Grateful Dead

Dave,

I am not sure that you can draw a correlation between when people saw that band and the eras they prefer. My touring days exactly overlap Jim’s. Today, I rarely listen to anything post 70s and certainly won’t spend any money on a release from that time period. For what it is worth, I happened to attend four shows from the TTATS box. To this date I have never even listened to the Oxford or Albany shows. Only Augusta and post-space MSG 87 get any play.

As Jim pointed out, it comes down to a matter of taste. I had wonderful concert experiences in my early years. Blue Oyster Cult, AC/DC, Clapton, etc. Even in the later years when I was seeing the Dead. The Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd all rolled through town. Yet, I wouldn’t purchase a single one of those shows if they were released. Well, Pink Floyd I probably would. But only one show, not all of them.

On the other hand, I would snap up any shows I saw of Bruce Cockburn, The Cowboy Junkies, The Freddy Jones Band or David Bromberg. All of which I attended during my Dead touring days.

Hope this helps.

Listen to dicks Picks #9- MSG. This is a primo mix, it shoul prepare you for the up coming box set. 🙏❤️😎 I really love this dicks pick #9 MSG 1990/ November 16th 1990

Yes, that's a pretty good summary of the relationship between seeing The Dead in the past and listening to them now. I had wondered if/how the experience of the former impacted on the latter. But as I only saw them a handful of times, and you saw them many times and we both have a similar taste in the music as released, then maybe this relationship isn't so important. Maybe it is for some people. The Dead were, and of course still are, something of an armchair band for me.

I think it's more complicated than that.

I think it's safe to say, Boreal Ridge aside.. if you were at a particular show and it gets the full Norman, you are going to buy it and enjoy it. But are we really blinded by that or are we sometimes our own worst critics? I think if we have listened to enough shows the 'I was there factor' wears off. I have seen some great shows, many released by now, some I remember in technicolor vivid detail, some I have to be reminded I was even there... When I settle in on a show today and really listen to it, I think most of that does not come through in my final opinions.

I recall your first show being in '81? Mine '82, last in '95. Yet I get the feeling our favorite show list has many duplicates, the majority falling before 1981. 2/28/69 perhaps?

I think we like what we like.

But sometimes I become enthralled with a show outside my normal zone and walk away slack jawed and in awe.

That's the real beauty of the GD, there are so many Grateful Deads.. they seemed to reinvent themselves just enough to make just about all of us just about almost exactly happy. Just about.. and almost. Just enough.

My only regret is that I cannot seem to devour stuff at the pace many here do. That's ok though, give me another 50 years and I will be right up with the rest of you.

Happy trails all.. time to get horizontal.

I always liked that funkier arrangement, though I also find the Jerry solos to be more appealing in the Fire era versions. The second and third versions ever from the PNW Box are okay, Donna in the recording mix is awful, I'm sure live it wasn't that bad. In '76, the slower, smoother Dead makes Scarlet groove more. In '77, that slinkier feel plus Keith Olsen's pushing tightness led to a full flowering of the song.

On that pun, a bit on the newest version to be released. Finally completed the 12/3 portion, with the filler to go. I was hesitant to play this show given the reviews, especially for a lackluster sounding Scarlet Fire, but it wasn't quite that bad. Not a wild endorsement by any stretch, but a decent enough show.

Does Anybody Know Where The…
Does anybody know where the four Dale Saltzman 18x15 lithographs are in the woodstock box set?????

I have the box but no Dale Saltzman 18x15 lithographs???

Chuck

Cousins, As I listened to Scarlet Begonias from DaP 18, and they jammed like mad for the last 6 minutes, I recalled a comment you once made, about how these are actually usually a little better than before they were conjoined with FOTM. Good call. Scarlet B. DaP 18. Opium at the Orpheum.

Great new single and video by Rosalie Cunningham, "Ride On My Bike." Quite trippy.
Curious how bicycle rides have featured quite prominently in psychedelic songs over the years. Off the top of my head I can think of
Bike by Pink Floyd
My White Bicycle by Tomorrow
Take a Trip On An Orange Bicycle by The Orange Bicycle
Bike Ride to the Moon by The Dukes Of Stratosphere
Ecologically friendly and possibly influenced by stories of Albert Hoffman's maiden voyage.

After starting the day with Jethro Tull's Aqualung album, I moved on to the Crimson, White and Indigo release from 7/7/89 in Philadelphia, a release that I have always enjoyed. Sounding good to me again today. Both Crimson, White and Indigo and the Truckin' Up to Buffalo release of the show from 7/4/89 have excellent sound and seem like good shows to me, but, thankfully, I am easy to please.

I am looking forward to this box and I like the multiyear boxes. Of course I also like the boxes with a run of shows from a single tour as well. As I think someone else mentioned, this is the same arrangement as the Electric on the Eel box, shows from one venue from '87, '89, and '91, and for that box I found the '89 show to be the highlight. Just my random thoughts.

It seems to me, and I might very well be wrong, that releases from the latter years are aimed at, and appreciated most, by people who were at the actual shows being released, or who saw the regularly at that time. With early year releases-1968-1974 in particular, attendance at the show would add something, inevitably, but it is not mandatory to enjoy the recordings that have come out subsequently. I wonder if the same could be said for latter year releases? Lets hope so!

This thought just occurred to me reading Spacebrother's post below, which links this release to his own experience of seeing the band live during the years in question.