Grateful Dead

....dong. Ding dong.

Cool story, Brother Oroboros, and I mean that sincerely. I never get tired of hearing tales of the GOGD good ol days, and that one’s a double doozy. And I really like how you tied it into the whole thing about being a listener and a learner as opposed to a talk talk talker. I've been guilty of that too damn many times. I heard ten thousand whispers and nobody listenin, somebody sang once.

So 45 showed up today. For the first time ever, I received my copy before the run sold out. Kind of weird, but I doubt if it portends disaster. Probably to be expected, now that the runs are up to 24,000 and lots of the most essential shows have been issued. Maybe it has something to do with ebay, maybe there’s such a thing as ’77 fatigue, maybe the moon was aligned with Uranus, I don’t know. But I’m guessing it’ll sell out soon.

Listening to the first disc now: sound takes a long time to get settled, for a Betty board. Even after the audience tape section (which sounds about how you’d expect, ie not very good) balances seem way off for a few minutes, but settle in very nicely during Deal and the fi gets hi. I’m home alone, wife at work, cranking it and annoying the neighbors.

Sorry to hear about sleep problems Proudfoot and some others are having. Be sure to get checked out for sleep apnea. I got diagnosed, and treated, and it was borderline life changing. For garden variety insomnia, both alcohol and melatonin can be helpful in getting to sleep, but harder to fall back asleep if you wake up a couple hours later, which in my experience is exactly what happens. Cannabis of the indica variety helps. As it does with many things.

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DP 45 is a ho hum affair with a few bright spots. If you have as many official concert releases as myself, and it's complete over kill, this release is nothing special. I could have done without it. 10/1 peak moments are the Music Never Stopped, Dancing in the Streets and NFA. Nothing else really stands out. With so many 1977 versions of everything out there times 10, this would be an okay release if your collection needed 1977 shows if not, pass. 10/2 peaks are Casey Jones and that would be about it. Let it Grow is not that intense, well played but not as good as other Dave's Picks from the fall of 1977, so it's not essential. Set 2 does it's thing but really nothing outstanding. Though iv I was there and in the moment it would have been awesome. But time has passed and there are so many other shows to compare it to. It's well played and enjoyable but not essential for an over loaded collection. . Are there any shows that will be released in the future that are better than what was already released for the same year? Precedence would indicate NO. No wonder as of Feb. 3 it's not sold out, it is not essential to have at this point. The Betty Board sounds great except either sometimes Jerry does not feel like signing or the recording just is trouble. Where are the vocals? A glorified bootleg, but better than a tape that was copied 20 times over for sure. Hope DP 46 Picks up the pace.

The 1 Oct, 1977, Portland, OR, show cooks from the beginning because the Dead play a typical first set list of prime 1977 audio (the magic at Dave’s Picks makes this show so much better than before). The band presents its foundation for all to hear with unmistakeable '77 versions of such great songs as Love Each Other, Cassidy and Peggy-O, then the Dead sprawl into the set's first extended jam, The Music Never Stops. The music really does not stop. With a typical '77 cohesive rhythm, Bobby's drives this jam into rush-hour traffic. Jerry's lead somewhere around the 4-minute mark tosses out a fluent and melodic solo that first Bobby, then the band, recognize. This is where the band pauses and then pursues an intensely wound, therefore loose, Bertha. The band digs in to boogie.

After what feels like hours, the band takes another turn pouncing from Bertha into Good Lovin'. The audio is unbelievably clean, so it really makes me want this sweet Bertha to carry on for just a few more hours (I think Owsley would love this platform). Sooner or later, of course, Jerry pioneers a direction where Bertha becomes a high-level and hellfire jamming Good Lovin'. To mark the occasion of another fantastic jam near five-and-a-half, Keith kisses the end of Lovin' with a “Tah-dah” two-note tribute which is its own easter egg.

Then Jerry leads the band into...this is the real deal kind of Roses where the band harmonizes the chorus as the song ripples along. Prophet has its depth and step. From these, Jerry launches into another Eyes with his own blazing melody. Billy and Mickey do such a great job navigating…

I had not planned to listen to the first show. I had not planned to describe a show. Instead, I planned to interact with the music Dave’s Picks released. As for the description of the show, Ray Robertson describes the scene very well in the liner notes essay, “The Engine Just Gleams”. I just pre-ordered his book, All The Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows”. As for ’77 Dead, this particular first concert in Dave’s 45 is superior ’77! I'm staying here for a little while. Tomorrow night's show, October 2, 1977, can wait for just a little bit…One more thing comes to mind: Mickey, you created the original “too much cowbell” on this Dancing In The Streets…

A bit shocking to settle in expecting pristine SBD and getting audience for the first two songs. I'd hoped the rest of the show would be free of patches and it would appear to be, however the vocals are all over the place depending on the song, but whatcha gonna do. 10/1 IS an excellent show (haven't checked out 10/2 yet) and I would have subscribed anyway but one would assume there are enough high-quality complete SBD shows remaining to avoid patch issues. Release those as bonus discs or something. Caveat Emptor but...

Cool story Oroboros, I was also at 12/31/77, it was a blast!

....that tale never gets old.

Great to hear your tale once again! WOW!. . . That's a story that needs to be retold every few years! THANKS!

I found a new version of the NYE'77 Fire On The Mountain video that shows your Oroboros sculpture starting at around 7:21:
3w dot youtube dot com/watch?v=SCJJH6MphrQ

Onward

Wow, that is a great story. Thank you for sharing it. It was always a dream of mine to meet and talk to Jerry and you did it. Well done! Love those Nebraska shows by the way.