CHINA! And when I get excited My little China Girl says Oh baby, just you shut your mouth She says... shh She says... shh She says... I owe this place a post about GD music, never mind beefy-Ts nonsense.
I can't seem to get through the "Dark Star" on Dick's Picks Vol. 2: Columbus, OH 10/31/71 without interruption.
Dave’s 30 1/2/70 / lots of magic sprinkled throughout. Bonus material from 1/3/70 is also wondrous. I’m a sucker for Cosmic Charlie, Mason’s Children & these early slow Black Peters.
Hey, what the hell is the name of the Allmans adjacent jam after the Dark Star on Dick's 2? It ain't Spanish, it ain't Mind Left Body. Don't make me google . . . There are definitely some Trey influences in this. Wait a minute!
D to the A to the H to the A to the benzapple. Thanks. Yeah, I prefer Tighten Up. That's the name I forgot. Oh nice, Sugar Mag. Gimme a hit off that, wouldja? I'm at a show right now. @bzfgt your turn to go get water. You can wait until after this one. Also you need a new handle because I "misspelled" it twice and had to look at one of your posts to get it right. Ha! bzfgt had to go get water during St. Stephen. Nah, I wouldn't do that to anyone, but now you owe me a Nathan's Famous. And a KISS/GD shirt, so I can sartorially celebrate their many double bills at CBGB in the early days. Such rich history. You can tell on Dave's Dick's 2 that they're going to distance themselves from St. Stephen pretty soon because there's not as much force in the doom-da-doom part right after they sing "spills." True Love Ways! I mean, NFA! This reminds me of when I saw Jerry sit in with Buddy Holly at the Fillmore in '79. It was like me and three other people and no one knows about it so don't look it up. Also, keep your pot smoke out of my face, I hate that ****.
As I listen ot Jerry jam out in NFA, just before GDTRFB*, I think about how not enough has been written about the white hot Duane-Jerry rivalry, so I will do so at length now . . . . *"Good Day, Tom, Real Funny By The Way" for you thread newbies. Getting aquainted with the rich and varied world of GD music can be a challenge, and if I can make it even more of one, I will.
I know we're not supposed to talk about religion here, but listening to the sweet transition from GDTRFB to NFA, I feel indebted to Our Lady of Blessed Headphones. Will you bow your head with me?
Thanks! I'm thinking I could use a parallel project while I'm going through the 1977 shows, and something like 1985 would be pretty significantly different.
Eons ago, in this thread, I made some ridiculous comment about how Rhino should issue a new series of releases called Archtops, based on @Archtop's practice of listening to segments he finds high octane as opposed to full songs, jams or shows. Anyway, listening to Dick's 2, it's only six tracks and not very long by Dead standards, but it packs a lot of punch. I don't really care if they release partial shows or just segments of shows, in fact I like it. The St. Louis LP release, Light Into Ashes, that's nice to have. Just point me to the hottest part of a show and sell me that.
I know plenty here were on it, but I’ve always thought summer tour 85 would have been one of the most fun to be part of. The 80s were in the midst of excess, and yet the Dead just kept trucking along in their own little bubble. Crowds were large, but not unmanageable. Setlists were the most exciting they’d been in years. The band was on fire, and Jerry’s voice hadn’t completely deteriorated yet. All the cool venues were still on the Dead’s itinerary. It really seemed like a super fun time to be a fan.
I had to stop and go to bed after the first set, and due to various circumstances it will probably be a few days before I get to Set II, but I’m looking forward to it.
With Bonner Springs '91 chatter I just wanted to send a shout out to the first set of the first night of Summer 91 at Deer Creek - the tour opener. 6/6/91 I Jack Straw They Love Each Other Wang Dang Doodle Row Jimmy Black Throated Wind Big Railroad Blues Cassidy Might As Well Smoking from start to finish. Blew the second set away I thought - though I've always been a first set fan. Here's the killer audience source to dial up. 6/6/91 Grateful Dead Recorded by Pete Lebel (TS Beyer CM 101 > D6)
I'm listening to all the Dick's in order, but there's maybe one or two I don't have. Sort of jarring to go from '71 to '77.
That was a fun show and my first stop at that great venue. I made it there again to catch the runs in ‘92-‘95, the last one being a huge bummer of course.
I did 90 and 91 at Deer Creek, great place, worth the schlep from the Northeast. I caught Deer Creek, Buckeye and Giants on that tour. Would love to have been at Bonner Springs but you get what you get! I think Deer Creek 90 was probably special in a similar way, smaller venue, rare tunes, good vibes.
In '96 I began driving from Columbus (and, after I moved in '97, Chicago) to Deer Creek for shows, but before that I was restricting myself to concerts in the same state, so no Dead show for me in summer '95. Just as well.
Actually Jerry's voice was at its peak of deterioration, it stabilized and congealed into his mature voice a year or two later.
I've listened to it, don't remember it having as much fire. 6/4/77 in Los Angeles is another MNS I remember ranking near the top.
Take a listen to June-Aug 1985 then take a listen to DP21. Summer wasn’t great, but the fall was significantly worse.
