Grateful Dead

Shit, I'll clean a garage if there's a shirtless Jerry having fun at a Who show picture in it.

So you think this contest is all a hoax? a put on? a trick?

Who's in Charge Here!?!?!

To flash back on those UltraMatrix. I'm not sure about Pearson's mixes being any different than what we already have. But I've been comparing the new Pearson sources that Charlie has been putting out to the UltraMatrix source we had before, and from what I can tell the source / mix is the same but the difference is in the transfer. The new transfers are way better for the most part. I think Charlie has better gear, more knowledge, etc. So the new transfers tend to sound better. That's all speculation. Charlie what do you say? And You ROCK! I might be a tape geek. Never a taper, but always a collector.

And lastly 6/21/85 is probably the weakest show in this summer run.. they give it a go, but the x factor isn't there. It'll be interesting to hear what you all think. But that's what I got again from hearing it this AM.

But it's coming... if I remember right, it's there tomorrow. Loved that tape back in the day. Looking forward to hearing it again.

Be Well All You Heads!

Nice show Deadvikes. Nothing mind blowing but a good solid 87 outing. Always enjoy Pocky Way, and Candyman too. We got an Esau in there which some don’t get, but I always liked it because it was an unusual song and a change of pace. Bird Song and TMNS to round out the first. Loved the Maggie’s>>Cumberland. Don’t think I’ve heard that combo? Don’t think I’ve heard them do Maggie’s with just JG and Bob either? I’m Used to the big 4 vocal versions post Brent. So yeah their taking it higher untiiilllll ittttt comesss backkk downnnn with LL Rain, meh,... nice solid Terrapin with JG steady and confident, not a sizzler but we’ll played. Yes after that it’s sort status quo time to bring it home, but enjoyed Stella, and Quinn is a nice alternative to the more usual encores. All in all I nice little show.
As far as Ultramatrix, some seem a little dull sounding to me, some too metally, or I guess that could just as well be the metal tape?, but for this show the one I listened to I thought was really good. Personally I’ll take a good matrix over a SB any day, cause sorry folks but a dry SB feed is not what it sounded like live! To me some of the old stuff folks go on about I think are hard to listen to, especially the vocals and often the bass.
But of course compared to most Audi’s back then the SBs are a step up, and though I’m a audiophile, I’ll take a hot show via a lesser recording than a perfectly sounding dud, but that’s just me. I guess I’ve never really been a “taper” and I don’t mean necessarily someone who actually tapes. To me it’s always been sort of a click, a club, a cultural thing. And I think their mentality has sometimes biased things in a limiting way, again, that’s just me. I love Dave, and think he does a great job, but he suffers from this bias too. Sorry, not trying to be negative and didn’t mean to ramble, just say I prefer a good matrix. Although nothing beats a multitrack from most any era!
I wonder if ULTRAMATRIX is named somehow due to the Dead/Ultra Sound relationship. Don Pearson was I believe the Meyers Ultra Sound representative with the Dead who worked closely with Healy to tweak the system etc. So I’m curious if these new Pearson matrix’s we’ve been seeing are ones he perhaps took care of some of the tape mix while Dan did his thing, or are they separate some how from Healys normal feed/mix? Definitely would love to know more about all this!
Ok, Summers here and the time is right for some 85 Dancin’ in the streets! Woo-hoo, of to Alpine!

EDIT: I think maybe y’all’s reading into Bolos post too much...sounds like he’s trying to Huck Finn your asses to come clean out his garage 😉

Fun to watch yesterdays show as well as listen to it.
Watched VFTV III for the first part of Set 1 & YouTube for the rest.

I'd say it's a good show, but not great.
They lost me with the 2nd set LLR and for me it felt pretty routine after that.

Much better stuff earlier in the year ;)

It might've also been that I'd listened to 8/3/02 The Other Ones for the first time earlier in the day.
That was pretty far out!

It makes you think what could've been..

Speaking of LLR, 6/21/85 is playing over here and we've got a Set 1 LLR > Day Job closer. Uhh...

Fortunately I know that Estimated is a smoker, can't really remember the rest, and therefore I will relisten.

BTW any ideas on that there BOLO Contest?

Minus the plagiarized lines from Raiders, I've got nothing.

Have A Grate Day!

Hiya

DEADVIKES - Lots to see & hear in 1987.
The ULTRAMATRIX are essentially matrix tapes that Dan Healy made. Healy would record the crowd / ambience and blend that in with the SBD feed to create a more live sound. He was experimenting with it for awhile, but 1987 seems to be when he focused (exclusively?) on it, could be wrong on that. So most of the Tapes from the time period he was doing this, sound like a matrix tape with audience noise (sometimes way too much) and are called ULTRAMATRIX or ULTRAMIX.

The Spring Tour of '87 unfortunately, appears to be when Healy was figuring out how much of this ambience he wanted on the tape, and IMO those tapes tend to have too much ambience making them sound more like an Audience recording than the '85 crystal clear SBDs we'd come accustom to.

I was super stoked after Spring '87 shows to get the tapes, I wanted a dope SBD of those shows so I could see if what I thought I saw was amazing as I felt it was. So I waited and waited and waited. Never could find one, instead I had what sounded like a pretty good audience tape. Turns out it was a muddy transfer of Healy's ULTRAMATRIX recordings and the crystal clear SBD never appeared. In 2017-2019 Charlie Miller started to post some Upgrades of the ULTRAMATRIX cassette masters from I believe Joani Walker. Hopefully there's some even better transfers brewing in the Don Pearson stash that have been trickling out, I guess we'll see.

Some love em, some hate em.. yada yada. I'm still curious about whether or not in cases where what circulates is an UltraMatrix if there is also a "clean" SBD tape as well in the Vault. It would appear that the answer would be "sometimes". For example 3/26/87 what circulates is the Healy ULTRAMATRIX but there appears to also be a straight SBD of this show, which Dave L. played on Taper's Section (BTW it was DL's first show & a Charlie Miller Fave and worth checking out!). I'd love to find out that the Vault has "clean" SBDs of all these shows in addition to the ULTRAMATRIX that circulate, but I think that's probably not the case, or we'd have heard more. It's possible though, and it's probably more of a case of they have some but not all. I guess time will tell if we live long enough.

I've been trying to find out since '87 so yeah, don't hold your breath.

Hey Pocky Way through My Brother Esau are included as bonus footage on View from the Vault III. Great stuff.

Bird Song is hot. Maggie's Farm Cumberland, oh yeah! Stella Blue is moving. Quinn the Eskimo finish, yes!

Can anybody explain what an ultra matrix recording is? I am familiar matrix recordings (Dave's #8).

Time to do some more research on 87. A lot to offer. Don't think we will ever see an 87 Dave's Picks release, but man, it would be cool.

10/15/76 Set II Is really strong, Eyes of the World>Music Never Stopped start set II, and an ending stretch of The Other One>Comes A Time>Franklin's Tower>Sugar Magnolia... One caveat is the board ends during Comes A Time, but the audience is Betrando!!! 4 days after Oakland shows... bob t

Where Is The Ark?

I thought we'd settled that.

The Ark is somewhere very safe.

From Whom?

The Ark is a source of unspeakable power and it has to be researched.

And it will be I assure you Dr. Broady, Dr. Jones.

Bureaucratic fools, they don't know what they've got there.

Does this mean we will finally be getting the Ark 69 box?! Bolo's clues are usually much more elusive, but then again, we've all been waiting on this box a long time already....hmmm

I was unaware that a shirtless Jerry photo might be a rare thing, especially since lots of folks carried cameras for those outdoor shows back then.

So, here's the contest: come on over to my house, garage, attic or perhaps my storage unit. Whoever finds the photograph can keep it.

One caveat: you know the warehouse scene at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"? Yeah, its kinda like that. Good luck!

10/10/76 yesterday and 10/3/87 today.
Another great 76 that was put in perspective from that interesting post about DOG and specifically The Who/Dead shows. (Thanks for that GOGD) But now we REALLY need Bolos pics!
Personally these shows, and this release, just rose in status. Not only cause it’s sum good sheet mon, but because they BROUGHT it even though it sounds like they were dealing with three main things R&R bands hate:
- getting up and playing early
- an empty venue
- opening for another bands fans who aren’t interested etc

Dead Workingmen indeed! Not only that, they stick around and party, with JG dancin topless. Many bands would have been whiney beeatches, played short and shity, and took there toys and went home. No these boys were true professionals. Sure they probably were compensated well, and helps the ole BGP relationship, and they might even have asked to play first, considering Monterey. I’m sure there were plenty of heads there, and it was a nearby home show, but still, the level of playing and energy on these fine shows are only enhanced by the fact that they did so in spite of the situation. Cudos to all on a fine release. Can’t believe it took me so long to grab this one...Man I dig 76 more and more!
10/10 was another fine show, and I dug the space. That’s a couple times now I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a 76 space! Love the 1st set Dancin>>Wharf Rat>>Dancin, had to check, thought it was into the second set and I missed something, lol. Overall though, I think I prefer 10/9 just because I’m a sucker for those awesome, tight, segways ala 7/18/76. If I didn’t have such a good CD FM? original source? copy of 7/18/76 that I got on amazon?, anyway, if I didn’t have such a good copy I’d be lobbying non stop, as that show has been a WTF since way back when. It was one of my first tapes back in 77, and being a relatively low gen FM, it was probably one of my early tapes that really sounded good. Yeah that ones a beast, but I digress.
So, onto 10/3/87 today from the wonderful month of rocktober. I believe theres YouTube video of it so maybe I’ll wait and watch it tonight on the big screen? If not, that matrix vguy dialed up looks good. Hell maybe I’ll end up doing both ; )
Rock on brothers and sisters, and here’s to Rocktober! But looking forward to my personal summer 85 adventure starting manana

EDIT: duh, almost forgot. Happy Happy to the “Janes” (and I believe I missed the sixtuses too?) so happy, happy, joy, joy and many more to y’all! Also, thanks for the kind words, and I just knew KCJ would understand these predicaments, ahem, lol. Bot oh, the busted counter was in the room, the kid was in the lobby. If I would of walked into the lobby and tried that shit without a bunch of families and travelers of all ilks, I don’t things would of worked out so well. Power in numbers folks, lol