Pick of the Day, with Discussion

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April 6, 2020 - 9:47am

8,077 replies

marye

Joined:
May 26, 2007

Bolo24 says: An Idea, Perhaps? Since we're all going to have a fair amount of spare time on our hands for the foreseeable future, what about starting another thread where we all listen to the same show/release on a given day and then share impressions afterward? Folks can submit suggestions and one person (not me) picks what we'll all listen to - call it Deadnet Picks or something. Anyway, if this idea is deemed to have merit, I'd suggest one of the loyal regular posters take the lead and do the picking - y'all can decide who. Might be fun. If it does go forward, I nominate Dick's Picks 18 for the first listen. Been talked about here lately, and, had it been a single show rather than a compilation, we'd probably be talking about it in the same conversation as Cornell, Veneta, etc. Or perhaps even Gainesville?? Stay safe and healthy, friends - this planet needs as many Deadheads as possible.

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August 12, 2022 - 7:13am

#1901

Dennis

Joined:
November 1, 2012

I'll put it here

I see no mention of it,,,, Owsley Stanley Foundation is releasing a new "Journal".

The Chieftians in San Fran..... 1973 and 1976

A vinyl and a cd.

Stans site was a little cheaper than amazon.
August 12, 2022 - 7:02am

#1902

JimInMD

Joined:
June 27, 2011

Thanks

Yes, thanks Dennis.

ah.. Blue Crow, I'm with you. I love that 2/21 show, it has really grown on me and man does it sound good. I think I will split my time between that and a revisit of Dave's 43. Nothing wrong with hitting the released stuff from time to time here, right?
August 11, 2022 - 2:33pm

#1903

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

Dennis

Interesting article. Well worth reading.
August 11, 2022 - 1:49pm

#1904

1stshow70878

Joined:
September 11, 2014

JM

on Jerry's style.
A cerebral description.
Whatever he's doing I'm OK
as long as I focus on all those notes.
I won't get lost.

Cheers
August 11, 2022 - 11:54am

#1905

1stshow70878

Joined:
September 11, 2014

Aug. 1, 1982

I think Big Brownie had talked about this one a while back.
I'm finding so much early 80's I didn't know I liked.
It's all about the energy not so much the era.
Cheers
Thanks BC!
And Dennis thanks as well. JM is well spoken.
August 11, 2022 - 9:24am

#1906

bluecrow

Joined:
September 21, 2015

Thank you Dennis

Thanks for sharing that piece from Mayer. Really good.

Going with 2/21/71 from Workingman's 50th. Love the Rick Turner Peanut sound.

1st Show - glad to hear the Kitty Kat is still trucking on
August 11, 2022 - 8:22am

#1907

Dennis

Joined:
November 1, 2012

Came across the desk

Out there in the internet world

A quote from John Mayer on Jerry's playing from a guitar players perspective ...
Part of the genius of Jerry Garcia, was all guitar players have little segments we work with, little riffs, and licks. We work in these building blocks: at the bottom are scales, then working up to riffs, then licks, then inverted licks if you are the best around.
Jerry's building blocks were molecules of playing. Not licks. The smallest pieces that could be put together. Everything you are hearing is original, off the top of his head, and represents his spiritual place he was in on that day. John Mayer on Jerry Garcia
This is the forward John wrote for Jay Blakesberg's book "Secret Space of Dreams"
"I’m a good enough guitar player to know a great guitarist when I hear one, but I had to become an even better one to begin to understand the depth and complexity of Jerry Garcia’s playing.
I’ve always said that musicians play like they are, and in the case of Garcia, his performances serve as a detailed map of a man, his intentions, his desires, and his impressions of the world around him. And going by that map, Garcia was a lovely, mighty soul. I never met him, and will never understand the loss of those who did, but the vast archive of his music amounts to the makings of a starry night sky that turns listeners into explorers.
Several years ago I set out not just to learn Garcia’s approach to the guitar and the songs he played, but to learn what about it has allowed millions of people who don’t play the guitar to key into it for hours on end. Soloing has been known since its inception as a kind of self-indulgent expression. Why, then, could so many listeners, myself included, listen to him do it endlessly without fatigue?
To best understand what makes Garcia’s guitar playing so unique, it helps to start with what it sidesteps: though it drew from blues and R&B, his guitar approach left a few traditional elements out of the equation, he didn’t play from that well-worn feral, sexual place that traditional blues music traded in, nor did he really touch the sinister aspects that were born into the idiom. Garcia didn’t sing about wanting to rock a young woman all night long, and any of his deals with the devil existed metaphorically as mere setbacks. (What’s 20 bucks, anyway?) These changes affect the fundamental color palette of the storytelling. I’m not sure the sun ever rises in Chicago blues music, but in the musical storytelling of Garcia and the Grateful Dead, it shines so bright it hurts.
On a more technical note, he played most often in a major blues scale, which added to this mix of innocence, and even joy. Minor blues notes lend themselves to the exquisiteness of pain, while major blues scales kind of explore the relief from it. Garcia played to relieve people of pain. That melodic innocence must have something to do with bringing so many people to their “happy place.” He wasn’t pulling notes from an anguished place within, he was catching them with a butterfly net as they went flitting by overhead. On a tactile level, he held the guitar with grace. It wasn’t a weapon, it was a vehicle. He took it easy. He may have played fast, but he was thinking slow. And that makes us listen with a smile.
I put Jerry Garcia on the same level as Miles Davis and Bill Evans because of the intention in his performing; once you’ve learned all the notes, and the chords, and the bends and the runs, you come to the final frontier of playing which is the why of it all, and that’s where the power was and still is in his playing. He played from a real place, a place that faced out to the world, not for his own reception or gratification. He played for the joy of interacting with the band and with the music he loved. If you listen close enough to a musician, you can tell what they’re looking to get out of each and every note they make. Garcia, to me, was looking to bring music to life out of the tacit, sacred duty to use his gift. Even after learning these things, they offer very little help in sounding anything like the man. That’s because he didn’t play anything stock or repetitive. There are no “signature Jerry Garcia solo riffs” as exist with so many revered guitarists. To “sound like Jerry,” you have to make people feel like he did, and well—good luck with that.
The real magic—the kind that will make the Grateful Dead music live forever—that’s in the way we carry it on in our hearts and minds. I don’t listen to Garcia and the band play—I watch it. I believe we all do, and that what we see is a blend of the music, the year in which it was played, the season and location of the show so as to understand the state of mind the band was in that night, that week, that presidency. We see it differently from one another the way we do our own dreams, but we all agree that our dreams contain these songs, and this band, those places and names. And that’s how the Grateful Dead managed to freeze time. We discuss our favorite years in present tense; we say we just heard the best version of something last night as if that was the moment it first took place. Your favorite year of their music "wasn’t", it "is." And in that way, inside that beautiful dreamscape the band created, the Grateful Dead is still up there, still playing. And Jerry is right there in front of them, and time is held in place by those who refuse to let it fade, and even as we sleep, as long as one of us is listening, the band is still playing.
We lose the ones we love, we pine for those who have left, and we lament the changes of modern times. But the makers of this music dug a tunnel, and it runs beneath time and space, and we, the ones who love it like family, crawl through to visit 1974, and 1969, and 1987 and 1990. If we were alive at the time the show took place, we see ourselves as the people we were in the lives we had, and if we weren’t born yet, we get to wistfully dream what it must have been like.
We only get a few minutes on earth, and Jerry Garcia gave all his minutes so that we could forever visit his life and times through his playing, and let it unravel into a new kind of now." --- John Mayer on Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead
August 11, 2022 - 8:15am

#1908

JimInMD

Joined:
June 27, 2011

The Zoo

A nice little show. I explored this one a little before this thread started, probably late 2019. It makes a good companion to the night before in Austin. Apparently hot that day and Jerry was up most of the night celebrating his birthday. Hot jams in China > Rider.
August 11, 2022 - 7:52am

#1909

DeadVikes

Joined:
October 26, 2016

8/1/82

Looking at the 8/1/82 show from Oklahoma City for today. The hot summer 82 run.
August 10, 2022 - 1:20pm

#1910

1stshow70878

Joined:
September 11, 2014

Yes Jim

One of the joys of old age.
Stuff (or hair) growing out of places it shouldn't.
Or where it hadn't before at least.
Cheers

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Currently Listening To...

Bolo24 says: An Idea, Perhaps? Since we're all going to have a fair amount of spare time on our hands for the foreseeable future, what about starting another thread where we all listen to the same show/release on a given day and then share impressions afterward? Folks can submit suggestions and one person (not me) picks what we'll all listen to - call it Deadnet Picks or something. Anyway, if this idea is deemed to have merit, I'd suggest one of the loyal regular posters take the lead and do the picking - y'all can decide who. Might be fun. If it does go forward, I nominate Dick's Picks 18 for the first listen. Been talked about here lately, and, had it been a single show rather than a compilation, we'd probably be talking about it in the same conversation as Cornell, Veneta, etc. Or perhaps even Gainesville?? Stay safe and healthy, friends - this planet needs as many Deadheads as possible.

Dick's 18

In process and it has been a while. Sound quality from my perspective is somewhat lacking. Love the Dupree's, It's all over now, good Passenger, Brown Eyed Women. Just finished Eyes, really good. Again, wish the sound quality was better.

Thanks Bolo and Mary!

Listened to DiP18 within the last week

Disc one is fun (it's a mix of several shows, me remembers...CR&S is always welcome)
Disc two is sublime. Eyes, Playin' > Wheel > Playin'. I do notice some sound quality issues at times, but they are not horrific and permanent. I remember the Playin' is good as always, and then gets reeeeeeally good
Disc three is phenomenal. As I listened recently, I remember smiling at the glory of the show. Scarlet > Fire, Truckin' > The Other One > Wharf > Around

the Madison show took place about 50 miles north of where l lived at the time. but since I was in 8th grade, I had no clue or awareness of that fact.

Uni-Dome 2/5/78

One of my favorites Scarlet>Fire's of all time.... Also love the Samson when after a prolong opening jam Weir does the woohoo type of shout out!! I've posted about the Scarlet>Fire before but there is a Jerry Keith chord interaction after the singing in Scarlet that for me is mind melting!!! Good first choice Bolo... One last ramble, for me this show 2/5/78 is in my mind is the last show of 77... The April tour after this has a different vibe..

Dicks 18....

....listened to the first disc last night. Cold Rain, All Over Now, Duprees and BE Woman all top shelf renditions. Man. Iowa got all the good shows. Will start up disc two a little later.
Thats the show with the extended Samson due to Bob's mic difficulties, correct?

Dick's 18

A few momentous stand outs for me: The Music Never Stopped; this version easily made it onto a "best of" compilation early on and has never been supplanted. Fight me. Also, the Estimated > Eyes of so so good. Beautiful elongated Eyes intro, then just mad jamming all the way through, nice upbeat Eyes tempo. Great exploratory Estimated as well. I love the drop into Eyes here; expertly pulled off. The Scarlet > Fire is very awesome too. Long, jammy. Nothing new here, just adding my love.

Nice idea.
Sixtus

Eyes just started....

🔥....🔥....🔥. Its a keeper.

Slipping this in....

https://www.justgivemepositivenews.com/
....because.

Dicks 18 -How long have we got?

The first thing I noticed is that it features two nights, but unless I am looking in the wrong place, there is no indication which nights which songs are from. I could have checked in Deadbase...but that's upstairs and as I was settled down to listen I didn't bother. It looks like one first and two second sets.

I have just played the first cd so far. Coming from Europe 72, this sounds a lot simpler rhythmically. During Spring 72, you can focus on Bill, Phil, Bob, or Keith - as well as Jerry obviously-and they are all playing with energy and imagination. Here, the focus is more just on Jerry. I like his fiery guitar sound on here, but I am not as keen on Bob's sound. Donna, on the other hand, sounds nice on Looks Like Rain. I prefer this version of Good Lovin to the ones played in 72. It sounds almost calypso-a real celebratory sound.
The cd picks up pace nicely on the last three songs, with great guitar solos from Jerry. It seems a bit more like standard "rock" in a way, compared to the swing they had with one drummer and a fully functioning Keith. I enjoyed listening to it, but I will probably leave the first of the set 2s for tomorrow.

Dick's 18

Not much left to say LLR crackled like a thundercloud!

Spring Tour '78....

....Jerry fresh off his laryngitis. The crackling in his voice during Wharf Rat proves it. His voice was never the same, but still rocks my soul.
Trey Pistachio dropped another song. "Are You There Colleen?". With a message of getting off drugs. Methinks Colleen was his dealer back in the day. Might be wrong. Never right.
I had a dealer back in the day. Name was Chill. Called him from payphones. That was a long time ago though. Thank God.

1978 Dick's Picks 18

At the start of 1978 I'd sort of lost interest in the Dead, having last seen them in 74. 78 was my fifth year in college (yeah I know) and I was way more into jazz than rock in large part due to an awesome jazz club on campus, the Backdoor. The place just had a constant stream of major talent coming through. McCoy Tyner, Charlie Mingus, Elvin Jones, Roland Kirk etc. So in early January I see the Dead are gonna be at Golden Hall so my girlfriend and I say "What the hell?" and I get tickets for 1/07. Now in 78 the Dead were not that big of a draw and I wasn't expecting much, sort of a nostalgia trip. Wrong. They were great, just awesome. So after the show we immediately get tickets for 1/08. These were the Bobby songs only nights but that didn't matter a bit. My girlfriend (now my wife) cried during Looks Like Rain. We were back on the bus until 85 when the arrival of our first kid changed everything. Footnote to that is our last show was a week before his birth and she was major prego and treated like royalty by all you wonderful heads. So I love DP 18 and I especially like the Eugene show release. Stay home.

Want to try Dave's Picks 11... 11/17/72 for tomorrow??

Has any recommended a show for tomorrow? Just throwing it out there... or just say "Don't be programming it baby let's just get it on!" bob t

Dave's 11

In on that one Bob T. What a show.

DaP 11

Nice! I'm overdue for a listen.

RE: DP18, agree with Jim - Brown-Eyed Women is PERFECT! For that matter, so is TMNS - powerful! And then there's disc 3. If I had to rescue only one single disc from my burning house, this one would be in the running. That Scarlet/Fire is a half-hour blissfest, Truckin' is solid, TOO is insanely good. Masterful music!

On to Wichita!

That Dicks 18 TOO....

....has metal influences. Garcia tapping into his inner Iommi. My ear told me so.
Wichita this soon into the game? Bold move Cotton. Let's see how it pans out.

Vguy

Love the Dodge Ball reference!!

I forgot there is a good hour of OK City 11/15/72

On the Wichita show.......

Social Listening

It seems like trying Europe 72 date by date has the momentum.

Daverock - DP18 show/song breakdown

funny how they didn't list out what shows the songs are from. even funnier, the songs in Disc 1 are actually from 3 shows - Its All Over Now and Duprees are from 2/4/78 Milwaukee! The Wikipedia entry for DP 18 lays it out if you're interested. Deadbase IX also lists a soundcheck of Ripple x3 in Milwaukee - what the heck is that??!!

As others have noted, among many highlights a great Music Never Stopped and Eyes of the World from 2/3 - love the super long intro to Eyes, it reminds me of a post-hiatus favorite, 6/8/77. They Love Each Other is fantastic. The 2nd set from 2/5 is just wild. Such a raw sound to the Wolf! Would love to see released the Uptown shows that immediately proceed this. Worth noting how rare The Wheel was at this time - 2/3 was first time played since mid fall '77, another year until played again on 2/17/79 (Keith & Donna's last show), and then another year and a half before it finally re-entered regular rotation.

A couple technical notes - based on Dick's Caveat Emptor, 2/3 appears to have been recorded at a slower tape speed (7.5 ips vs. 15), and so the sound quality is a bit rougher. Also, IIRC, there is an unpatched gap (sad face) in the jam between verses 2 and 3 in Eyes of the World. There's a very nice audience of 2/3 on the Archive if anyone wants to hear that.

Now on to Wichita!!

DP18

After listening to almost 4 hours of insanely wonderful music, the overriding conclusion is that, in my opinion, NO ONE can play guitar like Garcia did. At times subtle and nuanced, at other times raging, but always just exactly perfect within the context of the song they were playing. Remarkable, really. Feeling blessed to have experienced GD/JGB live so many times.

Garcia may not be the "best" guitarist (highly subjective, as most of those inane "best of" polls demonstrate), but he is the only guitarist I can listen to every day. That includes Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Gilmore and whoever else you want to throw in there.

It's grate to be a Deadhead!!

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3p838b

MHammond12

Recommend multi-tasking and do both!

Bolo

You're a harsh taskmaster! Listening to Grateful Dead concerts will continue until morale improves.

Song breakdown

Bluecrow - thanks for the tip. There were a couple of compilations that came out in the 1990s that featured songs from multiple shows, but didn't indicate in the sleeve notes which song came from which show. Ladies and Gentlemen from April 1971 and Dozin' at the Knick from Spring 1990 were two others.

Bolo/Jerry

Agree 100% with your comments on Jerry, what a genius! The whole band was.

Just finishing up Dave's 11 now. Comments to follow.

Dave’s 11

Dooo, just listened to that last week, for first time, so maybe we’ll sneak another round in after this 71 grease fest we’ve got going on today .....fall 72 is def fo shizzle....

EDIt: MHAMMOND12...whoa. I’m not sure what’s more impressive, seeing the laryngitis shows or all that top shelf jazz in a club setting???

Throw my hat

Dicks picks vol 21 , not the main show the extras , Iko iko > morning dew > sugar magnolia . Absolutely sublime , and without doubt one of the best dew’s 😸

Re: Oroborous

I shouldn't really call the Backdoor a club. It was an empty room on the ground floor of the Student Union and Performing Arts building on campus that the A.S. booking people converted into a small concert venue. Just a stage and corked walls. No seats. No refreshments. Bring your own. The talent that appeared there was unbelievable looking back. Freddie King. John Lee Hooker. Two memories...sitting under McCoy Tyner and watching his right sock working its way down past his ankle has he stomped his foot keeping constant time...Roland Kirk playing the flute with his nose, playing three saxophones at once, playing the piano with his elbows and head, and careening around the room playing saxophone being led by his handler (Rahsaan was blind you know) who had an air raid siren he would blow off in your face if you didn't get out of the way fast enough. And none of this seemed like a gimmick. Bright moments indeed.

Still at work, so no chance to listen to Wichita....

....but i get off in 30 minutes. But then again, that Phish show is on. Decisions, decisions.

Dave's 11 Wichita 11/17/72

This show and bonus tracks from Oklahoma City is definitely top stuff. Sound quality is A+. A great Bear recording! Man, he did great work.
The whole show flows nicely, although not a long second set. Love the Sugaree, Bird Song is awesome, Jack Straw, Box of Rain! Come on. Casey Jones to close the first set and than open with Cumberland. Great Truckin Other One, very unique Other One. Always loved Brokedown Palace and this one they play flawlessly.

I will throw out 12/28/79 Road Trips 3.1??

Let me know Gents.

12/28/79

I like the post-space UJB and Bertha on that one a lot mainly for Brent's harmonies. Overall a classic pick with a lot to like. I might give DP5 (12/26/79) the edge however. That pick is hefty.

Always a fan of....

....a mid-set Don't Ease. Hard to find. Found one!!

Brown-Eyed Woman....

....is pretty much the perfect song. 🍻

I Am An A+ Student

Listened to both Dave Picks 11, 11/17/72, and Europe 72, 04/07/72, as assigned by Bolo. Dave's Picks 11 is one of my favorite releases. Great recording by Owsley improved by the treatment of Mr. Norman. Has an incredible Bird Song. Just a wonderful release.

Europe 72, 04/07/72 Wembley just blows it away. Leaves a smoking crater where Wichita used to be. Europe 72 can not be bettered.

Oooooh. I remember this Cumberland!....

....it's toasty.

11/17

This one has a nice slow relaxed build up with some ripping Jerry. TOO than blows the roof off! The only TOO>Brokedown Palace. End of set 2 all great. A perfect prelude to the next to nights.

ps. 4/7 Rips the paint off the walls from the first note. No contest.

Okay Bolo

Okay Bolo, what are your thoughts?
Next show for today?

I suggested 12/28/79. RT3.1

RT 3.1

I’m down, right after my John Prine compilation

Wonderful idea here.

I relocated last week and since that time I have been unpacking as much as I can and maintaining my workload from home. So I have been out of commission here for a while. I came across this pick of the day and I am all for it.

Just to throw a show out there ( not for today) but how about 9/8/73? I have never heard it but Dick Latvala spoke highly of it. It might be nice to give it a listen.

Meanwhile it looks RT 3.1 will it be for today. Maybe I will add 4/8/72 as well.

RT 3.1

Nice - been a while since that one hit my headphones.

MHammond gets a gold star. But what did you listen to AFTER lunch?

12/28/79

I was at this show, it was a blast! Sugaree, High Time, The Music Never Stopped, this show was great from start to finish. This show sounds so much better then Dave's Picks 31 from just a .sound point of view. Yeah, this show was a hell of a lot of fun!

12/28/79

Sugaree lovely, the rest of the set is okay Music rocks! Set 2 Alabama grooving, GSET explosive!, Terrapin super sweet jam, PITB end jam is sick!, UJB outta drums/space yes!, short Miracle, Bertha>Good Love, CJ , OMSN rockin!

Wait for me!!!!!....

....on it. (I'm the tour buddy still in the car doing bong rips as y'all are heading to the gate.)

My time to SHINE!...

https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1983/09/10
Santa Fe Downs. Give me this. But for Friday. I'm working tomorrow, but off Friday.
I've stood at Santa Fe Downs and looked east. The view is spectacular.
Whats all the hubbub, bub?
It's got a Music opener and a Cold Rain encore. Warts and all.
Things are strange outside. Bird Songs all day.
edit. Found something!!
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/grateful-dead-jerry-garcia-favourite-song/
Spoiler alert. Row Jimmy. Also a favorite of Bill The Drummer. It was playing as I read it (12.28.79. Disc one. Track four).
I still don't believe in coincidences.

RT3.1 and DaP11

DaP11: Last half of disc two - the whole He’s Gone thru BDP is incredible

Just starting RT3.1 now , if the first song is any indication of this night, I’m in for something special!

How’s about Dicks 22?

Hendrix Freak threw this one out a couple days ago but yall were onto something else.....it got me thinking about some primal dead, and haven’t had a good 68 fix for a bit....So Wadaya say Laddys?

MHammond: RT 3.1, nice pick. Started to go through the 79 stuff when DaP 31 came out but didn’t make it, rember liking this one more than 31, and yesterday confirmed that. Really need to get to DP 5 from 12/26, it’s been so long for that one. Maybe this weekend I’ll roll that?

VGUY: I’m down with some Santa Fe tomorrow. Heard about this one for years but don’t think I’ve ever checked it out. Plus 83 would be a nice change up here....

RT3.1

12/28/79! Is this the best RT release? Maybe, certainly the best 79 release from the Vault so far. Betty did another excellent job here.
I like this release more and more every time I listen to it. Sound quality is A+.Sugaree opener! Different feel to this show without Keith and Donna, but I dig it. Brent's keyboards really shine. Really good flowing Terrapin, Playing, UJB. The show closers are fun and groovy. Makes me want to get up and dance.
And then there is the bonus disc, from 12/30/79. 10 additional songs of bliss. Scarlet Fire, Let it Grow, Truckin! Sweet.

Would love to see more 79 and of course 80. The early Brent years! I know the Chicago release didn't match this release but 79 has a lot to offer.
Yesterday I also listened to 9/1/79. Not an official release, but again great 79 sound.
If you have not heard it, check it out.

Looking forward to our next pick. Let us know!

Re: Oroborous

I can't take credit for that pick. I'm trying the Europe 72 night by night thing and I'm already behind.

Dicks 22 is today, correct?....

.....hoping 9.10.83 gets listened to tomorrow.

12-28-79

Playing now.
Is that today’s pick?

First got this on cassette in mid-90’s and loved it right away. Then got a CD-R copy. Was really happy to get it as a commercially released CD.

This show needs a Plangentized/Normanized remaster 180g vinyl record store day release.

Edit:
Looks like I’m a day behind. No worries, I’ll catch up.

Pick of the Day

Good to have you kid.

Bolo, what are your thoughts on the last pick. Sounds like the crowd is feeling Dick's 22 for today/ tonight. I will have to sit this one out as I don't have this one. Looking forward to tomorrow's choice.
Be well folks!
Snowed here in MN today☹️