Europe '72 Vol. 2 is, to put it crudely, one grade level better than the original Europe '72, in my admittedly saturated opinion. Steppin' Out is a 4-CD compilation set of approximately the same caliber, with more material. That said, the E72 Vol.2 "Dark Star>>Other One" (segued- acceptably well- into "Sing Me Back Home" from a different night, on Vol. 2) from the Bickershaw Festival has to be heard to be believed. It amazes me that Garcia could summon that intensity of playing only a month after Glastonbury. He sounds like this On Rockin' The Rhein, the Dead do "Truckin'" the way it's supposed to be done. I mean, I like the Europe '72 version, but it mellows out and gets spacey and ruminative a little too fast for my preference. Whereas the "Truckin'" from Dusseldorf just outright rocks.
Which of the 'Road Trips' series REALLY stand out? I already have these: Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 2 (Carousel 2-14-68) Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 2 (Austin Auditorium 11-15-71) I am able to get I believe all of them that were released up until 2011. I would like to just try a few of the very best ones, keeping mind which ones I might like the best, please. Any recommendations?
I won't argue the point, but when we were Sophomore's (wise fools), E72 was the bees knees, and nobody knew from the rest of the Yurp shows. Except for 18 May 1972 II which I had on tape.
"... the corn on the cob and the potato salad!" How about that! That is exactly what I always say! (better...?) (BTW, I saw that you cleaned it up at the last moment after I copied it ) Seriously though, those look like AWESOME sets that you listed above. I will absolutely do my best to find those if I don't already have them.
Vol.4 No.1 Big Rock Pow Wow - Orange Sunshine all around CD 1: May 23, 1969 1. Hard To Handle (See disc 3 for the tracks between ...) 2. Dark Star 3. St. Stephen 4. The Eleven 5. Turn On Your Lovelight CD 2: May 24, 1969 1. Introduction 2. Turn On Your Lovelight 3. Doin' That Rag 4. He Was A Friend Of Mine 5. China Cat Sunflower 6. The Eleven 7. Death Don't Have No Mercy ...Continued on disc 3 CD 3: May 23, 1969 1. Morning Dew 2. Me and My Uncle 3. Yellow Dog Story May 24, 1969 4. Alligator 5. Drums 6. St. Stephen 7. Feedback 8. We Bid You Goodnight This release does not contain a bonus disc.
Well, once you get into the '70s, just know that you will encounter some Country/Americana, especially in the first sets of the shows. You'll have to learn to tolerate them, maybe grow to like some of them, or else program them out. You have two good representatives of '68 and '71, there. I would say, if you like 2/14/68, go ahead and dig into all of the '68 and early '69 that you can find. You'll probably love it. Jerry called '71 Dead the "saloon band"; I like to think of it as rough n' ready, roadhouse rock--with some cosmic psych. Listen to what you have. It should tell you whether to proceed in that year. I think the RT 3-3 is the best of 1970. Know that there is an acoustic set, as they were breaking in the Americana material. You'd probably like the jams from '72-73, but I don't know if there is an option that cuts out the cowboy/folkie tunes for you. For '74, try the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack or Dick's 31, two curated sets that focus mainly on the jams--but not entirely.
First off the versions of Miss Half Step on Dicks Picks 1 (fall 73) and Englishtown 77 (DP 15) have enough balls in them to spare if you do rip yours off. Listen to the Jerry solos. 2nd what you want and don't want is a lot of what 73-74 has to offer. One of my favorites is DP 19 from Oct 73. For you throw the first disc away, on disc 2 go to the PITB and then sit back and have your mind blown for all of Disc 3. I safe bet for 74 would be RT vol 2 #3 from June 74. The Jam from WRS to one of the all time best Other Ones to It's A Sin Jam is amazing. The vol 2 set of Europe 72 has a Dark Star into Other One from the Bickershaw fest. They were on the bill with Captain Beefheart and Dr. John during his heavy psych voodoo period so the Dead were inspired that night to be more weird and heavy than the rest. Safe bets for you (and many peoples gateway in the Dead I am sure) would be lots of 68-69 and a deep dive into Spring 77. Daves Picks Vol 6 if you can track one down has a late 69 and early 70 show with two Dark Stars that get pretty heavy.
My review of 3/17/68: Turn on Your Lovelight, let it shine. Pigpen begging - pleading - demanding - grooving. Bay-area white boys indulging in an orgy of soul. Feel it, smell it. Bobby joins in the chanting, "Shine on ME!!" Jerry bends his strings in response to the gospel fury around him. The climax arrives - Set 1 is over...Only we've just begun... Are you ready? Let's go for a ride on the stranger side of things. The beats. The blues. LSD - the unknown frontier. That's it for the Other One: Jerry brings us there and then BOOM!! Off we go to the land of Cowboy Neil (Cassady) and buses to never-ever land. Did a rainbow explode? What did the Spanish lady give me?? We're off the deep end now - the trip has begun. Jerry's back and tells us that, "He had to die"...why? The sound slowly melts into the soothing strains of New Potato Caboose. Now we are floating on rippling waves of electric vibrations as The Dead gratefully tickle our gray matter with their psychedelic ruminations. The energy surges and surges as the music rises to an overwhelming crescendo and then...SLAM!!...a final chord sounds, then silence, then... That riff. It sticks in the mind and never lets go. China Cat Sunflower emerges like a fresh spring blossom in April. This early version surges with forceful acid-rock fury and speed. The boys power through the song with youthful intensity and reckless abandon. As we get lost in the ecstasy a darker, more exotic theme emerges - this is no Spanish Jam folks. A unique middle-eastern groove snakes its way through the rivers of rhythm that the drummers create. We are virtually transported to Babylon and visions of flying carpets. This rare jam eventually melds into the joyous and melodic strains of another signature acid-era Dead staple: The Eleven. We can do nothing but smile as the notes go flying by and weave a web of delight around our heads. When the jams switches to it's darker outro section something unlikely happens. Lovelight has already been played tonight and Death Don't Have No Mercy was not yet ready for Jerry's masterful interpretations. No, tonight we are in for a treat. The Grateful Dead aren't letting you off easy. It's time for a trip to the bayou. The band is ready to take you to the land of Voodoo and alligators, gypsy women and age-old mojo. This is to be a Caution for the AGES. The final half-hour of our adventure will be a never ending stew of mind-altering soundscapes, deep swampy blues, and improvisations bordering on the edge of insanity. Every time you begin to get into a comfortable groove - letting Pigpen lay down some mojo like no other - the band will rip you off your ass and throw you into a pit of unrelenting psychedelic nightmares. Jams, riffs, rhythms, and melodies that NEVER appear again in history of mankind emerge spontaneously and dissolve before you can resolve what had just happened. The conclusion of this whirlwind of swampy voodoo juice is one of the most insane and mind-scraping versions of Feedback ever cooked up. It will MELT YOUR MIND. End of story. Do you dare take the test? No acid is required. Take a journey to the Carousel Ballroom (Fillmore West) on March 17, 1968, and The Grateful Dead will be the only chemical you need to get there. Believe it.
Minute-for-minute, this is one of the best official releases the Dead have ever made. Pretty much every second is great, and the "Dark Star" and "Going Down the Road" are as good as they get. These are my favorites: Road Trips: Vol 1, Number 1: Fall 1979 Road Trips: Vol 1, Number 2: October 1977 Road Trips: Vol 1, Number 4: Winterland 1978 Road Trips: Vol 2, Number 1: Madison Square Garden: September 1990 Road Trips: Vol 2, Number 2: February 14, 1968, Carousel Ballroom Road Trips: Vol 2, Number 3: June 1974: Wall of Sound Road Trips: Vol 3, Number 1: Oakland, December 28, 1979 (Also check out Dick's Picks #5 if you can find it... from two days earlier, with a great version of "Estimated Prophet"). Road Trips: Vol 3, Number 2: Austin, November 15, 1971 Road Trips: Vol 4, Number 3: Denver 1973 Road Trips: Vol 4, Number 4: Spectrum 4.6.82 Road Trips: Vol 4, Number 5: Boston Music Hall, 6.9.76
Also, for @latheofheaven , there have been a lot of discussions lately about 1977 vs. 1978, and some discussions of the virtues of early-80s Dead as well. Since the honky-tonk stuff isn't to your liking, you might find more to enjoy in the latter-day material.
Really we should be discussing the evolution of the band from the end of the hiatus through the departure of the Godchaux'. Rather than apply an either/or conception, a view towards progression may serve our musical enjoyment more fully.
Dicks Picks 22 - Lake Tahoe, 2/23-24/68 This sequence on the 2nd disc is astounding: "Alligator" – 3:45> "China Cat Sunflower" – 4:14> "The Eleven" – 7:17> "Alligator" – 6:39> "Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)" – 11:49> "Feedback (Grateful Dead) – 4:55
have you listened to them with your mind extra wide open, as it were? Because you may find out there's more than one way to play with time to induce a psychedelic state. Subtle shifts of the structured space between notes can be surprising, and at least as compelling as sonic overload.
Well, since the fine folks at dead.net have decided to take their sweet, slow time in decided to bother shipping my Giants Stadium box, I had to dip in elsewhere to get my Dead fix over the weekend. Worked my way again through the Evil Dead 10/26/89 show, which struck me with a couple of things - a) just how early the darkness started creeping in to the show that night. I remember it really kicking off with the start of that second set opening "Estimated", but it's far earlier than that - it really launches with that "Victim", though there are traces even earlier. Nothing explicit, but rather subtle things like emphasizing different notes and syllables in "off" ways. b) I had forgotten how well they bring us back into the light. The "Drumz > Space" isn't nearly as dark as you'd expect following that "Dark Star", but rather the morning after the horror movie when the two survivors get back on the road and out of Dodge. The "Watchtower" is really strong and the "Stella Blue > NFA" really takes you back up. Speaking of dark ones, I also swung the time sheath back to December of '73 for that Cleveland "Dark Star". In yet another case of the Dead seeing the future, the apocalyptic lightsaber battle between Phil and Jerry with their feedback planted the seeds of Vader and Luke in the air years ahead of time. Killer stuff.
After spending considerable time with the ‘74 Dark Stars I wanted to mix things up, so I checked out 4/13/83 Burlington which I’d added to my to-do list a while back after reading some comments here. Fun show; rough around the edges but plenty to offer. The Scarlet > Fire is certainly a highlight and I thought the whole second set was good, although I’ll admit to bailing out on Maybe You Know.
