I think of Blues for Allah as jazz-rock, until they get to the title track--which is sort of proggy. Terrapin Station tries on a variety of styles, but the titular suite on Side 2 is Keith Olsen's attempt at full-on Prog. It's way over the top for me, and apparently the guys in the band didn't really love it, either, but it may be just what prog fans are after.
I see Wake of the Flood, Blues for Allah, and Terrapin Station as all having strong prog elements without being entirely prog. Anthem definitely qualifies as proto-prog, and I've seen that discussed before. I supposed it depends on how expansive one's definition of prog is, and that is a massive can of worms.
both profusion and bzfgt are correct: side one of Blues For Allah, and side two of Terrapin Station. Side one of Anthem Of The Sun has some prog aspects, but it's a little too raw to really qualify. Anyway, that's what the Dead do with genres; aspects of them. Recontextualized, with some of their experiments more effective than others.
Looking at your avatar photo, tt's interesting that Phil apparently doesn't have the XLR jack in use. The outline of the wood opening for the regular jack plug can be seen in the photo above, along the lower edge of the body near the knobs.
Yeah. While Googling for better shots I didn't find a single one that showed that jack actually in use.
That's my favorite Wheel! I love that site! He's done tons of awesome mixes, but the October 94 mix was one that really changed my perception of the period in question and, perhaps more clearly than anything up to that point, really drove home the fact that there's gold throughout their career. That's my favorite Might as Well! You're in for a treat. An official October 74 box is probably at the top of my wish list. 10/16 is full of great music, but I have to call out Me and Bobby McGee, which is just sublime. Yesterday was 4/14/72 (although I listened from Ramble on Rose through the end this morning). Fantastic Dark Star, weirdly truncated-seeming Sugar Magnolia, and I know people like the Good Lovin'>Caution>Good Lovin' (and the music is great) but ugh, this is some of the Pigpen I can't get into. That's okay, very strong show! I was feeling all proud of myself for having listened to all of 4/16/72 on a weekday, but I just realized the whole thing is less than 2:50, so perhaps I shouldn't pat myself on the back. Truckin'>Jam>TOO>MAMU>TOO>NFA>GDTRFB>NFA was almost as fun to type just now as it was to hear, although those Other Ones are little three-minute snippets so it doesn't play out quite as epically as it might appear. Still, a very exciting sequence. Really enjoying these E72 shows, and listening to this tour interspersed with the shows from the 30 Trips box is playing out just as I'd hoped. No first-set fatigue, and in fact much first-set enjoyment! My appreciation of the big jams is also far greater than it was a few years ago when I tried to do all of Europe. I probably wasn't ready then, but I'm ready now!
6 April 1978- Curtis Hixon Hall. Opening show of the glorious April '78 Tour. Following on the heels of the brilliant March JGB Tour, Jerry is playing like a Force of Nature. Goodness abounds.
I listened to American Beauty: The Angel’s Share again over the past couple of days. I really like both Angel’s Shares and think they hold up to repeated listens, although certainly as a once in a while type thing.
Isn’t it a bit late for the big box announcement? RCMH ‘80 the top prospect? I’ve seen mention of a box of the acoustic sets which is nice in theory but would get awful samey.
It’s April 7, so that means Europe ‘72! I haven’t the time to go show-to-show, so these compilations will have to do . . . Not much to “review” other than to say this is absolutely essential, legendary, superlative Dead.
I listened to Steppin' Out a couple months. That's where it's at! I wish they still made compilations like that and Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today, I'm listening to this: Grateful Dead: Shortlist - March 16-21, 1994 (Chicago & Richfield) Like many others, I usually lump 1994 in with 1995. Not as bad, maybe, but definitely on the way down there. In the past, 1993 is the last year where I found a lot of shows worth listening to. However, the incredible Save Your Face site has me on a Spring 1994 binge. First, I listened to the short mix from the 2/27 show in Oakland with the minute-long Cosmic Charlie tease that turned into Wharf Rat. Even that moment turns beautiful when it skips the bulk of WR and nosedives straight into the song's intense ending jam. There are tons of great moments over the course of its condensed 50 minutes - a terrifying Drums fragment with howling wolves, deep jazz improv on The Other One, not to mention a Supplication jam tucked in between fragments of Uncle John's Band (the first seven minutes of which are instrumental, cutting out a bum verse). I wasn't that surprised to hear great improv in 1994. I never doubted that the spacier parts of a 1994 show could yield a solid hour of highlights. But the 4-disc Chicago/Richfield box set is another matter entirely. Taken from four different shows, the first two discs are comprised of mostly first-set highlights - and it's all good to great! The soul-shaking "Bertha" on the first disc was one of the best selections, with some impossibly soaring takes on "Stella Blue" and "Standing on the Moon" also sending me into the stratosphere. I have yet to listen to the mostly instrumental material on Discs 3 and 4 (the latter of which includes two different versions of Dark Star), but I encourage anyone in doubt about 1994 to check this compilation out. There's not a bum song on here. Even "Looks Like Rain" is powerful and interesting! All I have to say is, if the Dead had put a four-disc boxset like this out in 1994, it could have been a mega-hit. Seriously good, and accessible, stuff.
Earlybird Theater this morning: 10/17/74 Winterland. I don't really have any hot takes on this one. The best parts of this show were included on the Movie Soundtrack, including that amazing second set jam sequence. The only thing never used on an official release that seems like a major oversight is the nice uptempo rendition of Friend of the Devil. I wonder whether the multitracks for this survived? This WRS seems a little ragged to me, and I noticed that it was used on the Beyond Description bonus disc. Was that a multitrack mix or the soundboard? I was reading up a little on this whole thing, and it occurred to me that the reason Donna's vocals on the Movie Soundtrack are so good there is because she had to go back and overdub them all in the studio. Her vocals apparently were missing entirely from the multitracks. I'm assuming they only had her overdub on performances that were under serious consideration for the movie rather than everything over all five nights. Also, I've never actually listened to Steal Your Face--is Donna present on those mixes? Phil and Bear mixed it in a rush, and I doubt they had time to bring Donna in for overdubs. So many questions! LOL
The recent(ish) remastered Steal Your Face is miles better than the original version. It’s still a weird release, though.
