Grateful Dead

I hear ya. It certainly is a crazy good run. Listening to 2/28/69 TOO>Dark Star on Archive as I work.... its just so energetic. I'm hoping the next '69 Box will be an Ark Box, unless Dave has identified a more worthy run. Such a great year - the 2/11/69 show massaged my ears the other day, and it was glorious.

February 28, 1969http://gratefuldeadoftheday.com/02-28-1969 Fillmore West San Francisco, California This show was commercially released by the band as part of Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings. It also happens to be frighteningly hot. It is nearly a perfect compendium of the best jam-ready tunes the Dead were playing in 1969 with the Other One suite, Dark Star> Stephen> Eleven, and Alligator> Caution. Most of these, expectedly, break into utter madness and mayhem as Jerry and the boys do all they can to absolutely melt your face. Like so much of 1969, this show is phenomenal.

Mind = blown

http://gratefuldeadoftheday.com/02-28-1970 The Family Dog at the Great Highway San Francisco, California For our Dead of the Day we have a giant Lovelight sandwich in the form of the February 28, 1970 show. Here the Dead are working their way through the transition from the psychedelic sound they had perfected so well by 1969 to the more rock and roll and Americana sound of the early 70s. For instance, a precious few acoustic tunes pop up early in the show, starting with a short, fun Monkey and the Engineer. A little later, China Cat – one of their psychedelic staples - flows in a more rock direction with a peppier, more directed jam. And you can feel the band trying out new configurations on other tunes as well, most obviously when they abort the Caution after less than a minute. But listening to this show need not just be a lesson in Grateful Dead evolutionary history, there is some very fine playing here too, including the perfect little version of Alligator, an acoustic Black Peter, and the Lovelights on either end of the night. Disappointingly, the Casey Jones, which came between the Big Boss Man and Alligator and the Uncle John’s Band in the encore slot is not in circulation. This Mason’s Children was the last of the 15 the Dead would ever play. Like the Eleven, the lyrics read something like a children’s fairytale, but Robert Hunter wrote in his lyrics anthology, Box of Rain, that the song deals “obliquely with Altamont.” In that context, it is little surprise that the Dead first played the song on December 19, 1969, a mere 13 days after that tragic festival.

Nope Simonrob. Thankfully not an elephant else I'd be mopping coffee up from a lot bigger radius around the drafting table. ;-)

Seeing that list of Europe 1972 shows moves me to comment on what an excellent show the above is. Its easily overlooked-but its a gem. Highlights include a sparkling Playing, and an incredible jam linking Truckin' to The Other One. The music seems to have a life of its own here-I can't adequately describe it. But if you haven't got that show, I would highly recommend it. You wont have anything else quite like it.

And that's a fact. I am not for a minute advocating change for the sake of change. If anyone is happily married, then long may they remain so. But an awful lot of what exists at any one time is disposable-or simply wasn't built to last in the first place. To cling on to some things is counter productive. The things we know now may once have been barely imagined. The moment we stop growing is the moment we start dying.

Does that make you an elephant? If so, who is that dude in your avatar photo?

got mine, I have no plans on opening it since I don't have a turntable hooked up, but it's here.

Anyone got theirs yet? Reviews? Mine is out for delivery, cannot wait!