30 Days of Dead
It's a Dead Head's most wonderful time of the year! Welcome to another 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day of the month, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed, but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.
Those of you who know what to do, feel free to skip right on ahead. For those of you who need a refresher, here's the drill:
You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70s show? Each day we'll post a song from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were just starting to warm it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? If you think you know, lob your answer in and you just might find yourself taking home our daily prize of a 2025 Grateful Dead wall calendar or the grand prize – a copy of limited, numbered, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL '78 boxed set!
I have kind of a random question somewhat related to yesterday’s selection. One of my first exposures to the Dead was the Go to Nassau live album from May 15/16, 1980. To me it sounds just exactly perfect. So I’ve always loved the 1980 sound. Does anyone know if it was heavily overdubbed in the studio? Or were the boys just that on those nights??
or maybe it was those chilly winds that fouled up this first track download. Well played nonetheless. Esau is one of my favorite Bobby tunes. Althea is perfect. Phil's bass is extra strong and audible at this show.
Fun fact: There's something special in Grateful Dead concert history beginning the day before this show was recorded. However, I won't go into that now as I don't want to be a guess spoiler.
Edit: The jamming pre-drums is definitely worth a listen(I hope that's not too revealing for those still searching).
David has been serving these trios on a platter for us.
Shouldn’t have to spend much time wandering the land looking for this grouping.
This space is getting hot with all these multiple offerings.
I’m just fine if we continue to be treated this old way for the next 11 Days…
The Hunt is always fun but the real payout is to get a much higher quality listen once your find the show in question.
Yeah, I get cut outs, too.