJ7 5/11/72

 

My winners for this round:

AW-7: 6/8/74 PITB - scarier!
CN-7: 5/14/74 DS - tough call (and 6/26/73 had a strong ending) but I like this one more
JJ-7: 9/10/74 DS - better all-rounder
SJ-7: 5/11/72 DS - man, I’d like them both to advance

 

Any more? I'm going to vote soon and want to end this round.

I think the tourney is losing some steam, which is my fault. I think we need a few more peeps to vote!!!

 

I was out of town so couldn't get to this round. I will try to meet whatever deadline there is but will certainly be back for the next one if everyone is ready to move on now.

 

Hi! Very enjoyable - my wife and I ran thru the final 8 last weekend, and had a great time - our vote is as below:

AW7 = 6.8.74
CN7 = 6.26.73
J&J = 5.21.74
SJ = 5.11.72, this was the toughest choice for us.

 

AW-7 Winner 7/21/74 - both are pretty ferocious cacophonous eruptions, and 7/21 is more varied. But you can't go wrong with either one. 6/8/74 is more sustained and intense. but the winner is 7/21.

 

Fire it up Bmoregnr. If you can do it over the next few days perfect. I'm doing it right now. I'm going to wrap it up very soon though.

 

CN-7 Winner 6/26/73. I think 5/14/74 is going to go down as the classic melt. It may not be the best melt, but it's classic. It's short and sweet and gets RIGHT to the ****ing point. It doesn't give you permission, or directions on how to take you there. No way. BAM!! right up the middle, kind of like the Nolan Ryan fastball on June 13th, 1982 against the San Diego Padres in the 2nd inning. Remember that pitch? However the winner goes to Seattle. This really is the prelude to the great Melts from 12/1973 that somehow all got decimated in this tournament. It's like a melt that doesn't change shape or liquify. Imaging if you melt ice into a liquid, but you don't see it liquify and stays in some gooey quasi-quantum level state only while you're looking at it, and then when you turn away it melts into water. The special moment comes at 5:30. Bob and Phil string together different consistencies of the same tonal experience to put some sort of wrapping on this. I mean...in short it's just good. Did I mention that it just goes on and on? How long can jerry hold that note? and Phil? Maybe they were mesmerizing themselves inadvertently and extended this meltdown by another 2 minutes?

 

JJ-7 Winner is 5/21/74. If 5/19/74 is your classic melt, then 5/21/74 born just a mere 2 days later will always be remembered as your second lover. Not as memorable as the first are you're getting a little better with practice. I've never had a big fondness of 9/10, to me it reminds me of something akin to blood sausage. Something that probably isn't as tasty as you think despite your low threshold for thinking anything named blood sausage tastes good.