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.
Have to hand it to Real Gone - DP 33
Shipped on Wednesday, hit my mailbox this morning; they also sent several tracking emails along the way - great service.
Vinyl is flat, blemish-free and sounds fantastic! Nice to have a full size booklet(love the S.S.F. banner, which was my home for many years.)
Great mail day, also got a sealed copy of DaP 43. To top it off, I have the house to myself.
Selective Reissuing of Dicks Picks
Maybe if they were to reissue some, but not all of them on cd, it would make sense to focus on the ones that are partial shows, and release them, in superior sound in their entirety. All the first 4 are excerpts only. Number 26 is-that would make a great release if the whole of 4/26/69 came out. This one has been re-released on vinyl, but as a replica of the old cd. Another one that would benefit from a move to whole show status would be number 31, from summer 1974. A real hotch potch, that one. You can never be sure what the heck you are listening to there unless you have a copy of a trusty Deadbase to hand. There may be others - 18 from 1978 is another one.
Reissue. 2/13 & 14/70. Please
If they remastered 2/13 & 14/70, and put all the songs together as they appeared in concert, it would be an absolute knockout!
Compilations vs whole shows
I'm usually more of a whole show person, but do gravitate to particularly strong compilations. Funny Daverock mentioned DiP 31 August 74, which is another one I like, and whole show releases on those would be outstanding.
With mention of Plangent recently, I thought I should point out an oddity I saw today in that 2/28/69 has Plangent's logo and 2/27 and 3/1 do not have it.
DiP 31 is Awesome
A great release. 12 gets all the hype, but this one is just as good, maybe better.
Much like many of the later releases, I think it sounds better too.
Re: DiP 31 Is Awesome
"Don't climb on the fence idiot!"
Robert Hall Weir,
August 6, 1974
Icing on the cake
What would be even better with 2/13 and 2/14 would be if they included the early shows as well. And even better than that - if they included the early and late shows from 2/11/70. An all time great box in the making.
FW69 vinyl
27 says ‘Plangent Process’ right under the line that says ‘Betty Cantor’ in the credits section of the insert.
28 says it on the outside of the box and also under Betty.
1 says it on the insert under Betty.
Dave, when do we get 3/2 on vinyl?
Complete Dicks
Completely on board with releases of the entire DP shows. I grabbed the remaining songs from DP 2 the other day, 10/31/71, and the missiing tracks are fantastic. Would love to have them receive the Full Norman. But I can't imagine Rhino undergoing the effort to release on CD. I would think they would think it would make for a confusing catalog. You would want to remaster them for sure as well as include the shows as complete. You couldn't call Dick's Pick 31 Dick's Picks 31 anymore. But If they released all three shows that DP 31 is compiled from under separate titles, then they would be competing with the original series (and who knows what kind of deal they struck with real gone to release the originals). And also may seem to them, not sure but it may seem to be a risky venture in the way of sales. That's for CD releases. I think what could work is a remastered download series of all the original shows. While I would certainly prefer CDs, I think the digital download method prove to be the most economical way to get the music to fans. The only problem there is file sharing could hurt their bottom line. Not really sure what the solution could be that is realistic. Dave Lemieux what do you think?
Dave Rock, Icing on the cake
Daverock, what a great release that would be,, it truly would be the icing on the cake.
The same icing Jerry got into back in the day?
If you know the folklore, good.
Keithfan: your heading has my inner 13 year old laughing
Back in 8th grade one time a teacher got pranked
Then pissed
He yelled
"YOU'RE A BUNCH OF DICKS!!!"
I can still hear him...
'Don't climb the fence, idiot!"
I wish he had told a certain someone "Don't climb the pole, Naked Guy!" two years prior
Appetite for Expanded Reissues
Keithfan2112 I suspect that you are right in your post about Rhino's motivation to reissue the DP series and identified some of the issues that might deter such an endeavor, but I think that there may be more of an appetite for expanded reissues to the Dicks's Pics series than you would expect. I base this on the constant stream of remastered editions and expanded editions being put out by various classic artists.
An example that was talked about on these threads recently would be the release of the concerts that were used for the Waiting for Columbus album by Little Feat. It appeared that even though parts of these concerts were released previously, there is enough of a market to release a multi-show box of the material. Similarly, if I understand it right, the recent El Mocambo 1977 release from the Rolling Stones also contained a show that had been released in part previously. Jimi Hendrix Songs for Groovy Children included material previously partially released on Machine Gun. And then there is the Beatles section of my shelves, with the original CD releases, the complete set of 2009 remasters, and all of the 50th Anniversary Editions. Led Zeppelin, Rush, Dire Straits, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Jefferson Airplane, the Kinks, the Pretenders, Fleetwood Mac, and a number of others, all are bands that have released remastered, anniversary or expanded editions of their catalogue, and which are represented in whole or part on my shelves. There are box sets with complete recording sessions for several of the classic Miles Davis albums - the Complete Silent Way sessions, the Complete Bitches Brew sessions, and the Complete Jack Johnson sessions are on my shelf along with a single disc version of each. And the Cellar Door Sessions 1970 were used in part for the Live-Evil album, both of which are on my shelf.
So at least personally, I can say there is very little chance that I would be able to resist if they updated the Dick's Picks series to include missing material from the partial show or mixed show releases. Given the apparent appetite for an endless stream of remasters, anniversary editions and expanded editions of other band's catalogues, I suspect that I am not alone.
FW69 Vinyl
Okay, good to know it's just labeled differently on 2/28 on the outer packaging. I didn't look at the inserts, just the back of the box and noticed the Plangent logo in the middle of the bottom of the box on 2/28 only. I haven't opened my copy of 3/1 yet as it happens. Replaced record players recently, and having an issue with the speakers now, so haven't enjoyed any vinyl for some months. Which didn't stop me from ordering DiP 33 on vinyl...
Wonder what the next Dave's Picks vinyl will be, much less Dave's 44. I'll just throw out my annual hope and prayer for 8/4/76.
Oh, and I did recently get the Bear Sonic Journals of Johnny Cash and the Chieftains (on cd). Really good stuff. Really like the book-like packaging they're using now. That is awesome, and long, detailed liner notes is also pretty fantastic. Really really hope they get to release that 1968 show with the 45 min Alligator...
And I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Bob's commentary on 8/6/74 about the guy who hurt himself climbing the fence. Truer words were never spoken.
Speaker issues....
....did you try turning them off and on again alvarhanso?
Alvarhanso
Don’t know if you’ve tried this, but my turntable has a switch in the back for phono out or line out. It sounds bad if you don’t have the switch set correctly.
I might listen to one of the FW69 vinyl shows tonight.
But which one? I like them all.
Flick Of The Switch....
....AC/DC. 1983. I was a sophomore in high school when that came out.
I went to a private Christian high school.
But metal has no boundaries.
Edit. The Miami Dolphins were down 21 points going into the 4th quarter against Baltimore and won that shit.
Ergo, I'm spinning 10.26.89 Miami. Dark Dark Star.
One of my favorite songs they ever played. Outstanding.
September 70 GD
Release it all
7 18 82
8 4 76
Great great great shows
PNW box
6 24 73
Rerelease Fillmore West 69!!! I have the money for it now!!!
access denied
tried to post about those 2 dark stars. access denied
Happy 50th Hendrixfreak!
Yes folks our one and only HF is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first show!
I’m kinda surprised Dave didn’t foster a special release of this momentous “fall 72” show, but at least we’ll be spinning it on pick of the day in his honor!
To many more amigo!
Condolences
To all our friends here that are part of the British Empire.
Or is it the Commonwealth?
God save the King
Commonwealth
Commonwealth, the Empire thankfully is long gone, but thank you anyway.
I haven't watched any of it, why would you want to treat a family's grief as entertainment? No wonder they're all a bit weird, their lives must have been constant torture. Time to abolish the monarchy and let them live their lives in peace. I'm a republican on compassionate grounds 🙂
Ha. 9/19/70
I was going to post about that show in response to the discussion about partial releases. As long as it included the Dark Star and NFA segment, I doubt anyone would complain if that show was released as an incomplete show. At least not after you hear it.
Don't get me wrong, I would prefer complete shows, but will always take something like that. The results from the recent small, informal survey suggest that I am probably not alone. DP 2, 4 and 12 fared quite well.
Years of Hard Living
Years of hard living takes it's toll.
HendrixFreak looks rough for being only 50.
Get some rest HF, maybe some Noxzema on the wrinkles. Stay away from the hard liquor. I would say stop chasing young girls, but apparently, they were your age afterall...
As for 9/19/70, one of the great yet to be released shows of one of the more prolific years in their touring career. It's not if but when this gem will receive the Full Norman and grace our CD shelves.
Hendrixfreak, Hendrixfreak, Hendrixfreak
Kinda like Beatlejuice, since he’s leaving us hanging lol
Oh, and 9/19/70 is on Dave’s list that’s he’s been chipping away at over the years, so guessing there’s something in the vault?
Englands Dreaming
Istshow - thanks for the good cheer. My views on the subject are more in line with those expressed by Nick1234-but that's bye the bye.
I must say I am very impressed that some people on here seem to know the date of HF's first show. I don't even know the date of my own - and I only saw 5.
Blue Wild Angel (sorry for edit)
Had an (Jimi thang) itch for something wild that I hadn't seen in a while. Have had the disk (Wild Blue Angels dvd) in the que for a couple of months, but last night got to it. So I watched it last night and wow it is so great. Just forgot how good a show that was, so many great song renditions, LOVE machine gun. I found it an odd coincide, that Jimi opens the show with a little speech about supporting your own people, and if you don't FU. Then opens with God Save The Queen. Sort of blew me away. Understand HF's name that much more. If you have bought the Wild Blue Angel dvd, your missing out. As I had not heard since I added a sub woofer, it was all new again.
Jim and HF, I think I remember both of you dealing with health issues and maybe folks issues a couple of months back. Meant to express condolences and well wishes for both of you. Getting old can really suck.
Finally, a huge Thank You to Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, Pete Bell, Dave, and Jeffrey (and all the others as well) for #43 . It has absolutely transformed me in so many ways. Have listened to the release 10 times now and it just gets better and better. I had this incredible epiphany of just how much Dead there could still to be released in the future and this Great Blanket of Joy came across me and I felt so fortunate that the band of merry pranksters found me 40 years ago. I am so very excited about the future of entertainment coming my way. Just extremely grateful. As someone wrote when this came out...these are some of Bear's Choicest releases. Can only imagine if the tape machine had been set at 7ips, how much increased clarity would be there. Makes me wonder if that clarity would be for Phil's sound.
Have a lot to post, wonder if anyone saw Trey Anastasios' booking for acoustic solo shows at the Beacon in NYC. The Beacon has just hard wired in a new immersive technology P.A. from Holoplot out of Germany. Looks like a wild P.A. but they act like they re-invented the wheel, when all they have done is copy Bear, Healy, and John Myers work. Would love to hear that system, but the immersive technology they speak about is what I and many others called Holographic Sound. I think ConeKid posted when I posted an article about Meyer's sound and seeing the FTW shows with his latest and greatest system (and that was 7 years ago). If you see this ConeKid, I wanted to post back about how great that must have been and ask, how Holographic did the sound seem for these shows? As I have posted, my first real experience with line arrays and holographic sound was 1987/09/11 at the Cap Center in Landover. I remember Jim commenting how bad the sound was unless you had choice seats. I guess I had choice seats as we were on row 2 behind Healy and it sounded incredible. So any way, more rants later.
But again, I cannot express my gratitude enough for the crew that brought us DaV#43.
G
GFar
The sound at FTW depended where I was.
First night I was upper level side (Jerry side), but 2nd row, aisle seat, with the first speaker tower pointing right at me. The sound was crystal clear.
Second night lower bowl near stage, Phil side, but just under the overhang which amplified all the voices behind me and muddied the sound a bit.
Third night I was straight back about half way up the bowl. There I got the full effect of the sound system and it was real and spectacular.
Here’s the video, the audio was recorded in mono and split to stereo when I processed the video.
youtu.
be
/Oswmu2IOPEk
Let’s see if that works. Piece them back together. Yes, that period belongs between the u and b.
Wild Blue Angel,
I need to buy that.
Cone
It worked...have bookmarked the show, will try to run through it the next few days. Thanks!!!
Trying to get ready for some time down on the gulf, been a while since I have been. A good week of friends and parties.
Edit: and if any body cares search for Immersive Sound at the Beacon and it will pull up. Going to be installed at MSG Sphere being built in Las Vegas that opens next year.
Cheers to all, no it is pushed back but can't wait for the new box. And my DiP top 5 the same as BTK, just little different order.
DSO Frankfurt, 09/19/22
Just returned from the DSO - Europe '72 - 50th Anniversary Tour - Frankfurt.
Awesome!
They played the original set from 04/26/72, over 4 hours in total. Great vibes!
What a scene, old memories came up, absolutely fantastic.
Their next shows are Berlin tomorrow and Munich on Thursday. Seems like Wednesday they have a day off. Would be good for visiting Oktoberfest.
Cheers G.
Thanks GFar
All are recovering on my end, thanks for asking. The alternative in both cases was grim. Everything is not perfect, but thanks to modern medicine they both have more fuel to add to the fire.
Speaking of fire.. I hit 11/30/80 a week or so ago and they played 10/31/80 on SiriusXM. Two hot early 80's Fires. Smokin' (pun intended).
Jim, your very welcome
I hate watching friends and loved ones starting to struggle with this life. Life is a struggle, that is why we play Dead.
Howdy Gary
For some interesting reading on immersive sound check out interviews from Widescreen review with Wilfried Van Baelen of Galaxy studios and the founder of Auro 3D. I think the 2 in depth ones I read were from five or more years ago? I’d add lynx if I could.
Way better than Atmos but needs to be set up properly so it will produce phantom images in the vertical as well as horizontal plane.
I use it all the time in our theatre especially for concert videos as it adds a more holographic psychoacoustic effect than goofy placement of instruments in back speakers etc, very natural sounding!
Atmos is ok if your watching an Atmos encoded movie, but otherwise meh…
Being a fellow geek I bet you’ll dig it, if you can find the right interviews?
Sorry Proudfoot
Been super busy AND under the weather...Tivoli info was from an email I received...
Jim and OB
Jim check PM
OB: thanks I think I found them, will have to read and get back to you.
Makes me go back almost 40 years when I went to an friend's house and he and another freak had large tower Polk speakers. Will have to research some, maybe get back in touch with my friend about them. They had a cable between the two speakers to create (by software) an imagined center speaker. It worked really well as you may know. It was the same technology that Bear was working on with the microphones for the WoS. That is, if memory serves. Been a while since I went back through that stuff. My tv and my old stereo (2 stereo speaker sets with sub) create amazing sound at times. I mean hearing sounds to my side and behind my head. I know this has a lot more to do with software than hardware. I think it is awesome, except when it startles me, still getting used to it. Any way will be back in touch after I do a little reading, cant wait. Thanks!
G
Returning from, er, to the Dead...
Thx Gary Farseer for your comments. Glad you're enjoying our man Jimi.
Back on the upswing here... lost the 20+ year cat, then my father, both of whom lived very full lives and their demises in May and June, respectively, were merciful. Lined myself up for a cardiac ablation procedure for atrial fibrillation, which is quite challenging to endure. Procedure in November. Prognosis: good. And just got a second opinion on my ankle for which I had arthroscopic surgery last December and which was not healing. Looks better now (MRI) for gradually pushing myself to recovery; shots lined up for the knee (fractured, inoperable cartilage cracks). Carpal tunnel syndrome demands attention and thinking, after enduring it 30 years, that surgery might be a rational option. Other than a few trivial things like those, LIFE IS FUCKING GREAT! Seriously, just a positive prognosis in several areas does so much to lift the lid of depression. So, despite the seemingly downer, TMI content here, I'm actually very optimistic for my physical and mental health. Talk about over-sharing.... But that's my message: glass is half-full, I'm gonna pull it together.
Heading to the Oregon coast tomorrow for two weeks to walk the beaches, eat a little psylicibin (and seafood), work on new tunes for another album of original music with a 6-strg and a neat newish 12-strg (then an all-blues project) and get outta Dodge for the first time in years. Well we did just do 50 miles in packrafts (all upper body stuff) on the Green River. (JimInMD: we did a dozen Class IIs and one Class III the first day, then we had beer coolers stashed at our camping spots, reachable by four-wheel drive, so a highly disciplined trip...)
I have been pummeled by time and age and now that I'm on Medicare, you all are kindly helping me with expensive but badly needed medical help. Looking foward to some smokin' '81 GD, Jimi from LA/'69 and a dozen other 'new' CDs I copied for the road. I asked a 29-year-old waitress pal to go with me, but she had to work. Nonetheless, that proves that I'm "up" for the challenges before me.... Yours truly, HF
P.S.
I cannot effin' wait for 90 minutes of live GD from E72. Man, we're gonna rock at a local theatre with local freaks in early November. Talk about a dream come true! No film of the band can best a night from the E72 tour.
Yet another reason to be glad to be alive amidst ... well, you know the score.
Hendrixfreak/E72
Yes, can't wait for the MUATM.
Keep breathing out there Hendrixfreak.
Thank you for a real good time!
I don't often post here, but when I do... it might be with a few brews under my belt and an anniversary to consider.
Can't say how much I appreciate the way that this crew inspires me to break out discs I haven't heard in a while... DP 36 being the most recent. Wow.
Listening right now to an acoustic Truckin' (yep, process that) from 52 years ago. 9/20/70 needs to be officially released, with Full/Partial/Whatever Normanization...soon. If for no other reason than I need to determine whether I love the 5/15 Easy Wind better than the one on 9/20.
As posted previously, DaP (46) could easily carry 9/20 with a killer bonus disc of 9/19.
DaP 43 topical question: is the engineer worried that the train will actually crash?
Or is he concerned that his job has just been outsourced to a more competent monkey?
HF
Good luck. It's hard to know at this age, when some new pain develops if it's something that can be rectified, or if it's something that is now a part of us. Should we be, like, really worried - or just forget about it?
I'd be all for 9/19 and 9/20/70 coming out officially. Top medicine.
Nappy et all
u still sick? man, get well soon m8. Most anything from fall 1970 would be sweet. My list of aliments isn't that long, feeling better now. Hope we don't start comparing ailments here, gee, sounds like the talk I hear when I go to the old folks home to visit my 95 year old mother-in-law. All kidding aside, just this year I too have been feeling my age.
HF
You're welcome HF. I started looking back at Hendrix and you know how it goes when the rabbit hole swallows you. Starting thinking back about how good the Experience Hendrix show I saw in 2019, wow, miss 2019. It was a great show, but compared to BWA it pales in comparison. Started me looking for other Hendrix official and unofficial releases. Going to find something I am sure, any recommendations would be most appreciated.
Uber space cake, smoke in the cake, acid in the icing? wow not sure I would handle that well now, would have loved in times gone by.