We're feelin' Philly 4/26/83 and its '80s highs. See what we're on about when you pick up DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 39: THE SPECTRUM, PHILADELPHIA, PA, 4/26/83, the final show of a three-week tour, played at the venue that the Dead played more than Madison Square Garden (there's your daily dose of Dead trivia). This one fires on all cylinders, with extremely well-played, high-energy tight sets featuring newbies "West L.A. Fadeway," "My Brother Esau," rarities like Brent's tune "Maybe You Know," precise medleys "Help>Slip>Franklin's," an inspired new pairing "Throwing Stones>Not Fade Away," and the Dave's Picks debut of "Shakedown Street." And before you come down, we've got a prime slice of bonus material from the previous Spectrum show 4/25/83 and an extra dollop of '83 from the War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, NY 4/15/83 (featuring the Bobby rarity "Little Star").
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 39: THE SPECTRUM, PHILADELPHIA, PA, 4/26/83 was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman.
*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.
CD versus Digital
I’m thankful that the digital future is upon us fans of the Grateful Dead
There have been digital releases of the box sets
There wasn’t one with the Portland box
Which I wish there was cause the price for the CD’S was shall we say a bit out of my price range……so I had to purchase the shorter version
I honestly wish they would release everything in digital because I missed the Winterland 73-77 box sets and they are a bit pricey on EBAY
Also due to fact I’ve had problems with the mailings and the dealing with the mail order people
I’m glad If the CD’s would stop
Afraid of losing the digital
Back up the digital on a outside hard drive
Or a backup to that one
I recently backed up my digital music collection and not being computer savvy
It was easier than expected
In fact
Not the hassle I was expecting
Another reason to stop the CD madness is
SPACE they take up
This fall I’m satisfied that since I’ve digitally made my total music collection ( all bands not just the Dead)
I’m gonna get rid of them
A Grateful Dead , Rolling Stones, The Who , etc
Yard sale is in the making
Yup yard sale
To much foolishness to deal with EBAY or AMAZON
To much foolishness to deal with mailing them
I’m not into profit
Finally as Dead releases go
I’ll take early Dead up to 74 prime years prime shows
76 thru 80 ….. I’m anti Donna so there are hits and misses
80 thru 90……Any show or year is interchangeable, maybe I got tired of the scenes ……I can pass on this decade
90 thru the end …… the midi years…..there’s not much to collect…..anyway I didn’t go to any shows as I despise baseball stadiums shows and shall we say it was time to embrace the “adult thing” and time to get my act together
So……keep the digital way of releasing
I’m for it completely
Smoking show!
love and agree with the well-written liner notes by Dave-
This show is just crackling with energy and intensity. The playing is intricate and precise-and every song sounds great.
Jerry just opens the firehose and lets it rip. Kind of reminds me of Dick's Picks #3 (Pembroke Pines 1977) in this respect. Brent is also ripping it up throughout-as a synthesizer player, I have come to enjoy his tone selections - the synths sound great, and the hammond is fire. Phil takes his turns in the spotlight as well, and is wonderfully audible on the recordings. Bobby does his understated magic as well, contributing key parts to all the best jams and vamps.(that slide, though). Drummers are a bit quiter in the mix, but well separated, and clearly recorded.
Happy subscriber, here. Never would have found this show left to my own devices - but it is a corker!
cd/digital
A couple of things, first, can the sound quality be "better" in a digital file vs cd? Seems the cd would be the "best" AND if not, where and when are you listening to the "better" digital files?
Second, maybe wrong, but,,,, if my house should burn down or get sucked up in a tornado, would a insurance company pay my loss on digital files? I know my cd's are insured AND I keep an offsite list of ALL my cd's and albums. Sure the insurance company may only give you 5 bucks a disc, but i'd bet it be hard to get the true "value" from them for data files.
I'll go with Thin's comments about value of physical items. Though I guess you could sell copies of your digi files.
I tell my kid all the time, "don't throw this one out,,, it's worth money" :-)
Music,,,,,, still cheaper to collect than guns! or cars!!! (and they don't fit on the shelf!!)
CD/Digital
Not even debatable.
If they go all digital, I go all away.
How many folks now wish they kept their old albums, baseball cards, comic books, etc.
Why has this not sold out? …
Why has this not sold out? Great release! I suspect there are many who already have a soundboard copy of this show. But this remaster is excellent! Let's keep up support for the release of 80s shows!
CD/Digital Part II
If TPTB go ALL digital I'm O U T I don't have the technology nor the equipment I'm 55 years old I'm not tech savvy nor computer literate. I will still support the cause by purchasing merch though. Why not go to a partial CD/Digital format, 5000 copies & unlimited digital? I guess it's cheaper to go the digital route however I still enjoy reading liner notes. Remember the days when albums had extensive liner notes & bands like Yes added color booklets to the packaging oh I how I miss those days.
Hey Now Doc
Thanks for the write-up. I seem to remember that they played outside the fence on a flatbed truck and not in the prison, a la, folsom prison blues. I think that may have been in the book "Playing in the Band." Not sure though, as it has been 30+ years so I may need to get my mind right.
Eyes43
If you happen to see this, I had noticed the artwork myself. Then, I read your comment from July 31st. I never knew a lot of history about Ed Donahue, but know a bunch more now. I bought that shirt in the Greenwich Village, I think, in Manhattan for sure 35 years ago this month. I paid $20 for it.
Before I went to Oakland for New Year's 1986, I had a local air brush artist, air brush the back. He put a hybrid American Beauty image on the back. It has the album cover but instead of saying "American Beauty", he used the backside art to place Grateful Dead with the Rose front cover. He also sprayed a faint lightning bolt from top to bottom thru the album art. Also, sprayed the dancin skeletons on the bottom with the various heads attached leading to one skeleton w/out a head. I still have the shirt. I have worn it maybe 20 times total. Fifteen times at dead shows and 5 times (guessing) out locally when I go to hippy dives. Always knew it was something special, as it was the last one sold by the head shop, but never delved into Mr. Donahue's history. If memory serves, I think it has copyright 1977. Back artwork cost $25. Bet I could sell that shirt for $45 plus inflation costs??? Who knows. I might get buried in it!
Cheers!
G
Last but Not Least!
Wanted to thank everyone that wished me good health over on 38 last week, after my slip and fall. Getting better everyday, but back still fatigues pretty fast. Still better than breaking it or causing internal injuries. I spent a very nervous first night trying to sleep, checking my urine for blood. Almost went to the hospital as I heard a loud crack with my a$$ hit the floor. Got up immediately because I wasn't sure if I was paralyzed. My old a$$ can't take many hits like that. I take full responsibility. I always wear (gripping) sandals around the house as I am diabetic and I have all hard wood floors. My father was having some risky skin cancer surgery that day, and the phone rang. Me in socks, not sandals, took off to grab it and the drag coefficient took over as the socks did not grip the hardwood. I am thankful daily that my back is healing. Just tore all back muscles up completely. Still may have cracked something but dont think so. As I am now eyeing 60, I have to be smarter than that. With me looking at 60, you can guess how old my dad is. He came thru with flying colors. He was a lifeguard in the early to mid 1950's. All those summers' skin blistering lead to skin cancer. He has battled it 50 years, amazing what great minds and advancing computer power can do. Thanks to all Doctors and nurses for what you do, especially at this point.
Cheers!
G
Edit: Hey Vguy! I meant to post with the Tennessee Jed lyrics when I first mentioned my fall. You are correct no way iodine would help!
Dennis/Wissinoming
I’m with you guys. If I can’t hold it, touch it, feel it, and read it, I don’t want it. As far as I’m concerned, I cannot own a digital file. I can listen to it, I may have access to it, but I can’t own it.
When (if) cds die, my collection will be what I
listen to in my retirement. But I don’t think the end is coming just yet.
I just wish liner notes didn’t have to be so small!!
Music is the Best!!
I sure wish I could figure out which parts of grammar are not allowed!! This makes no sense to me.
Non-fungible tokens
NFT’s
Those would have to be provided with your download so that you would know that you owned a unique digital GD file.
You could then sell your GD NFT if you wanted to.
Just make sure you don’t forget the password.
Here’s to a speedy recovery GFar. Try pool therapy if you have access to a pool.
Little Star
I never heard this song before. I saw the title on setlists but never listened to it before now. My thoughts were the Dead's takes on the children's nursery rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. No, I was wrong nothing like that, more like a Weir song in development.
It is rare and I'm not impressed with the funk-like rhythm.
HDCD
The Dead releases are in "HDCD" which can play as standard 16 bit CD or be ripped to a 24 bit "container". Basically, the files can be decoded to 20 bit, but stored as FLAC (Lossless) files in 24 bit. All still at 44.1
This is supposed to add dynamic range.
When talking about digital high resolution v vinyl v CD - the mastering really comes into play. If you take a song mastered for the radio and save it to mp3 and then save it as a 192 kHz / 24 bit file, it will sound like crap. The number of bits is only the "container" What is in the container, and how it is created and fit in the container makes the real difference.
In the case of these releases, the mastering really makes it. Exporting the CD to 24 bit allows the excellent mastering and dynamics range to really shine.
I have not studied the difference between the 192/24 releases and the CD releases to see if there are any mastering differences. I **assume** the high rez files are massaged into the HDCD format which is them massaged into 16 bit.
Arthur
I will do that if it can really be done.
Are you using Mac or PC?
Microsoft owns HDCD, so it might be harder to do on a Mac.
What computer CD burner/reader do you have that will decode HDCD, or does that not matter if you have software that will decode HDCD and any burner will work?
What software do you use to decode HDCD and store on a HD?
What is your playback software?
Many thanks.
I will do it if it really can be done.
If anyone is not buying this release only because...
"it's 80s"
Please reconsider
Non Fungible Tokens
Not to be confused with fungible tokens? fungibles.. yes please.
Thin.. loved your last post. If the words were mine I would have beaten you to it.
Great vibe all.. thank you. Like ProudFoot, I like this show.. one week soon I hope to get this delivered on my front porch.. but here in upper middle Mongolia.. the mail comes by rainbow colored caravan, thrice a year.
Re; Little Star....
....like I said, one of the weirdest songs they ever played.
I knew I knew this Philly show. I have it on cassette somewhere. At certain point I had "Oh yeah! I remember that!" moments.
And it never sounded better. Takes me back. Thanks Dave!
Re: Little Star
We used to call it Bob Star. Played at the show I had the most fun at.. summer solstice, 1983. I think we all have those memories, the most fun we ever had at a show....
Here's to all those memories...
Uuuggghhhh
I haven't been able to post from my desktop because of captcha nonsense...hard to type from my phone because of my arthritic paws...but here's my quick review...the parts that are really good are really really good...the parts that are bad, well you know...sound is great though
Man Smart, Woman Smarter
Is it just me, or is the track marker at the end of Man Smart misplaced? That final "That's Right" has the "That's" at the end of Man Smart and the "Right" at the start of Drums. Sloppy.
Being nowhere and talking to nobody about nothing
50 years ago today…..
August 5, 1971
Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, California
Set 1: Bertha-Me And My Uncle-Mr. Charlie-Sugaree-El Paso-Cryptical Envelopment>drums>The Other One>Wharf Rat-Me And Bobby McGee-Casey Jones
Set 2: Truckin'-Loser-Sugar Magnolia-Bird Song-Not Fade Away>Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad>jam>Not Fade Away-Johnny B. Goode
Deadicated to Ihopedonnajeanshowsup, Pozole, Joning, RJDMD, scullroses, galacticartist, Flew With The Dead, driscoll1313, Rmw, watteau, MAXROD, DonalKuhn, mdgonzo, and ja22252, because time moves in one direction, memory in another….
This hard rocking affair, featuring the dog suckingest man in show business and mister Candy Weir, may not be as famous as the following night but is still worthy of your consideration. And, it’s one of a handful of 1971 shows that features the “big jam” in the first set. So what are you waiting for??!!!
Rock on!!
Doc
If God doesn't destroy Hollywood Boulevard, he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology…..
Upwards-onwards
Gary - good to read you are on the mend. At the risk of sounding pompous, it occurs to me that it often isn't what happens to us in life that matters-its how we react to what happens. Those that can adapt are more likely to be happy than those that can't-and you seem to be making a decent fist of it. Especially given all you have to put up with. Just stop throwing yourself about, is all!
Arrival Predicted
Looks like I will be getting my Dave's Picks 39 this afternoon. I always read the liner notes while I rip the CDs.. Happy Day..
Gary
Glad yer ok.
Had a similar bad fall last year myself. Easily could have broke my back.
Scared the Schitt outta me. We’re too old for all this excitement!
Glad to hear about your pops.
Oh, after 6 tries, she don’t think my recaptcha tractor is sexy...
Fingers crossed Jim...
Mine seems to be lost in the Colorado wilds?
I’m sure the massive I70 detour plays a part...
Was moving along normally, then seems to disappear in the junkyard on the 31st?
Pops would say “you made it through life this far without it” lol
All Good Things...
Right on GFar
Glad to hear you are on the mend. I am wrestling through a bad back from sitting in chairs most of my adult life either staring at computer screen or an in airplane/car/train/whatever.. a week ago I did some rotator cuff damage attempting keep my boat upright before a little waterfall.. tragedy narrowly averted but now I have a broken wing..
What a drag it is getting old.. life should let us go through retirement in our 20's and 30's and work when we are practically broken anyway.. but that's life, all we can do is get through it with grace, dignity, style and an assortment of mind bending tie dyes.
Another Star
...I also fully appreciate the Bob/Little Star - had never heard this before and I always love to hear a new tune, even if an oddity.
Great to see you are on the mend GFar - chin up, be well!
And that goes for yous all - be well people!
Sixtus
A cup of Joe
What a night!!! Got home after work and was getting out of the car when the garage lights went out. I thought that was quick?!? Suddenly there was a hard metal object pressed to the back of my head and a voice telling me to be quiet if I wanted to see another day. Next thing I know he's shoving a laptop in front of me and says "order!". I looked and it's the Mosaic site and he has Joe Henderson pulled up. Taken up short by all this and not moving fast enough apparently, he repeats "ORDER!" and increases pressure to the head. I typed fast and when it said order confirmed the pressure disappeared, the light came back on and he was gone!!!
So whether I want it or not, Mosiac's Joe Henderson collection is coming.
Can you believe my wife bought this tale?!!?
Dennis and the cup of Joe
Sometimes the ends justify the means, Mrs Dennis seems a bit more gullible than Mrs Dogon, and I am sure that when Joe arrives, she will put aside any minor missgivings she might harbour about the veracity of your story, because its a bloody good box set.
Please let me know your opinion
Kind regards Dogon,
“Acceptable level of ill health”
LOL, I’m going to use that one on the Doctor next go round.
“Base over apex”
Sweet! Almost makes it sound fun.
The HDCD -> 24 bit rabbit hole
Arthur got me thinking, so I did some googling.
There is software that will convert HDCD CD’s to 24/44.1 computer files.
db power amp is one of them.
I did some searching in the forums there and found this:
p.s. Many CDs that are labeled as HDCD don't actually use the features of HDCD that benefit from a capable player or ripping using the HDCD DSP. That's because they don't use the Peak Extension feature. Grateful Dead HDCDs after about 2012/13 are examples of this.
This could be why some people with HDCD CD players have said in the past that their new CD’s (new at the time DaP’s) weren’t being detected as HDCD by their player.
But, if Dick’s Picks are truly HDCD, maybe I need to take on that project this winter…..
Getting older....
....taking off to Magic Mountain in Cali next week. I need a Rollercoaster fix. Like bad. Comes with a free chiropractor adjustment for free!!
Cheesesteak anyone....?
Cheap Phillies seats for the afternoon? Yes please...Lovin' this one.
I wasn't at this one, but I saw the boys at this venue more than any other place. No planning...sheer luck.
Thanks...
DaveZ PiX#39 Philly
Dave was right! This one’s a doozy!
A damn fine specimen of early ‘80s Dead as good as or better than Dick’s Pick Six. Maybe it was Five, the show from fall ‘83.
(Though Dec.’79 gravy too!)
Anyways like Dave said during the seaside chat, this show rocks regardless of flubs. Jerry on Let It Grow is insane! Divine fingers flying on the guitar fret board. The Keyboard work is a fine compliment throughout the album too! Brent’s voice sounds great gravely and really jams on his own lead vocal song. (My new favorite)
A good triad of songs from Maybe You Know to Jerry on West LA to Bobby singing Esau. All new stuff at the time!
Also a heavy dose of Phil can be heard at the best of jam times! Sonically surreal Space and Drums from Bill and Mickey.
After downloading to my iTunes I’ve remixed a playlist back to the full 4/26 show with the NY duo of tunes as a bridge to the bonus 4/25 blended set. This sonically to me is blissfully perfect!
I imagine Dave had to do what he did due to the 80 minute CD format but whatever. I love the bonus filler material! Always good pickx!
Rock on Dave!
Oh yeah!
Awesome job of Ms. Kennedy’s artwork conveying the Dead Show “Shakedown Street” as a cover!
I also find it mesmerizing it took 39 volumes to hear the song represented!?
Good pick from Dave overall and a goodie rendition of Shakedown to open the fantastical Philly show!
😼Trippy!😸
💀⚡️🥀
Hollywood is an idea, it's not a real place…..
50 years ago today….
August 6, 1971
Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, California
Set 1: Bertha-Playing In The Band-Loser-Mr.Charlie-El Paso-Cumberland Blues-Brokedown Palace-Me And Bobby McGee-Hard To Handle-Casey Jones
Set 2: Saint Stephen-Truckin'>drums>The Other One>Me And My Uncle>The Other One-Deal-Sugar Magnolia-Morning Dew-Turn On Your Lovelight
Deadicated to WackaloonQ, antonjo, TheeAmazingAce333, mhammond12, Anders O, Borgmano, johnny361, Mr. Jack Straw, nirktwin2, Sun King, g1u2i3, wave-that-flag, and searchlightcasting, because if a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act……
Very unusual position for Saint Stephen----opening the second set. The band stops before the song is truly completed, after “What would be the answer to the answer man”, due to a broken string.
One of the best known shows from the Summer of 71, with a magnificent Hard To Handle, fine big jam, a cool late second set Morning Dew, and a Lovelight in the classic show closing position. Hard rocking and highly recommended.
Rock on!!
Doc
Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul……
Hmmmm Health Issues
This not to go “one up” on anyone
Just thought I’ll add mine to fray
Last October 2020
I suffered 7 , that’s right seven heart attacks in the span of a week in the hospital where I went because I thought I had a bad case of indigestion…..needless to say I had one previous to going to the hospital
The scorecard for my hospital stay :
Incubated for 2-3 weeks
7 heart attacks
Resuscitated between a maximum of 15 minutes on one
10 minutes on another
Average of six minutes on the rest
Got Pneumonia
Had Renal Failure
Almost bled to death when I had stents put in and the catheter was removed
My wife used come to hospital in the 3 weeks I was Incubated and put ear plugs in my ears and play Dead shows and Joel Osteen sermons
She told me that my toe would twitch when playing the Dead shows
So how she knew I’d be alright
That being said
That is the October stay
3 weeks later
The day before Thanksgiving
I visited my cardiologist
And after a sonogram was taken
It was revealed that I needed surgery and soon
So while the world was preparing to eat Thanksgiving meals
Watch football
Listen to Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant
I was in the hospital waiting for surgery
Which didn’t happen for a few days
Due to a blood thinner medication I had taken
Which my surgeon felt
I might bleed to death when he opened me up
I had the surgery
My wife explained to me that
He opened me up hours later a second time
Cause he felt the sutures to patch the hole wasn’t exactly right
I actually felt great the next day
The next six months of my recovery where
Learning to walk again
My musculature had atrophied during my hospital stays
I could not write my name
I could barely operate my phone to listen to music
The doctors at Maimondies hospital in Brooklyn told my wife they weren’t to sure of how or why I survived
They are writing some sort of manuscript on my treatment
Needless to say
I’ve recovered
I have my good days and not so good days
I can walk
I can think slowly at times
I can drive my car
I plan on going scuba diving next year in Jamaica where my wife is from
I’ll be at the Dead and Company show in Atlanta in October
So truth is stranger than fiction
The human spirit can overcome anything
Death don’t have no mercy in this land
But I figure it just wasn’t my turn
darobace = deadhead
So sorry to hear of your health scares! We are glad to see you were able to keep your sense of humor. Your posts here are enjoyed by all.
Best wishes all and be grateful all...
#16248 has arrived in the Netherlands.
It arrived pretty quickly, in time for the weekend. Looking forward to hearing this.
@ Conekid: I have an HDCD player and I can assure you all GD CDs show up on my player as being HDCD encoded. This doesn't mean that any HDCD features have been utilized during the mastering process. I am not sure why one would use HDCD during mastering and then not actually use the available features. That seems a bit pointless, but it is what it is.
Dogon and Joe
I'm looking forward to this album. The sample cuts I thought were great. I think this era might be my favorite,,, they seem to call it "hard-bop". Whatever. I think one of my favorite jazz albums is Lee Morgan, The Gigolo. I'm hoping this will be mostly in the same vein.
Just got final address notice on Third Man's Dylan collection (vault 49).
The mysterious 1991 Squaw Valley show
The sfgate website is pretty good about throwing in a Dead related article every now and then. Here's one that just showed up about a Jerry Garcia band (and others) performance in between Dead shows in 1991, at a stage up high at the top of the gondola at Squaw Valley ski area up at Lake Tahoe, a gig envisioned by Uncle Bobo Graham.
Although I attended the infamous Boreal Dead show in the 80s, I had never heard of this one, maybe because I was in college again at the time and not following these things too closely. Nowadays I spend a lot of time up at Tahoe in retirement travels, and have done the hike up the mountain they alluded to that the non-ticket holders made when the show, accessed by gondola, sold out.
This is a fun article about a one and done show, and here's a quote from the article by Jerry, which always catches my attention because of the creative and unusual way he thought about things and expressed himself:
“The audience thinks we’re providing more than music, but we don’t let on what we’re providing, intentionally,” Garcia told the New York Times. “We’re elliptical. Someone once wrote that we’re a real cheap vacation to Bermuda, which is kind of right. But insofar as we’re providing a safe context to be together with a lot of people who aren’t afraid of each other, which is real valuable, I’d guess, we’re important.”
Go to sfgate dot com and look for the Aug. 5th article entitled: 'I scaled the mountain for Jerry': When thousands of Deadheads descended on Tahoe.
22315/25000 in Western Colorado
Finally! Was due Tuesday when my buddy in Crested Butte got his. That's like 60 air miles from here or an hour and a half by road, at least now that Hwy. US-50 was forced to stop construction and open fully as I-70 is down and out for an indefinite period. So Hendrix (or is it Oro that lives near the highway) I think the I-70 closure is affecting the mail over here too. What a mess. I used to only use I-70 years ago when I frequently had to drive to Denver but no more. US-50 to US-285 from here on out. Can't trust Glenwood canyon if it rains. I wonder if the burn scar is from that big Storm King Mountain (South Canyon) fire in 1994 where 14 firefighters lost their lives or the numerous smaller ones since. Best re-read Fire On The Mountain, but maybe not while listening to a Scarlet/Fire. Maybe inappropriate to honor the memory of those brave souls.
Cheers, and as one of my bosses in an icy Gunnison winter used to say as a goodbye, "Don't fall down".