Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! Gentle mistresses and most distinguished gentlemen, we have come upon the release of the DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 37, from the Fifteenth of April in the year Nineteen Seventy-Eight, at ye olde College Of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Cast your waistcoats and your bonnets aside, the Grateful Dead are on steady gallop from the opening high-kick of "Mississippi Half-Step" into a where are we going? where have we been? "Passenger," followed by full-on versions of "Friend Of The Devil," "El Paso," "Brown-Eyed Women," and a double-barreled "Let It Grow>Deal." Catch your breath and straighten out your tricorne because the 2nd set shows no bounds with delightful takes ("Bertha>Good Lovin'," "One More Saturday Night") and introspection ("Candyman," "Playing In The Band"). Then - great fifes and drums - it's 15 minutes of "Rhythm Devils," with band and crew gathered round to amplify the merriment before delivering a rare incantation of "Not Fade Away>Morning Dew" that sets the soul alight. Pure jollification!
The town crier's addendum:
Three bags full! Lest you feel 4/15/78 beginneth and endeth too quickly, we've selected highlights from Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, 4/18/78 to satisfy your fancy.
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 37: WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA 4/15/78 was recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman. It is guaranteed to sell out - often within hours.
*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.
181 / 25000
Lowest # I've ever had.
Couple spoilers ahead if you haven't received yours yet.
Just queued up the show. I think Bertha / Uncle is my favorite Jerry / Bobby 1-2 opening duo. "Smoking" I think Carlo said about disc one. Yeah, I hear it so far. Jerry is really tearing it up on Me & My Uncle. Even Sugaree is a bit harder than usual. Works for me.
I hear you AJS on the Bertha sound issues. They should have pre-opened every show with LLR to straighten out the audio.
I'm hearing Bobby much louder than usual. As loud as Jerry at least. Keith is nowhere to be found, but I'm strangely okay with it for the moment, I think because Bobby is playing that Gibson so well and it sounds so good.
Yeah, another cookin' solo in Tennessee Jed. Good stuff. Oh dear, LLR came on and I'm enjoying it. Lol, guys, honestly I probably should have sobered up to report the real story here. Well I mean - it's not the alcohol so much as I probably shouldn't have drunk all of that cough syrup this morning.....stay gold Pony Boy.
Hey Thin
Been awhile, glad to see you weighing in. I don't know if it's that I usually listen on headphones or what, but I found the three PNW '73 shows very uneven from an audio standpoint. I figure it has to be the headphones because everyone else loves them. By "uneven" I hear the symbols coming in piercingly loud on half the tracks maybe. Also some tape hiss creeps in and out and there. My recollection is the Bird Song show is the least affected of the three. And the Dark Star / Eyes of the World from show #2 is right on the money. But overall I'm constantly dicking around with the EQ trying to get the sound right on PNW "73
Now the '74 shows are a completely different story; the audio on these is about as good as I've heard any '74 show sound. They've just about eliminated the tinniness that those Wall of Sound phase cancelling microphones used to cause. Not sure how they did it but they did. Or maybe I just wore out the mid-range in my ears. That could definitely be it. But yeah, those '74 shows are ultra smooth. I should revisit those '73 shows again. I recently listened to the Dark Star => Eyes of the World after Daverock mentioned how well Bobby was playing on that Dark Star; but otherwise it's been awhile. Now I feel like I should do an immediate comparison. I may have undiagnosed ADD.
DaP 38 sound
Yeah, when I was listening to China rider, I noticed the audio seemed a bit edgy. Maybe with headphones I'll be able to isolate what I was hearing, but I went back and toggled it with one of the 1973 NW box china rider and the sound is very different. As if somebody's signal is a little too high in the mix and getting slightly distorted maybe? Or maybe the master recording's levels were a little too high making the mix sound a bit saturated? Not sure.
Not a complaint, just an observation. Great show. Listened to most of the release last night, and it's glorious.
re: The Sound
...I've noticed this same thing on the sound Thin. You've described it pretty well. And, I don't hear a whole ton of Phil either, which usually helps to solidify and round out the overall sound with some deeper depth. Not so much here. I assume it's because of the limitations of a two-track to some extent.
I will say though, the 'Let Me Sing Your Blues Away' caught me surely off guard, where I had to stop and do a double take before a huge grin took over my stolen face. It's a pretty jaunty tune, a shame it was shelved so soon.
Hope Others' are receiving theirs and enjoying the ride - off to get #2 JAB shortly, here's to hoping for no adverse events!
Sixtus
I haven't received a shipping notice yet, either
What, me worry?
With all the versions of "The Shipping Blues" in the past, one might.
Give it until at least next Friday before any panicking.
No, I am still not a robot.
No Worries Mates
No worries Jimbobwe and Proudfoot. Keep the faith. I was thinking the same then got my shipping notice here in Colorado this week showing Monday 5-3 for delivery. You never know. My July '78 box is #36/15,000.
Cheers!
Dave? Dave? Wake up Dave
Get out of bed, brew some GD tea, and upload that chat.
Proud foot et al
I wouldn't worry about a shipping notice. For #36 I never received one but it came the usual 4 days after date like all the others. Come to think of it a notice has been an iffy thing. More than a couple of times I didn't get one yet it came nonetheless.
JoshbytheBay-Without a Net-Mind Blown Pt 1
I watched a documentary a few days back. I am sure you all have seen on the History Channel the various docs. I cant remember what the title was, and like I have written, memory aint what it used to be. It was on the building of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had posted a few years back that on the day off during the NYE1987 run, my friends and I walked to the mid-point of the Golden Gate Bridge and back, somewhere around 10 pm. It was super cold and a strong western wind. In the documentary, it talked about them at one point putting up a net to protect the bridge builders. I also remember a couple of years back that they had a drive to collect money to put another permanent net type device to prevent jumpers. Any way, long story short, I never put it together that the live album, Without a Net, was not just shot in the dark title (about the circus coming to town and the razor's edge of improvisation without a net) but also some San Fran history to boot. Those guys were on top of so much Americana that it is mind blowing.
I had wondered...
If I had missed the page for the sale of #38. Now I know this is maybe a new rule for sales. Ship subscribers and dont open for sale until the day of release. Not sure if that is true or is it the or some special artwork??? Cant wait to see. I hope it is the poster for these shows, which I have. Will write more later, not wanting to spoil the trip...
Edit: well just checked my farseer email and see the artwork. Not the poster. Email sent 10 minutes ago...
Edit 2: OOOps wrong show poster is for March shows, see old brainism