1991...one of the best shows they ever played...you've got to be trolling. (Other than CC Rider and Around & Around, that setlist does look pretty hot, though.) For me, the best improvisation starts with leaving the structure of the song and going off in an uncharted direction. That's why I view the 60s/70s vs. the 80s/90s the way I do, and it ties in with that you're saying. They could play the same song every night, but if they consistently leave that song behind and head off into new territory, I'm on board. Playing different songs every night, but rarely stepping off the edge of the cliff, certainly has its merits but to me that's not the GOGD at their best.
91 is definitely in my top 10 of GD years. 6th or 7th maybe, depending on my mood. Higher than most of the 80s and at least one year of the 70s. I wouldn't have ever thought I would type this, but Around and Around is can't miss in 91. I generally agree with what you write about improv, though the point of drums and space is they step off the cliff at least at that designated point every single night. (They stuck to the script a lot in the 70s as well, deep space improvs are typically confined to Dark Star or Truckin>Other One, and Playin in the Band, etc.) But I won't argue the statement that they were still more free and unpredictable in the 70s, I just found myself surprised that even that was more limited than I expected. The main difference is they were listening to each other more in the 70s, and in the 80s with Garcia more out of it, Bobby's rock star showman side took on an even larger role etc. One of the things about 91 is Hornsby changed the dynamic of their feedback with each other.
Plenty of folks see late-90-91 as a high water mark for the era. And I've got a different working definition of 'trolling' apparently. I remember a dude who lived near the Grapevine in Southern California who (in early 1991) was very emphatic that the Hornsby ensemble was his favorite and he started seeing them regularly with TC in the band. We lost touch decades ago, so I don't have an update on his final GD rankings. But as a snapshot in time it's illustrative of how exciting that transition from Brent to post-Brent was. There was a different energy pulsing through the old songbook and everything was supercharged for a relatively short but glorious period of time. GD being the GD the ennui always won out, but man - the night to night excitement of those tours in 90/91 was really something else. They were confident and they were frisky. Anyhow, bring it on. If they can make it sound good for purely selfish reasons I'm all behind a Sandstone or Orlando 91 release as folks have suggested in these parts, but there are highlights galore throughout Spring/Summer 91.
What sets the 90s (and even 80s, but perhaps to a lesser degree depending on year) back the most is the lack of space in the recordings. This is due to several factors, but mostly due to everyone simply playing too much and not leaving any space. The space between notes and instruments is what makes prime 70s GD so incredible; they all had restraint (well, Phil, but you know...). In the 90s, this curses everyone. You've got two drummers, which to my ears never really worked (I'm not speaking about the 60s). The keyboardists are obvious culprits; Bruce is known for this, of course, and so the Vince/Bruce shows are often just a caucophony to me, but even Brent takes up A LOT more space than prime Keith (with his vocals too!). I don't know if Bob is necessarily playing more, but his tone occupies more real estate then before he turned on the distortion. And we've talked about Jerry's tone and habit of resorting to 'mucho notes'. The best GD to me is a soothing, but still incredibly intricate and absorbing, experience, especially on headphones (where most of my listening is done). The 90's sacrifice space and nuance for lots of stuff happening constantly. That also explains why the only 90s I've really gotten into are the anithesis examples: Jerry and Bruce on that gorgeous, sparse, post-Let it Grow MSG road trips jam, for example.
I can definitely agree with that assessment of the 90s. I listened to that 10-15-94 show and there were times where I though Phil was overdoing it, though I find Vince is more reserved on his own than Brent ever was. (With Hornsby he's sometimes intrusive because of some of the dopey sounds which are not really his fault.) 1991 is 'Baroque Dead' for sure.
Ha! It's all good. There was a high probability you were correct, even if you were only being facetious, but I have made a conscious effort to limit that kind of behavior here. Anyway, there are a lot of '91 shows I enjoy, but beyond that I am clueless apart from the few shows that I actually attended.
The proprietor of the Save Your Face blog has made a similar claim that the closest to the open space of the 70s was 93-94 after Hornsby was gone. I haven't listened to enough of the era to argue either way, but the compilations SYF has put together definitely makes me think he's onto something.
If the Dead won't put out official compilations (aside from distilled versions of boxes, like last year's GREAT PNW sampler), at least we can be grateful that that guy is doing it. His October 94 set is a treasure.
That’s why I prefer where the band was headed after Bruce bolted, he crowded things. The glimmer of direction we saw between then and Jerry’s demise was very promising( even if I didn’t like the tone of the newer guitars) and if it was given the opportunity to blossom it would’ve been a great run to the new millennium
Very well said. To me the worst culprit in taking up space is the two drummer setup (and, like you, I'm not talking about the 60s).
A Dead podcast I listen to recently featured some Europe '90 tour selections (after an interview with a guy from a UK tribute band): Brokedown Podcast: UK Dead with The Grateful Dudes This lineup's sound is certainly cluttered, there's so much going on at a given time it can be overwhelming. That being said, and while I'm much more a fan of 60's and 70's Dead, I can find something to dig in the sonic extremity of this lineup. It's dizzying (and when you throw in the MIDI it can be difficult to tell who's playing what) but they're trying something different. Weir's compressed and distorted guitar tone, the synths, the booming double drums - so much of it is totally inappropriate to that Americana side of The Dead's repertoire in particular, it's just bizarre. Check out how Bruce takes over the jam out of the 10/30/90 "Let It Grow," throwing out ideas left and right. It seems like his presence really pushed them to step out on the edge more than they had been with Brent. Unfortunately it leads to a pretty "meh" Bruce tune in the end (I never got into his stuff), but wow, he has to be the most technically adept member of the band not only at that time but maybe ever?
Currently enjoying 6/18/76 Capitol Theatre (Download Series Vol. 4). I’m deep into the first set - it took several songs for me warm to it but now I’m in.
Now listening to 4/23/77[Springfield Civic Center Springfield Massachusetts]on TIGDH on SiriusXM's Grateful Dead channel via the webstream now playing Help On The Way/Slipknot.
Is that 4/25/77? It was the next Playing after 4/22 (three days later). Since I don't have 30 Trips, I listened to the (unfortunately low quality) archive source and it's an interesting version with Keith doing that weird Polymoog stuff he did on the early shows of the tour, but no Tiger that I noticed.
6/22/76 PITB > Drums > The Wheel > PITB via Download Series Vol. 4 bonus tracks. Not a pre-hiatus Playing but it still gets weird.
