Grateful Dead

Those who diss 9 2 83

You are WRONG.

Plenty hot.

I was a freshman in H.S. at this time. I remember my uncle buddy had a homemade stereo and amp. With the colored lights and switches and the black and white 'the who' poster with the arrow pointing up from the big H. I also remember he had a Harvey wallbanger poster in 1974 which was the new cocktail at the time. Orange juice and Galliano. The old days.

Daverock, hats off for knowing Pete's studio guitar on Who's Next. I bought the LP in October of '83 (I can remember an astounding number of dates up through college years). I was in 6th grade at the time, and had gotten into The Who shortly after It's Hard came out the previous year. I remember being hooked on Athena from the radio, and then Christmas of '82 I went up to Buffalo, where my extended family lived. My cousin and I spent most of our days listening to music (and eventually, most of our nights drinking). Well that year we delved into my Uncle's album collection, which consisted of at least 7 crates of rock music. He put on Baba O'Riley from The Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (excellent live version in their first touring year without Moon). We just kept playing it over and over, probably 20 times that week. I think it's safe to say that's when I became a Who-Head.

Anyway, I'm babbling at this point, but let it suffice to say I eventually bought the Who's Next Deluxe Version, and learned through the extensive liner notes the history behind Lifehouse; the abandoned Who's Next recording sessions from the Record Plant in NY (featuring Leslie West on several of tracks; AND the the Gretsch 6120 he used to record the album, which was given to him by Joe Walsh.

Rare trivia that perhaps only one other person I could think of other than Uncle Gary might be aware of off the top of their head, and that is Kevin Brandon, who posts here periodically and is also a Who-head.

....has left me scratching my head. 1984? Which is the name of the new movie?

Took me a minute to get your Wonder Woman comment, but now I'm up to speed.

Checking out 12/12/72. I've had the Bird Song in a 73/74 Bird Song folder awhile, but the time's come to get more of the show in. With limited time on my hands, it's always the (75% of the time) reduced audio quality of the soundboard recordings that send me into the Normanized archives. But the tracks I grabbed from this 12/12/72 show (aka Return To Winterland) sound pretty solid from an audiophile standpoint.

Me and Bobby McGee - exceptionally good I would venture to say.

Tennessee Jed - this song has been steadily growing on me for 5 years. 1972-73 is real nice. It's the instrumental jam about 4 or minutes in

Playing In The Band - as good as the Europe 72 versions are, they get longer as the year goes on, and they good longer in a rocked out jammin kind of way, as opposed to a spaced-out jazzy kind of way (which believe you me has its place in Dead Greatness).

Even Around and Around sounds great.

That's as far as I've gotten.....Keith is raging loud. I wonder if Betty recorded this. They're really all pretty much raging loud.

I'm sure none of this 12/12/72 business isn't news to a lot of you, but it's melting my face at the moment so I thought I'd pass it along.

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And Now For Something
Completely Different
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It would be awesome if they made software that allowed you to make your own mix from a multi-track source, and the CDs (like Veneta) came with a second CD / DVD that contained each of the tracks. Then you just open your software program, put your DVD in your drive on your computer, and load the tracks for each song. From there a virtual soundboard would come up that allows you to start mixing. Even cooler would be if there were effects you could put on each of the tracks. I would turn up Jerry and add more distortion in a lot of spots. I would turn Keith up on most of Europe '72, I would substitute Donna's scream on Playing in the Band with Daltrey's from Won't Get Fooled Again. I would have multiple mixes for all songs. Turn up Billy for that "rock out hard" mix.

Keith - I agree that The Who only really found their live sound once Townsend strapped on a Gibson SG. On the original studio album of Tommy, they still sound like a pop band to me. On Live At Leeds/Hull/Isle of Wight they were well and truly rocking out, 70s style. For better or worse.

Interestingly ( if you are a nerd like me) the SG that Pete played actually had single coil pickups - P90s. Other players who used SGs with P90s on their early albums were Robbie Krieger, Santana and, surprisingly, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. And he had a sound that could topple a factory.

Also...Pete's premier studio axe in the 1970s seems to have been a Gretsch 6120, albeit one loaded with humbucking filter tron pickups. That great guitar sound on Won't Get Fooled Again?...its a Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman by all accounts.

I am on the same wavelength as LedDed as far as Jerry and the Alligator Nash Strat (the Fender Strat has that smoothness about it that suited Jerry's style so well). Somebody on this site recently said that they couldn't think of anyone who made a Stratocaster sound as good as Jerry did (it may have even been LedDef). That comment stuck with me.

But I also love the pure power and volume of the the SG that Daverock talks about. I think it's a toss up between Pete Townshend and Angus Young on who put that sound to greatest effect, as far as overall career impact. Townshend built an empire on it that far outlived his personal use of the guitar; you've only to listen to Live at Leeds or Isle of Wight '70 to appreciate what the SG did for The Who in '69 / '70. It's the guitar that gave Tommy a set of balls. It played a very similar role in the Dead's evolution as a band, and IMHO may have been the most impactfing facet of the Live Dead sound and success (along with the record's engineering distinction as the first live 16 track recording - this brought out an incredible "harmonic" that was spearheaded by the SG).

But for me, the real magic would be taking somebody with the artistic virtuoso talent that might be very well suited for that smooth polished sound of the Fender Strat, and placing the Gibson SG in his hands. Imagine that. If only such a player existied. A slick player who is both fast and gentle, picking through the glowing hot interlacings of those sharp SG strings and unforgiving pickups. Whew. And then if he could glide seamlessly from lead to rhythm at need (whatever it took to serve the song). But alas, no such man exists.
Just a fantasy band, so I may as well take a step further and pair this divinely talented wielder of the SG with a tight riff-master who could lay simple but tasty groundwork for our lead player to weave his way over, under, and alongside . Then you'd have the makings for something extraordinary and unparalleled. But this kind of talent.... simply...... doesn't...... wait.....he does exist! And his name is Reggie Hammond. No wait, that's a movie. His name is Mick Taylor.

I would say I prefer single coil guitars to humbuckers generally-although my tastes are more inclined towards telecasters than strats. I could list dozens of players, but mention of the great Otis Redding puts me in mind of Steve Cropper of the MGs, and all the great records he played on with Otis, and at Stax generally during the 60s.

For pure sound + eye candy a large bodied Gretsch is hard to beat-especially a 6120 or a White Falcon. I'm lucky enough to have a 6120 with a single coil dynasonic at the bridge and a P90 at the neck, a la Eddie Cochran. I'm no great shakes on the guitar...but you wouldn't believe the sound this thing makes. You can get slapback echo even before you plug it in.

With Jerrys SG I just liked the sound of the single string solos he did with it. You could perform open heart surgery with that tone.

... Everyone that reads this message should go immediately to the nearest way they can listen to Otis Redding. I promise you will be happier after than you were before. G'damn MG's!

Peace

- Otis? I think he was only 26 when he passed... plane crash. Tell me he doesn't sing like a man that knows about it all. Kinda like Jerry.