It made me revisit the 9/3/67 Rio Nido show....another very relaxed show, which has some long meandering jams. They stretch out more than in earlier '67 shows....not so intense, but more exploratory. The one-drummer period ends with 10/22/67 Winterland (it seems Mickey didn't fully join for a month or so)...then you get the November Shrine shows and the "27 January" tape with two drummers, and the jams are heavier and generally longer....they jump from 10-minute Alligators to 30-minute Alligator>Cautions... Mickey rejoining in '76 may have slowed the band down, but when he joined in '67 they didn't change direction so much, just accelerated their progression into heavy acid-rock suites with nonstop jamming.
I usually check out the FOB option first in 80s recordings, if there is one. Except in 87 the Ultramatrices sound really good when those are there. I realize what I've bolded is the 'throwaway' part of your comment, and represents a change of subject, but I was planning to make the point anyway that listening to the first half of 76 (by which I mean the first 22 shows so far in June and July,) I would dispute that narrative. I've actually been quite surprised by how reminiscent of 74 a lot of the jamming is in tunes like Playing in the Band and Slipknot! While maybe not quite as out there as 73-74, it's certainly far more reminiscent of what came before vs. what came after, and there's still an openness in 76 that would ossify more or less continually through the rest of their career. I'm sure there's something to it, you can't just entirely dismiss the testimony of the people who were involved with it as it happened, of course, and however they sounded in 76, it wasn't long before that quality was lost or at least radically diminished (though again, a quandary, in a band that changed its sound so frequently, who's to say it wouldn't have been lost 3 years later even if Mickey never came back?) Like a lot of the story with this band, a complex phenomenon seems to have gotten tagged with a simplistic explanation. Which is really my long-winded way of saying 'If you're like me and like 74 but don't really like 77, then you should still check out 76 if you haven't because there are some really '74' qualities in 76.' I don't mean to fault anyone for using the commonplaces that develop around the band, just a reminder that there's always something there with this bunch, some countervalent strain that's worth considering and investigating. (oye, listen to me, I can tell already I'm probably going to be typing here in a month or two 'maybe Cornell really is the best GD show ever...' )
If anyone is interested, it seems the Real Gone Music store on EBay got some copies of Dick's Picks 36 in. They are selling for 46.98 with free shipping. Pretty good deal, usually sells for twice as much.
"Into the Dark." That's great. I hadn't seen this before. Is this clip the origin of the whole "playing poorly at the big gigs" myth?
Until relatively recently I was pretty dismissive of '76. Going back to it with an open mind, though, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of some of the '76 shows. There are moments in '76 that could rank among the band's best. (Though that could probably be said of nearly any year, to be fair.)
Actually I agree with that -- 1976 still has a lot of the '74 zigzag freedom in it, unexpected transitions, random improvs. "We couldn't turn corners anymore with Mickey" isn't entirely true. 1977 is when they really start to ossify. That said, don't you think a lot of the early '76 shows are kind of sluggish? I won't say Mickey's entirely responsible for that, but it is one distinguishing feature of June '76. And in the years afterwards, the Dead gravitated to increasingly heavy, steady beats that dragged a lot of the music down. (Though you can also point to a countervailing trend, their music gaining added weight and power.)
My favorite set of that tour- and the best I can think of from 1994- was set II of 10-05-1994 at the Philly Spectrum. Just good playing, even given that Garcia's guitar playing ability was attenuated at that point. And Vince fits right in.
1976 has some good stuff, but I may have been initially cool to that year after having a middle of the road reaction to Dicks's 20 (9/25 & 9/28). Some great sandwiches to be had that year.
Yes Sir! My Uncle had a box at Nassau Coliseum. I got to see a lot of those early 80's Islanders games. Got to meet a lot of the players. The 83 All Star game I got to meet Gretzky after the game. A heady time for me. A few years later I started seeing the Grateful Dead in hockey rinks. I've always thought hockey players/fans who are also deadheads are just about the coolest people in the world.
Late to the party as usual, but I just heard the 3/23/1975 Blues for Allah for the first time. Wow! Just wow! Naturally just the sort of thing they'd stick on a bonus disc, which arrived in physical form at Casa KCWhistle yesterday. Worth the price of admission for sure, and I was already pretty happy about the 10/17/1974 Weather Report Suite. I had a hankering for studio Dead earlier this week and listened to Terrapin Station and From the Mars Hotel. This band really could make very good studio albums.
1976 is one of my favorite GD years. I love the JGB-style vibe. It's a year for interesting jams/segues and adventurous, yet delicate jamming. It is not a good "rocking out" year though. There are plenty of other years for that.
That 75 set is quite interesting. Just think of it. They hadn't played live in months. This is an all star benefit for a crowd of 60000 and what do they do? They play a brand new piece with lots of weirdness. My brother was there. When I heard a recording about a month later I was floored. They did do johnny b good though so that got the crowd going. I have two original posters for this.
Yes. Shout out to '76. But I still ordered the new 77' DP. Went to the gym when it went on sale trying to avoid the purchase and save some money since I just ordered a double LP of Screamadelica last night (Sony, analog, from original stampers), but dead.net (darn them) put an email in my inbox and it was not sold out, so I figured it was a sign from Jerry.
One kidney or both? This is one I'd love to have on CD. And yes, that 10/17/74 WRS is great. Phil pegs the meters more than a few times.
I actually can't wait to listen to it again tomorrow, and I'm not generally one who needs to hear the same half hour of GD music two days in a row. It's like the perfect combination of weirdness and focus. Focused weirdness. It has a real sense of direction. I can see why it didn't become part of the regular rotation. Makes this one all the more special. Ha! No kidneys, believe it or not. Maybe something less critical, like a small toe. I justified it by having also gotten a ridiculous deal on the Rockin' the Rhein bonus disc the day before. I definitely noticed Phil on that WRS! The Shakedown Street is great, too.
Respect. In the 90's I saw a few shows at Nassau from the press level, which was above the upper level and basically hanging from the roof. Lining the hallways up there were photographs of the great Islander players from 10 years earlier, so much history. Best of all there was only a small group of us in the whole press level with a bird's-eye view of the whole event, giving us room to spread out to party and dance, no security, and empty bathrooms. Blessed times!
I was 15, so I was not allowed to go, but a local FM station broadcast the whole thing and it was a real blast. All SF Bay Area bands/artists except surprise guest Dylan (and non-musical WTF guest Marlon Brando). It was a special place to live back in those days. A great day; even the weather cooperated if I remember correctly. No one thought to bring a video camera. This is a pretty good recap. Dylan, Brando and Co. Work for Snack – Rolling Stone
Interesting article, thanks for sharing. This was a funny quote: “The reunited Dead came on to enthusiastic cheers. Their set was entirely taken up with “Space Age,” a long, noodling space shuffle written for the event. But their encore, “Johnny B. Goode,” had people pouring down the aisles from the grandstands to the stadium floor.”
