If I recall right, Greil Marcus's book Mystery Train had a section about the many "Stagger Lee" related songs (the original book was from around 1975, but there have been updated versions that I assume mention the Dead song).
Though I only enter this thread on a rare occasion I always appreciate seeing the title as I scroll which provides me with the gentle reminder "listen to The Dead"
I gave 6/28 and 6/29 '76 a critical listen last night. 6/28 is a great show with lots of interesting and energetic playing happening. The 29th is just OK and would be best served as filler/bonus for a full 6/28 Dave's Picks release. So here's my updated DW's Keeper's list for June '76: 6/9, 6/12, 6/14, 6/19, 6/28. As always, IMHO-YMMV!
I wanted to put that on first, but I have to re-order the sequence on 10/30/73 set 2 to the proper order and I've been lazy so I just went with the 10/18/72 show.
12/31/85 - if you count reprising "NFA" as a song. 12/31/88 12/31/89 - if you count "Sunshine Daydream" as a song.
Getting stuck in ‘71-‘72 is a nice problem to have. There seems to be wide agreement on how great ‘72 was, but I dig ‘71 a lot too. A couple of my favorite Dark Stars so far are from ‘71… the DiP 2 Halloween DS and that 2/18/71 DS/Wharf Rat sandwich from the American Beauty 50th release. You’re right about there being too much to listen to. I went on a spending frenzy during the Covid lockdown and I’ve collected music faster than I can digest it. I’m a public school teacher, so if I can make it until the end of May, it might just be the summer of the Dead!
I did notice that the ‘73 shows from the St. Louis box are just about 10 days later. What a remarkable run they were on through the hiatus in ‘74.
That’s fair! I think one of the reasons I’m still enjoying the ‘71 releases that a lot of people seem to feel ambivalent about it probably because I haven’t heard Me and My Uncle 500 different times over the decades. So maybe Don’t Ease Me In and I are still in the honeymoon phase!
"Okay, we'll give you the Scarlet > Fire but in exchange we're closing the first set with Don't Ease." A common tradeoff in the Brent-era as Deadbase confirms. Also LandHorses your stats are insane. I did a nice job avoiding it - 3 times out of 50 or so shows...
It's kind of alarming how quickly Jerry transformed in that period, actually. Chasing a dragon you'll never catch will do that to a man, I guess.
There is a SBD of this show, which came as quite a surprise to me after decades of listening to what I assume is Steve Rolfe's audience tape. There's also another audience tape (by Kathy Sublette) that I don't believe I've heard.
Had not heard of Roon until now! Thx for sharing. I will have to look into this. I’ve been so buried in vinyl, spinning a lot of cannonball adderley and funkadelic this past month. At risk of persecution, 70s dead was just a little stale for me last month, personally speaking. I really wish they’d collabed more with black artists, like, as if the praises sung for every Marsalis collab wasn’t enough. Getting into Grayfolded - Transitive Axis as we speak, and wow ive already had to pinch myself as I’m being taken into the dark star dream state that we all so appreciate… and, wait… I’m still sober?? Gonna have to change that tune on this fine Saturday afternoon
Wise words, a lesson for us all. Jerry has shared so much wisdom with us, even that which he did not intend as such… Or did he?
I read Phil’s book recently and found most of the post-hiatus years pretty depressing between Phil’s drinking, Jerry and Brent’s issues, and the burden of keeping the organization running. Even while filling stadiums, the financial strain was there until the end because they had hundreds of families on their payroll. Maintaining their ideals and “family” cost them a great deal. Most bands would’ve just laid those people off, but that wasn’t them. At least that’s the impression Phil gives about why they didn’t take another hiatus after Brent’s death, which seemed like the obvious thing to do. Jerry likely wouldn’t have stopped anyway, according to Phil, because he needed the money for his addiction. Sad ending to the story.
Absolutely a galaxy powered sound phenomenon! What a freaking concert! Right now, I am laid wasted by the precision, the sound quality, the performance, innovation and superior band performance in San Diego , 11-14-73; (bet Bill Walton was there. ). lol. I think this was barely mentioned a couple months ago, but glad I finally dove in! I promise - if you give this a listen - it will enter your all time top concerts. It blows away many more highly touted concerts - by a mile. Superb sound. Phil dropping cable wire bass notes, Billy mastering the skins, Jerry all over , inside and outside the music, Bobby being the super guitar rhythm Ace and Keith pushing , advancing and driving the songs. He’s.very audible, here. The singing, including Donna is top shelf. Over 3 hours. Some of the best versions of each song is here - especially:Here Comes Sunshine, Cumberland Blues, Tennessee Jed, and that’s just the warm up 1st set. The second set, in my opinion, is amongst the very best they’ve ever done - especially one w/o Dark * or PIB. Here’ what’s included in 2nd set: “The Other One” : A Quadruple Decker masterpiece of over 67 minutes! Starts here- Truckin’ > The Other One Jam > The Other One > Other One Jam > Big River > The Other One > Eyes of the World > The Other One > Wharf Rat,!!! W - O - W ! Dick Latalava must have set this aside for full release before he passed. This is my choice for a full official release. But don’t wait till then - listen ASAP. Beaches in San Diego
Check out some acoustic versions from 1970 too. They have a nice feel. I still remember it as the opening song of the acoustic set when I saw them at the Capitol in Port chester in late 70.
