Audience recordings must be met with a different set of ears and expectations than SBD's. AUD's capture a different picture of the music, including the room and audience. It does take a shift in perspective to appreciate audience recordings, and if you are not able to make that inner shift it's all good.
Really good interview with Mickey Hart from 2004 on Jeffrey Mishlove’s wonderful New Thinking Allowed youtube channel.
Agreed and well put. Sometimes it takes me a song or two to adjust, but once I do I really love good AUD recordings. I also tend to listen to them more on my headphones for some reason.
That one made it to the Elite 8 in our Peggy-O Tournament last year. See here: Grateful Dead 2018 Peggy-O Funiculi Funicula Four Tournament And with good reason. It's perhaps not the most overall fantastic version, but Jerry does pull off some great stuff.
At least part of that is new, I used to leave an open window with multiple tabs with the archive playing, since about 3-4 months ago it will only play the next track if I am typing or surfing in a second window, whereas before I used to be able to use the same window with a different tab. Certain shows I do have to click back each track. Since I started a new job and am out on the road most days I've been burning shows from the archive (not sbds, of course not, because that's completely totally impossible, of course.) to listen to in the car.
I was listening to 5-10-72 today, which was quite nearly just too much. I spotted this beer in the store, and it was a natural choice.
The 8/6/71 AUD is the exception rather than the rule, IMO. But sometimes an AUD is all we have. SPAC, 6/18/83 is a fine example. That show was life-changing for me, but none of the tapes do it justice. Still, I'd rather have something rather than nothing, if only to remind myself that I'm not completely nuts for thinking what I think.
Thank you guys for being patient...I finally got Round 3 underway for the mega meltdown tournament! 2019 Grateful Dead Tournament - Best Meltdown Ever! Please stop by and vote. It's easy to participate. The links to archive.org are there. Just click and listen. As a side note, saw JRAD at Stanford the other night, they were very good! It's on YouTube too!
Listen to Jerry Moore's recordings from Jai Alai Fronton 1974, Joani Walker's New Year's '79 run in Oakland, Menke/Falanga's 9/28/75 Golden Gate Park, for a few examples of great AUD's that come to mind. 6/14/68 Fillmore East AUD isn't exactly hi-fi, but it's a great capture of the Primal Dead that sounds amazing to me thru headphones. Often, an AUD in the '80s or '90s will sound better than the boards. Joani is usually a good bet. The Oade brothers sometimes made nice pulls. Tony Suraci made a lot of tapes in the '80s that I've enjoyed. There's one AUD from St. Paul in the early '80s recorded near the speakers on the upper level, behind the stage, that I liked--I think it was '81, but I'm not sure. Also, Noah Weiner's Dead Listening Guide is a good source for AUD tips.
It’s 7.10am and I’m on my way to Ireland and I’m listening to DaP 13 for the first time. WHAT A SHOW. China>Rider was hot hot hot but the Playing is out of this world. Absolutely incredible stuff.
Where in Ireland are you headed? Leo Burdock’s? If I just lived across the Irish Sea, I’d hop a quick flight just for some Leo’s and an afternoon in Dublin...
Right on. And it also has Phil and Friends and JRAD plus others Doesn't that mean that you hear every transition and song-to-song with a 2sec gap?
I love the AUD of 5-8-77 that I have. I think it was taped by Jerry Moore. It doesn't sound objectively better than the SBD in any way (clarity, dynamic range, whatever) but I love the way you hear the energy in the crowd building as Jerry gets deeper and deeper into "NFA". It's not a case of "The crowd went wild!" but there's something about the audience noise you can hear that sort of raises the level of anticipation. I'll try to post a link later if I get a chance.
SPAC '83 is one of those audience tapes where you can hear what an amazing performance it was, but the actual sound of the tape is not that pleasant (IMO).
I think the source thing (AUD vs SBD vs Matrix) is clearly a matter of taste, for sure. It seems like a lot of the love for AUD’s is based on simulating “being there” since the crowd becomes a performer and contributor to the listening experience. Which I get, and I dig a little crowd noise in a live recording - I mean, there was a crowd there. That said, and I’ll probably come across as curmudgeonly or something, but I’m not a big one for crowds going nuts when the music starts getting hot. Just my preference, and I’m not trying to upset or offend anyone by saying this - not looking to start an argument or anything. When I’m at a show and something great starts happening (guitar solo, drums, keys, etc etc), I kind of want to hear it, rather than the guy next to me screaming with joy and whistling in my ear. And that guy can’t hear it over his yells either. I mean, sure it’s fun to cheer here and there, and certainly after songs or as they’re wrapping up, but there are shows I’ve been to and heard where it was just over the top and I’m not sure how anyone heard anything. It’s like the guy at a Primus show that shouts “Primus Sucks!” about 1,500 times for each song. I also get that the Dead fed off of crowd energy and probably we’d have had different performances with less rowdy crowds. The extreme version of that though is why The Beatles said “sod it” and quit playing live altogether.
Type "Grateful Grabber" into your Googles and see what happens. It's not hard to search, true, but there are some steps involved. I generally find myself opening each source in a new tab and then having to flip between them to figure out which one I should be focusing on. Relisten seems way easier, as it's just clicking and scrolling within a single tab. Personal preferences, etc. YES YES YES. His podcasts are frequent go-to listening for me at bedtime. Those have been helpful for me in gaining an appreciation for the different ways audience recordings can sound good or provide an interesting listening experience. I also started checking those out fairly early in my period of getting reacquainted with and getting deeper into the GD, and they were really enlightening and helpful in getting me to open my ears to years that I might not otherwise have thought to explore. I still think the original albums (especially the Warner-era live albums) are the best starting point for new listeners in terms of getting familiar with the repertoire, but as a potential roadmap for further exploration, one could do a whole lot worse than those podcasts. I think very highly of them. I only wish there were more!
