Grateful Dead album by album thread

We were watching the Closing of Winterland DVD yesterday and my wife commented that Keith not only looked like he wasn't doing anything, but he was barley audible. She remarked that this was in extreme contrast to the Grateful Dead Movie 1974 DVD where Keith is playing some fantastic runs and his sound is bright and full.

Now, I mentioned that perhaps his mic was just a bit low in the mix but wifey said that with all the lengths the Dead go to for great sound she finds that hard to believe.

So, what's the story here?

 

I attended the 85 Meriweather gigs-good sets indeed. The row in front of Phil chanted "Sing Phil Sing" for quite a while. One of the best Scarlet>Fire I ever witnessed.

 

I'll certainly yield to people that might have a lot more authoratative things to say on the topic, but as a general rule Keith was (sadly) so far gone by 1978 that IMO, most of the time he wasn't doing much worth really listening to (if not flat out copying whatever Jerry was playing). Not sure what (if any) role that played in the production of the DVD or CD of the Winterland show, but I wouldn't be surprised if they locked it down somewhere in the mix. Good ears on your wife, though...he was nothing short of brilliant from 72-74 for the most part.

 

I agree! Some of the stuff he plays from 1972 - 74 is indeed brilliant. His work on Winterland '73 is beautiful, as is his playing on the '74 Dead Move material. Heck, I even thought he had a few inspired moments on DP 18 although that was early '78. His work on DP 29 from 1977 is still pretty fantastic as well.

Now that I really think about it, his playing on Bird Song from DP 36 is gorgeous. He just steps right up to that jam like it was planned that way and really adds a whole new dimension of beauty to an already beautiful song. His playing on Steppin' Out is similarly great!

 

Yamantaka – Hart / Wolff / Hennings

Aw, crumb! I missed another Mickey Hart involved album that should have been posted chronologically alongside Dafos, though the subject matter is a bit different. (Something to tidy up when this thread goes into summer re-runs on the SHF cable network. lol )

The subject here is Tibetan Bells, and after perusing youtube entries I’m not sure if this recording is solely bells, or if the Tibetan tuned metal bowls also come into it. In either case, there is a very ‘transportational’ quality in the clarity and particularly the long sustain of the bells which I would presume is the focus of the performance and recording. I don’t know if Hart also played bells or augmented the soundscapes with other percussion. Perhaps Hart and company performed this around the Bay area, too?

The main artists here are actually Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings who traveled to India and Nepal in 1969. They studied with the Kagyu branch of Tibetan Buddhism, and in doing so discovered both the meditative and alleged healing applications of the bells. (As near as I can gather, these are NOT gamelan-type structures.) In their unique position, they became the first Westerners to master, then introduce the music to the West in performance and an album called Tibetan Bells. Hart, quite the ethno-musicologist by now, learned and performed with them on this record (indeed, he’s also done much to champion exotic transcendent music by the Gyuto Monks). In retrospect I think I vaguely recall seeing this album advertised in Relix magazine.

A product description of the lp notes; “…to create a uniquely expressive journey to the mystical roots of percussion. It has been critically acclaimed for its subtle, yet masterful percussion soundscapes. Yamantaka is the Tibetan god of the dead and lord of the underworld. Hart, Wolff, and Hennings have succeeded in portraying these Tibetan legends of afterlife through a quietly evolving collage of sound. The six-part suite Yamantaka is at once somber, mysterious and meditative. 'The Revolving Mask of Yamantaka' raises the level of intensity through whirling rhythmic gyrations, spectral harmonics and the cyclical resonations of the Tibetan bells. Celestial Harmonies' remastered version of Yamantaka also features three bonus tracks composed especially for this CD reissue. Recorded digitally in July of 1991, 'Towards the Bending of the Light', 'Solar Winds', and 'Field of Souls' were performed by Wolff and Hennings with special guest Brian Keane. The resulting collection of sounds offers a stirring portrait of death and judgment.”

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from deaddisc.com;

Yamantaka
Mickey Hart/Henry Wolff/Nancy Hennings

Initial release : 1983
Celestial Harmonies 13003

Percussion music based on Tibetan traditional music.

Tracks
• Revolving Mask of Yamataka (Hart/Hennings/Wolff)
• Yamantaka: Parts 1-7 (Diamond/Hart/Hennings/Wolff)
• Towards the Bending of the Light (Hart/Hennings/Wolff)
• Solar Winds (Hart/Hennings/Wolff)
• Field of Souls (Hart/Hennings/Wolff)

Credits
• Producer - Brian Keane
• Engineer - Dan Healy, Bob Hodas
• Assistant Engineer - John Cutler
• Mixing Dan Healy, Bob Hodas, Matt Lane, Brian Keane
• Illustrations, Cover Design - Nancy Hennings
• Design - Johanna Shields
• Photography - John Werner, Lester Waldman

(sorry, compter & pics are still a bit wonky!)

 

Robert Hunter ’84-86

He normally public-shy Hunter came forward during this era with a small batch of albums. As the GD had explored their spaces, and Hart explored percussive spaces, Hunter was in hot pursuit of all things lingual. There was a rather fascinating1984 interview with a very astute Mary Eisenhart for Golden Road fanzine where Hunter enthusiastically described what it was he “does”. First was his digestion of Marcel Proust (he was finally up to ‘Time Regained’), and 16th century poet Edmund Spencer (Hunter was aiming at ‘The Faerie Queene’). Hunter showed Eisenhart some of his notebooks of “exercises”; he’d written a 100 stanza poem called “Idiot’s Delight”, then switched to Spenserian stanzas and wrote 200 more before he reached a point where he felt he saw limitation. sHe wrote another, “Brass Axis” in a form called ‘a constricting quadragle’, then was in the process of writing about the frame of mind one would need to be in to do this; ‘metapoetics’. Then there was an R-rated Brer Rabbit “Raggedy Remus” which he ultimately abandoned (though the feat did encourage more use of metaphor in his writing). Then he described his ‘masterpiece’ ”Evald And Fanteon” about a god; “the fall of a perfect proud spirit into matter”, who loses his powers in an asylum but gains an understanding of humanity. Hunter expressed the desire to read more foreign language works, then have a crack at translating Richard Wagner from German. There was clearly a lot of Robert Hunter that wouldn’t be expressed within the framework of the Grateful Dead.

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One such project was his double album “Amagamalin Street”. Hunter claimed he was seeking a literary musical form and hoped that if he succeeded, perhaps others would take a similar plunge. He called it a rock novel, but probably only because the term ‘rock opera’ had become clichéd (he did make reference to Townshend’s works). He gave a base description, “..It’s a place where boy meets girl, boy beats the ***** out of girl, boy leaves girl, boy picks up another girl, boy beats ***** out of this girl, best friend takes girl away from boy, is very nice to her, she goes back to boy A who beats the ***** out of her again, and then splits on all of them. Boy A dies and Girl A meets Boy B.” This ***** synopsis doesn’t begin to describe how GRITTY this tale really was. These characters were denizens of skid row; Boy A was bad manipulator guy Chet (whose voice gets most of disc 1) who is suffering alcoholic degeneration, draws girl A Rosanne into prostitution, boy B Murphy (voices disc 2) tries to take her away to the Catskills, but loses her to her morbid fascination with the bad guy. If you’re curious, this weblink features lyrics and song-by-song synopsis;

http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/AMAGSUIT.HTM

You’ll note that John Cipollina and Jorma Kaukonen are onboard.

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“Live ‘85” is a much more straight forward elpee of Hunter and guitar doing GD and Hunter songs.

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“Flight Of The Marie Helena” is spoken word poem against a musical background, chronicling 7 days adrift on a raft, with dolphins, a missed island, hallucinations, and finally lost souls in a hurricane. (Hunter must’ve like the name Marie Helena as it appears as a female inspiration in Tiger Rose’s “Cruel White Water”

“It rarely rains in dreams.
We hit all time lows and
very high estates, but rain -
no, it rarely does in dreams.”

Complete lyrics are here in the Hunter Archive; http://www.hunterarchive.com/fileS/Poetry/flightofMH.html

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“Rock Columbia” is a return to a standard ‘rock band’ song format in a band including old pal David Nelson, not unlike his band the Dinosaurs. You’ll note the GD Go To Heaven outtake “What’ll You Raise?” is on the album.

There are unsurprisingly several amusing verses in the album (samples);

“Eva”
Some get wrecked and then complain
It's their pleasure to show their pain
My little Eva got tears in her eyes
She don't hurt, she just loves to cry
When she really feels the pain
She don't cry at all
Just stands there grinning
With her back against the wall”.


“End Of The Road”
Hitched a ride upon a cloud of sky-blue silver tin
Driven by an angel who had never tasted sin
God knows for one time in my life, I acted with reserve
When she asked Where I was going I said "Wherever I deserve"
She turned on the radio to 1948
Where Charlie Parker preached upon the saxophone of fate
I told my whole life story - she didn't bat an eye
Or shed one single tear; just looked ahead and sighed”.


“Aim At The Heart”
Time doesn't fly
Just hangs over like the sky
It's we who go by
Makes no difference how or why
Everything you cherish
Throws you over in the end
Thorns will grab your ankles
From the gardens that you tend
Damned if you do
Double damned if you don't try
Caught on the fly
Hello fades into goodbye”.


“Rock Columbia”
Up on the mountain, feeling tired and alone
Thinking it over, over and over
I feel like a rock among stone
Even the sweet go wrong
Life is a heartbeat long
The urge to sing was strong
I swung my battered guitar like a net
And caught me a startled song on the wing
Up on the mountain I saw cities spread out like a map
San Francisco away to my left, New York right in my lap
I could see Boston below
Cincinnati, Ohio
People I love and know
Frightened and fighting, portraits in lightning
It was a hell of a show
And I know
Portraits in lightning
Pretenses fell
Rock, bone, blood, and the bell
The roar of the wind, the faces within
Asking: For who does it toll?
It tolls for thee”.
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from deaddisc.com;

Amagamalin Street
Robert Hunter

Initial release : 1984
Relix 2003

Robert Hunter's fourth album. A 'Rock Novel'. A cycle of interlinked songs originally issued as a double LP.

Tracks
Side 1
• Roseanne (Hunter)
Side 2
• Amagamalin Street (Hunter)
• Gypsy Parlor Light (Hunter)
• Rambling Ghost (Hunter)
Side 3
• Ithica (Hunter)
• Don't Be Deceived (Hunter)
• Taking Maggie Home (Hunter)
• Out of the City (Hunter)
• Better Bad Luck (Hunter)
Side 4
• Streetwise (Hunter)
• Face Me (Hunter)
• Where Did You Go? (Hunter)
• 13 Roses (Hunter)

Due to space constraints Face Me is omitted from CD reissues of the album.
Musicians

Tracks 1-4;
• Robert Hunter - acoustic guitar, vocals
• Vaclav Berosini - bass
• Roy Blumenfeld - drums
• John Cipollina - electric guitar

Tracks 5-13;
• Robert Hunter - acoustic guitar, vocals
• Vaclav Berosini - bass
• Roy Blumenfeld - drums
• Jorma Kaukonen - electric guitar
• Merl Saunders - keyboards
• Rodney Albin - violin

Credits
• Recording, mixing - Dr. Richie Moore, Fred Waxler
• Cover Painting - Maureen Hunter
• Lettering - Gary Kroman
• Design - Gregg Zuhle
• Layout - Brooklyn Bridge Pub.
• Agency - CMI Steve Martin
• Recorded at Marin Sound, San Rafael

Notes
Robert Hunter comments on the origin of the Amagamalin Street Suite in Box Of Rain: Lyrics 1965 - 1993;
The idea for Amagamalin Street occurred to me while leaning against a building on Fifth Avenue. I was in one of those ego-flattened mindframes that visit my West Coast psyche when confronted by Manhattan
I began thinking about the values people must assign to themselves, and believe in despite all evidence, in order to cope with the giganticism of Metropolis. I saw a drunk on the other side of the street making a show of himself - and began inventing his story. I had a pencil but no paper - not a problem in New York; I picked up a handbill in the gutter for a show at the Apollo, and began to write on the back of it.
These notes then continue with a song by song synopsis - buy the book if you want to read that.
Related releases
Gypsy Parlor Light was included on;
• The Relix Sampler, Various Artists, 1985
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Live '85
Robert Hunter

Initial release : 1985
Relix 2006

Live, solo Robert Hunter album. Includes four songs that were part of the Grateful Dead repertoire.

Tracks
Side 1
• Promontory Rider (Hunter)
• Jack Straw (Hunter/Weir)
• Red Car (Hunter)
• Sweet Little Wheels (Hunter)
Side 2
• Amagamalin Street (Hunter)
• Rose/Rose (It Must Have Been The Roses) (Hunter)
• Easy Wind (Hunter)
• Franklin's Tower (Garcia/Hunter)
• Boys In The Barroom (Hunter)

Musicians
• Robert Hunter - guitar, vocals

Credits
• Editing, remixing - Dr. Richie Moore
• Cover art - Maureen Hunter
• Layout - Brooklyn Bridge Publications

Notes
Possibly recorded during live shows in December 1984.
A second, remastered 'edition' of this release was also released in 1985.
The rear cover of the LP includes the lyrics of Boys In The Barroom.



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Flight of the Marie Helena
a musical narrative
Robert Hunter

Initial release : 1985
Relix 2009

Hunter's sixth album. A reading of the title poem. A long narrative poem read over a musical background.

Tracks
Flight Of The Marie Helena (Hunter)

Side 1
• First Day
• Second Day
• Third Day
• Four Day
Side 2
• Fifth Day
• Sixth Day
• Seventh Day

Musicians
• Robert Hunter - voice

Credits
• Engineer - Fred Waxler
• Mastering - George Horn
• Cover art, booklet illustrations - Maureen Hunter
Notes
The LP is accompanied by a 14 page illustrated booklet of the lyrics
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Rock Columbia
Robert Hunter

Initial release : 1986
Relix RRCD 2019

Robert Hunter's seventh album, a return to individual songs in a 'rock group' setting.

Tracks
• Eva (Hunter)
• End of the Road (Hunter)
• I Never See You (Hunter)
• Aim at the Heart (Hunter)
• Kick It on Down (Hunter)
• What'll You Raise (Hunter)
• Who, Baby, Who? (Hunter)
• Rock Columbia (Hunter)

Musicians
• Robert Hunter - guitar, vocals
• Joan Cashel - harmony vocals
• Johnny d'Fonseca - drums
• Rick Meyers - synthesizer, keyboards
• David Nelson - guitar, harmony vocals
• Jeanette Sartain - harmony vocals
• Annie Stocking - harmony vocals
• Michael White - bass

Credits
• Producer - Robert Hunter
• Technical Producer - Fred Waxler
• Mastering - George Horn
• Cover Art - Maureen Hunter
• Photography - The Creative Dept., San Rafael
• Recorded at Marin Sound, San Rafael, CA

Related releases
One single was released in conjunction with Rock Columbia;
• Aim At The Heart / Who, Baby, Who?, Robert Hunter, 1986
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Garcia/Kahn- acoustic ‘86

Jerry wasn’t primarily known for his acoustic guitar playing, though it played a big part of the recordings AoXoMoXoA, Workingman’s, Beauty and Garcia’s Wheel.

In the aftermath of the GD acoustic sets in Reckoning, in 1982 Jerry set out on an acoustic solo tour. Jerry apparently didn’t enjoy solo, being a team player and all, so he almost immediately called up John Kahn to join him on the tour for support and balance, which worked a whole lot better. Jerry’s acoustic technique is nowhere near, say Leo Kottke, but on a good night with an attentive audience, it’s quite nice to hear his subtlety, nuance, and slippery leads on the acoustic. Kahn can offer some interesting counter-point in his walkin’ basslines, too. I guess the clincher is that same nuance comes through in his vocals when he doesn’t have a zillion watt electric band to sing over. You don’t often get to hear Jerry’s voice in this context, and it can be special.

This recording is 4 years down the track and he sounds good here as well. Some folks reported mixed but generally favorable experiences at these acoustic shows. (I have a particularly horrible one when 80% of the audience decided to have a loud chat during both sets, Jerry decided that this behavior required no encore to an 8 song set, then the same audience started yelling “Bull*****, Bull*****”; a truly ugly event.) Ever the musician’s musician, he kept his acoustic guitar chops up which came in real handy for the JGB acoustic and Garcia/Grisman gigs and recordings in the coming years.

It’s worth noting that in 1986 Garcia was relatively clean after the few previous years of Persian addiction, but he was looking anything but healthy and some major health problems lay just ahead.

Anyone got thoughts on this one?

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from deaddisc.com;

Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, February 28, 1986
Jerry Garcia & John Kahn

Initial release : 2009
Grateful Dead / Rhino

A single CD archive release of the Jerry Garcia and John Kahn acoustic show at Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium on February 28, 1986.

Tracks
• Deep Elem Blues
• Little Sadie
• Friend Of The Devil
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Spike Driver Blues
• Run For The Roses
• Dire Wolf
• Jack-A-Roe
• Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie
• Bird Song >
• Ripple >
• Goodnight Irene

Musicians
• Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals
• John Kahn - bass

Credits
• Producer - John Cutler
• Research & facilitation - The Gang of Two
• Engineering, mastering - Joe Gastwirt at Joe's Mastering Joint
• Photography - Jay Blakesberg
• Recorded live at the Marin Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, CA on February 28, 1986

 

In The Dark

Well, …and here we are years later at In The Dark. Chalk it up to good livin’.


The story and perhaps much of the success of In The Dark lies with the near-death of Jerry Garcia in summer ’86. We’d already had our BBQ goodies on ice for a GD weekend at Ventura when word hit the airwaves that the shows were cancelled for health reasons. Such was the momentum of the DeadHeads that hundreds of us still arrived that Friday night, buzzzzzzed around the site until dawn, and eventually scattered to the four winds.

I don’t think we fans knew at the time just how bad Jerry’s medical situation had been. GD had been playing opposite Dylan w/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for some big summer dates and big Jer had become terribly dehydrated in the heat. Back home after a show he started to hallucinate about babbling vegetables with accents and bad puns before slipping into a coma (later diagnosed as caused by the onset of adult diabetes). In hospital, he was injected with valium to facilitate a CAT scan, which due to an allergic reaction caused his heart to stop. He was revived and spent 48 hours on a ventilator, but when he awoke his thoughts and memories (including guitar playing) were horribly scrambled. The Grateful Dead with Jerry Garcia could have ended with utter finality in Summer 1986 (and this thread would be finishing up right now!)

However, we all got lucky. The first months were reportedly quite scary with Garcia shuffling around like an old man and literally not initially knowing how to play guitar. The saintly Merl Saunders came by with John Kahn and helped him relearn. (Just my own observation; all anecdotes are that Garcia “re-learned” guitar “from scratch”, but IMHO that sounds like a mighty tall order. I would think that they walked him through musical changes until he re-connected with the existing neural pathways and memory banks…itself no small feat.) After a while Jerry’s old folkie pals David Nelson and Sandy Rothman also dropped in and Jerry got back in touch with his “acoustic/folkie” side. There was also a remarkable amount of goodwill from the fans. He lost a lot of weight and his health was closely medically monitored. He also sketched/painted for private amusement which later became an unexpected cash cow.

In October ’86 he played some JGB dates, but hearing tapes at the time I couldn’t help hearing how wimpy some of the leads were. Finally, GD shows were announced for mid-December, and of course we wanted to pick up where we’d been shaken off a few months earlier so we grabbed tickets. As emotional as this event was (“Touch Of Grey”’s “I WILL SURVIVE” to open, a couple newies “Push Comes To Shove” and mortality-pointed “Black Muddy River”, and “Black Peter” the last night) the clinical observer in me couldn’t help blurting when we reached the hotel, “Yikes, those Garcia leads are real simple and weak, and Weir was carrying him with that ringing guitar. I truly fear Jerry’s LOST IT!” Pal Joe (RIP) looked me straight in the eye and asked coolly, “What’s a clunker among friends?” He was right you know, and I caught the GD-run flu for my insolence. Recording sessions started not very long after these gigs, but when we saw them again a few months later there was no doubt that The Great Helmsman was back with a vengeance, playing powerfully, steering the band this way and that at will.

Before I get to the album, it’s worth mentioning that the GD ‘needed’ a hit record like a fish needs a bicycle. It may be hard to wrap one’s head around, but over much of the ‘80’s and into the ‘90’s this ‘cult band’ with little radio or chart success was THE most successful live rock act in history. The Stones or Springsteen might tour once every few years and show higher grosses for that particular year, but the GD were playing year in and year out to sold out venues grossing anywhere between 12-36 million bucks a year, playing hours by themselves with only rare support acts, with no more “show” than a hotshot PA and Weir’s showboating, with much of the operation “in-house”. The GD organization went far to create great venue experiences, too, and some of the outdoor shows and camping weekends were excellently catered for (keep the partiers inside and the cops outside= win/win). They were clearly doing something very right because the audience continued to grow.

They were back to being their own producers as the 3 studio album Arista agreement to use producers a few years earlier had made little difference to sales. They decided to use the cozy Marin Veterans Auditorium as they had for segments of the So Far video; set up as if live on stage to do basic tracks, then vocal and other overdubs back at their own Club Front studio/rehearsal/warehouse. One evening on a whim they turned off all the lights and tried to play until they all lost their places. That particular tape was useless, but the album suddenly had a name. Arista was enthusiastic about the new elpee, and some promotional grunt went into assembling some videos for MTV, particularly the cutely appropriate skeleton puppets for the “Touch Of Grey” video.

And somehow, either there had been an awful lot of secret DeadHeads all along, or the Grateful Dead finally “clicked” with Joe Public; In The Dark went platinum, the “Touch Of Grey” video was a MTV hit, and the soon released So Far video went #1 on the video charts. Who’d a thunk it???

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“Touch Of Grey” was the 45 single and cornerstone tune on the album. I’m still honestly baffled by what makes a ‘hit’ record and why this one made it big while others didn’t. The record buying public is predominantly young, so what was so attractive about old pharts grizzling about old age that “clicked”? (The new fans at the shows were young, not 40-50 year olds.) The lyrics certainly could have reflected a cantankerous Garcia’s Persian years; “Dawn is breaking everywhere, light a candle, curse the glare, draw the curtains, I don’t care…”, but Hunter says he wrote many verses for the song in rural England in 1980 after an all-nighter. There’s also the universal crabbing about money and the kids; “The rent is in arrears, the dog has not been fed in years, it’s even worse than it appears” and “kid can’t read at seventeen, the words he knows are all obscene”. What finally saves the day is a simple pledge to remember to keep a little love and grace, and in doing so, survive and get by one more day. Here’s a “lost” verse from Hunter’s notes;
“Even this is bound to pass
Not the first, you're not the last
Fortune smiles then turns away
but it's okay
When it goes from bad to worse
Not the last, you're not the first
Today's tomorrow yesterday
So what's to say?
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
It's a lesson to me
The Ables, the Bakers and C's
The ABC's of the fast ball curve
Trying not to lose your nerve.”
The intro to the live TOG immediately suggests “Bertha”, but this album version builds from a bass and drum which disguises that influence. As with several tunes on the album, it’s instrumentally more ragged than something like Workingman’s Dead, but the vocals are very trebly and compressed.

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“Hell In A Bucket” appears to be a re-write of Weir’s “Wrong Way Feeling”; a giant riff, and the Pharaoh’s daughter and Helen Of Troy are now Katherine The Great. Weir’s still a sucker and going to hell in a hand basket (the context is miles from “bucket hanging clear to hell”), but Barlow’s written in a bit more tension by inviting a biker and his chopper into her home, and someday dancing on her grave “when the snakes come marching in”. In Annotated lyrics, an acquaintance recalls contributing the line “You imagine me sipping champagne from your boot” to better Barlow’s “kissing the toe of your boot” as friends sat around writing very raunchy lyrics and having a good snicker. Barlow’s confirmed an early alternate verse;
"And while you were saying your mantra
I was humping your very best friend
And comparing myself to Sinatra
'Cause I did it my way in her end".
No-one’s quite certain that Bob wasn’t singing “for a taste of your elegant pie” on early versions.
This track had a funny devil video, yet was an album track, not a single.

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“West LA Fadeaway” is a take on the old North and Southern California rivalries (fortunately the SoCal crowd had a good sense of humor at the New Year’s volleyball match, naming themselves the West LA Fadeaways!). The Chateau reference is generally believed to be inspired by the Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip where John Belushi died of an overdose in March’82 and the song first appeared live that August. Hunter’s added The Mob and other unsavory elements that jive with the musical tone of menace and contempt. There was a somewhat ‘softer’ verse that appeared in some early versions;
“Here's what Ginger says, she talks like she ain't nobody's fool
Here's what Ginger says, she tries to live by the golden rule
She says you treat people all right,
Other people will probably treat you cool”.
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“My Brother Esau” was one of the older tunes, and appeared as the B-side of the grey-vinyl single. I was on the other side of the planet when the album was released, and on my way home from the airport I stopped by the record shop to find vinyl and cd sold out (I was thinking perhaps it was bad distribution) so I bought the 8 song cassette (4 tracks a side, 45 mins total); it was days before I discovered the vinyl/cd was only 7 tracks and that “Brother Esau” didn’t follow “When Push Comes To Shove”. As I understood it, royalties from the B-side of the single went to a veteran’s fund.

Having lived with a Viet Nam veteran for awhile (101st Airborne 155 Howitzers; slept on a loaded .38 in my living room) I found this allegory very poignant and bittersweet to the nth degree, and I personally think Barlow and Weir came up with something special here. Once again a Biblical reference, the story concerns the hairy child Esau and his slightly younger twin Jacob. Esau the hunter was aging Isaac’s favored son and stood to receive his blessing and birthright. While Esau was out hunting for his father’s meal, brother Jacob came with a fur on his chest to the blind Isaac and deceived Isaac into giving him his blessing. The blessing was irreversible and Esau was permanently cheated. In this modern slant, Esau goes to war in South-East Asia “eager to obey all the bloody wild commandments the old man shot his way. But all this favor ended when my brother failed at war, staggered home and found me in the door”. While the premise of that war was debatable, the point of the tune is Esau/veteran’s unceremonious return. My vet friend lost two brothers in the conflict, yet had young hippie girls spit on him as a war soldier. Anti-war protesters also took big risks and casualties. Hence, “sleeplessness in a piece of moral land” and “the more my brother looks like me, the less I understand the war that bloodied both our hands”. There were plenty of anti-war songs, but I can’t think of one that dealt with the plight of the returning servicemen quite so uniquely and compassionately. It must’ve taken awhile to get it right, as the first time I saw it live one of the verses was a bit more diffused;
“Esau tried to build a world of marvelous disguise
Where every street is easy and there's nothing to deny
Though he gave me all his cards, I could not play his hand
Made a choice, soon became a stand.
Esau, he’s on roller skates today, selling real estate to someone in LA.
Still sometimes at night I dream he’s still that hairy man,
Shadowboxing the apocalypse and wandering the land.”

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“Throwing Stones (Ashes To Ashes)” is uncharacteristically political, blunt and lyrically straightforward for GD fare. There are no hidden layers. The tune addresses no specific conflict (i.e., Jackson Browne and El Salvador), but instead is a general rant against politics of heartless superpowers with the proletariat meat in the sandwich. It is a powerful tune, and I was curious for years how this would fare if ever released on radio, and whether some groups of people would take to the streets with this as an anthem. By the time it appeared as a second single on an album that had gone platinum, it was redundant and didn’t even chart. So much for revolution and the singles charts. The “ashes to ashes” Black Plague nursery rhyme refrain struck me as very catchy and quite clever, but I later found that some English speaking countries (like Australia) sing “Ring around the rosie, ..a tissue, a tissue, all fall down”, so the pun is lost to some of the world.

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Brent’s “Tons Of Steel” is about an engineer trying to stop a brakeless train on a downhill grade. Over the years the train’s weight changed from 100,000, to 600,000, to 900,000 tons of steel as Brent revised his understanding of train weights. Ultimately it’s a very commercial tune, and comparisons are made in the song to a lover or relationship. Oddly, the weakest part of the album version is Brent’s own cheesy organ sound.

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The newie “When Push Comes To Shove (You’re Afraid Of Love)” is a jaunty little tune, but a bit lyrically and musically inconsequential in comparison to some of the Weir tunes. This was one of the two new songs of seventeen Hunter offered Garcia after the illness. It’s interesting that Jerry’s tunes are so retro and Weir’s tunes are somewhat the opposite. There are several moments of humor in WPCTS as the jittery protagonist is paralyzed with fear by the phantom in the closet, under the bed, and the killer on TV.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Finally, “Black Muddy River” was the newie that raised eyebrows after Jerry’s return. The river is Styx. Hunter says it best in a Steve Silberman interview;

RH: The black muddy river is a dream that I've had maybe three or four times over my life, and it is one of the most chilling experiences that I've had. It's enough to turn you religious. I've burrowed under this incredible mansion, gone down into the cellars, and I find myself down at this black, lusterless, slow-flowing Stygian river. There are marble columns around, and cobwebs. It's vast and it's hopeless. It's death, it's death, with the absence of the soul. It's my horror vision, and when I come out of that dream I do anything I can to counter it.

SS: And yet, in "Black Muddy River" you're not saying flee the banks of this dark place. You're saying walk along the banks, and sing a song of your own making.

RH: Right. And what's on the other side of it is . . . whatever it is. It's a bit of whistling in the dark. I'll face whatever it is, because I wouldn't have any choice, would I? So, you might as well go for it.
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“Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues” was not recorded, and an original contender “Keep Your Day Job (Until Your Night Job Pays)” was quite literally petitioned out of the playlist by DeadHeads who vehemently objected to lyrics like “Still got to work that eight-hour day. Whether you like that job or not, keep it on ice while you're lining up your long shot.” Seriously.


Anybody else want to offer thoughts and illumination on In The Dark?

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from deaddisc.com;


In The Dark
Grateful Dead

Initial release : July 6, 1987
Arista AL-8452

The Dead's first album for 6 years.

Tracks
• Touch Of Grey (Garcia / Hunter)
• Hell In A Bucket (Weir / Barlow / Mydland)
• When Push Comes To Shove (Garcia / Hunter)
• West L.A. Fadeaway (Garcia / Hunter)
• Tons Of Steel (Mydland)
• Throwing Stones (Weir / Barlow)
• Black Muddy River (Garcia / Hunter)
• My Brother Esau (Weir / Barlow) (Cassette release and later Japanese CD reissue only)

Bonus tracks on CD version released in the Beyond Description box set in 2004 and as a separate CD in 2006;
• My Brother Esau (Weir / Barlow) - Single B-side, 1/15/87
• West L.A. Fadeaway (Garcia / Hunter) - Alternate version, 3/84
• Black Muddy River (Garcia / Hunter) - Studio rehearsal, 12/5/86
• When Push Comes To Shove (Garcia / Hunter) - Studio rehearsal, 12/5/86
• Touch Of Grey (Garcia / Hunter) - Studio rehearsal, 8/82
• Throwing Stones (Weir / Barlow) - Live, 7/4/87

Musicians
• Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals
• Mickey Hart - drums
• Bill Kreutzmann - drums
• Phil Lesh - bass
• Brent Mydland - keyboards, vocals
• Bob Weir - guitar, vocals

Credits
• Producer - Jerry Garcia, John Cutler
• Engineered - John Cutler, Guy Charbonneau
• Additional engineers - Dan Healy, Jeff Sterling, Jeffrey Norman, David Roberts, Joe Gastwirt, Justin Kreutzmann
• Programming, spatial effects - Bob Bralove
• Album coordination, tour manager - John McIntire
• Grateful Dead crew - Ramrod, Bill Candelario, Steve Parish, Harry Popick, Robbie Taylor, Billy Grillo
• Grateful Dead Office - Eileen Law, Janet Soto-Knudsen, Sue Stephens, Mary Jo Meinolf, Maruska Nelson, Annette Flowers, Basia Raizene, Diane Geoppo, Nancy Mallonee, Dennis McNally (Publicist)
• Club Front - Willie 'Jack' Legate, Patricia Harris, Dick Latvala, Colleen Smith
• Art direction, photography - Herbie Greene
• Cover Art - Randy Tuten
• Design - Gail Grant, Tom Ingalls
• Mask - Margaret Fabrizio
• Basics recorded at - Marin Veterans Auditorium, San Rafael by Le Mobile, 1/6/87 - 1/13/87
• Additional recording and mixing at - Club Front, San Rafael
• The album carries two dedications:
'Farewell to Otis'
'This album is dedicated to the memory of Paul Roehlk'

Notes
The basic tracks for In The Dark were recorded in an as-live situation in Marin County Veterans Auditorium in January 1987. Garcia spoke about the recording in an interview;
Marin Vets turns out to be an incredibly nice room to record in. There's something about the formal atmosphere in there that makes us work. When we set up at Front Street to work, a lot of times we just sort of dissolve into hanging out. Going in [Marin Vets] without an audience and playing just to ourselves was in the nature of an experiment...

Additional material was added and mixing completed during February and March 1987.

The 'extra' pair of eyes on the cover belong to Bill Graham.

Related releases

Two singles were released in conjunction with this album;
• Touch Of Grey / My Brother Esau, Grateful Dead, 1987
• Throwing Stones / When Push Comes To Shove, Grateful Dead, 1988

Released on CD in 1987, Arista 8452.
The In The Dark CD release was included in;
• Dead Zone: The Grateful Dead CD Collection (1977-1987), Grateful Dead, 1987

A remastered, expanded version of In The Dark was included in the box set;
• Beyond Description, Grateful Dead, Oct 2004
This remastered, expanded version was released as a single CD in 2006.

 

I saw the Dead, with Petty & Dylan on 7/7/86 at RFK in DC. (Garcia's coma hit, I believe, Thursday 7/11.) It was the first of my 80s/90s dead shows, so for the most part I was Pleased As Punch. Things seemed to start fine, & I was so taken by the scene I didn't notice anything wrong with "Ramble on Rose," "New Minglewood Blues" or "It Must've Been the Roses." It had been a very hot, muggy day (after all DC was built on a swamp), & we had all been randomly dousing each other, friends & strangers alike, with water from bottles, or welcoming sprays from stadium crew. Dylan was covered with black leather but seemed to do fine (I think he shares Keith Richard's constitution). Garcia, of course, was covered with an extra couple of layers of flesh. Whatever the reason, there were glaring problems at the end of the 1st Dead set, when Dylan came on stage for "Baby Blue" and "Desolation Row."

At the time I put it down to some weird social vibe between Dylan & the band. Dylan seemed very coy about singing, mumbling a few words then stepping back from the mic before the phrase was finished. There seemed to be confusion about who should sing, with Weir (& Lesh?) also approaching/avoiding the mic. Jerry was laying back big time, in a weird way, occasinally playing a few brilliant notes, occasionally just strumming a bit, occasionally silent. They were all kind of looking at each other. I put it down to drugs or band vibe, & I bet drugs was part of it with Dylan. But now I wonder if they were worrying about Jerry.

I think there was a long break after that, then they came back pretty strong with Phil on "Box of Rain" (I remember lots of people around me discovering at last who the vocalist was for BoR). The rest of the set seemed to go fine, with a bit of "back on the horse that threw you" vibe, kinda dominated by Bob-

Box of Rain
Playin' in the Band
Terrapin Station
drums
The Other One
Wharf Rat
Around and Around
Good Lovin'
Satisfaction

The Dead had come on late in the day (around sunset?) & by the second set it was well dark & cooling off. We all talked about this when the news broke a week later.

 

Any last words (or first words, for that matter) on In The Dark before we moooove on.

 

In The Dark was one of the 2 albums that introduced me to the Grateful Dead. The other was Terrapin Station, I got them both at the same time. "Hell In A Bucket", "Throwing Stones" and "Black Muddy River" have remained favourites of mine, I still think it's one of their best studio efforts.

 

I jump in here as well since Touch of Grey was the track that introduced me to Grateful Dead. It was around 1998 when i got a mixtape/CD with TOG on it. I instantly liked it and started checking out the rest of their work.

 

I didn't see the PPV, but one of my fond tour memories is hearing the Dead singing Happy Birthday to Bill Walton before the start of the second set at a show in Worcester, MA in November '85. We could see Walton and McHale backstage and heard that Larry and Parrish were there, too.

 

Jerry that was great!

 

I, on the other hand, grew up in Philly and would watch the Celtics beat my beloved Sixers each year in the playoffs. Only in '67 and'83 were we successful. I didn't realize that while Julius and the boys were listening to Grover Washington, Larry, Chief and Kevin were hanging with the Dead. Now it all makes sense!

 

I've always been curious about the jet black hair dye job Billy got for the "Touch of Grey" video...wonder if it was an in-joke or a record company edict...

 

Dylan & The Dead

Man, I’ve always felt this was, uh, “less than optimum”, and that's coming from someone who’s been known to love The Dead & The Dylan. I listened to it again the other night and only raised my opinion slightly. Perhaps someone more objective can chime in.

The G Dead had been doing Dylan covers (like “It's All Over Now Baby Blue”) since their earliest years. (The Garcia Band incarnations also did several including “Tough Mama”, “Wicked Messenger”, “Going Going Gone”, “A Lot To Laugh”, just to name but a few.) The Dead legacy and mythology is steeped in Beat tradition when On The Road's Neal Cassady strolled into the Acid Test scene and passed the existentialist baton to the Pranksters/Dead/hippies. Dylan claims to have been aware of some of the SF Bay area's early 60's folk scenesters, undoubtedly via Baez. The Dead and lyricist Robert Hunter created a body of work from the late 60's forward that very clearly mirrored The Band's applications of iconic and archetypical American imagery to reflect modern trends. At some point in the early 70's Dylan befriended Garcia at a Dead show, GD had played opposite The Band on occasion, and Jerry made a supportive point of sitting in with Bob's gospel band at an 80's SF show. My point being, there was a long-standing if very loose "connection" between the two camps.

In 1986 Dylan/Petty were co-billed on a few East Coast gigs with the Dead. The DeadHeads, being the astute lemmings that they were, started appearing in record high profile tie-dye numbers at Bob/Petty shows (I recall Bob fans at a SoCal Dylan/Petty gig asking us what the heck was up). Perhaps Bob took note, perhaps not. I wish I knew the half of it, but both before and after Garcia's recovery from his diabetic coma dramas, plans were afoot for Dylan and The Dead to loosely collaborate in some form. It's been told that Bob was uninspired with his back catalog, unsure of a future direction and adrift at that point in his career, and started hanging out at the Dead's Club Fronte rehearsal space. He may have been bemused that the Dead roadies nicknamed him "Spud", and he was in a casual atmosphere away from stardom. Rehearsal/jam tapes show that the Dead were encouraging Bob to revisit some of his non-hits and rarities, including "Union Sundown” (whimsically rendered with inspired re-written Latin American references), or Ian & Sylvia's “The French Girl” (briefly visited during the Basement Tapes), or Buddy Holly's “Oh Boy”, or even Paul Simon's “Boy In The Bubble”. There were a few inspired moments like “Ballad Of Ira Hayes” and “Man Of Peace”, but there was also an abundance of mere fragments and several polyrhythmic stews that didn't quite gel with Bob's once-through takes. Nonetheless, the rehearsal tapes showed promise and enthusiasm.

There was much anticipation, particularly as The Dead had become suddenly high profile after years as a large cult secret. Other Dead lyricist John Barlow recalled finding Dylan impenetrable and wondered how/why this odd man had come to have "the gift". Ken Kesey said that he finally recognized Dylan as “that guy who wrote the Old Testament".

The gig itself was unfortunately far from a religious experience for us. We attended the 1987 gig at Anaheim Angel Stadium billed as "Dylan & The Dead: Alone & Together", which sort've implied that both artists would do sets separately and together, right? The Dead's normal solo mode of operation is to play a 1 hr "warm-up" song set, take a break, then play a 90-120 minute set of medleys and improvised "space" while they're at their improvisational focus and peak, and usually finish with a tossed-off perfunctory encore tune. And this sequencing MAY have been part of the problem with these Dylan/Dead performances. The Dead did their warm-up set, then took a break. No Bob. The Dead then played one of their full second set medley/space set. Still no solo Bob. Then Dylan joined the warmed up Dead and together they just played a muddy muddle of a combined set; Dylan seemingly growling in a monotone for 90minutes and strumming in complete odds to whatever stew the Dead were trying to brew. At the time I couldn't tell if The Dead had "pulled the carpet out" from under Bob, or v.v.. I still don't know! Some of the Dead camp say Dylan was drunk and that the gigs were under-rehearsed, but that's a bit rich considering the Dead usually thrive on improvisation and substances.

The gig tapes were originally not intended for release, but Dylan or Columbia decided to do it. The Dead had recorded the gigs, and prepared Bob some edited test tapes of what songs they thought were releasable. Bob picked a slimmed-down final track list, which was less flattering and lopsided. On some songs like “Joey”, GD seem to have problems just laying down a beat.( I’ve been assured by those more objective that “Queen Jane” and “Watchtower” are pretty good, though.) To add insult to injury, Garcia recalled sitting in Dylan's large dark wood hall, and having Bob play the tape through a ghetto blaster and pronounce that he wanted his voice volume "mixed down". An exasperated Garcia later asked "What could I do? Bop him?"

And so we have this very promising, yet ill-fated album that is almost a travesty souvenir. Dylan did still occasionally show up unexpectedly during live Dead sets*, and even asked to join the Dead (not kidding!) such was the ebb of his self-confidence, but was voted down as it would stretch the Dead out of comprehension. (Note that the Travelling Wheelbarrows was only a year or two later, and it did boost his standing and profile.) The detractors of GD would no doubt feel vindicated that it was "never going to work", but there are those glimmers of real beauty and promise on the rehearsal tapes that show why they all bothered in the first place.

In the long run, Dylan said the experience with the GD was good for him in that they “knew the songs better than I did” and re-revealed to Dylan some of the meaning and depth of his own compositions. Dylan did go on to record Robert Hunter's “Silvio” and “Ugliest Girl In The World” after seeing the lyrics at the rehearsal hall, but that was pretty much it for this unfulfilled opportunity. However, Dylan's last album Together Through Life is sounds good (if a bit lyrically reserved), and is "lyrics by Bob Dylan with Robert Hunter" (except for one song), so there is at long last some pleasant fruit of this union.

(*during a 1989 LA Forum set, Dylan wandered onstage to add guitar to “Monkey & The Engineer” and “Cassidy”. Weir proceeded with “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again” and halfway through a verse Weir backed off as Dylan deliciously took over “…AND LIKE A FOOL I MIXED THEM, and it strangled up my mind…”).

Anyone?
------------------------------------------------------------

from deaddisc.com;

Dylan and the Dead
Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead

Initial release : January 1989
Columbia OC-45056(Grateful Dead GDCD-41012)

Single CD of material taken from the Dylan / Grateful Dead sets from 1987.
Tracks
• Slow Train (Bob Dylan)
• I Want You (Bob Dylan)
• Gotta Serve Somebody (Bob Dylan)
• Queen Jane Approximately (Bob Dylan)
• Joey (Bob Dylan / J. Levy)
• All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)
• Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan)

Musicians
• Bob Dylan - guitar, harmonica, vocals
• Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals
• Mickey Hart - drums
• Bill Kreutzmann - drums
• Phil Lesh - bass
• Brent Mydland - keyboards, vocals
• Bob Weir - guitar, vocals

Credits
• Producer - John Cutler, Jerry Garcia
• Engineer - Guy Charbonneau, John Cutler
• Additional engineers - Gary hedden, David Roberts, Peter Miller, Billy Rothschild, Chris Wiskes
• Digital mastering - Joe Gastwirt
• Concert sound - Dan healy
• Cover art - Rick Griffin
• Photography - Herb Greene
• Layout - Allen Weinberg
• Recorded live - July 1987
• Mixed at Club Front, San Rafael - November 1988
• Grateful Dead crew - Ram Rod, Bill Candelario, Steve Parish, Harry Popick, Robbie Taylor, Billy Grillo, Bob Bralove
• Lighting designer - Candace brightman
• Trucking - Mike Fischer
• Album coordination/Tour manager - John McIntire
• Assistant tour manager - Cameron Sears
• Legal counsel - Hal Kent
• Grateful Dead Office - Eileen Law, Janet Knudsen, Sue Stephens, Mary Jo Meinolf, Maruska Nelson, Annette Flowers, Basia Raizene, Diane Geoppo, Nancy Mallonee
• Club Front - Bill Legate, Brian Williams, Dick Latvala
• Publicity - Denis McNally

Notes
There were six Dylan / Dead shows in 1987.
The shows were;
• Foxboro, July 4, 1987
• Philadelphia, July 10, 1987
• East Rutherford, July 12, 1987
• Eugene, July 19, 1987
• Oakland, July 24, 1987
• Anaheim, July 26, 1987

The album tracks are taken from the following shows;
• Slow Train and Joey - 4 July 1987
• Queen Jane Approximately - 19 July 1987
• I Want You - 24 July 1987
• Serve Somebody, All Along The Watchtower and Knockin' On Heaven's Door - 26 Jul 1987

The album was mixed by Garcia and John Cutler with some input from Dylan. Garcia commented on Dylan's contribution in an interview with Rolling Stone;
When you're collaborating with Dylan and he says 'Hey, I think that my voice is too out front,' what am I going to do? Punch him? I'll say 'okay' against my own instincts.
Tapes of all the Dylan / Dead sets circulate. Material from the pre-tour rehearsal at Club Front in San Rafael also circulates on tape.

Related releases

Remastered version released in 2009.
Released on CD in 1989, Columbia CK-45056.

 

GD Live ’87-88; View From The Vault IV, Ticket To New Years, DL5 and more…

The GD continued to tour, of course. The “In The Dark” album and “Touch Of Grey” single generated some curiosity from Joe Public. This brought even greater numbers to the shows; some became permanent regular fans, and some had a look and wandered off. (I must confessed being surprised by a sudden surge of Led Zeppelin fans until it dawned on me that Zep also shared a folk background, albeit British/Celtic, and loud long spacey rock.)

These “View From The Vault” CD/DVD shows are actually the GD portions of the Dylan/Dead shows. The GD normally get outside and crazy and shows can have a big emotional personality when surrounded by a few thousand of their close friends (us), but with new observers looking in they seemed to instead play a nice introductory Dead-by-the-numbers set with a self-conscious reserve harkening back to the Go To Heaven tours. (Most Dead Heads’ attention was distracted/diverted by the impending Dylan set lurking somewhere in the afternoon/evening.) That year, Arista president Clive Davis again managed to be surprised to attend a GD show this time not featuring “Touch Of Grey”.

Ticket To New Year’s video/DVD is much better and representative IMHO, with both sets creating a nice emotional and sonic atmosphere. In the wake of the So Far video success that year, they took a typical GD route by broadcasting this superior set with similar or improved visuals. There was even comedy afoot with Hart doing “The Vulcan Mind Meld” on Jerry Claus (“…dark ugly spaces…”), and Father Guido Sarducci’s predictions of visiting extraterrestrials the size of Chicklets or Wall Street financial havoc on “Whiplash Wednesday”.

Going into 1988, the initial TOG/ITD hoopla was over and it was back to playin’ live. The sets were JUST a tad shorter (2 ½ hours of music instead of 3; a very nice run at the Greek shows they were well focused), and there was a brief experimental period where vocals were very loud in the live mix. MIDI effects/sampling in live shows was quite evident, initially Brent (there was an interesting Scarlet/Fire transition the previous year that sounded like a human Gregorian Chant), followed by Garcia doing various horn/leads MIDI. I haven’t heard DL5 3/27/88, but I’ve listed the “Playing In The Band” from 7/29/88 to illustrate just how wacky and “out there” GD get with close fans at hand. This PITB throws in everything including kitchen sinks and pushes the very definition of music to the limit. (This tune followed a stab at an almost-successful “Chinacat>Crazy Fingers>Rider” medley, if that’s any indication of whimsy. Also, in this run GD played several brand newies including “Believe It Or Not”, “Foolish Heart”, “Victim Or the Crime”, “Blow Away” and “Gentlemen Start Your Engines”. A future studio album was on the cards…)

1988 was also the year GD finally lent their name to a seemingly political cause, namely preservation of the rainforests. This was not at odds with their usual apolitical stances, as this issue was deemed sheer common sense for the survival of the planet. I may be overlooking a number of interesting guest slots that year, but the Rainforest Benefit at Madison Square Garden featured ex-Bluesbreaker/Stone Mick Taylor bloozin’ it up, and Suzanne Vega & The Dead playing Robyn Hitchcock’s ethereal “Chinese Bones” (which would have made a very arty GD cover IMHO) and “Neighborhood Girls”. Jerry also guested on saxophonist Ornette Coleman’s Virgin Beauty album, and remarked at the time on Coleman’s “there is no wrong note; if you mean it” approach.

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from deaddisc.com:


View From The Vault IV
Grateful Dead

Initial release : April 2003
Grateful Dead Records

CD release of the Grateful Dead shows at Oakland Stadium on July 24, 1987 and at Anaheim Stadium on July 26, 1987. This set was also released on DVD.


Tracks
The CD release does include all songs performed by the Grateful Dead during their main two sets at each of the shows. It does not include the encores or the Bob Dylan sets. The set lists for the two shows, for the material on the CDs, are as follows.

Oakland Stadium, July 24, 1987
Set 1
• Funiculi Funicula
• Jack Straw
• Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
• My Brother Esau
• Friend Of The Devil
• Me & My Uncle
• Big River
• When Push Comes To Shove
• Far From Me
• Cassidy
• Deal
Set 2
• Hell In A Bucket
• Scarlet Begonias
• Playing In The Band
• Drums
• Space
• Uncle John's Band
• Dear Mr. Fantasy
• I Need A Miracle
• Bertha
• Sugar Magnolia

Anaheim Stadium, July 26, 1987
Set 1
• Iko Iko
• New Minglewood Blues
• Tons Of Steel
• West L.A. Fadeaway
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Mexicali Blues
• Bird Song
• Promised Land
Set 2
• Shakedown Street
• Looks Like Rain
• Terrapin Station
• Drums
• Space
• The Other One
• Stella Blue
• Throwing Stones
• Not Fade Away

Musicians
• Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, vocals
• Mickey Hart - drums
• Bill Kreutzmann - drums
• Phil Lesh - bass, vocals
• Brent Mydland - keyboards, vocals
• Bob Weir - rhythm guitar, vocals

Relateds

View From The Vault IV was also released on DVD;
• View From The Vault IV (DVD), Grateful Dead, 2003
• --------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also; bonus tracks from View From The Vault III;
Shoreline Amphitheatre, October 3, 1987;
• Hey Pocky Way (Modeliste / Neville / Nocentelli / Porter)
• New Minglewood Blues (Traditional arr. Bob Weir)
• Candyman (Garcia / Hunter)
• When I Paint My Masterpiece (Dylan)
• West L.A. Fadeaway (Garcia / Hunter)
• My Brother Esau (Weir / Barlow)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ticket To New Years

Grateful Dead
1996

Video and DVD release of over two and a half hours of live recording from the 1987 New Years Eve show at Oakland Coliseum.

Set 1;
• Bertha
• Cold Rain And Snow
• Little Red Rooster
• When Push Comes To Shove
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Bird Song
• The Music Never Stopped
Set 2;
• Hell In A Bucket
• Uncle John's Band
• Terrapin Station
• Drums
• Space
• Other One
• Wharf Rat
• Throwing Stones
• Not Fade Away
Encore;
• Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Credits for the film;
• Produced, director - Len Dell'Amico
• Audio Production - John Cutler, Phil Lesh
• Lighting Director - Candace Brightman
Additional features on the DVD include;
• Optional lyrics
• Trivia quiz
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grateful Dead Download Series Volume 5 - 3/27/88
Grateful Dead

Initial release : 2005
Grateful Dead Records

The fifth in a series of shows made available by downloading from the official Grateful Dead site. Music from the March 27, 1988 show at Hapton Coliseum, Hampton, VA. The downloads are available in both 128 & 256 MP3 and high quality lossless FLAC formats.


Tracks
Disc 1
• Iko Iko
• Little Red Rooster
• Stagger Lee
• Ballad Of A Thin Man >
• Cumberland Blues >
• Me and My Uncle >
• To Lay Me Down >
• Let It Grow
Disc 2
• Space >
• So What >
• Sugar Magnolia >
• Scarlet Begonias >
• Fire On The Mountain
• Estimated Prophet >
• Eyes Of The World >
• Rhythm Devils
Disc 3
• Space >
• Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad >
• I Need A Miracle >
• Dear Mr. Fantasy >
• Sunshine Daydream
• U.S. Blues
--------------------------------------------------------------------

See also; Playing In The Band - Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA, 7/29/88 –So Many Roads box set

 

Dylan and the Dead is one of the strangest releases in the band's career. The band is playing fine on Slow Train and All Along The Watchtower, but the musical trainwreck of Joey is one of the low points in their entire career. Not aloud to play long solos or jams, they sound very uneasy throughout the album. Playing behind an uninterested Dylan who sings worse than at any stage in his career doesn't help either. The tour rehearsal tapes are far more interesting.

 

I played 3/27/88 the other day for the first time in many years. I had a crappy cassette tape but recently got the Download Series version, which sounds very nice.

The first set doesn't do much for me, but set 2 is awesome, so much so that one forgets they are listening to a show from 1988. The pre-drums from Sugar Mag to Eyes of the World is virtually flawless. I never get tired of the familiar Scarlet>Fire, Estimated>Eyes sequence. This show is easily one of my favorites from this era.