1973-09-26 Buffalo Excellent, excellent show. HCS opener solid, not great; great BIODTL; top Loser WITH Susie; top Big River; top BEW for the era; China>Rider is a great one, Garcia is feeling the groove (although not the lyrics), Rider seems to come in considerably slower than the transition jam; top PiTB; nice Sing me Back Home (last one); He’s Gone>Truckin>Eyes>WRS is a top sequence, the horns sound good this night; the horns are great and hilarious on Sugar Mag…a little too much on the break though…
I was blessed to see several renditions of Dark Star, and there were other things happening in that era that were exciting to see...the ultimate bust-out would have been "Sweet Susie," though
Overall I have to say the 8 horn shows are underrated, and the horns are over-reviled. At times the horns are cool, at times they don't work, but some of these shows they're only on 2 songs, for one thing, and when the band is hot they're hot, even with the horns...
There are SBD's of the 3 El Monte shows from 26 - 28 December 1970 that are well worth a listen. The final night the boys find their long-legged stride. In the midst of this run was a radio interview and performance by Jerry, Bobby, and a couple of NRPS on the radio station in Pasadena. There is a nice circulating source of this low-key event. Old school FM radio.
KPPC Studios, Pasadena Silver Threads & Golden Needles, Cold Jordan, I Hear A Voice A Calling, Swing Low Sweet Chariot Jerry Garcia, Bobby "Ace" Weir, John "Marmaduke" Dawson, David Nelson *God Bless Marmaduke*
Now, you've just listened to all the Bird Songs of the year and I haven't so your impression may be more accurate, and I can tell that the Bird Songs from earlier in '73 are busier and more active. But what you hear as drifting & less focused versions from that summer, sounded deliberate to me, intentionally more spacey and maybe even more in keeping with the song. I found one little history of Bird Song online where all the writer's favorite Bird Songs of the year were post-6/22, he calls them "dreamy, lovely, wholly satisfying versions." So listeners differ on how sleepy these late Bird Songs are! And the Dead actually were playing that song a little more frequently in summer '73 than they had in the winter. But, maybe foretelling its demise, they'd been playing it a lot less in general.....in fall '72 they played it at almost every show, then suddenly in '73 it shows up in only like a third or a quarter of the shows. So it's a song that Jerry had feeling less keen on all year. The timing, compared to Here Comes Sunshine, is odd... Sunshine got dropped in the long break between tours, before the spring '74 shows, so it was more obviously a tune that just didn't survive the addition of a whole bunch of new Mars Hotel Jerry songs to the set. Bird Song, on the other hand, got abruptly kicked to the curb mid-tour in September '73, at a time when there were no new songs being added to the set other than the Weather Report Suite. So who knows. Jerry just didn't feel like it anymore, I guess.
Off-topic, but FYI: Found in the Ozone - Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen - Bear’s Sonic Journals
Nothing regarding music is off-topic here. Besides, any mention of the Bear wakes up the inner coils of my DNA.
The first Bird Song I ever heard was DiP 36 Philly 9-21-72 and it blew me away. Incredibly jazzy version and one of those performances that made me realize just how different the Dead were from other bands. Still one of my favs. The one on Ladies and Gentlemen has a nice spacey vibe that I dig, and of course the interplay at Veneta 72 was sublime. Love that they brought this back in the 90s (and possibly earlier?). Some of the recent versions on the Shakedown Streams have been serious highlights, although since my 90s knowledge is not all that great I have a hard time keeping track.
Yes. This one has grown on me a lot, too. So different from the Dead versions and so good. Spotify has it. The recordings are very clear and full.
Bird Song was revived in 1980 at the Warfield shows in September and pretty much stayed in rotation thereafter.
During the intro to Birdsong in Lake Placid the birds were circling the snow covered mountain peaks inside the arena.
Listening to this show right now https://archive.org/details/gd1984-07-15.sbd.walker-scotton.miller.96152.sbeok.flac16/gd84-07-15d2t06.flac and hearing "Don't Need Love" for the first time! Yay a new Brent tune! (new to me)
My suspicion leans towards Phil. Even though it was his choice to not take part, I have a a hunch that he's jealous by just how successful Dead & Co. has been and how much money it's been making the other former members. So he's greenlighting anything that will keep an income stream headed his way too. Obviously I'm sure others have to sign off on these things as well, but my guess is the other guys greet it with, "sure, Phil, here you go".
I saw all 3 of those Birdsongs. The Centrum version features a very clearly articulated Dark Star jam in the middle.
