Dave's Picks Vol. 38: Dave’s Picks Vol. 38: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 9/8/73

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April 30, 2021 - 9:20am

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Dead Admin

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"When it came to 1973 Dead, I was always drawn to the big second-set jams, 'Dark Star' or 'The Other One,' and all of the places those songs could go that year. One week during my initial stint with the Dead, Dick was spending a lot of time listening to 9/8/73, and he could not stop raving about it. He was very intent on pointing out that despite the absence of the 'Big Two' from 1973, every song, every solo, every moment was out-of-this-world excellent. He played me the first set, giving a play-by-play of each song and what made it special. In those listening sessions, Dick taught me a lot about how to listen critically and objectively. Of course, the subjective self always creeps in, those moments when you whoop and holler at how good a performance is, but that objective listening is critical. After many days of listening, Dick moved to other eras, as was his wont, since he carried the responsibility of selecting the best Dead shows from all eras to represent the Dead’s recorded legacy. But he made it clear and inarguable that he felt 9/8/73 was one of the best-played shows from one of the Dead’s best years." - David Lemieux

Despite the gloriously blustering artwork above, the forecast for DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 38: NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM, UNIONDALE, NY, 9/8/73 is blazing hot! With a double endorsement from archivists Dick Latvala and David Lemieux, you know it's a MUST HAVE. This one's got inspired playing from start to finish, with soon-to-be-minted Wake Of The Flood classics, a first-ever "Weather Report Suite," Keith polishing his chops on "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away," Jerry tapping into era-defining sound with his Wolf guitar, and we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Bob's exquisite playing too.

Among our 2021 Dave's Picks subscribers? The subscribers-only bonus disc featuring nearly an hour and a half from 9/7/73 is coming your way too. (P.S. there's 35 minutes of 9/7/73 on Dave's Picks Vol. 38, to boot)

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 38: NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM, UNIONDALE, NY, 9/8/73 was recorded by Kidd Candelaro and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman.

Didn't subscribe? You'll want to jump on this one now as it is guaranteed to sell out.

*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

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May 20, 2021 - 6:06am

#1351

Angry Jack Straw

Joined:
October 2, 2012

Speakers

Get a pair of the Dominator MX-10s. That will solve the problem.
May 19, 2021 - 10:25pm

#1352

DeadVikes

Joined:
October 26, 2016

Carlo

Carlo,

Ha!

Man, we need a box announcement. How about tomorrow or today depending on your time zone. Let's get it out Thursday, May 20.

And stop yelling out songs we already played tonight.
May 19, 2021 - 10:08pm

#1353

carlo13

Joined:
April 26, 2017

Tea

I remember once at a giant's stadium show, I meet this chick who offered me some mushroom tea and being new to this way of consuming shrooms, I sat in my car staring up at the ceiling and realizing I swigged too much. I then started to hear the show beginning but I waited it out till I could contain myself. I finally got out of the car feeling enough time had passed and realized that the music was only a boom box playing a dead tape next to my car. I felt like a total doorknob and never mentioned it to anyone till now.
May 19, 2021 - 9:30pm

#1354

JimInMD

Joined:
June 27, 2011

Re: Oro

It sounds to me like your bass cabinets are not tall enough. A standing bass wave is 17 meters in height.. you need bigger speakers, stacks of them, preferably able to play in quadraphonic.. one 17 meter stack for each string of the bass guitar.

That is all. See my previous post on what measures to take to make this problem go away. Don't forget to destroy the credit card.
May 19, 2021 - 5:47pm

#1355

estimating prof

Joined:
February 6, 2013

It's the tapes man...

Great discussion going here. I can't resist getting drawn in with my own 2 cents.

Caveat emptor - I am not an audio engineer or expert in such areas. I do listen to a lot of music and grateful dead shows.

My two cents is the audio "distortions" that we have commented on here are in the source recordings of Sept 8 1973.

Why do I think this?

- Dick talked about releasing this show in the 90s and Dave says it's one of his favorite 73 shows, and it was just now released 20 some years later. If you've followed Dave for any length of time, you know that he doesn't release shows with lesser audio quality unless he really has to. He's also too good of a salesman to come out and say "we didn't release this until now because the tape has some issues. Jeffrey worked on it again and says it's as good as it's gonna get, so we're releasing it because it's A Tremendous Show"...Right?

- Seems to me on any given night a recording of a grateful dead concert might not be perfect because those involved in making it were distracted - for any number of reasons.
In the grand scheme of things, it's seems to me much less likely that we would end up with as many really good recordings as we have. They stopped caring about recordings for a lot of the 80s and a lot of those tapes don't have good audio - compared to a Betty board.

- My experience with this release is that the recording of 9/8 sounds significantly different than 9/7.
9/8 was indeed jarring when I first put it on.

All that said, it really is a fantastic and unique show. I've been loving it. I listened to discs 2 and 3 at proper volume with some beverages last weekend and it knocked my socks off again.

Just can't resist a good mystery.
May 19, 2021 - 4:50pm

#1356

Sixtus_

Joined:
November 8, 2014

ORO

I bow to my new sound technician overlord.
What a fantastic and forensic analysis.
Bravo.

Sixtus
May 19, 2021 - 4:38pm

#1357

icecrmcnkd

Joined:
October 20, 2015

Nice work detective Oro

Caveat emptor indeed needed
May 19, 2021 - 4:18pm

#1358

Oroborous

Joined:
June 19, 2007

Sorry/thanks..

I’ll go back to lurking now ; )
GO AVs!
May 19, 2021 - 4:17pm

#1359

Oroborous

Joined:
June 19, 2007

Caveat Emptor Indeed!

DaP 38
No doubt Mike, but I think some of us were concerned it was a production issue versus usual GOGD zits and all..
But!,

After furthur review, I think this is just a perfect storm of normal, smaller issues that combined can be very noticeable and thus annoying.
I think perhaps this was a case of a great show, but not the best source? Perhaps the ravages of time were more than they considered, but bye the ticket...once committed, they had to see it through?

Examples you say? Since I spent all day...
$ = quick and dirty references if you don’t want the full report lol ; )
BERTHA starts with usual opening idiosyncrasies that are not part of our focus except in how these “usual” suspects interact and combine with our target issues. Listen though to the snare, and eventually the Hi Hat (that shows up more later). Part of the problem is the snare wires resonating and bleeding through other mics. Then you throw in Bob who’s really loud. It seems his speakers must be set up in front of Billy somewhat as Bobs guitar seems to exasperate the snare problem...
You can really hear this in the quiet just after the song when Bobs banging some chords, listen to the snare wire rattle etc! It gets better but I think it’s a reoccurring ingredient of this aural stew. Bobs level and distortion (both intended and otherwise) are another stew ingredient.
Listen to both guitars and keys during the instrumental section. Think this is more normal type distortion but again, adds sometimes to the stew...

ME & MY UNCLE: more of the same early in especially...I found it useful to use my balance control throughout and it’s often the right channel where the problems mostly live.
By SUGAREE it sounds like maybe some kind of processing added for the snare issue? Early on not too bad, occasionally usual type moments of old R& R tape and/or guitar distortion, but around 6:18 you can hear some noise on the snare roll etc, by 6:23 through 6:33 you can get a good taste of the overall phenomena. But generally the song wasn’t bad.
Status quo fir next couple, LL RAIN I seemed to notice the Hi Hat more prevalent and adding to and getting snare bleed etc. Made me think there’s something up with one of the Drum overhead mics? If so, bleed from everything! would exasperate an issue there? Perhaps another stew ingredient...Bob has some noticeable distortion, perhaps “normal” around 3:45 or so and 4:40+. It overall kind of kicks in on the end chorus’, but not too bad overall.
JACK STRAW not so bad, a little somethin round 3:40 with snare/hat/cymbals?
Also, I think this show suffers overall from the goofy custom condenser vocal mics that add to our stew. Listen to the end of Row J between the 8:30 and 9:00 mark...
Let It Grow is overall not too bad. Get usual Phil spikes occasionally on peaks, and my notes suggest that I’m convinced much of the “problem” here and throughout is Bobs too loud? Not sure if too loud is correct, perhaps he’s playing really loud (it was a big hall with loud NY crowd for that period?) and the recordings fine, your just hearing his rig distort? But though I really dig his sound and prevalence in the mix, cause he’s killing it, perhaps he’s occasionally a tad loud relative to other sources? (Good example in upcoming tape splice)
Oh, and what the hell was that weird “organ” sound starting around 12:55 or so lol, certainly not a B3! Pretty wild whatever it was.
ROLLL OUT the Barrel sounded pretty good lol.
EYES you can get a good taste during the instrumental section around 2:30..and a good example of normal piano clipping (sensitive pickups), but then he switches to ? guessing the Rhodes, which occasionally has its own distortion characteristics, but this is more of what I call normal stuff.
Listen around 9:40+ for what I call FM like static. This is another stew ingredient that is harder to hear, not always there, but there on occasion?
More of the same minor stuff through to about 3:30 in BIG RIVER, though Bob goes way outta tune at 2:25 in GSET and seems to take a few tunes to fully get back lol.
$ LET ME SING is perhaps the best overall example of many things going on on this release. This and $ CHINA CAT are the most obvious examples of the idiosyncrasies on this release. Check out LMS at 2:00 mark and at the end etc.
check out Weirs intro licks to China Cat and some of that drum stuff at 1:30+...eventually it gets better and by RIDER it’s sorta status quo again (meaning instances but nothing huge).
From there on I mostly stopped with notes and just listened, though $ Trucking, GDTRFB etc are good examples of the “stew” especially the blending of the cymbally snare FM static with Bobs distortion whether intentional or not, it all adds up.
EDIT: $$$ end of show especially One Mo Sat is really dirty all the way around, and
TRUCKIN’ TAPE SPLICE? $$ Check out how “it” almost disappears at 4:56, actually something starts to be tweaked a little before that? Bobs not there at all until around 6:00 but he’s back at 6:22. Sounds like a tape splice, perhaps using a cassette, or perhaps some processor kicked in and out, but what’s most interesting is listen to Bob comparatively during these 2 sections, before, during, and after, it’s amazing how much different the 2 sound, especially Bob, and seemingly our phenomena too!
By George I think we’ve figured most of this out!

Conclusion: it’s the battered old tape, complicated by a perfect storm of minor, often normal anomalies, and an unusual Weir mix for good or for ill, and when occurring simultaneously, often during song peaks, it can unfortunately be distracting.
Listening equipment, environment, and personal habits no doubt play a roll in individual experiences. I can see how many folks might not notice much of this.
But on revealing equipment with certain ears it can be so obvious as to be jarring on first occasion.
Like many uncertainties, once the knowledge is gained, the dissonance is usually manageable. Getting better with every listen, though at low volume : (
VERDICT: Caveat Emptor indeed, but with perhaps an extra pinch...

EDIT: this in no way shape or form describes the musical content, which is superb!
May 19, 2021 - 3:09pm

#1360

That Mike

Joined:
November 1, 2014

Point Set Match to Oro

Oro - That is quite a great dissertation on sound production! You know your stuff!
I’ve never had the ear of a Brian Wilson/George Martin, and I know Dick’s & Dave’s come with the odd hiccup and blemish, but at the end of the day, it’s The Grateful Dead.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Dead Store Products

"When it came to 1973 Dead, I was always drawn to the big second-set jams, 'Dark Star' or 'The Other One,' and all of the places those songs could go that year. One week during my initial stint with the Dead, Dick was spending a lot of time listening to 9/8/73, and he could not stop raving about it. He was very intent on pointing out that despite the absence of the 'Big Two' from 1973, every song, every solo, every moment was out-of-this-world excellent. He played me the first set, giving a play-by-play of each song and what made it special. In those listening sessions, Dick taught me a lot about how to listen critically and objectively. Of course, the subjective self always creeps in, those moments when you whoop and holler at how good a performance is, but that objective listening is critical. After many days of listening, Dick moved to other eras, as was his wont, since he carried the responsibility of selecting the best Dead shows from all eras to represent the Dead’s recorded legacy. But he made it clear and inarguable that he felt 9/8/73 was one of the best-played shows from one of the Dead’s best years." - David Lemieux

Despite the gloriously blustering artwork above, the forecast for DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 38: NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM, UNIONDALE, NY, 9/8/73 is blazing hot! With a double endorsement from archivists Dick Latvala and David Lemieux, you know it's a MUST HAVE. This one's got inspired playing from start to finish, with soon-to-be-minted Wake Of The Flood classics, a first-ever "Weather Report Suite," Keith polishing his chops on "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away," Jerry tapping into era-defining sound with his Wolf guitar, and we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Bob's exquisite playing too.

Among our 2021 Dave's Picks subscribers? The subscribers-only bonus disc featuring nearly an hour and a half from 9/7/73 is coming your way too. (P.S. there's 35 minutes of 9/7/73 on Dave's Picks Vol. 38, to boot)

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 38: NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM, UNIONDALE, NY, 9/8/73 was recorded by Kidd Candelaro and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman.

Didn't subscribe? You'll want to jump on this one now as it is guaranteed to sell out.

*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

Kaleidoscope

Sadly I never got to see them live. I don't think they ever made it to Europe but I may be wrong. I did get to see the esteemed Mr. Lindley twice, once with the excellent El Rayo-X at The Venue in London and once at a strange gig with four solo guitarists, namely David Lindley, Richard Thompson, Rory Gallagher and Juan Martin. That was at the Dominion Theatre in London in 1984. It was a weird gig that almost worked.

DP38 at the Isle Of Fehmarn

Got my copy #11488 today, bonus disc comes with sticker.

@simonrob
Also saw David Lindley two times in the 90th - Hamburg and Kiel
and taped both shows. Hamburg with Wally Ingram and Kiel with Hani Naser,
the tape from Kiel is excellent audience.
And I still have 2x C90 tapes from the acoustic concert at the Dominian Theatre in
London with Gallagher, Lindley, Martin ant Thompson.
As fas as I remember it's a lousy recording. Got it in a trade years ago.
Stay safe and healthy
JJ

Bonus Disc Sticker

Perhaps it's the alarmist in me.. but I took my sticker out of the sleeve with the bonus disc and put it in the sleeve with the liner notes. The last thing I want to see in ten years is opening up the bonus disc and noticing that some of the glue degraded and seeped onto the CD.

A pretty harmless precaution.. if I'm wrong, no harm no foul.

#3845 Has Arrived In Canada

Ready to play in the coming days.

I only saw David Lindley one time, I think with Jackson Browne maybe, in the mid-70s, but I remember he was one of these guys - like Larry Campbell - who could play anything with a string on it, and play it amazingly well!

Tripping in 1969

Keithfan - in the sleeve notes for Dicks Picks 26, referring to the Chicago show on 4/26/69, Bear writes that " We generally did psychedelics on Saturday." Sounds like a plan!

MMW

For any MMW fans out there, I found a recent conversation with them taking about their music. I thought this was great. Hopefully these guys get on the road in 2021.

https://creativemusic.org/mmw-cms-may-2021-preview/

Psychedelics & Stickers

Thanks Daverock, very interesting.
That's less often than I assumed lol. I'm going to guess then, it was psychedelics on Saturdays and weed the rest of the days. I simply can't imagine they went up there completely unaltered. I've read that Pigpen wasn't into psychedelics, but (I've heard) a little weed after a drink or two (I've heard) makes for a nice all-over buzz, no paranoia. I wonder if that was his bag.....

I put my Bonus sticker right on the fridge. No harm but definitely a foul. Sometimes I just plain behave like a bachelor first and deal with the aftermath as needed.

Kirwin Perfect

Nappy, I'm so jealous you saw Danny Kirwin and Christine Perfect in San Diego. I am so in awe of both of them. Any memories?

"No harm but definitely a foul"

LOL KeithFan - sounds about right!
(with an honorable mention to Jimbo)

Sixtus

Met Her Accidentally.....

From the original May 1977 Box Set, I went with today's anniversary show, St. Paul, MN. I'm up to Sugaree. I always listened to this one and 5/17 the most from this Box Set. The Scarlet / Fire is probably in my top 5 (as is 5/17). Whole show has a lot of cowbell. The SNL cowbell. But I'm sure Mickey has some literally cowbell in here somewhere. Looking forward to the whole Wharf/ Space / UJB / Brokedown Palace.

Speaking of getting on the road....

....Phish announced their summer/fall tour today!
It's a beautiful day.

5/11/77 St. Paul

That Sugaree's a set closer, right? Listen for the pre-breakout (5/19) China Doll notes from Phil before Wharf Rat.

Fridge

Lot's of stickers and magnets on mine. Sometimes it feels like I never quite graduated from college. Which is fine with me.

Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

Keithfan-but according to Freewheelin' Frank, "Smoking dope and drinking beer is like pissing in the wind."

funny

@daverock
very funny, pissing in the wind, in France we have a similar saying, "pissing in a violin"; meaning is you won't change any event, like the way the wind blows!!!

Morning Rockers

Doc came, preached The April '71, and then disappeared. Poof - just like that he's gone. I suspect we won't hear musical tales of that magnificence again until October.

Sixtus, good to see you're always out there. Speaking of always out there, Icecrmcnkd hasn't been "as" around as usual. I think he's been sucked into the Bonus Disc vortex.

Daverock, I've been pondering the words of Freewheelin' Frank...I guess he means you don't feel the weed after several drinks. So.... (I've heard) the trick is to have only one or two drinks....which means Pigpen probably only smoked at breakfast :D God bless him, he was one of us.

Jim, I'm on the same page. I feel like I've been in suspended animation since college - not always a bad thing; youthful shenanigans make for a lot of household laughter. I was mildly surprised by the ruckus I caused with the fridge sticker. It's bringing home the sorority girls that usually raises the alarm.

Franks Freewheeling Meaning...

I believe what Frank is trying to teach is not to get drunk THEN get stoned as that can lead to bad things.
So make sure you get good and stoned boys and girls before you start drinking! 😀

NOTE: This service add was paid for by doggies against dumb drunks

3617 in Plano

Arrived yesterday, finished the ripping process this morning.

Has Phil's bass EVER had anymore knobs on it??? A couple more knobs and the strings wouldn't have fit!!!

I like the sticker, thought about sticking it on my work locker, but, wasn't sure if set would "lose" value without the sticker!

Always late to lunch....

Got email from Real Gone today about a Bob Willis collection. Sounded great. If you like the Bob, check it out. Didn't know about volume 1 so had to buy 1 and 2. :-),,,, no rest for my wife's money.

Hey now!....

....David Grisman is doing an AMA on the Grateful Dead subreddit on May 21st which is my birthday as well. Thanks Dawg!

Doc will return shortly

there are a couple of May 71 dates

5/29 "Acid Punch"
5/30

I gotta check out 5/29 again....I recall it being good-n-weird...it IS referred to as Acid Punch, after all

thennnnnnn

6/21/71

7/2
7/31

August........................................

and today's "wtf award" goes to....

RnR Hall of Fame

JayZ is not rock n roll
The GoGo's

THE GOGO'S??????????????????????????????????????

But no Motorhead????????

W
T
F

no X, no Joy Division, no Smiths, no Bad Brains, no NEW YORK FUCKING DOLLS, no Husker Du....

As the Sex Pistols said, the RnR HoF "is a piss stain"

Dandelions

Sheik Yerbones - also, in France a dandelion is known as pissenlit (translation, piss in bed).

Frank...

In Dutch a woodlouse is known as a pissebed.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

Dave's 38 & Bonus Covers

Well, my copy did even more yo-yo-ing around the country than usual this time. Got it yesterday. Listening now, and well worth the wait!!!. . . Here’re links to my corrected scans of Helen Rebecchi Kennedy’s covers – hope some of you still need ‘em. Thanks to Jack Baller, PKB et al who posted art earlier! If you're interested, mine are probably a little higher res and maybe closer color-wise. Check 'em out. And be sure to pass around as needed.

Dave’s 38 & Bonus Covers: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yx2532a3jyvuh3n/AAAJbH8t4zC5bfmZRWC8xfa8a?dl…

All Dave’s & Bonus Covers: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qx5j9ydoc7bzm8z/AAD8yK_vCv_kQ-oLkLJQVCEla?dl…

Onward

Well done Jeff! Thanks again…

Well done Jeff! Thanks again for doing these beautiful covers!

Present and accounted for Keithfan

I’m always lurking.
But with spring weather I’m outside more too, so less time surfing the internets.

Thanks for the scans Jeff.

Dave, your Box Set announcement is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy past due.
Load us up with some more Plangentized/Normanized ABCD scores.

12958 arrives on Vancouver Island

I'm not really keeping track but delivery less than 2 weeks after the shipping notice arrived, has to be a new record for me. I wonder if having Dave living around Victoria has anything to do with faster delivery to the PNW?

I appreciate and like the Go-Gos....

....but Motorhead has like over 40 years of constant playing under their spiked belts.
Shame!

R'nR HOF?

screw 'em...it should've been The Runaways not the Goo Goo Foo Foo Go Go's...anyways...Dennis are you spying on me? Just got my Bob Wills Tiffany Transcriptions Vol 2 in the mail a few days ago...Ahaaa!!! Nitecat, The Mac were one of my top five faves from the Peter Green days and even up to Bob Welch...they played a lot of LA gigs both as headliners and support...sad about Kirwan though...a few times he was incrediblely on fire...others he was too drunk to play or even give a damn which of course led to his being kicked out of the band...The "Kiln House" LP was a fave and Station Man and Tell Me All The Things You Do were always a gas to hear....some day I'll tell you my Jeremy Spencer story...SimonRob glad to hear you saw Lindley at that gig...His El Rayo-X gigs were always a blast...for one great weekend at Laguna Seca in Monterey it was El Rayo-X, Los Lobos & Grateful Dead...some stuff...

Oh and...

Mucho thanks Jeff for the DaP covers...awesome

Dandelions And Woodlouse

might be also seen in the little town of Pissen in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

wildlife

Anyone ever seen a woodcock in proximity to a pissenlit? I was fortunate to observe a woodcock strutting across the road near a forested area about a year or so back. It's lucky that it didn't get run over by a passing car. Because there's nothing sadder than a smushed woodcock. Have a Grateful Day all :-)

Nappy, spying? Me?

Maybe just a close eye. You always mention these "older" people, I count on hearing about stuff here. Speaking of the older stuff,,,, we have a new kid at the store, worked with her for the first time last night. She told me Nat King Cole is a relative!!! Uncle? Related somehow. I was blown away, I know no one famous, certainly not related.

Bob Wills. Roly Poly

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mhB-P820HP0 I've always liked Bob Wills,

Jeff - Word of the day

Jeff - Thanks for the covers, your timing was propitious! (It was Word of the Day on an elevator screen!). Seriously, I was burning 38 & bonus yesterday, and could not find a good copy of the Bonus cover. Gracias¡

BTK & Roly Poly

I had a girlfriend whose father called her "Crisco". ....... Fat in the Can. Great dad, huh? :-)

More fun species

Titmouse
Bushtit

Ornothologists are twisted....

Interesting little thing

Heard Seastones from 10 19 74 yesterday

First time ever

:)))

A Bushtit and a Titmouse Walk Into A Bar…

The bartender sees them, and says “Hey! I don’t want any chirping out of you two!!”

Covers

Jeff - interesting looking at all those covers of Dave's Picks., thanks for that. But it surprised me how unfamiliar I was with a lot of them. I have got them all ( fingers crossed about Dave's 38), but I wouldn't have known it from looking at that post. In fact I went up to check I had number 12, and I have - 4/11/77, but I've no idea what it's like. There must be quite a few up there, in the post 1974 era, I have only played the once.