Grateful Dead

....as Prince once said, sign 'O' the times, I guess.

The digital archive should be free to any who desire it. The post-produced stuff gets sold in limited quantities, and then inevitably shared freely; ever since we began recording music on physical and especially digital media. I really do think DL and Dr. Rhino are okay with that. I'll be diving deep on this show tomorrow on a long-ass roadtrip. Jim, I'll be in Silver Spring if you feel like a road trip. Ever been to the NIH?

Had DaP 25 on last night on the big speakers as I was doing a mix of housework and catching up on work (oh how Saturday nights have changed since my youth). I'm already on record echoing the sentiments we share for the first set. However, disc 2, which I had previously said was just ok, really caught me by surprise last night. Samson is hotter than I remember, scarlet is uneven (to be kind), but fire on the mountain has some really great moments. Like moments that stopped me in my tracks. Whatever issues Jerry had during scarlet and the transition, I think he more than makes up for during Fire. Killer version. On this rainy day I'm listening to the Nov 73 road trips that has come up a few times here recently. What a wonderful show. Disc 2 is one for the ages...

I have not even received it yet. It's going down with skis from Zurich, Switzerland, yes that wonderful and picturesque country not so in Europe (kind of Delaware). It will be here by February 22. I don't care, I don't pay for customs, and I have too much to listen tbat I don't care. Now everybody: Do, Re, Mi.. (i.e. The sound of music)

The point is that one isn't actually getting "unreleased shows", your basically buying cardboard with free legal to trade/stream recordings on cds. One is also paying for a release that is not approved by or funding the people that it should. I think those facts should be stated upfront, as that would definitely influence peoples purchasing decisions. To be frank the 71 fm box is a quickly put together scam, and advertising it on this site is inappropriate in my opinion, the box is already leeching off the Dead's iconography/image (I saw no original art, just the old images/photos we've all seen other places) and recordings. I just don't feel that unauthorized bootlegs should be advertised on deadnet's Dave's Picks series pages, maybe start a thread for sketchy bootlegs... If you want what's inside the bootleg box you can very easily find it elsewhere for free, all the music, images and liner notes. All in equal or better quality than this bootleg. Archive . org and blogs/torrents for the shows. Discogs . com and google for the art/notes/cdtrays. I will say I haven't really seen any personal criticisms/attacks, and it seems to have been a pretty civil discussion so far imo. I think the line "smelling the comments" was taken the wrong way, and that is really the only thing tripping things up a little. But literally someone recommended a product, people criticized/gave their opinions on that product and its sale.

we are a sensitive lot here.

It is unusual to have a first set (and song!) that blows the pants off the rest of the show. Struggles arise during the second set and they are never quite vanquished. That's how it goes with these guys of course. Patience is not optional -- it is only rewarded if you keep listening. Pop in another show. What else are you gonna do with your rainy Sunday? I don't like feeding the bootleg monster, but I sometimes cave if there is something extraordinary. (There's a discoverable 2-CD set of a Pacific High Studio recording of Garcia, Kahn, and Kreutzmann from '72 that got me, for example.) Some folks don't have easy ways to play or convert FLAC files and maybe they don't like MP3s, so that could be a motivation for them. Like others have said, I believe the underground market creates interest in the legit releases just like it always did with tape trading. I know -- those were typically traded and not sold, but there was still an exchange of goods.

Dead of the Day: February 11, 1970 Fillmore East New York, New York With quite a few shows to choose from, it was still relatively easy to pick February 11, 1970 as the Dead of the Day. Topping a bill with Love and the Allman Brothers, the Dead played two shows that night, but it was more like a quick first set and a monster of a second half. The first show opens with a short, sensational, Other One>Cryptical. In the second show they again bust out of the gate with flames, going with a phenomenal Not Fade Away. The show continues strong and purposeful, eventually meandering to a Dark Star that is chopped up on the recording but begins the true magic of the evening as the guys from the Allmans, Fleetwood Mac, and Love start joining in. The Dead drive them forward into a scintillating Spanish Jam that cascades into a – superlatives won’t do it justice – Lovelight. By the time it is over, at least Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, Danny Kirwan, Duane and Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Berry Oakley are on stage trading licks with the Dead. Somehow, after that incredible jam session, the Dead manage to put the perfect cap on the evening with a soulful, acoustic Uncle John’s. It seems that the night was as special for the Dead as the music makes it sound. Phil dedicates a few pages of his autobiography, Searching for the Sound, to breaking down the evening and, especially, the epic end to the second show. It is a wonderful read as Phil describes the action practically lick by lick, adding that by the middle of the Lovelight his “mind starts to stretch out of shape” as “everyone on stage is flat-out wailing.” But perhaps the best part of Lesh’s telling is what happens afterwards. Walking out the loading dock door, “it’s daylight, and snow is falling gently on the streets of New York….We stand there, our breath steaming, and look east down the crosstown side street. A distended orange sun is rising between the buildings, casting lurid shadows on the fresh snow. I grab Bob and Jerry in a group embrace: This is what it’s all about.” Anything else I could say about this special night would just be superfluous. Instead, just sit back and give it a listen. http://www.gratefuldeadoftheday.com/02-11-1970

2 CD set from the early and late shows on 2/11/69 at the Fillmore East. Wonderful Good Ole Grateful Dead with PigPen in fine form! TRACKLIST Disc 1 1 Good Morning Little School Girl 2 Cryptical Envelopment 3 The Other One 4 Cryptical Envelopment 5 Doin' That Rag 6 I'm A King Bee 7 Turn On Your Lovelight 8 Hey Jude Disc 2 1 Introduction 2 Dupree's Diamond Blues 3 Mountains Of The Moon 4 Dark Star 5 St. Stephen 6 The Eleven 7 Drums 8 Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) 9 Feedback 10 We Bid You Goodnight http://www.dead.net/store/1960s/grateful-dead-fillmore-east-2-11-69-cd

..is that people can get ripped off. The purchaser, if he thinks he or she is buying something which is official and has a correspondingly great sound. The artist, if someone is buying the bootleg INSTEAD of the official product. In the case of this 1971 box set, neither circumstance-at least not for people on this website, I would think-applies. I have bought virtually every official Dead release since 1975-for all the years from 1966-1995. I've got 100s of 'em. I have also bought bootlegs and traded tapes. I tend not to listen to downloads as my computer isn't linked up to any speakers of note. If I want to buy a bootleg, it isn't instead of buying the official releases, its as well as. If I want to do that, rather than listen to a download-why is it anybody else's business? I could see nothing wrong with dissident recommending the box-if anyone doesn't like it-they don't need to buy it. No need to criticize.