Just finished Dick's Picks 3, playing catch-up after 10 days away from home and my stereo. I bought this one right away when it came out, totally excited to hear a May '77 soundboard I'd never heard before (as far as I know, it didn't circulate, and I'd never come across an audience recording either). It holds its own with the more famous Boston/Cornell/Buffalo run from earlier in the month, and in my view the southern swing equals or betters that run. I've listened to the whole show I think only once, about 3 years ago when I did a complete listen to most of the tour (I think I kicked it off with 5/4 and took it from there through 6/9/77). I don't mind Sunrise as much as some do, but it's the only selection that struck me as odd given some other perfectly fine versions of songs that didn't make the cut, but despite being a fan of full show listening, I think other than that, Dick did a great job collecting the highlights. A fine Music Never Stopped, one of the all-time best Sugarees (5/19/77 is probably the only one from the tour that beats it for me, in part perhaps because I had that one on tape in the real early days of collecting). I'd put this in the top 3 along with Lake Placid 10/17/83. Hartford '77 is up there as well. Anyway, a strong Lazy Lightning->Supplication (I like that pair more than a lot of people seem to), and an epic Dancin' in the Streets with a fantastic jam end the first set selections here. (Plus we get a little Funiculi Funicula thrown in as a fun table-setter). The Help>Slip!>Franklin's is a monster, and then after a solid Samson and the aforementioned Sunrise, we get one of many hot '77 Estimated, Eyes taken at pretty much the perfect tempo for a post-hiatus version, a little Jerry solo exploration, Wharf Rat, Terrapin Station strangely without Lady with a Fan, and an epic Dew. I'd say the Cornell Dew gets the slight nod over this one for sheer power and excitement, but that's not intended as damning with faint praise. This is a terrific version, perhaps in the all time top 10, with Keith doing some really nice work during the quieter parts of the jam. And the whole sequence, with essentially 4 (or 3.5) Garcia songs in a row, is a unique sequence. I'd always figured that it was intentionally picked as a particularly Garcia-heavy show, as the second release in general, and first in the series, after Jerry's passing, but based on what someone wrote above it sounds like it may have already been in the queue before then. Releasing a mostly unknown but terrific May '77 soundboard early on in the series certainly made sense viewed through any lens. This was my first listen in a while - looks like the last time I played the release was in July 2017 (although it's possible I played it on Spotify at work once during the pre-Covid interim), and that was the only time I've listened to the full show (switching from the official release to Archive.org whenever it was time for unreleased songs). I generally like Betty's use of reverb on the vocals, but she did probably make a wise adjustment by dialing it back by the time they got to this leg of the tour. It's too bad they weren't doing whole shows yet (not until only a couple releases later), but again, Dick curated this one well and it's a classic in the series. You're going to get sick of this rating, but it's another 5/5 to these ears.
Out of curiosity, I went back to my July 2017 postings in the other thread re: DiP 3, and here they are (and pretty consistent with how I felt about this show this time around, which isn't surprising given how many times I've played this pick since it came out over 25 (!!!!) years ago): Getting deeper into 5/22/77, supplementing with the archive. Annoying that this wasn't released as a complete show, but so far nothing mind-blowing on the songs that didn't make the cut, just more high quality '77 versions of the material, which would be nice to have. Back in that era I know that the band members and other powers that be were skeptical about full show releases, but it's too bad. Another top show of the tour, I am currently on Samson. Help->Slip->Franklin's is a monster although maybe not quite up to Buffalo, and you could say the same about this show's Sugaree as compared to 5/19/77 Fox, and its Dancin' as compared to 5/8/77 or 5/15/77, but a lot of very close to top versions… and I haven't yet gotten through the heavy hitters toward the back end of the set. Samson is a smoker, although that's no surprise. ReverbWatch(™): still there, although maybe ratcheted down a notch from earlier in the tour. Now on to Brown-Eyed Women, off the archives. Too bad this didn't make the cut back in 1995, I always love a good Brown-Eyed Women and '77 versions are always excellent. I wrapped up 5/22 earlier this evening (I slightly prefer 5/8/77, but this is still one of the best Morning Dews of all time despite a 5 to 10 second sequence before the first solo that wasn't absolutely nailed, as the vocal delivery and the subsequent soloing and dual rat scrum (I needed to signal Archtop somehow) are amazing.
I noticed on this listen that the vox reverb was dialed back from earlier in the tour, that hadn't registered for me before. I'm glad she didn't drop it entirely, since I still dig it, but I agree, it was a touch excessive at the beginning of May. Also with you on the Dew -- Cornell takes it (even with the pre-solo issues on both versions), but this is certainly a top version.
I’m pro-reverb, and think it really helped the vocals on that tour sound great, but from what I remember she perhaps overdid it a bit earlier on with perhaps 5/7/77 Boston (a show that I’ve loved for decades) being peak reverb. 5/22 has it dialed in just about exactly perfect.
The first set of that Boston show was the first 77 tape I ever had...still one of my favorite first sets!
Nice review! Being that this was the first Pick of the bunch that I've heard, it is one of my most played GD releases for sure. I never press 'skip' button, and all those drumz are probably guilty for not playing it more often nowadays. Hey, maybe I should start to use 'skip' button after all!? P.S. Where in the world did you find this photo - very cool !
Swamped at work and fallen behind in this thread... but I'll just say I don't mind "Sunrise". It's a 'different' song for sure, but I understand the urge to give Donna her due in the series. And for 4 minutes, I don't skip this one.
I know that. That was a joke as part of a discussion of a virus variant "that changes the name of an album to the subsequent album name"
Yes, 5/22 didn't circulate yet as a SBD. Except for 5/19 most of the second half of May didn't escape the vault until later.
Yeah, I never had tapes of anything after Chicago except for 5/19, which I think may have already been in circulation before the storage locker tapes.
I had a good SBD of 5/19 as far back as the mid-90's, so that was definitely out in the wild already.
Yeah, I first got a soundboard of 5/19 around '87 or so, and think I got it before Cornell, Buffalo, etc. I suspect it was leaked from the Vault even earlier, because I don't think it was listed as one of the storage locker tapes.
So, my take on DP4. An essential pick for sure. I think this might be the first Pick I ever listened to (followed by DP3, which is why these two are my favourite picks). The reason I listened to DP4 first is very simple, because of all the raving 5* reviews of this set. So I just HAD to figure out what the fuss was all about. At this time I had only really listened to studio dead, and then mainly AB/WD. So it took a little while for my young ears to adjust (I was still in uni and couldn't have been more than 20 years old). Dick did a might fine job in compiling three discs from two shows. Of course, I'd still live a proper re-release of both shows (as DP4 is impossibly expensive on Discogs). I really enjoy the stark contrast between Dancin' from DP3 and DP4. A wholly different song really. And of course what more can one say about DS>TOO>Lovelight that hasn't been said? Other songs of note, an early China > Rider with that nice segue into High Time, Casey Jones and Mason's Children.
Yeah, my experience was similar. I had (still have in fact somewhere on the shelf) an "encyclopedic CD guide" from one local music critic (for better or worse!), it's basically from pre-internet times, though already a late 1990s edition. Anyway I was reading that one a lot in my high school 4th grade. And there it was, under Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks 4 listed as an absolutely essential release from some legendary 1970 Fillmore East run. So, I was rather hyped up about it, though there were still some years to go until I've finally heard it. No adjusting for me though, I loved it from the get-go. It was still rather close in vibe to the Live-Dead, that got me hooked in the first place. But also different: One can feel the blend of WD and AB Americana (that of course I knew very well).
Want to give a shout-out to Amalie R. Rothschild's amazing photos of the Dead at the Fillmore East, this one's from Feb 14th 1970
It's in the third volume (1986-95 reviews). Reading it again he was a bit vague about whether he released the full shows, but he mentioned that when he first was allowed into the vault to get material for his radio show, he grabbed 5/19/77 along with 5/19/74, 6/9/77 and the Scarlet-Fire from 5/17/77.
That makes sense. I already had 5/19/77 in high school and got nice soundboard copies of 5/19/74 and 6/9/77 certainly by '90-'91 or so. I never heard the 5/17/77 Scarlet-Fire until the official release on the first May '77 box set, though.
