Grateful Dead

....I have to drive across the city in about an hour. C'mon mailman!
....edit. Swing is here. #1978/20000. Soooo close 😔. Time to drive 🙄

or some kind of parasite.

yo Marye!!! throw him into the pond!!!

16988 arrived this morning.
I was at home when the "Letter Carrier" arrived with the snail mail this morning. I live in an area where the mail is delivered door-to-door. I opened the door as the "Letter Carrier" was about the put the mail in the mailbox. I joyfully said, rather loudly,
"ALLL RIIIGHT! Grateful Dead at the Schwiiiiiggg 77 Daves Picks 29!"
I sort of startled the carrier and he smiled and said that he wished he had been there but was serving in the US Army as a 20-year-old Corporal. Turns out that he is a Dead Head also, and born 4 days after me on 10/31 - Halloween.
Before this DaP 29 arrived I was able to find set 1 of this show on cassette in my "archives". It sounded very good for a tape, but not really anything to get excited about anymore. I also found discs 1 & 2 from this 3 CD-R set and they were really good, but in mono and rather compressed to irritate me.
This one of my favorite shows.

Here on the official release, we have the full show in uncompressed Betty-board stereo and it is EXCELLENT!
SONIC NIRVANA!
THANK YOU TO THE POWERS-THAT-BE that got this chestnut released and to all us heads who kept on requesting the release this show.
We also are treated to an audio sample of 2/27/77 Santa Barbara and the "booklet"/folded one-sheet has reviews of the 2/27/77 nugget. Could this be a prelude to a future full-show release in the future?

This sounds magnificent.

Kudos to all.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

thanks for that tip Wadeocu - and I thought I had a trained ear for these disco Dancin's. Some sleuthing may be in order....

Still, pretty sure it was the first Wah-wah! But I'd love to be shown incorrect....

Sixtus

I think they just spaced it Sixtus. That little breakdown is on a bunch of 77 and 78 versions.

Like Dave, this recording has a special place for me having been one of my prize acquisitions back in the cassette era. It was one of my best tapes and I listened to it regularly as a young teenager. This fact affects my perception, but my gosh what an exalted perception. This is one of my favorites.

Listening extensively over the weekend caused me to ponder why. One answer that kept coming to mind: KEITH GODCHAUX!! While one could debate whether this is one of the Dead's best ever performances, I think it would be hard to argue against this being one of Keith's top performances. He is so intuitive with his timing and tasteful fills. Those twinkling, rolling fills he does throughout the night are just superb. I cant really think of another show where he does this as often or effectively. Hyperbole aside, I think Keith was having a great night and is a big part of what makes this show so good. He is all over the Morning Dew from the next night as well!

This is an intriguing show because it contains no "jam" segment per se yet it happens to include at least two examples of what I consider some of the best improvisation the band ever performed. The jam in Playin is unique in several ways, but the lead into The Wheel contains superb improvisation especially from Garcia, Weir and Keith that showcases them at their best. Then we have the transition from Eyes into Dancin'. It is a very tasteful piece of music and, once again, I have to give Keith credit for making it so. To my ear he is the one that makes that transition so great with that repetitive lick on the high end of the keyboard that he carries on through the introduction until everyone is charging forward on the new groove. Then there are just really good renditions of some of their best material like Music Never and Help>Slip>Frank.

It is just such a lively show all the way around. Even the well timed finger whistling we get from a particularly tuned in head. That guy hit it at just the right moments: the transition into Dancin, the transition segment at the end of Slipknot, the beginning of Playin' etc. That whistle is an indelible part of this recording and I have a soft spot for it. I wonder if whoever it was listens to this recording and smiles wistfully to themselves about that night.

I know all of this is highly subjective and no doubt affected by my nostalgic familiarity with the recording. None-the-less, there is my take on it. I just love this tape!!

Love this show inside and out...and of course there are many moments of barn-burning. My personal favorite is the Eyes>Dancin'...and I believe this was in fact the first Dancin' they performed with the wah-wah pedal? Is that right? Also they've dropped the '76-implemented transition toward the end of the Dancin' jam, and it just heads right back to the final verse. Always wondered if this was planned, or they just 'forgot' to play that part, cause I don't recall ever hearing it done that way again up until it was retired some time in '79.

Enjoy this one Folks!
Sixtus

Two for the show and one for the bonus tracks.

Already had a great recording of 2/26/77, but am always happy to get a greater one! Both this and DaP30 are shows I already have with added material I don't. Kinda perfect for me!

Strongly support 3rd disc filler! More please! Not so supportive of filler on 1st or 2nd discs as it disrupts show-flow, but my complaints are easily ignored...

Very happy to have received this at all since I have had both a change-of-address and change-of-credit-card since ordering the sub. Read too many horror stories here about hijinks ensuing from such things...

AND NO SKIPS! Had both the Birdsong skip in the 73/74 3CD release and the Let It Grow skip in DaP28. Nice to not have such issues this time.

How's about fitting a 4(or5)/82 show and a 10/89 show in the DaP series before DaP36, eh?

Ever since the site rebuild, I have not been able to log in without "request(ing) a new password", so I don't log in too often now. I suspect the problem arises from my browser being non-updated for years (due to a tangle of issues I have revolving around needing system compatability with a non-updatable program), but I wonder if some of the posters that are no longer here are gone due to log in issues

Sorry for your loss, Bolo. Living is often a brutal experience and our emotional systems don't seem to have any effective work-arounds to soften the blows. May you and your family have much to hold on to in this season of loss.

Set the tractor for Jan/70, Jim! Let's go!

I love any and all of the live Dead releases: Dick's, Dave's, from the Vault, Without a Net, Sunshine Daydream, the PNW set. All just candy for the soul. And also the JGB "Electric on the Eel" box set released recently! Let's not forget that the JGB live releases have been stellar too. Anyway, the few hours I spent yesterday with Dave's #29 was pure bliss. Great sound mix and the show totally sizzles from the get and never lets up. The "Filler"? Also Prime. The Morning Dew from 2/27 is choice. So I just want to stop and embrace the gratitude for this music and the people who help release it. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!