I think it is a great set and although I am no expert it seems as per posts above it still has some lovely rarities. I love the Whiskey in the Jar (unique to SMR?).
When we do the ‘Greatest Single Disc of Grateful Dead’ tournament that Disc 2 has to be a number one seed. So much live stuff has now been released that it is hard to remember the context of something like this getting out there. Fillmore Other One, Beautiful Jam, Watkins Glen, Miami 74 jam and Sing Me Back Home from Veneta? Good god.
Clickable thread guide List of releases By Release Date One from the Vault (1975-08-13 San Francisco, released 1991-04-15) Infrared Roses (1989-1990, released 1991-11-01) Two from the Vault (1968-08-24 San Francisco, released May 1992) Dick’s Picks 1 (1973-12-19 Tampa, released 1991-10-31) Dick’s Picks 2 (1971-10-31 Columbus, released March 1995) Grayfolded (1968-1993, released 1994 and 1995) Hundred Year Hall (1972-04-26, released 1995-09-26) Dick’s Picks 3 (1977-05-22 Pembroke Pines, released 1995-11-07) Dick’s Picks 4 (1970-02-13, 14 New York, released 1996-02-23) Dick’s Picks 5 (1979-12-26 Oakland, released 1996-05-30) Dozin' at the Knick (1990-03-24 Albany (mostly), released 1996-08-29) Dick's Picks 6 (1983-10-14 Hartford, released 1996-10-07) Dick's Picks 7 (1974-09-09, 10, 11 London, released 1997-03-04) Dick's Picks 8 (1970-05-02 Binghamton, released 1997-06-14) Fallout from the Phil Zone (Various, released 1997-06-17) Terrapin Station Limited Edition (1990-03-15 Landover, released 1997-09) Dick's Picks 9 (1990-09-16 New York, released 1997-10-19) Live at the Fillmore East 2-11-69 (1969-02-11 New York, released 1997-10-28) Dick's Picks 10 (1977-12-29 San Francisco, released 1998-02-26) Dick's Picks 11 (1972-09-27 Jersey City, released 1998-06-09) Dick's Picks 12 (1974-06-26 Providence, 1974-06-28 Boston, released 1998-10-15) Dick's Picks 13 (1981-05-06 Uniondale, released 1999-03-05) Dick's Picks 14 (1973-11-30 Boston, released 1999-06-18) Dick’s Picks 14 (1973-12-02 Boston, released 1999-06-18) Dick's Picks 15 (1977-09-03 Englishtown, released 1999-10-18) So Many Roads (Various, released 1999-11-07) By Concert Date Various (released 1994 and 1995 on Grayfolded) Various (released 1997-06-17 on Fallout from the Phil Zone) Various (released 1999-11-07 on So Many Roads) 1968-08-24 Los Angeles (released 1992-05 on Two from the Vault) 1969-02-11 New York (released 1997-10-28 on Live at the Fillmore East 2-11-69) 1970-02-13, 14 New York (released 1996-02-23 on Dick's Picks 4) 1970-05-02 Binghamton (released 1997-06-14 on Dick's Picks 8) 1971-10-31 Columbus (released 1995-03 on Dick's Picks 2) 1972-04-26 Frankfurt (released 1995-09-26 on Hundred Year Hall) 1972-09-27 Jersey City (released 1998-06-09 on Dick's Picks 11) 1973-11-30 Boston (released 1999-06-18 on Dick's Picks 14) 1973-12-02 Boston (released 1999-06-18 on Dick's Picks 14) 1973-12-19 Tampa (released 1993-10-31 on Dick's Picks 1) 1974-06-26 Providence (released 1998-10-15 on Dick's Picks 12) 1974-06-28 Boston (released 1998-10-15 on Dick's Picks 12) 1974-09-09, 10, 11 London (released 1997-03-04 on Dick's Picks 7) 1975-08-13 San Francisco (released 1991-04-15 on One from the Vault) 1977-05-22 Pembroke Pines (released 1995-11-07 on Dick's Picks 3) 1977-09-03 Englishtown (released 1999-10-18 on Dick's Picks 15) 1977-12-29 San Francisco (released 1998-02-26 on Dick's Picks 10) 1979-12-26 Oakland (released 1996-05-30 on Dick's Picks 5) 1981-05-06 Uniondale (released 1999-03-05 on Dick's Picks 13) 1983-10-14 Hartford (released 1996-10-07 on Dick's Picks 6) 1989, 1990 (released 1991-11-01 on Infrared Roses) 1990-03-15 Landover (released 1997-09 on Terrapin Station Limited Edition) 1990-03-24 Albany (mostly) (released 1996-08-29 on Dozin' at the Knick) 1990-09-16 New York (released 1997-10-19 on Dick's Picks 9) This week: 1969-11-08 San Francisco (released 2000-03 on Dick's Picks 16) Next week: 1991-09-25 Boston (released 2000-04-28 on Dick's Picks 17)
Dick's Picks Volume 16 Recording date: November 8, 1969 Recording location: Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA Release date: March, 2000 Recorded by: Owsley Stanley Disc 1 First Set: "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" (Sonny Boy Williamson) – 13:33 "Casey Jones" (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 4:51 "Dire Wolf" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:24 "Easy Wind" (Hunter) – 9:02 "China Cat Sunflower" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:45 "I Know You Rider" > (traditional) – 5:40 "High Time" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:48 "Mama Tried" (Merle Haggard) – 3:10 "Good Lovin'" (Clark, Resnick) – 9:17 "Cumberland Blues" (Garcia, Hunter, Phil Lesh) – 4:19 Disc 2 Second Set: "Dark Star" > (Grateful Dead, Hunter) – 14:09 "The Other One" > (Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir) – 12:02 "Dark Star" > (Grateful Dead, Hunter) – 1:00 "Uncle John's Band Jam" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 2:33 "Dark Star" > (Grateful Dead, Hunter) – 3:05 "St. Stephen" > (Garcia, Hunter, Lesh) – 7:44 "The Eleven" > (Hunter, Lesh) – 14:01 Disc 3 "Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)" > (Garcia, Kreutzmann, Lesh, Weir) – 17:28 "The Main Ten" > (Hart) – 3:10 "Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)" > (Garcia, Kreutzmann, Lesh, Weir) – 9:02 "Feedback" > (Grateful Dead) – 7:57 "We Bid You Goodnight" (traditional) – 3:28 "Turn on Your Love Light" (Malone, Scott) – 25:29 (from November 7, 1969) One of Dick’s favorite shows and released partly as a tribute to him, this show required extensive restoration; it was full of analog ticks and they were manually removed, one at a time (the reason for the “special thanks to Jim Wise for additional editing” credit). The result is well worth the effort. Disc 1 contains the first set. It takes the tape a little while to settle down, as it sounds a little damaged at first. But the mix is good and any questions about quality quickly fade, especially for such an old recording that wasn’t intended for release. Schoolgirl includes some nice harmonica and is a fun throwback. Next it’s on to some new songs. Casey Jones goes on too long, but a long and gorgeous Dire Wolf is very welcome. Things really start to happen in Easy Wind as the band effortlessly stretches out. China>Rider is short but sweet, and High Time is always special. Good Lovin’ contains a nice jam that reminds me of a junior version of the more famous Harpur version, but Cumberland Blues is rough. While not extraordinary or particularly exploratory, it ends up being a fun set. The second set is one of the most interesting and exploratory sets of the year, if not the band’s career. It starts with a dynamic Dark Star, ranging from quiet organ-led sections to explosive guitar-driven blowouts. After the first verse it gets even further out than most, almost entering Feedback territory. It starts to build and organically turns into The Other One - this unusual transition feels very natural here. It’s not a long version but it’s intense. From there it’s briefly back to Dark Star and into a jam based on Uncle John’s Band (first the ending, then the main theme). We drop back into Dark Star for a quiet second verse, and then it’s back into more standard territory with a transition into St. Stephen and the expected subsequent Eleven. I’m always amazed at how natural the band made this odd time signature feel, and this version accomplishes that with ease; it’s a top-shelf rendition. There’s an unfortunate fade between The Eleven and Caution due to the disc break - this is one of the few unbroken Dead sequences (excluding Drums>Space) that won’t fit on a single disc; we saw another on Dick’s Picks 4 performed just a few weeks later. It’s a long, wide-ranging Caution, using tension and release to great effect. Including The Main Ten it’s a half-hour monster that never lags, almost breaking up into Feedback several times but finding its way back. Finally it does turn into Feedback, and it’s a terrifying version, truly a unique piece of music; it must have stunned the audience. We Bid You Goodnight sends the audience home with some good feelings, even if it’s a bit shaky. The third disc includes filler from the previous night, a 25-minute Pigpen-heavy Lovelight; I’m sure it was fun in person but it doesn’t translate well to tape. I never listen to it after what’s come before. Sound quality is excellent; well-balanced with every instrument clearly audible; it’s hard to believe a simple ancient two-track can sound this good. Packaging is very basic, just a couple of unrelated photos, credits and tracklist; the exquisite fractal cover makes me think of a dark star. An odd credit is “The great obstacle John Cutler.” This is one of the greatest Grateful Dead shows. In particular the second set is a cornerstone of their live performances, a relentlessly inventive and psychedelic sequence that never lets up. It doesn’t work as background music, but demands active attention. And it will reward focused listening many times over. This is one of my favorite Grateful Dead releases.
DP16 - The show in question, 11-8-69, which in all likelihood is the show Garcia refers to when he talks about eating a big dollop of icing from a cake full of acid and then believing there were assassins in the crowd who were ready to take him out if he didn't play well enough, had been one of my most beloved tapes for a while. I used to tape the Morning Dew radio show on WBAI, I remember sitting there while taping this one and just thinking 'no way!' as the jam unfolded...they're not going to go ahead and do Caution now? And what is this, the Main Ten, holy crap! When I got Deadbase, I saw what they'd played in set 1, so when I spotted this at Sam Goody a couple of years later, once again it was 'holy crap, they put this out on Dick's Picks?' and I practically ran up to the register. For the last few years I mostly listen to GD shows I haven't heard before, but I had the CD of DP16 in the car for a long time, so that was my go-to if phone battery was low or I just didn't feel like finding a show to stream. I played it again just a couple of weeks ago, (after listening to the first album and the Anthem of the sun reissues with the bonus tracks,) still an amazing jam even after hearing it so many times over the years.
I remember the insert had photos of the band (including T.C.) riding horses, not directly related to the show, but fitting for this era when they were working on introducing country material into the repertoire.
Dick’s Picks 16: 11/8/69 Fillmore Auditorium The Dick’s Picks series finally pulled from ’69 for the first time with volume 16, and it’s a treasure. It’s different enough from the previous official releases from that year (Live/Dead and the short sets from the 2/11 Janis show) to make it an interesting and excellent listen. Notes & Highlights: The sound quality is pretty good on this, considering the shape it was in originally – I didn’t need to touch my EQ and it’s clear enough. The first set is fascinating: after a Schoolgirl opener we hear the band beginning to integrate several country and folk-oriented songs that would soon become standard parts of their repertoire. It’s wild to hear such embryonic versions of stuff like Casey Jones, Dire Wolf (complete with organ jabs!), China > Rider, High Time, Mama Tried and the first ever Cumberland Blues. Some of it is ragged as hell, but that doesn’t keep it from being a real good time. This sequence (!!!): Dark Star > Other One > Dark Star > Uncle John’s Jam > Dark Star > St. Stephen > Eleven > Caution > Main Ten > Caution > Feedback > Goodnight…this is just a powerhouse showcase of primal jamming, with players tossing out ideas left and right and asking where they’ll go; since everyone is receptive and into it, the answer is: all over the place. It’s astonishing. A couple of notes: The Dark Star isn’t very interesting and is more of a launchpad for the other elements in the sequence than anything else. It gets hairy in a hurry before coalescing into a brief Feelin’ Groovy jam that drifts slowly into an interesting Other One. After teasing Feelin’ Groovy again, Phil leads them seamlessly into a brief Uncle John’s jam with the outro bassline. Outside of 5/19/77, this is the only time I’ve heard that happen, but maybe there are more instances. The Main Ten is a nice excursion in the middle of a rowdy Caution, and is basically a primordial Playin’ Jam, so we can hear the genesis of that. I understand that TPTB wanted to fill up the third disc, but the 25-minute Lovelight filler from the previous night is overkill after all that, and Pigpen raps aren’t my thing. This is a very unique show that catches the band at an important time in their history: the country-ish stuff is creeping in, but there’s still lots of wild primal jamming going on. No single song really approaches ‘favorite ever’ status for me; the AB/WD stuff is still very raw and I’ve heard versions of all the songs in the back half that I like more. That said, the big sequence is amazing and more than the sum of its parts. Definitely an essential listen, especially for those interested in tracing the evolution of their sound and repertoire.
In my early days of GD obsession (mid-‘00s) I used to play 11/8/69 frequently. Each time, the second set would freshly blow my mind. These days, I only play it once every couple of years, but I have to agree with it being an all-timer and is in my top five of the Dick’s series.
Previously posted “you know where”— Dick’s Picks 16 – Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, 08/11/69. Searing, early Primal-Dead that’ll put hairs on yer chest! Sorry neighbours . . . This is jam/improvisation heaven, it’s fierce and ferocious and at times and all at once it’s teetering-on-the-brink and tight-in-the-pocket. It’s real edge-of-your-seat stuff, which makes this one hell of an excitingly chaotic and exhilarating Pick. The 1st set features a real slow and powerfully bluesy Easy Wind, an early psychedelic rockin’ China > Rider and the first Cumberland Blues (which they’re still working out). The 2nd set (I think(?), as there was no set break), though, is just sheer staggering madness—being one hugely long and crazy, insanely exploratory, heavy and heady mega-jam; it’s pretty damn incredible. I love how Dark Star weaves in and out throughout and there’s a sweet UJB Jam slap-bang in the middle of it all. The Main Ten is good to hear, too, being so rare—an early incarnation of PITB jamming, minus the lyrics. I: Good Mornin’ Little School Girl, Casey Jones, Dire Wolf, Easy Wind, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > High Time, Mama Tried, Good Lovin’ > Drums > Good Lovin’, Cumberland Blues. II: Dark Star > The Other One > Dark Star > Uncle John’s Band Jam > Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) > The Main Ten > Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) > Feedback > And We Bid You Goodnight. Also included as a bonus track is a swaggering Turn On Your Love Light from the night before, which meanders a little, but is a remarkable 25-minutes of Pigpen mayhem.
Not much to add. What an all-timer. I so wish I could go back in time to catch one of the Fillmore West 1969 shows. My choice would probably be 2/27 but this show would get some serious consideration due to the freshness of the first set with the Workingman's Dead material working its way into the repertoire. China Cat/Rider is still in its early evolution, and I love when High Time immediately follows Rider like here. On DP4, you can hear the early notes of High Time after Rider but sadly they don't go there. Cumberland as mentioned is pretty rough mainly due to the backing "vocals" if you can call them that. But the second set is really where it's at with this Pick. One of my all time fave sequences of live, Primal Dead. "The Great Obstacle" thing... I just assumed Cutler was a douche about releasing this tape/show or getting it fixed up.
Wow. Need to dive into this monster. From my feeble googling, this is amongst the very first renditions of both the PITB jam, and the Uncle John's Band jam. Both in the context of that enormous, countinous 97 minute set two. Truly historic dead show.
This show was at the Fillmore Auditorium, 1805 Geary Blvd, billed as 'the New Old Fillmore,' and Bill Graham was not the promoter. Graham was running The Fillmore West, at the former Carousel Ballroom, 10 South Van Ness Ave at this time. Also, while this was the debut of Cumberland Blues, they'd been playing most of the other Workingman's Dead stuff in this show for a while by this point. Dire Wolf, Casey Jones and High Time had all been in the repertoire since June, and Easy Wind was first attested on September 2nd. The Main Ten shows up a few times previously in 1969, the first we have is from 2-19-69. They kind of toyed with the Uncle John's Jam a couple of other times in this era, (i.e. fall 1969,) but I believe this is the most complete version. The song itself made its debut on 12-4-69.
This was part of a lifestyle change for them, too. I think Garcia mentions that they moved up to Marin County in 1968, when the Haight scene started to get too heavy/dark (and they had a little money from Warner Brothers). That must have been quite a change after years of living the gritty, urban, struggling-musician lifestyle. I don't know if their move actually resulted in them riding horses as a regular activity, but the change of location undoubtedly brought a change of viewpoint and attitude along with it, that probably influenced the Dead's musical evolution over the next couple of years.
Sorry to go backwards here but a word about 9/3/77 Englishtown. This was a BIG Dick's Pick release for me. The Englishtown show was one of the 1st Dead tapes I got. I remember looking at a friends vast collection and seeing Englishtown on a tape cover. Wow! that's practically a home show! I'll take that one along with 5 or 6 others and off I went to make copies. Now my friend only had one tape of Englishtown so the show was incomplete. I think it had Loser thru the end of Not Fade Away. It then faded and morphed into A Love Scene from Zabriskie Point. ( It was actually an amazing edit job!!) So that was all I had of this show. As I got more and more into collecting and expanding my collection and sources I was always on the lookout for more of the Englishtown show. No matter who I traded with I could never find the complete show. I would get maybe a song or two here or different edit job there or one with a little better or worse quality but never the whole thing. I always held up hope that someday I would get the whole thing. Then Dick's Picks came around!! This show was tailor made for Dick's Picks. It was great quality, it was complete and it was sought after. I can't remember which interview it was in but early in the series Dick made a point of saying that Englishtown was going to be heard like it was never heard before. I was ecstatic!! I can't speak for everyone else, but I don't think a lot of people had the whole show?? At least the people in my trading group didn't and I was trading with people from all over the country. I was soooo pumped when it arrived in the mail. I can say without a doubt that out of ALL the official releases, Englishtown was the most prized. I mean each Dick's Picks was incredible and there were shows I was excited to have but Englishtown marked all the boxes for me. It was rare, it was complete, the sound was amazing and the show was hot, hot, HOT! Holy crap listening to the Promised Land, 1/2 Step, Minglewood and Music Never Stopped for the 1st time made the hairs stand up! My tape of the 2nd set was good quality but it was nothing compared to the quality of this. So yeah!! Dick's Pick 15 is probably my favorite official release I've purchased from The Grateful Dead including shows I attended and I've been very lucky in that they've officially released 5 complete shows and a handful of other 'clips' of shows I've been to. And speaking of 'clips'.... I like the So Many Roads box set. Let's face it, not every show is worthy of a stand alone release. However there are a ton of moments, highlights and clips that definitely are worthy of release. I think the So Many Roads box does a great job of getting those musical highlights out in the world. Some of those clips are freaking legendary!! People may have heard of these jams or highlights but they've never actually had the chance to actually listen to them. I had read about the Watkins Glenn Jam and I had heard about The Beautiful Jam but I had never actually had the chance to listen to them. I had a crappy version of the Dark Star>US Blues jam that I used as filler for another tape and I had an off-speed recording of the Shakedown from 12/31/84 both of which were in desperate need of an upgrade. I was at the show that the Playin was taken from on 7/29/88 and while it was great, I don't think the whole show was worthy of a release. The SMR Box helped fill in those gaps and upgrades. People sometimes forget that before the internet/digital era, there really was no way to listen to all this music other than trading tapes or buying official or bootleg recordings. I think they could have done a SMR II. It was a great way to get these nuggets of music out to the fans. I think they did a great job mining these gems from ALL eras. There's a little bit of everything in this release. Now I don't think this is a Box set for the casual fan. This is for people with a little more Dead experience under their belts. There is history and lore in some of these Jams that a casual fan might not understand. It might have gone a little heavy into the later years with Disc 5 but those are nuggets from that era of the Grateful Dead and while some fans might not be as into it as they are the older stuff, I feel that they are worthy of being included and keeping in line with the overall theme of the Box. Overall, I was happy with purchasing this Box and I got a lot out of it!
By the way, for any who may not know, the old Fillmore Auditorium, at Geary and Fillmore, started having shows again in the late 80s and continues to host shows as "The Fillmore" to this day (with the caveat that I don't know if they've had any yet since the pandemic started).
So there's a powers-of-two thing going with Dick's Picks. Volumes 2, 4, 8, and 16 were all astounding releases, jam-filled monsters. Dick's Picks 32 is going to be amazing, right? (You didn't expect math in this thread...)
Yes I will take volume 1 and volume 12 over volume 2, Dark star notwithstanding, ( though 12 has Dark Star.)
If we were rating each release I could run the values through some analysis and graphing software, and I'm sure it would tell us something. We could come up with a best-fit fomula. And then extrapolating that to Dave's Picks we'd be able to figure out the next release!
So Many Roads (1965-1995) Lagging behind, as usually... Anyway I don't do listening week by week, so I'll have to do a short write-up from my memory. This was one of my earliest forays into GD territory a after filling up the "basic" live and studio discography spots. As I was foremost drawn to the primal era back then, I mostly dug the first two discs. But all of these contain great pieces of music. 67-68 material from the disc 1 is fantastic. Disc 2 is/was a big highlight of the release. Killer selections all around! Nowadays it doesn't seem as important, as through the years many of these selections became part of more complete releases. Still the Watkins Glen soundcheck jam is essential, and also 1974 Jai Alai Fronton, for those (like me) that are not subscribed to DaPs is essential. All revelatory stuff back then. I mean, a real face melting That's It For The Other One from Feb 1969 Fillmore West. Beautiful jam, well, they nailed it with this selection. I must say that Sing Me Back Home works 100x better in the context of the complete show. It never fully clicked with me until I heard the complete Veneta show, where it is one of the clear highlights for me. Maybe this very fact is one of the biggest drawback of release, or releases like this in general: too many scattered performance presented out of their original context. Anyway... EOTW is clear highlight of disc 3, and the rest is very strong. Disc 4 contains a killer 1985 Cassidy, a killer and out-there PITB from 1988, and a ripping Death Don't Have No Mercy from 1989. Bird song is also essential but again, it was later featured as a part a complete Spring 1990 release. Disc 5, well... It's OK I guess. I enjoy it for the most part but is still probably the weakest one for me. All in all, I reckon this was an absolutely essential release back in the day, but nowadays it has lost its significance with so much other stuff released. Overall rating: 4/5
