Grateful Dead

Fabulous post. That sums up most of my thoughts about the new DaP as well. Its not my my favorite, but it fills a need. It hits the spot for me in the afternoons, when I'm working or doing stuff around the house. I dont fault Dave one bit for picking this as his #36.

5) Phish 1998-11-11 at Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids MI. My first Phish show, and probably only my 4th or 5th show of any sort. Could close my eyes and almost remember being there. I can't believe that ticket stub is old enough to drink now. *sigh*

4) Beatles White album. Listening to Phish made me think of it.

3) Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves Favor. Everybody knows what the title is a reference too, right ?

2) 11-10-73 Winterland Box. No big spacey Dark Star or Other One jam, but lots of juicy intermediate jams. WRS, followed immediately by PLayin - UJB - Morning Dew - UJB - PLayin double decker sandwich, with a Truckin' - Sugar Magnolia - Wharf Rat right on its heels. Probably they were leaving a little in the tank for a the closing night of the run. That'll be in my next last 5.

1) The Wes Montgomery Trio -- A Dynamic New Sound. Really nice and mellow vibes along with my morning coffee. Even the dog knew to leave me alone for this fleeting moment.

0) Kevin Eubanks, Opening Night. Yup, that Kevin Eubanks. I have a nice vinyl copy of this. Just flipped it over to side 2, as a matter of fact. Mr Eubanks looks like an absolute playa from the cover. Also its one of the best jazz guitar albums I've ever heard.

The good news is, my shipping label was created on 10/30. The bad news, that's the last update on tracking. Thankfully, some kind soul laid the music on me and I got my first listen between last night and this morning.

Coming off a complete listen to Winterland '73, which is really one of my favorites and something I have not done since it was released all those years ago, this was quite the shock to the system and a nice palate cleanse.

The shows are extremely hot for the era, Garcia is inspired and at times on fire. Of the four sets, I seemed drawn to set one of 3/26 the most and I am normally a second set person. To be honest, this is a good accompaniment to the April '84 Spectrum show. At times on both releases Jerry's playing is amazing. Clean tones with lots of note stretching and sustain, he mostly makes his notes and chord changes on time and drives the music to some interesting and hard-driving places. There is a ferocity to his playing at times during all three shows, typical for a barn burning 80's show.

I like all era's, but truth be known late 67 to 74 is my sweet spot. The jazzy, almost classical compositional GD coming off their creative period and before that primal dead. Add in the crisp recordings and thoughtful mixes common in the early years and it’s heaven. I like later era stuff too, and some of the energy and guitar work here is guitar god stuff. It's very Garcia centric, he is the loud one in the mix and he seems to dominate big sections of these four sets.

I have one general comment about this release, keeping in mind I am not a big fan or crowd noise with my soundboards.. this one is best enjoyed LOUD. It just does not sound right at half volume. If you have the opportunity to really crank it up.. move the volume just to that 'safe' limit that does not threaten your hearing later in life... and it begins to take on a life of it's own. This was after all 1987. Jerry fresh off his addiction and coma and had a new zest for life.. but more than that, this is how the sound had evolved. Post hiatus, they began playing in small venues, theatres, etc. In the late 70's / early 80's they continued their theatre preference but began opening up to colleges and small one-off venues. By the early 80's more and more people were showing up and small venue fatigue set in so they migrated to both indoor and outdoor sheds like the Hartford Civic Center. Never sexy and not always the best acoustics but these venues both amplified the raw power of a crescendo or climax in the music and the reactionary edge of the crowd at any given moment. These indoor arenas in particular became sweat houses full of rowdy energy from the band and the crowd. In all the indoor shows I saw in the mid to late 80’s, I cannot think of one I did not leave with a feeling of elation and dripping in sweat. Think Hartford Civic Center, the Centrum, MSG, Carrier Dome, Augusta Civic Center etc. The floor of Madison Square Garden is supported by big springs so you can feel the building move in reaction to the stomping of the crowd and this energy finds its way into the music. This was the environment they played in and people reacted to these fiery, high-energy shows. Like I said, I am not a huge fan of an audience components in my soundboards, but one release in 36 seems an acceptable number and although I did not make these shows they seem to do a decent job representing what the spring tour in ’87 sounded like.

One last comment, I understand this release is not for everyone. I will give it some repeat listens but there will come a time when this one begins to get comfortable in it’s home on the shelf. We should not be surprised shows like this get released. Even if it’s not your favorite there are many out there that eat this stuff up and love it. Shows like this need to get released. They are rich in historical content and the band has a responsibility to the extent they can, to preserve and restore these historic recordings for antiquity. We typically get one per year, if you subscribe there is no cost for this compared to the cost of buying three shows ala carte. My two cents.

Ledded, agree. DaveRock, you can bet 2021 will have The Ark and at least one other quintessential primal dead injection that you simply cannot live without. Ark Ark. If noting else, we are creative and unpredictable.

Ark. I say phil my dog has no Ark, NO Ark, how does he smell, Blooming Arkful..

Ark Ark
Who's there
Ark
Ark who?
Simon and Ark-funkle.

Thank God for Owsley (on so many levels) but in this instance for recording all the Dead shows right from the beginning. Even on into the 80s when we lost that marvelous analog tape and went to a digital cassette, the magic is still sometimes there.

There's no other band with a legacy like this, where they have a top-notch outfit like Rhino putting out multiple releases from multiple eras - every single year. Yes, despite the occasional customer service fail Rhino is a first-tier music distributor. They give new life to old recordings from dozens of bands.

Along with the Dead never playing the same song the same way twice, getting these releases every few months is just musical nirvana, at least for me. I am beyond Grateful for this music and all the people involved in putting it together. I have nothing to complain about. No one is perfect, when I don't get something just exactly right at my job every time I'm glad there's not a line of angry miscreants standing there to rake me over the coals.

Last five:

AC/DC - Power Up (best since Flick of the Switch; Brian Johnson back in top form)
Rival Sons - Feral Roots
The Meters - Kickback
Grateful Dead - 6/11/76 Boston Music Hall
Stanley Turrentine - Don't Mess With Mister T.

\m/

Having so far not re-subscribed I am sincerely hoping that Dave releases more shows of the quality of numbers 35 and 36 next year. It will be just my luck that he opts for an Ark 1969 show or something. Hopefully he will concentrate on the 80s and 90s for a while.

DaP36 offers a unique way to listen to the Dead. We have hundreds of soundboards of varying quality, but this release really puts one "there," in a way that no other releases do. I appreciate that aspect.

DaP36 fills a hole in the timeline of official releases. For me it's cool to hear what the band was up to at every part of their journey, and we had no official releases from early 1986 through summer 1987. As with DaP35, Dave has recently filled some holes in the puzzle we all love putting together. Whether a release is THE BEST show ever sometimes can take a back seat to fleshing out the skeleton.

DaP36 is really fun! Once my ears adjusted, I enjoyed the audience's enthusiasm and the band's energy. I would have enjoyed being at these shows, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters to me.

DaP36 is a fantastic 50th birthday gift from Dave to us and to himself. This year also marks 21 years of Dave working in the vault, so if he wants us to open our minds a bit to what type of releases are possible, in order to get his first show (and the one that got away) out, then bless him. Most of us would have released our first show looooong before 21 years and hundreds of shows came out, and many of those shows were not nearly as good as 3/26/87. Speaking of first shows, how about 6/24/91 as a four-show Tail-End-of-Summer 1991 Box Set, please, Dave? :)

Believe it if you need it, if you don't, just pass it on . . .

A lot of people like Cole Field House 1981. Me, I like a lot of them with 3-9-81 MSG holding a special place for me. I can only wish that they had better taped a lot of those early to mid-80's shows. The return of Bird Song in 1980 went off quite well, also. I agree that this DaP 36 version is a burner though. Pre-midi, too. They really piled on the Midi effect on this tune when that was all the rage. Imagine what Grateful Dead with Auto-Tune would have done...

http://headyversion.com/song/26/grateful-dead/bird-song/

Definitely the best Bird Song ever.

Lonesome Town Ricky Nelson
Complete Chess Recordings cd1 Chuck Berry
Live in New Haven 12/9/2001 King Crimson
Live in Roanne 8/17/73 Gong
Dicks Picks 26-4/26 and 27/69 vinyl Grateful Dead - it cost a bomb and it is a bomb. Listening to American Beauty last week and this yesterday reminds me what it's all about.

Jack White, Jimmy Page & The Edge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPfjWsbCZV0