"The void collapsed and ate itself, that's when it all began..." What's the next line? My muse has fled. I don't normally listen to the GOGD before breakfast but up popped 10/19/73, otherwise known as Dark Star>Mind Left Body Jam>Morning Dew. I really like that alternative cover. Not a fan of the lightning bolt so much. This is the most languid Dark Star I've ever heard and it was perfect for 8AM on a Sunday. The languidity-if that's a word-continues straight through to the Dew, but it eventually builds to a powerful finish. The MLB Jam is leisurely but has Phil dominating and a tiger on the loose. 40 minutes of group mind in this sequence.
Newly seeded at LL: 11 September 1973- SBD with AUD patches, pitched and polished by GEMS & Co. The SBD source was seeded a couple of years back by ANON, DAT copy of Latvala's SBD master reels > DAT.
Evening listen: 6/16/74 Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, first set. The first show of the band's Summer '74 tour is a three-set monster, so I'm starting early on this one instead of waiting for my normal early morning listen. Community comments at the dead.net page for this show indicate folks were allowed to camp out at the fairgrounds the night before, and people came in from far and wide for this show. Hippies invade Iowa! Danger! Because of this, I imagine this was a very good crowd that prompted a three-set response from the band. Sadly, a few people apparently saw fit to do a lot of property destruction at the fairgrounds, according to one comment. I just don't get people, sometimes. Bertha is a such a great set opener. A lot of normal bands would have simply alternated Bertha and U.S. Blues as show openers in '74. Longest Scarlet yet--nine minutes. Jerry opened up more and did more extended playing over it. El Paso gets another great reaction in the matrix I'm listening to! Keith is playing very funky-tonk electric piano on this song, which seems an odd place for him to switch away from the grand piano. Keith's groove seems to inspire Jerry to get a little greasier and less straight-up country in his accompaniment. Keith stays on electric piano for Must Have Been the Roses. I like it--might have been something to stick with in this song. Jack Straw is just slightly more leisurely paced than I'm used to. The subtleties in Billy's drum part in China Cat contribute a huge amount of that unique funky groove. Bobby's China solo is one of the better of his I've heard in that spot. Jerry's China/Transition solo gets nice and greasy. He digs in with the pick a bit more than normal.
Round and round, the cut of the plow in the furrowed field Seasons round, the bushels of corn and the barley meal
A week or two ago, I noted in this very thread that ARK does not run anymore. Now I’m here to tell you that he does not box either. Except on the 26th of December. Maybe.
More like 45 shows in 45 states. They never played Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Long time listener, first time caller. Most overlooked show of the run is the 9/26/72 Stanley show...there's something about Jerry's guitar on this night. It just goes places that give chills. A nice Cold Rain, a He's Gone that's for the ages with Bobby starting into Bird Song and the sublime last five and a half minutes. Then there's Bird Song, Tomorrow is Forever-possibly the only time Donna doesn't trash a song, and a nice It's All Over Now Baby Blue. Maybe it's just me but 9/27 is just a little less. I'll grab this one anytime.
I think the main 'beef' most people have with the studio albums is that they feel it's not representative of their Live sound. This is especially true for Primal Dead. Just compare Two From the Vault or DP22 to their studio debut. Of course, 20 or so minutes per LP side can be restrictive with all the segues, just look at DP36 on vinyl, that's 7 slabs of wax. Imagine that coming out in 72/73. Or a full Fillmore West show in 69. As far as studio albums go, I really like the first two, AB/WD, Wake of the Flood, BFA, Terrapin Station and In the Dark.
Earlybird Theater this morning, 6/16/74 Des Moines, 2nd and 3rd sets. Always nice to have The Race Is On in the set. An extended Eyes is always a treat. A good but not great one here. Jerry doesn't catch fire until they downshift into a mid-tempo funk groove at the end, and then he gets WAY into it. The morph from that mid-funk coda into Big River is amazing. Their ability to do those extended transitions seemingly as if they had been planned that way was remarkable. This PITB is fantastic. Contrasting with the Oakland version eight days earlier, this one gets really far into outer space. There's no genre comparison to anything in this one. The version I listened to seemingly had some weirdness going on with the speeds during this song. I'm going to have to see if I can stream the Road Trips version to see if it's better. I hate to pay $$$$$ for those, but it might be warranted here if the sound quality is better. Very nice Greatest Story performance by everyone. This is always a pre-hiatus highlight. Tasty Truckin>Nobody's jam. Whatever problems Jerry was having getting into the flow during the first part of the Eyes jam in the 2nd set are long gone by now. He's way into the groove at this point. Jerry eventually turns on the fuzz and things go into overdrive. That seems to get Keith really engaged, and he gets VERY funky.
Was anyone on this forum at the 10/28/85 Fox Theatre show? Scarlet Begonias > Touch of Grey Crowd is lifeless during Scarlet Begonias but dang do they get fired up during the last minute or so of ToG. You think Jerry was putting his hand up in the air?
A long-time favorite of mine. I love the "mellow" "Other One" that still goes into a lot of different spaces.
