Grateful Dead

hope everyone is well!

Last 5:
Winterland 73 Bonus
Road Trips 3.3 Bonus (getting in the mood for the upcoming release)
30 Trips: 1991
Dicks Picks 12
A random iPhone mix I made for running, which includes Cumberland Blues (4/8/72), Scarlet>Fire (5/8/77), Estimated>Eyes (2/3/78), Help>Slip>Franklins (one from the vault), Row Jimmy & He's Gone (Dicks Picks 28), China>Rider (5/3/72), 1/2 Step (5/7/77) and the NFA>GDTRFB>NFA from that Nov 71 Road trips release...I know, very random but gets me over the hump when I'm out there running...

On another random note, I saw a cover band called Grateful Shred when they were in Ardmore PA not too long ago. Believe they are an LA based band. Anyway, they were very fun and worth the fairly inexpensive ticket price if they ever come to your town. A band called Garcia Peoples opened for them - not a dead cover band but really cool vibe about them and worth also checking out (believe you can stream an album on Spotify).

Some serious recommendations for The Other One. The one I could absolutely not recall ever listening to, although I'm sure I must have, is the Dave's Picks Volume 6 bonus disc from 2013. Just as good as advertised. How many times does Pig Pen say wait a minute afterward? I'm in the middle of the other ones that were recommended, no pun intended. I think it may have even been Wilfred t who recommended the Dave PIX11 version to me, possibly two years ago. Or maybe it was wissinoming deadhead? Well, that one's cooking my speakers up as we speak. Jimbo, I have Amsterdam queued up after that. I don't have a great recollection of that one, other than great loud crunchy guitars , more than usual for the show is on this box set. I know it goes into a fantastic Wharf rat with very nice mesmerizing intro riff.

Love Jerry, check out Europe 72 beat Club version. That one's about 20 minutes long and not to spacy.

Just have to add - the Drums that precedes the Amsterdam Othet One is crazy fast, and Billy is walloping the shit out of them.

Have to add this too - while not in that '72 - '74 range, and not in that two drummer period, and not with Keith Godchaux- The Other One on Three From the Vault is a cooker. Even features an intro Cryptical. Also departs into one of the best Wharf Rats I've ever heard. Speaking of which, I listen to this the other morning after listening to the February 18th show version, which of course was the first time it was played, and Mickey's last show. There is some really mesmerizing keyboard undertones in the 2/18 version that I don't hear for the rest of the Port Chester run on Wharf Rat. Made me wonder if there was any chance Mickey was playing some organ, as it doesn't quite sound like Pigpens style. He did, afterall, compose Fire on the Mountain on a keyboard.

There's a great and famous clip of The Dead on Playboy After Dark from 1969, during which Hugh Hefner interviews Jerry. Hefner comments on the two drum set up and asks Jerry if there is any particular reason for this. I can't hear everything Jerry says in reply, but he uses the word "annihilation" and compares the sound to "the serpent that eats its own tail."
I imagine The Dead's sound between 1968 and February 1971 as being very, very loud. It was presumably loud in 1974, but during those earlier years the volume may have been part of the effect - the distortion and feedback etc- rather than simply an amplification of what was being played, like it seems to have been in 1974.

Changing the subject- and on reading Sixtus's post - maybe I should listen to more 1990 shows. Every year I play the one 1990 box I've got from the Spring tour, the second one, with 3/29/90 in. Every year I enjoy every show, and then I forget about 1990, and head back to where I feel I belong.

I remember trading an extra sealed copy I had once upon a time (to a user on this very site) for a lightly worn copy of JGB Warner Theater 1978. Great deal for both I'd say! Still looking for a trades if anyone has any they want to slang my way. Still looking for original pressings of JGB Kean College 1980 and Bay Area 78. I have several to trade including a sealed copy of DaP 10 (alas w/o bonus).

It may be "short" at 19:49, but as I was literally listening to it on my ride home from work today (not expecting to find it mentioned, but not too shocked either), I was wondering about it as I do each time, as to why it's tracked as starting where it does, but The Other One on DiP 1 is like 1:37, but clearly one of those jam tracks is part of The Other One. Here, there is no definite start until that verse comes in like 18 min in, and they've never, not a single member, actually touched on the Other One riffs until about a minute before that verse. The jam where the tracks split seems to shift to 6/8, but doesn't really stay there, and doesn't intone TOO. The whole thing is basically a long, weird Truckin' Jam that ends up with a nice Other One verse and a beautiful segue to Brokedown Palace. Mr. Norman is not the only one calling it a 19+ Other One, the one's on Archive are tracked similarly. I just find it odd is all. I also just find this all the way out there Other One to be one of my very favorite ones. Certainly my favorite weird Other One.

The one from exactly a year earlier on DaP 26, also mentioned, is in my top 5 easily. One not mentioned enough, IMO, is 12/20/69 the one from the 2013 bonus disc with DaP 6, in addition to a magnificent Smokestack Lightning, TOO is 13 min of primal Dead, that gives way to Cumberland Blues.

DaP 6 and bonus disc: throw 2 Dark Stars, 2 St Stephens, an Eleven, 3 versions of Mason's Children, 2 Lovelights, 2 Cumberlands, 2 China Riders, 2 New Speedways, 2 Hard to Handles, 2 Black Peters (this could be a minus, as could the Masons), and throw in a Cold Rain & Snow and High Time, and you got a stew going, baby! And maybe the most badass cover in the series.

It's been a while since I listened to it.. but I recall 5/10/72 Concertgebouw as not completely unravelling into insanity like some of the others from that period. It seems more focused on jazzy, blissful contentment.

..but I could be wrong, it's been a while. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't at least a few moments of dissonance.

I believe I understand what you are getting at, though. When DiP 23 first came out (September 17, 1972 at the Baltimore Civic Center) my first impression was that it got pretty out there and took some time to get to the point.. I mean way out there. But I have warmed up to them since then. One of my favorites from that period has become 5/3/72, but it took a little time to absorb it. It achieves liftoff for sure and clocks in at 37 min, 43 seconds when you add in all three parts and the drums in the middle. So I guess I have warmed up to those 72-74 versions, but for me.. it didn't happen immediately.

Oh, and the one from DaP 11, Wichita 72 is shorter than most.. but it does seem to pack in some out there moments into the song nonetheless.

...Daverock....your accounting below is spot-on from where I sit. Couldn't have said it better myself.
That's the Thing.
From one era to the next, one year to the next, sometimes, from one tour to the next (and even within tours), the songs evolve and morph into something brilliantly different. Jazzy included. The Other One, a prime example.

Also take Eyes of the World in this Spring 90 tour as another example. The first time it's played in Hartford, early in the tour, it's briskly-paced and drummy-driven - fairly typical for those 80's Eyes that were FAST. Then the second time they play Eyes in spring 90, it's remarkably SLOWED DOWN in Albany. They pulled back on the throttle; it's not as percussion-driven, and has a more laid-back vibe. Then, the final time Eyes is played, of course it's with Branford and that one speaks for itself but again - the slower more jazzy feel to it. And it seems there it remained, til the end. And Most will probably agree that this wasn't the first time Eyes made a stylistic change - it's happened at least twice before. Cool, that stuff. But again only reinforces Daverock's epic point.

BTW, Spring 90 wraps up today; about to launch that one since I've found myself working from home this afternoon. Love that top-half of the second set, which I refer to as "The Kitchen Sink Set". At least on paper it looks kitchen sink-y.

https://archive.org/details/gd90-04-03.sbd.hinko.17811.sbeok.shnf

Its sunny on my back patio as I type....

Sixtus

The two I mentioned from 1972 are more melodic than most. They remind me more of Dark Star during the parts that are not the Other One theme itself. I love the 1971s because they are less Space than 72. I like the Jazz of 72 but can also deal with just the rock of 71, where the Jazz has not yet taken hold. I was very happy with the ones we got with Dave's Picks 22 + 26. I have yet to deeply explore the duel drummer ones that you speak of. Your use of the word powerhouse makes me I think I may have been overlooking some incredible listening experiences. Thank you

EDIT : Stoltzfus aye aye cap'n! Thank you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlc5Bii_Qf8

I would be very surprised if I personally could recommend an Other One from 1972-1974 that you hadn't already heard the like of. For me, the great thing about them is that they are jazzy, and do go out there.

But they are obviously totally different from the previous eras ones-especially from when Mickey was in the band up to February 1971. Those are really powerhouses-my all time favourite being Binghampton 2/5/70-but I also like all the great ones from 1968 and 1969. Which probably accounts for...all of them

In 1972-1974 they seem more "jazz" than "rock" without a drummer and with the added piano. I wasn't sure I liked them as much when I first heard them, about 30 years ago- but I do now. But I like jazz more now than I did 30 years ago. It is almost like a different band playing-the dynamics are so different.