Let's talk about The Grateful Dead (studio, live, and side projects)

i was waiting for that...

I'm thinking that with the plethora of live releases post-Jerry, that the thread should be only releases that came out up to 1991's Infared Roses (the last release of new music when Jerry was alive), but including the 2 Studio Box Sets and So Many Roads.

If it were opened up to Dick's Picks and From The Vault releases it would be too huge, and likely open up lots of discussion about non-released circulating tapes that participants may not be able to hear.

I've never helmed and album by album thread, and am honestly daunted by the prospect. If there was concensus about what's fair game and there's interest, I might dive into it!

Thoughts?

 

MikeP's already done an excellent thread on live "vault" releases and dick's picks, but a thread on the "main" albums (so, for instance, including LIVE DEAD but not ONE FROM THE VAULT) would be cool.

stevie

 

That's true -- thanks for the reminder. MikeP'd thread is excellent!

 

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't get the point of those album by album threads. Well, maybe it isn't that I don't get them, it's just kind of a pain to follow through with them. I follow them for a little while, but they seem to peter out at a certain point. Say you have a 25 page album by album thread on Bowie and you only want to know about Station to Station. You have to wade through pages to find it. Or somebody will be late to the party and post about an album that was discussed several pages back.

I guess the other alternative would be to post a single thread about each album, which I think would be great. But then we'd clutter the place with Dead threads.

 

These threads work best when they turn into a long and lively conversation with a core set of ongoing contributers and then with others coming in and out as the thread gets to albums they have something to say about. Some peter out or never get to a critical mass of committed participants, or because those who participate don't have much more to say than "I love this album, his or her best since.....and X, Y, and Z are the best songs" or "I hate this album, a real comedown from.....and X, Y, and Z are particularly lame."

The by now long-running Dylan thread and the one that trawled through the REM catalog a few years back are perfect examples of how engaging and informative these threads can be when they take off.

A Dead thread could be interesting. My preference would be to take on all the regular label live and studio releases (including the "Vault" and later live records like "Dozing at the Knick," but not the Dicks Picks or Road Trips series) in order of recording date, treating reissued albums them in their present form with bonus cuts, etc., and only treating things like the "So Many Roads" box, which contains material from many different eras, according to release date.

L.

 

Definitive? I refer you to 09.03.77-Dick's Pick 15. Best Eyes ever...just exactly perfect and likes to be turned up loud...which is nice

 

I am a complete newbie to the Dead but I picked up the Complete Winterland '73 set today. Really good stuff.

 

Welcome aboard the bus! Feel free to stand, sit or groove.

Or if that doesn't float your boat, feel free to walk around with a bucket on your head....

 

Not only is the music outstanding, the sound on that set--third night in particular--is stellar.

Nice score.

 

They're both at the top of the list in my book..

5/18/77 also had a great Eyes..

 

Eyes? I've been listening to DP25. The Eyes from 5/10/78 is full of energy. It bounces along at a rather quick pace and features some fine interplay between the band members. Unfortunately, the spirited drums that follows begins to lose inspiration and starts to really drag after a while.

 

I think the boys were particularly...er....loose that night. Lots of funny interplay as well. Must have been the roses.

 

Yah, I did notice that Phil threw in a number of interesting tidbits that night. Great show!

 

8/6/74 = best "Eyes" ever

 

5/18/77 is one of my favorite Dead shows. My favorite Lazy Lightning>Supplication is from this show. Also killer versions of The Music Never Stopped, Jackaroe, and the powerhouse second set jam with Estimated>Eyes>Drums>The Other One. The only downer is Stella Blue, which sounds like the band took a communal nap....a well-earned nap though.

And let's not forget the lovely "Roses" and "High Time" from set 1, and the "Brokedown Palace" encore. Jerry must have been feeling somewhat introspective for this show.

 

Ah...Could be..
I prefer..6/18/74 from Louisville...

 

I'm game. It would be a goodie.There'd undoubtedly be mentions of the DP's etc augmenting the official released albums and eras. Just getting a structure mapped out would take some planning.

Would we start with 1st album? or Emergency Crew/Warlocks from "So Many Roads", or Mother Macree's Uptown Jug Champions? (They haven't officially released those Garcia/Hunter/Nelson bluegrass or Phil Lesh San Mateo High School band tapes, have they??)
There have been threads discussing differences in the mixes and re-mixes of "Anthem" and "Aoxomoxoa", but a comprehensive look at music, lyrics and the times would be good.
Solo albums along the way like Garcia's "Wheel" and Weir's "Ace" and Hart's "Rolling Thunder" and Lesh's "Seastones" would have to weigh in, as would the Dead Movie (maybe they'll surprise us and release Sunshine Daydream next month.)

Food for thought..! Anybody else interested in the not-tooooo-distant future??

 

BTW, there was a tape 93(?), where an interviewer said DeadHeads wanted to know the reason why, of all the cosmic jamming songs over the years, Cassidy had never segued into another tune. The band's giggles turned to laughter as the interviewer apparently waited quietly. Finally one of the band said, "It never occurred to us" to more laughter, then "That's a good idea." They made a jam sandwich out of it onstage the following week.
Maybe it hadn't occurred to us.

 

It could be a great thread, especially if we'd include all the Dick's Picks and other Vault releases as well. It should keep the Deadheads of this board busy for quite some time.

 

Agreed, it's a fantastic show that seems to get lost with all the other great shows around it.

I actually prefer it over 5/19/77, and it's right there with 5/21 IMO.

Nothing beats 5/22/77 for me though..

 

Speaking of 1977, I've been re-visiting the 1977 NYE run lately (12/27, 12/29, 12/30, 12/31) and there's some incredible playing in these shows..I'm not sure if there's one show that stands head and shoulders above the rest (historically most folks have always said 12/29 was THE show of that run-I tend to disagree)

12/30 may be the best of the bunch IMO. Killer 1st set on par with the great 1st set from 12/29, but the 2nd set tops 12/29 to my ears.

12/31 has another great 1st set and one of my favorite Scarlet>Fire's. 12/27 is maybe the weakest show, (though still a great listen!) and has a stunning version of "Wharf Rat". Good stuff!

 

I just want to say: a person can get completely lost (in a good way) in threads like this. It's kind of mind-boggling to think about all the great Dead music I haven't heard. And I'm someone with a healthy collection of officially-released stuff.

So now there's several versions of "Eyes: that I need to hear today.

So, thanks, I think.

 

4 really nice podcasts on this deep listening guide:

http://deadlistening.blogspot.com/

 

Grateful Dead album-by-album thread

This has been gnawing at me all night. Unless someone beats me to it, I'll try to set a GRATEFUL DEAD album-by-album thread up in the next week or so. I'll try to whip up a chronological era/recording list of the studio and various lives, Vault (and Views), and Dp's, and solo projects. I'd like to leave some breathing room for the earliest days and your thoughts on their influence on later years. We had a forum member mention in a recent thread being at one of the early Acid-Tests, and I'd LOVE to incorporate this kind of 'ground-zero' insight into the thread.

 

This webpage is I think pretty comprehensive, and a good one page quick reference guide. It gives the dates of the shows on DPs, vaults, etc., and so should be pretty easy to copy, paste and resort into proper order.

http://www.dancingbear.dk/gdfiles/DISCOGRAPHY.HTM

Would be a great thread!
Stevie

stevie