Grateful Dead DP 43

Back to product page

Post reply Log in to post comments

July 13, 2022 - 8:45am

1,599 replies

Dead Admin

Joined:
April 28, 2021

A sealed, unlabeled box sat undisturbed for decades on a shelf in the Grateful Dead’s San Rafael tape vault on Front Street, its contents an enduring mystery, even to those few with access to the vault. All David Lemieux knew about that box when he became the Dead’s archivist was that it contained tapes belonging to Bear—Owsley Stanley, the Dead’s first soundman and architect of the Wall of Sound. Even in the Dead Heads’ Holy of Holies, the taped-up box was tantalizing. But this was Bear’s personal property, and so he didn’t touch the box out of an abiding respect for the elder luminary of sound. Bear’s archive of Sonic Journal recordings had been kept safe for him for years within the Grateful Dead’s vault—over 1,300 reels of tape stored in heavy-duty cartons like old banana boxes. At any time, David could have popped the tops and explored them to his archivist heart's content. But they were off-limits without the nod from Bear. - Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell, Owsley Stanley Foundation

With a wink and a nod from Bear, we've peeled back those banana boxes to find some of the oldest and rarest of all recordings of the Dead including the double dose of shows that make up DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43. The two virtually complete performances from San Francisco 11/2/69, Live At Family Dog At The Great Highway, and from Dallas 12/26/69, McFarlin Auditorium, are complementary in their clarity and consistency thanks to Bear himself, and in their ability to foreshadow where the Dead were headed in the years to come. If the two killer 20-minute+ "Dark Stars" don't get ya, how about the Pigpen-centric sets featuring "Midnight Hour," "Next Time You See Me," "Big Boss Man," "Good Lovin'," and the once-lost-now-found complete rendition of "Dancing In The Streets," or the first full acoustic set ever performed? And we're certain you'll be fascinated to uncover the "Mystery Of Bear's Banana Boxes" as told by Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell in the liners.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43 was recorded by Owlsey "Bear" Stanley and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

Comments

sort by

Recent

Recent Oldest A to Z Z to A

Reset

September 3, 2022 - 8:04am

#631

1stshow70878

Joined:
September 11, 2014

Other Jewel

Daverock, of course I too went straight to the Red Rocks shows upon first listen before hearing the rest of the box. After getting to all of them I was calling 7-3-78 St. Paul the hidden gem. That must have been a peak period for them. The energy is there. Almost swaggering I'd say, like they need a pack of cigarettes rolled into the sleeve of their t-shirt.
Cheers
September 3, 2022 - 4:12am

#632

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

Me too

I also played Omaha 7/5/77 after reading Oroboros's post. The first set, last night-excellent - Jerry's guitar sounds as cool and clear as the driven snow. Own up time....for the last couple of years, when I have played shows from this 78 box, I have played the first one 7/1, missed out the next two and gone on to the two Red Rocks shows. I have no idea what put me off Omaha in the past - makes me wonder what other unidentified jewels I have here.

Exile - I was unfairly dismissive of Black and Blue, too. It's a very entertaining album - I didn't like funk or disco in the 70's, but that's no excuse now. I wasn't keen at all when it came out-Spring 1976, I believe. With Mick Taylor gone, "Fool To Cry" issued as a single and punk waiting in the wings, The Stones, along with most of the great bands from 1965-1975 suddenly seemed a bit passe. I bought the first Ramones album in Summer 1976-that was the sound of the times for me. 40 odd years later... Black and Blue is still on my playlist, and I no longer even have that Ramones album.
I saw The Stones at Knebworth in 76 - and I have the programme here-nothing to do with music, but it's curious how The Stones and their fans were presented. In the article on The Stones, it states, "Young boys eagerly flocked the Mary Quant make up department in Harrods trendy Way-In shop on Saturday afternoon.The disco pumped out "Hey Negrita" as the boys applied eye liner and lipstick to gaunt virginal faces." I don't think so. I was 19 then, and the article seemed to show how out of touch The Stones had become at that time, with my generation.
They also apparently had a food stand where you could buy a portion of chicken curry for 0.55p. This in the middle of the hottest heat wave for decades.
September 2, 2022 - 7:34pm

#633

JimInMD

Joined:
June 27, 2011

Omaha

That Estimated > Eyes is outstanding. That Eyes of the World has always been a go to post hiatus Eyes.. it's outstanding. I've always been big on that box. 7/1 never circulated and is outstanding, the first Red Rocks shows did circulate and are well.. not to overuse the term but outstanding. A great moment in GD history perfectly preserved for us to enjoy. Aptly timed as we are entering a holiday weekend and the box centers around the Fourth of July.

Outstanding
September 2, 2022 - 2:51pm

#634

Charlie3

Joined:
September 21, 2015

Omaha

Been looking at that July 1978 box when picking some dead to listen to lately, but keep getting sidetracked by a different choice, but Oroboros' post about the virtues of the July 5, 1978 Omaha show prompted me to give it a listen today. Currently on Wharf Rat. I always liked that show, and the recording is excellent. I imagine it was exponentially cooler to be there in person at the time. The artwork on that one is probably about my favorite from that box as well, and I liked all the art from that box, a lot.
September 2, 2022 - 2:34pm

#635

Exile On Main St.

Joined:
August 10, 2018

Stones

Hey guys, I lurk more than anything but I saw some Stones talk and I agree with Dave Rock. It's Only Rock 'n Roll is an underrated album. The thing with it in my opinion, is that the songs are either dynamite (like the opening song fictional drummer) or B side material. The other problem is a couple of the songs suffer from Led Zeppelin IV / Dark Side of the Moon syndrome, meaning they've been played on the radio so much that they've lost a little luster (title track and Ain't Too Proud to Beg). I think these songs are pretty high quality once you're sitting back giving them your full attention (In their order of appearance on the LP).

If You Can't Rock Me
Ain't Too Proud to Beg
It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)
Till the Next Goodbye
Time Waits for No One

Dance Little Sister

The first 5 songs are all of side one and are solid. It's Only Rock 'n Roll has "Start Me Up" hit quality. Time Waits For No One makes us realize that Mick Taylor should have had at least one or two tracks on every album to stretch out like he does on this one and Can't You Hear Me Knockin' from Sticky Fingers. Missed opportunity. The thing with these songs is you may think of hearing Dance Little Sister on the radio and thought, meh, average song. Until you really listen to everything going on with the guitars. Keith Richards bass chops on If You Can't Rock Me are cool. Till the Next Time is on par in my mind with Wild Horses and Angie, but again, missed opportunity in that Taylor could have been used to play an electric solo or something, similar to Wild Horses. The remaining songs on the record don't do it for me. Luxury is borderline, but leans too far into funk. Fingerprint File is way too far into funk and not that great a song for me. If You Really Want to Be My Friend and Short and Curlies should have been put in the can for later. Between Goats Head Soup and It's Only Rock 'n Roll, I think there's a great album in there.

Black and Blue had some great songs with Hand of Fate and Crazy Mama. I think Hand of Fate was as good as 70s rockers got, with very few exceptions.

Not much to say that hasn't been said about Dave's 43. I would never complain for this type of release.
September 2, 2022 - 12:01pm

#636

PT Barnum

Joined:
December 2, 2009

reading these posts

you guys are so cool. Love this forum
September 2, 2022 - 10:55am

#637

Charlie3

Joined:
September 21, 2015

Or...

...It's like buying a book from the bookstore and then realizing the pages are all put together out of order, and there are pages from another book mixed in. And when you go back and say, hey, bookseller, they put the pages of the book in the wrong order, and there are pages from another book mixed in. And he says, don't worry, you can rip them all out and put the book back together in whatever order you want.
September 2, 2022 - 9:31am

#638

Crow Told Me

Joined:
October 15, 2020

It’s Like When Someone Says ‘Plate of Shrimp’

The other day I ordered a burger with fries. Instead, they brought me fries with a burger. So I complained. But dude, the burger guy said, you can eat them in whatever order you want. Mmfff, I said, eating my fries and burger.

Received my shipping notice today for the TTB’s “I am the Moon” vinyl set. Because today is the release date. What a concept! You release the record on the release date! Genius! I just want to note that, when you bought the 4-lp set, they promised to provide a digital download of each separate album as each of the four parts of this project was released. And then they actually did! On the actual release dates! And the files actually worked! Amazing! And now they shipped vinyl on the release date. It’s so weird.

A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything. Like the other other day I’m eating a plate of shrimp and listening to Electric on the Eel for the first time in years. And so were you.

Last five:

JGB: Electric on the Eel (discs 1 and 6)
Derek & the Dominos: Layla
Bill Evans: The Hilversum Concert
Christian McBride: At the Village Vanguard
Stones: El Mocambo
September 2, 2022 - 8:47am

#639

Oroboros

Joined:
June 4, 2007

Greetings my brothers/others

All is well in the middle of the country and I couldn't agree more with this esteemed group's statements on current and past musical topics.

Phil and Friends has consistently displayed such exploratory and jamtasic shows which makes them a 'must see.' I recently attended another Wilco concert prior to that show and the inclusion of Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline in the friends in Chicago reflect excellent choices. Nels has sat in with P & F on multiple occasions and Wilco has covered the Dead on a variety of occasions including Bobby sitting in for Dark Star, Ripple, etc. I regretted that Phil got Covid and couldn't headline with String Cheese Incident's recent Red Rocks shows, but Billy Strings was a welcome replacement and we in the audience had a wonderful time. Still I long to see Phil play again and hope to have another chance soon. The SCI 'dead set' with Billy was a delight and I saw Billy rev up with the Cheese as they took on many of our favorite Dead tunes that evening. And I am quite relieved that Phil has fully recovered from the Covid and is back playing live.

Besides attending the Wilco and SCI shows, I have also loved recent concerts with the Infamous Stringdusters, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, the Jayhawks, Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain, Mollie Tuttle, Sierra Hull, and several years ago was quite taken by previously mentioned Larkin Poe (opened for Elvis Costello). Such terrific music touring again and I'm very grateful to be able to make the journey (pun intended).

However, given this thread on DP 43, to get back on how this Dave's Pick is stellar and echo others sentiments how the primal Dead are such an unmitigated treat. This is a special release and deserving of frequent rotation.

And should any of you be inspired by the break-neck speed and turn on a dime of the early Grateful Dead, please consider attending a Joe Russo's Almost Dead show. Yes, Oro (my brother from another mother) those two Vail JRAD shows, along with the JRAD show at Red Rocks were stellar. These guys have the stamina and pace of the early Grateful Dead but along with the Dead's entire song catalogue. Simply remarkable jamming, truly exploratory, and much more in the vein of P & F as opposed to the D & C. JRAD is energy personified and each band member is truly infused with amazing grasp of these wonderful songs along with a jazz mentality and interplay.

To add to the dialogue regarding 'rain stories' from concerts (discussed earlier in this thread), I got one to share. I recall back in 1978 when the Grateful Dead played at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in July. The venue was about half full (4,000?) but everyone was chomping at the bit as we had not seen the Dead in Nebraska since early in the early 70's. I took my Nak 550 into the venue and there was no hassle getting in the deck in this time, but remember this was before the days of 'taper's sections.'

Out in the hallway, the Hell's Angels wandered about sporting full colors and big grins. They may have been transporting 'party favors' and decided to take in a show, or perhaps road tripping with the band? Although I did not see them at the subsequent Red Rocks shows. Anyway, I headed down to the floor to set up my Nak in front of the sound board. When I was getting everything ready, I saw this guy with a great rig setting up. Luckily this kind stranger (I have since discovered he was famous taper Bob Wagner) let me patch out of the back of his Sony, which was terrific as he had a tall (8 ft?) stand to get will above the crowd noise. We were about 15 to 20 feet in FOB. So Garcia treats us to a blistering Sugaree opener, the kind that drove the crowd wild. His leads mounted into a wave that crests, recedes, regroups, and roars back with such power and delight that adds to the synergistic effect causing our frenzied response as his rolling/soaring guitar work lift and subside within the band.

Then BIODTL, TLEO, and then Bob took the spotlight with a "Look's Like Rain." About half way through the son, I suddenly noticed something shimmering in the air between the band and me. I thought "what a fantastic light show! Or have I shifted into 5th gear just a little earlier than I scheduled?" I staggered towards that visual disturbance in front of me to investigate. The crowd was dancing madly in the middle of the floor as a waterfall played over them. The waterfall was about 25 feet in circumference. I put my hand into the water...hand out, no rain, hand in, pouring rain.. I jumped into the waterfall drenching us all in the middle of the Civic auditorium. Then stepped out and there was none. I shook my head and then dove back into the deluge and danced through LLR and next came Direworlf and a delightful All Over Now, with Keith and Donna simply killing it. Candyman, Lazy >Supplication and Bobby informed "we are going to take a short break" (ha, it was never a short break!)

I staggered back to reload a new tape (remember cassettes?) and I looked for some validation of my experience. I asked my friends if I was not in fact 'soaking wet' as I patted my wet t-shirt? And they grinned knowingly and affirmed that , yes, in fact I was 'all wet."

Then this unique show continued (nice indoor water feature, boys!) with a killer second set, complete with a transportive Estimated>Eyes>Wharf Rat>Truckin'>Iko Iko > Around and Around.

As I left the auditorium I noticed the water standing on the ground outside, a summer storm? Hey was this just a case of a leaking roof? Or did the Dead actually conjure up the forces of nature as they were so prone to do?

Next to travel to their/my maiden Red Rocks shows. Would Phil bombs create reverse gravity and make us float up into the air? What do they have up their collective sleeves for us next (ah-oooo, Werewolves of London, ah-ooo)?

Those were the daze.....

Zen saying "teachers open the door, you must enter by yourself."
September 2, 2022 - 4:36am

#640

That Mike

Joined:
November 1, 2014

Philco Are Only Rock & Roll (And We Like It)

Jim - You bring up a good point that Phil is well into his 80s, yet is still bringing it with such new creations as Philco. I think he personifies that well worn axiom “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

DaveRock - I personally always loved the subtle guitar work on “Fingerprint File” from IORR. Mick Taylor should never have left the Stones, they were a much better band with him (with due respect to Ronnie). Last week, I re-watched their “bootleg” release from the Marquee Club in 1971 - now THAT was THE best Stones lineup.

Blues For Allah - what an excellent choice. Some really jazzy passages throughout that entire release.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Dead Store Products

A sealed, unlabeled box sat undisturbed for decades on a shelf in the Grateful Dead’s San Rafael tape vault on Front Street, its contents an enduring mystery, even to those few with access to the vault. All David Lemieux knew about that box when he became the Dead’s archivist was that it contained tapes belonging to Bear—Owsley Stanley, the Dead’s first soundman and architect of the Wall of Sound. Even in the Dead Heads’ Holy of Holies, the taped-up box was tantalizing. But this was Bear’s personal property, and so he didn’t touch the box out of an abiding respect for the elder luminary of sound. Bear’s archive of Sonic Journal recordings had been kept safe for him for years within the Grateful Dead’s vault—over 1,300 reels of tape stored in heavy-duty cartons like old banana boxes. At any time, David could have popped the tops and explored them to his archivist heart's content. But they were off-limits without the nod from Bear. - Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell, Owsley Stanley Foundation

With a wink and a nod from Bear, we've peeled back those banana boxes to find some of the oldest and rarest of all recordings of the Dead including the double dose of shows that make up DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43. The two virtually complete performances from San Francisco 11/2/69, Live At Family Dog At The Great Highway, and from Dallas 12/26/69, McFarlin Auditorium, are complementary in their clarity and consistency thanks to Bear himself, and in their ability to foreshadow where the Dead were headed in the years to come. If the two killer 20-minute+ "Dark Stars" don't get ya, how about the Pigpen-centric sets featuring "Midnight Hour," "Next Time You See Me," "Big Boss Man," "Good Lovin'," and the once-lost-now-found complete rendition of "Dancing In The Streets," or the first full acoustic set ever performed? And we're certain you'll be fascinated to uncover the "Mystery Of Bear's Banana Boxes" as told by Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell in the liners.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43 was recorded by Owlsey "Bear" Stanley and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

Dave's 43

This is a great release! Really enjoying this one so far. Great music, great era, recording from Bear. Amazing .

My copy arrived last Friday, a couple days before the shipping notice. First time that's happened in a while.

I've just listened to the first 2 discs so far. I enjoyed it all. Dark Star is a definite highlight. I really enjoy this Good Lovin and the other Pigpen songs. I'll also go ahead and say that I like that the 11-2 show doesn't have a Lovelight. Landing in Death Don't Have no Mercy is a nice change up.
This pick could have been the lead pick for the subscription.

Anyhow. Enjoying this one. Hope you all have your copies and have some space to listen. Cheers.

I like Seinfeld

Watched 2 episodes last night.
A few months ago I bought the series on DVD, factory sealed 2013 version, discounted from the 2013 price.
Am working my way through in order, watching a couple episodes per week (am on season 3).
No commercials is great.

In the 90’s I preferred the Simpsons over Seinfeld, but recorded both on VCR to watch later.
When Seinfeld started I didn’t think it was very funny (and now that I have the DVD’s, it gets funnier in season 3), but later started watching it.

Larry David wrote a lot of it and there is bonus material on the DVD’s where Larry explains it starting with the pilot, and then freaking out about having to come up with 12 episodes for season 1, then 21 episodes for season 2.

I didn’t have HBO and only saw 1 or 2 episodes of Curb, which seemed pretty funny.
Have Hulu now and watch Only Murders In The Building which is pretty funny.

TV Shows

I grew up on All in the Family and The Jefferson's. I idolized George Jefferson in grade school and I tried to mimic his walk. I also was huge Speed Racer fan although those episodes were in syndication by the mid 70s. As an adult I came to appreciate MASH, but I didn't watch it at the time.

Speaking of adult years, Married with Children stands out, along Firefly, Futurama, Family Guy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Office. I am a serious an Office fanatic.

Also I have found the Netflix shows Stranger Things and Cobra Kai to be enjoyable and plus The Orville which is on Hulu. The Orville in particular has turned out to be surprisingly good show- even if it is Star Trek rip off.

Thankfully many of these shows are available through streaming platforms or I have purchased the DVD sets. They are classics to me and I can't get enough of them. That's what she said.

Married With Children....

....I forgot about that one. Edgy for the times. I always thought Al had a pretty nice house for being a shoe salesman. And yes, I had a major crush on Kelly Bundy.

Quick Seinfeld note

I saw Jerry Seinfeld at a small venue called Giggles in Seattle in 89 or 90. I remember him referring to a new show he was involved in called "The Seinfeld Chronicles".

The show became kind of a big deal...

"The best, Jerry! The best!"

Seinfeld

I actually met and chatted with Seinfeld at the Improv in LA back in 1991. He was surprisingly very friendly and I say surprisingly because he seems to have a reputation of not being very nice. That wasn’t my experience though…..

I'm a simple man, with simple needs....

....with that being said, "Where's my Dark Stars!!"
Ok. I'm good now.
Bought a ticket for Weir & Wolf Bros today. We're not getting any younger.

Keithfan, thanks for the info on the tighten up/soulful strut

I knew some people here would have the scoop on it. I'm going to read through that shortly. Loved the first few paragraphs where they say the Dead jammed with Terry Kath of Chicago once too. He was a great guitarist.

As long as people are commenting on TV shows, I'm going to list some of my favorite streamed ones, on Amazon Prime or Netflix. I like it when people introduce me to good new ones, so here's a partial list of some of mine, both streamed and TV shows.

Dexter
Sopranos
The Americans
Person of Interest
Bloodline
Boardwalk Empire
Animal Kingdom
24
The Man in the High Castle
Goliath
Lupin
Lillyhammer
Sneaky Pete
Homeland
Rockford Files
Burn Notice
The Mentalist
Breaking Bad

Tighten Up!....

Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
Mork & Mindy
Kudos to frosted re; Rockford Files. Wow.
Breaking Bad is on my list.
But I like me some anime as well. Only so many hours in the day.
Remember CHiPS? Or Emergency!? Fantasy Island? Or the Six Million Dollar Man?
I could go on and on. Memories are tight!

43

Holy Cow

What a stunner. I can see why this one pulled Frosted out from retirement.

I started with 12/26 and worked backwards to 11/2. I wanted to ease into it with the acoustic first set show. Setting Bears Choice aside, this release has the best sounding 1970(69) acoustic set that's been released. 5/15 is good this sounds better.

Then we get to the electric stuff. Both Dark Stars are stupendous. Really monumental achievements. All three discs are top notch Grateful Dead. The Death Don't Have No Mercy to close off the November show just drives the whole release home to me.

It's a classic. Stunningly good.

Maybe Bears Choice simply referred to the reels he set aside in Banana Boxes. We should be calling this Bear's Choice Volume 2.

Wowwow stuff

Now what do we have to do to get some goddamn 1968? Bear's Choice Vol. 3??

Monk......

Monk, was a great T.V. show.

Awoke with a Tune in My Head

And it went like this (ahem):

"I'd rather be in some dark hollow,
Where the sun don't ever shine..."

No idea why. Hardly ever listen to it, but always enjoy it. Something told me to go with the Three From The Vault version. I guess it was too low tempo to keep in the set. Good stuff though. It's nice to have the rare ones once in awhile. Ladies in Gentlemen is the only other electric option in the officially released column. So I left 3FTV on, and rediscovered this particular version of Smokestack Lightning. After the Felt Forum version came out a few years ago, I left this one by the curb - and Jerry's slide guitar chops with it. I'm not sure if he pulls out the 'ol bottleneck on the Felt version. It's the big instrumental jam with Keith's piano work that always comes ti mind with the Felt rendering.

Jimmy - I had a chuckle at your retirement joke with Frosted. This Forum with all the "Board Heads" is a nice way to start the day (all the safer for the working from home gig I've enjoyed since Covid).

Frosted - thanks for the show recommendations. Some I've seen but others I'll try, since it's always tough to decide based on the descriptions from Netflix. The Man in the High Castle was really cool. I just recently watched a German production with English overdubs called Dark. I passed over this for a few years because it sounded like old sci-fi horror trope, but it ended up being completely different.

Vguy - when I saw Emergency! on your list, I thought SWAT would be close behind :D

Hats off to Dave Lemieux once again. Imagine the parallel universe where there's an uninitiated Warner exec picking shows at random for this series. A world without Seaside Chats and untamed wildlife swooping in-picture. DL knows his Dead. I wonder how high we'll get? I'm hoping for at least 100.

Vguy

You forgot Adam 12.

I had a Planet of the Apes lunchbox in 1st grade, it was pretty cool.
By 2nd grade I thought that brown paper lunch bags were cooler and went with those.

Was in 2nd or 3rd grade when I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and had my mind blown.
I remember when my next door neighbors went to the drive-in to see the new movie called Jaws.
And to think that while I was a little kid back then some people on this board were already going to shows. Guess that makes you guys old now. :(

And one more thing

Anyone else feel like the Lovelight on 12/26 is exceptional? I like my Lovelights in the 15 minute range, with one of those soft doot-doot-doo sections before the big ending. I have trouble getting through the big 30 minute performances, though they were no doubt crowd pleasers in person.

Icecrmcnkd - Close Encounters, 5 years old, in the theater. Nightmares about the alien visit in the beginning with the toys all coming to life and the spooky colored lights coming in under doors and through keyholes.

Lovelight - size isn't everything

Yes, the optimum length of Lovelight is around the 15 minute mark for me too. I wondered, when this Pick was announced ,with a fair portion of Pigpen on the menu, if that meant a couple of 30 minute Lovelights were part of the deal. Thinking of Road Trips Vol 4 no. 1, Big Rock Pow Wow shows from 69, where the first disc ends with a 30min.59sec Lovelight, and the second disc opens with 27min-25 sec version. That's fighting talk.

Proudfoot and Burnsey

Just saw that Little Feat is playing Seattle tomorrow 8/6, will be playing Waiting For Columbus in its entirety.
Yes, not the same band, but if tix are cheap and you need something to do on a Saturday night….

Dirty Heads Let's Get It Kraken 2022....

....there is a reggae fest tomorrow night at downtown Vegas. The Dirty Heads, SOJA, Tribal Seeds and The Elovaters. Forty bucks. Going with some friends but unfamiliar with any of these bands. Any of you peeps wanna chime in?
Current listening. Little Feats comeback Let It Roll album.

Sidetrip

TV & Movies - there were movie quotes going around a week or two ago. I always thought this one was hilarious, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball" as delivered by Rip Torn.

Back to your previously scheduled Eleven>Death Don't Have No Mercy.

Feats dont fail me now

Yep seeing feets in 2 months from now in hometown. Havent seen them since 1991 (?) when they opened for the Allman Brothers. Was a great show.

Man miss Jer during these days between.

Also miss greatly Lowell George.

Jim, Keith, Vguy and more...

Not so much retirement for me here as a hiatus I suppose. I had real trouble getting past the CAPTCHA awhile back, and I know I was doing it right, so I just vacated for some time until 43 caught my attention. Lately (well, for decades really) I've been mostly focused on jazz and classical listening, but a good old Grateful Dead jam and their live improv magic gets me every time.

Vguy, when I was in college a group of us used to come back from the dorm cafeteria and catch MASH and the Rockford files back to back most weeknights while we recovered from the three day old poison they served up. Lots of good guest actors on Rockford - Tom Selleck got his start there as a bumbling detective who regularly outfoxed Rockford, and Isaac Hayes had a role where he used to call him Rockfish all the time. James Garner was a pretty captivating character, and his dad Rocky. Funny stuff.

Interesting to see a new Little Feat back in action. I've probably mentioned it here in the past, but seeing them around 1977/78 or so with Lowell George at the height of the Waiting for Columbus era is still one of my top 3 or 4 rock shows.

Lowell George was da man!

Caught Little Feat in Denver in fall '77 and man, did Lowell George blow the roof off the old shed (McNichols Arena), coming on the heels of an Oct '77 GD show in the same joint, which was good, but not one of their best. That was a month after Englishtown when we fried pretty deeply.

And as one of the vocal proponents of the GREASE, I too prefer the tighter Lovelights. Pig's extended raps work much like drum solos, in that if you were there, it's kinda fun, rousing stuff, but on tape long after the fact, Pig's rap can detract from the energy. I can't pinpoint which Lovelight it is, but somewhere along the line, when Pigpen yelled "WAIT A MINUTE!" to his bandmates, which formerly got them into a stop-time or background simmer for his extended rap, the rest of the band just ignored him and jammed out the song. Just that little detail reveals much about the band and their relationships. The band very much got into backing Pig, as it allowed them a different space to work in, vamping and such, but if Pig got carried away, they'd just blow him off and take it where they wanted to. What a band!

Scared at the Movies

Close encounters, age 11, no fear, but I did think that it looked really cool to make a scale model of Devils Tower out of mashed potatoes or a basement full of dirt. Alien, age 13, in a cold sweat watching that movie in the theater. Everything about that movie freaked me out, from the alien clamping on to the dude's face, to the alien busting out of his gut, to the partial views of the alien as it grew, to the dim lighting and the rest. Can't think of another movie that engendered that much fear in some deep, atavistic portion of my mind.

ALIEN....

....right there with you charlie3. i saw Alien at a sleepover at a friends house when HBO first started. I was maybe 12? Scared the fuck out of us. Today, it is a top 5 movie for me. Pretty much the perfect movie imo. I watch it at least once a year. Check out the directors cut if you haven't already. Fun fact. The casts reaction during the chestburster scene was genuine. Ridley Scott didn't tell them what was going to happen. Genius.
Movie holds up extremely well. As does the 1983 The Thing. Another pretty much perfect horror movie.

The Thing

Just watched the Thing, the Kurt Russel version from the '80s, recently for the first time and that is a great movie. I've been watching some classic movies from the '70's and '80s over the last year or so, and the Thing was a highlight, way exceeded my expectations. Watched Jaws for the first time this week, and it was ok, but really don't see how it justified all the hype.

I was into horror movies big time....

....when I was a teenager. Mom and Dad got a little concerned lol.
Have you checked out the Evil Dead movies? All three are legit.
You just checked out Jaws for the first time?? Wow.

ICK/Feats

Well Dang, I didn't realize Feats was playing at The Moore, hell I'd see Backstreet Boys at The Moore! Got plans with daughter, but if anyone goes you can prob find a copy on archive after.....

Scared me to the nth degree:

Blair Witch Project
The Wickerman (from early 70s, not the Nicholas Cage tripe)

Some hate on BWP, but it got to me reeeeeal good.

As did Wickerman

Burnsy

Take your daughter to Little Feat!

GFar, LF

I saw LF open for ABB 11-29-91 at The Palace, Friday after Thanksgiving.
I think that Spacebro was there too.

I need to see if there are SBD’s of that show torrenting around. Believe that I’ve checked before, but will check again.

Hey, turns out that there is a featbase-dot-net with setlists.

If a tree falls in the woods

Does it have to reCRAPTCHA to make a sound?

Ice Cream Kid

Thank you for the notification

Jerry played the Moore in 76

I wasn't there though

The bus was still 6 years from my destined boarding

A beautiful day in Seattle today (as always...smug smug)

X and Psychedelic Furs at the zoo meadow Sunday

X is an old, dear friend

Psychefurs a pleasant dessert

X opens for them when it should be the other way 'round ahem ahem

Regardless, it'll be fun

Dead, Dead and More Dead

Listen to a lot of Grateful Dead, watched Dawn of the Dead (70s version), watched Dawn of the Dead (2004 remake), watched a few seasons of Walking Dead, watched the early seasons of Fear the Walking Dead, but I've never seen any of the Evil Dead movies.

Movie lines

My all time favorite remains:

“The issue here is not that we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests. We did.”

M.A.S.H.

The movie? Said by Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye?
Cheers

I wish I could discuss Dave's 43 with y'all....

....but it's been out for delivery since Monday. Time to visit the post office tomorrow it seems. My UPS email linq keeps pushing the delivery date to the next day every evening.
Tomorrow Never Knows.
So many good lines in M.A.S.H. Could you imagine a show with a black character nicknamed Spearchucker today?
Took a bit of a dip when Ferret Face left imo, but still top notch writing throughout the run. Good job 1stshow. It was right there in in the front of my cerebral cortex.
Spinning the '67 offering from TTATS aka Boxilla.

Movie Lines from Angry Jack Straw

Otter……from Animal House

It's Newman, I tell you Vguy

He works for USPS and he is miffed about your attitude re Seinfeld.

Seriously, tho, I hope you get 43 tomorrow.

:)))

MAS*H

had some awesome lines.

The Army-Navy game episode with an unexploded bomb in the middle of the compound. Hawkeye and Trapper are sent out to defuse it. Henry is reading the instructions over a bullhorn from a bunker.

“Carefully clip the wires . . . leading to the clockwork fuse at the head.”

Hawkeye snips the wires.

“But first, remove the fuse.”

Yes..

adedhed68. Its the Tim Matheson character who is defending the frat at the hearing.
Well done.

Dammit!....

....still. I could see Hawkeye saying that.
Animal House is also great.
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
One of my favorite M.A.S.H scenes is when Trapper and Hawkeye dig a huge hole outside the Swamp when Burns is still sleeping then fill it with water and sound an air raid siren.
I hope I don't need to tell you what happens next.
Edit. I just got a notification from Netflix that The Sandman is up and running. A great DC/Vertigo comic series born by Neil Gaiman that I never thought would be translated to the screen. I have 14 comic book long boxes from my comic book collecting daze. To quote Flounder, "This is gonna be great!" I hope you're right Flounder.

Ferret face

Frank burns was such a great, and annoying character. Hot lips told burns she would tell Donald about burns including his butt along with hers, and ferret face mocks loudly "I'll tell Donald, I'll tell Donald."

Feat!

Just finished listening to the last disc of the "Waiting for Columbus" 8 CD box. The original album is well burned into the brain of every Feat fan, but the 3 live shows (Manchester UK, The Rainbow, London and Lisner Auditorium, Washington) that are added to this release are all really good and varied enough to warrant release. I can highly recommend this to any fence-sitters. There is so much energy in the performances and the band are really tight. They played 4 nights at The Rainbow and I was fortunate enough to have been present at one of them. I don't remember which one, but it wasn't the show where Mick Taylor put in an appearance and it wasn't the below par show where Lowell George and Paul Barrère were suffering hangovers so there is a 50% chance that it was the show in this box that I witnessed. That show will always be right up there amongst the best shows I ever saw. I was surprised at how rotund Lowell George was at that time, but he could still tear it up.

Its not just him

I was surprised at how rotund most Americans were when I went. I believe they watch a lot of telly. Or whatever's taken the place of telly.

Rotund Americans

We eat a loooooot of high fat, refined food.

Yesterdays dinner: takeout fried chicken tenders with mac and cheese on the side.

I have lost about 17 pounds over the past year, but still eat a lot of chunk fare.

Look at pix of people in the 1930s and 40s, 50s, even 60s. Slender.

Then came the 70s and the weight was piling on.

Oh yes, lots of sedentary time in front of screens, too.

It beats starvation, I will say that.

I think I'll go for a walk

Analog vs Digital/Vinyl vs CD

I’m no longer a vinyl buyer for various reasons, but I know a number of posters here are. An interesting article in the Washington Post entitled “How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire/ MoFi Records claimed its expensive reissues were purely analog reproductions. It had been deceiving its customer base for years.” some may find interesting, how basically a label that prides itself as issuing direct from Masters (at a premium price) have actually been using Digital mastering. Deceptive. I personally have thought the new wave of vinyl is an overpriced racket, and this plays into that.

As I’m by no means an expert I’ll let the jazz engineer giant Rudy Van Gelder speak to it: “From 1999, he remastered the analog Blue Note recordings he made several decades earlier into 24-bit digital recordings in its RVG Edition series.[15] He was positive about the switch from analog to digital technology. He told Audio magazine in 1995:
The biggest distorter is the LP itself. I've made thousands of LP masters. I used to make 17 a day, with two lathes going simultaneously, and I'm glad to see the LP go. As far as I'm concerned, good riddance. It was a constant battle to try to make that music sound the way it should. It was never any good. And if people don't like what they hear in digital, they should blame the engineer who did it. Blame the mastering house. Blame the mixing engineer. That's why some digital recordings sound terrible, and I'm not denying that they do, but don't blame the medium.”

RVG

Interesting post on the analog v digital sound debate. I have a few of the Rudy Van Gelder Edition jazz releases and the sound is consistently excellent. Since he is responsible for both the initial recording and the digital remastering, the sound quality of the recording is pretty much entirely attributable to his skill at both stages of the process, so pretty interesting to see his take on the debate. When I am browsing for new jazz to pick up, it always makes me take notice if I see that something is an RVG Edition.

Analog and Digital

Just so happens that last night I listened for the first time to Little Feat 9-19-74 Electrif Lycanthrope vinyl, with the signal running out the turntable’s USB cable, into a Mac, and then digitally recorded by Audacity. The signal then went out a USB port and into a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic 100 (digital to analog converter) and then to a Cambridge Audio AXR100 receiver.
So, went vinyl>analog>digital>analog and it sounded great.
I digitize all my vinyl as I listen to it and wil eventually (when I learn how to use the software) process the files and export as 24/96 FLAC for use on music players. My vinyl will thus be ‘portable’.

I only started buying vinyl when 2-27-69 was released (now have 2/28 and 3/1 too). These all say Plangent Process on them whereas the FW69 Box does not (I don’t have the physical CD’s but was told that the Box does not say Plangent) which would imply that the reels were re-digitized using Plangent (assuming that a tape player device like shown on the Plangent website was used, rather than just taking the digital files from 2005 and processing them in some way).

Some vinyl, like 5-8-77, just sound like the CD was copied to vinyl.
But 11-10-67 sounds better on vinyl than CD to me.
I didn’t buy the Lyceum vinyl box but often try to get the RSD releases. Vinyl takes up a lot of space and I’m rethinking whether I should keep buying vinyl. But, I’m already contemplating getting Waiting For Columbus on vinyl, since I’m going to get the CD Box.

I’ve been upgrading my stereo system to Cambridge Audio as my Onkyo stuff stops working. Two years ago my Onkyo receiver died and I replaced it with an AXR100. The sound quality improvement was instantly noticeable.
Over the last several months my Onkyo 6-disc CD changer has been having dropouts, but when I rewind and play the same part there wouldn’t be a dropout, so the CD wasn’t defective. Bought a laser cleaner but that didn’t fix the problem, so I started looking at a new player.

Decided to get the DAC Magic 100 first since I put all my CD’s in ALAC format and onto microSDXC cards for use on portable music players. One of my players that I use with the stereo, iBasso DX120, has a port and cable for connection to a DAC where the DX120 acts as a transport (reads the digital file and transports the 1’s and 0’s to the DAC). The sound quality improvement with the DAC was instantly noticeable, so totally worth the investment.

My Onkyo 6-disc changer has 2 digital out ports, so I was able to simultaneously connect it directly to the AXR100 receiver, and connect it to the DAC which then connects to the AXR100 with analog stereo cables. By switching the source buttons on the AXR100 I could hear the CD that was playing through 2 different pathways and the DAC Magic source definitely sounded better.

The AXR100 has gone up $200 since I bought mine 2 years ago, so started thinking that if I wait until my Onkyo 6-disc changer dies, I might pay more for a replacement CD player than if I buy one now. So I bought a Cambridge Audio AXC35 CD player and, again, there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality (worth it to give up the convenience of a 6-disc changer). I run the CD player directly to the receiver with analog stereo cables but it is also possible to run a digital connection to the DAC. Both ways sound excellent.

So, equipment does matter. I’m very pleased with Cambridge Audio and the slightly higher price over brands like Onkyo, Sony, etc is worth it.
I’ve heard and read that early CD’s often sounded worse than cassettes because the record companies would half-ass the digital mastering. So digital got a bad reputation. Also, DAC’s matter and cheap CD players probably have a cheap DAC. Phones have cheap DAC’s too.
The Normanized CD’s that we are getting now sound spectacular, and yet they sound even better with my new stereo set up.

MoFi/RVG

I also have some of the RVG jazz releases in my collection, and I have always found the sound first rate, and you raise a good point Charlie - Van Gelder both engineered the original recording, as well as the RVG remastering.

I have only limited MoFi (Mobile Fidelity) in my CD collection, as I don’t collect vinyl, such as a Burrito album or two, and some non-music releases from The Firesign Theatre, so I can’t say definitively they sound “better”, and if the vinyl is vastly superior, but based on this disclosure of digital copying by the company, I’d have to say they have somewhat “exaggerated” the fidelity quality. I noticed yesterday they were re-releasing some Eagles albums under the MoFi label on CD, at an extremely premium price, ie - two and half times the regular price of the “regular” CD. Will it sound two and half times “better”? Hmmm.

Buyer beware. And with vinyl, I would be extremely wary.

Plangent

First time used was the Winterland 73 Box.

FW was a multi track release.

So, equipment does matter

Yes, yes it does lol.

Format wars: people are once again conned into a us versus them scenario.
I mean there is nothing that folks haven’t turned into a binary situation, yeeesshhk.
So as a long time audiophile and geek, my 2 cents is they both can sound amazing (analog/Digital) if they’ve been done properly and using the right equipment. How it’s done is more important then which way!

I’ve heard systems of both formats worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Conclusion, the ones that were done properly sounded amazing, regardless of format. The systems that weren’t amazing, even with big price tags = bad equipment synergy and not doing things properly. I’ve heard modest systems done extremely well that blow away super expensive systems that weren’t done right!

The biggest problem with digital, both now and ever, is conversion! Yes those other variables are very important, but the biggest factor in digital, and why it received most of its negative prejudice, involves conversion.
Much of this negativity started with most/many? of the initial CD releases at the dawn of the format.
Ignorance about how important conversion is (hey it’s just ones and zeros right, NOT!, combined with a race to get product out and beat the competition etc fostered an unfortunate environment, that resonates negative discontent to this day.
By not using the actual masters, and outdated and often improper conversion, the result is a ridiculous amount of CDs that sound horrible!
Add to this that most people use equipment with DAC sets that cost mere pennies to do the most import process in the playback chain, and it’s no wonder so many people don’t like digital.

Fortunately, there have been amazing advances in DACs (both A to D and D to A conversion), digital mastering, digital recording etc, and more importantly, in research and knowledge.
In some cases these advancements are as big as the jump from Standard def to High def video etc.
But outside of our geek circles the vast majority of the public knows (or seems to care) nothing about this. For many the damage has been done psychologically due to the original shortsightedness and idiosyncrasies discussed above.

So it’s refreshing to see someone like Conekid trying to take proper steps to improve his musical experience.
Imho, a DAC can be the biggest little thing you can do. Even an inexpensive Audio Quest Dragonfly with a phone or iPod can often make a good improvement of even the most modest equipment. Of course the Achilles heel of audio electronics is synergy between components and of course ones listening room can be the biggest factor of all. Since you won’t ever know for sure what will play nice with what etc, it can be hard to get the most out of your whole system. So you might have to try different things, but audio nirvana is achievable, and you don’t have to spend a fortune if you do your research and with trial and error you’ll learn what works for you, because that’s the biggest factor of all! All the rest can be important and make a difference, but regardless of hype, price, trends, bottom line, does it sound good to you! You may have cheap garbage, but if you really like how it sounds, that’s what matters!

If your not fully satisfied, try to really analyze what you don’t like, be as specific as possible. Then first research possible issues you can diy: improper use, and acoustic idiosyncrasies you might be able to address. Don’t just run out and buy something!!
Don’t just get swayed by upgrade fever. I have a C40 pre amp that’s probably 40 years old. I can get a new one at cost. I’ve gone round and round, but generally like many features on mine, that a new one won’t have.
So after I realized via my ole buddy BOO469 that all I had was upgrade fever, I’ve stayed with my ole trusty pre.
If you know exactly what you don’t like, and if there’s nothing you can rectify acoustically, or perhaps electricity, then pin point what part of your chain could benefit the most from upgrading.
Then take the time to research, and if possible try out stuff before you just throw money at it.
Like anything else, an educated consumer has a better chance of being satisfied!

Same is true with analog, but different set of equations. Since I put my big chips into a digital system, I’m familiar with overall analog practices, but would not make any specific suggestions due to very limited hands on experience of tge medium. I’d say look closely at your phono preamp type etc,.
Anyway, sorry to ramble, told ya I was a geek!
What ever your rocking, hopefully your able to maximize your ability to PLAY DEAD!

product sku

081227881597

Product Magento URL

https://store.dead.net/dave-s-picks-vol-43.html