Grateful Dead

...Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead 1987 Tour...The Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead 1987 Tour was a concert tour by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead taking place in the summer of 1987 and consisting of six concerts. Each concert began with one or two lengthy sets by the Grateful Dead of their own material (sometime broken into a first and second set, per the Dead's usual practice), followed by a roughly 90 minute set of the Dead acting as Dylan's backup band. :) ...bring on the complete recordings boxset ! ;)

I should say also, that both the last two 77 shows I have listened to have gone to places I wasn't expecting. The Uncle Johns I mentioned, on the 11th, and also Not Fade Away and Comes a Time on 12th. The playing, after the song parts have been completed is mesmeric on both tracks. I also found myself listening to, and enjoying, Keith's playing more than I was expecting. And now I see that Cornell is being re-released on vinyl. Incidentally, 8th May 1911 was the date Robert Johnson was born.

I know what you guys mean. 1969 is wild and wooly whereas 1977 is the awesome power of a fully operational mothership. But the dead were never smooth and professional. Case in point: I listened to 5/7/77 last night. Between the first 4 or 5 songs there is the sound of hammers repeatedly hammering nails into the drum platform. And you know the breaks between songs were much longer than on the releases. The Stones are smooth and professional. Can you picture carpenters building a drum stage during a Stones concert? But that's part of the charm of the Dead and is much preferable to a pre-planned scripted concert and is why we seek out every show.

LMG, spring 87....went to the Hampton through Rectum shows, actually had tix for the Wuuuster shows, but we sold em because we were burnt and honestly we were starting to get a bit disenfranchised with the scene (already beyond that nice peak I was trying to describe before...) and as you start to get older, sometimes your priorities shift. Unfortunately don’t recall many specifics from this tour.....it all rolls into one, and melts into a dream.... I do remeber thinking there was something missing musically? It was awesome that Jerry was back and looked good, and man that TOG the second night was powerful, but it was like he was out of sync or something. In fact, we occasionally noticed this phenomenon ever after the 86 coma. Luckily, as time went on, it was less often and more subtle. So our perception was that everything had kinda turned into white bread. This feeling actually progressed during summer tour, to the point that, combined with the venues chosen, led us to completely skip the fall tour! Blasphemy I know. Luckily that 3-27-88 show snapped us outta that funk a bit, and by summer 88 we were back on the bus. See this is kinda what I’ve been trying to get at with my recent posts, PERCEPTION! All the shows we get are precious, but they all contain something that someone could point out is flawed. Jerry’s voice, Brent, Donna etc etc., So although we all have favorites, we should not fall in ruts, or overgeneralize, or whatever to the point where people just don’t listen to whole eras of shows! I don’t care what year, there is always at least some hot shows, so why close your mind off and not even give these a chance? Remember, sometimes you get shone the light etc.. Here’s a funny example. For a long time (years ago), I wasn’t that into the 72 stuff. I was missinformed and not musically mature enough to get the big psychedelic jams and so forth. So I thought hell im not going to pay for more E72 cause hell I already have E72! Also, the few tapes we got back then from 72 were not usually very good (same with 73 and 74). Mostly fed 76-78s as a wee lad.... So I copped a misinformed attitude and didn’t check it out for a long time. Eventually after studying Jazz and improv and deveping my ears so to speak, I finally got it. So much so that I now can informatively argue that the E72 improve Dark Stars etc are some of the BEST music the band ever made and why! Bob speaks of post 75 about “we had songs we wanted to get out there” and the jams took too much time etc....well my argument is yes the songs ARE great, but a lot of bands have great songs.... But NOBODY! has ever played that kind of far out improv jazz like music (in rock) like the Dead. Yeah, yeah I love fusion and the rest, but it’s not the same. The ability to completely let it dismantle, but somehow stay together and interesting. Nobody else could do that, that I’ve ever heard so far... No offense, but most of the “Jam” bands and music since is often nothing more than individuals ceaselessly noodling. Yes there is a difference, number one being group improve versus individual.... That’s the main reason 77 is not my favorite. (I love it, but it’s not my favorite!) IMHO, 76-78 often just drones on in modes, with one person soloing over the top, where say E72 and 69 etc there is much more group improv going down...Again, we’re talking degrees here, not black or white! So my point of all this, and the last couple days is, if you overgenralize and cant overlook certain flaws or variables or what not, it is truly a shame, because we’re so blessed to have access to SO much amazing unique music! Even mid-nineties late era shows always have something. Sure there may not be a lot of hot entire “shows”, but there always are at least moments, and for this old duffer those moments are still worth the time and effort to try and someday check as much of the music from ALL eras as possible!!! Ok, thanks for letting me get this out, it’s been festering for awhile and why i started to post again after many years. It just bums me out to no end when I see folks here being nasty and judgmental based on closed mindedness. Remeber, be GRATEFUL!!! Ok, Smithers, release the hounds....I can already here it, “yeah but....”

That same song also has the line: "I'd rather drink muddy water, sleep in a hollow log, than being here in Atlanta treated like a dirty dog" which the Dead used in early renditions of I Know You Rider, changing Atlanta to Frisco.

The Bible was written 1500+ years ago, so I'd say the first musical "water into wine" reference is likely about that old, but the bootleg is probably a bit hissy.... First Playin' jams were in '69, then just called "The Main Ten jam" before Bob had fully written the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP6jAWEqRhU

...the number one best seller book in the world, The Bible. the second being ‘The Joy of Sex / Karma Sutra :) Ha ha lol ....Make love not war! Have a grateful day everyone :)

"merge" the Dark Star track with the Mind Left Body track on Dick's Picks 19. I'm kind of feeling like this should have been done at the outset. The Dark Star from Dick's Picks 36 contains mind left body, and I think there may be a couple of other Dark Stars that contain it as well (10/25/73 is ringing a bell). so should this one. That will be tonight's project. May the never be separated again.

Does anybody else notice the massive amount of low-end / bass on this Buffalo box set recording? It makes me wonder if Jeff Norman also did some bass enhancement on this show. I can't turn the equalizer down low enough to make it bearable on my car stereo system.

I was thinking of May 1977 shows when I made that comment. And the fact that I had been listening to the Shrine 1967 show, Fillmore West 1969 and the Binghamton and Fillmore East 1970 shows immediately prior to dropping in on May 1977. 1967-1970 sounds a lot rougher round the edges than the May 77 shows-11th and 12th are the ones I played. I like them- the Uncle Johns on the 11th with Jerry's solo at the end are top draw-but the shows generally seem a bit gentler somehow than the earlier ones. Bob used to joke on stage in 1977 about getting things just exactly perfect.. Maybe the medium should also be taken into account-some of the 67-70 shows I listened to were on vinyl whereas the 77 shows I have got are all on cd. That also applies to seeing them live. It can't help affect your perceptions of the music if you actually went on tour with them. To me,1985 is purely represented on disc. I never saw them in 1985. In fact, there was so little information about them in England round about that time, that I assumed they must have split up!