Grateful Dead

Holy shit Dennis, you did make me laugh. Never been a big Johnny Mathis fan, but my late Mother was a huge fan.

Is this a vital release for us to have? Probably not. Do I like having these two shows in this format. Absolutely. I had never heard these shows and I view them as a bridge between spring 77 and the later fall 77 shows and 78, with many having been released by Dave in the DaP series.

Wolf is back as Jerry's axe, which I prefer to the Bean guitars' tones of 75-77, and to me it sounds like the band still has the tight, clean arrangements/sound with appropriate jams of spring without the loose feel (in vocals especially) that they pick up later in October and through 1978. The 10/1 show is very good, but the 10/2 show is a bit better to my ears. The Casey Jones opener is a scorcher and the rest of set one is good GD. The Scarlet-Fire is excellent and all of disc 4 is right on point. Again, vital to have, no, but I like having these shows.

I don't even know what to say about dissing of Cornell and Veneta, but I agree with Lewbowski. For years I kind of downgraded Cornell, maybe to be a contrarian. The last five years I really gave it listens and it grew on me. Now, if you like some grease and imperfections in your GD, this is not going to be your show (and I definitely love me Pigpen era GD), but all the songs are expertly played with exquisite transitions. The Scarlet-Fire transition is a perfect one where you can't tell where Scarlet ends and Fire begins-- the interplay with Keith first nudging Fire along until Phil picks it up, to be followed a couple measures later by the guitars and drums. Perfection. And the Dew! But, everyone has an opinion and mine is no better than anyone else's.

Future Dave's, what I would like to see is some 1989 if he is delving into the 1980s. It has been a long time since 1989 shows have been released. Summer 89 is my favorite late era GD (Tiger still the guitar of choice and MIDI was not very involved) and we are due-- still waiting for the Alpine CD/DVD box set.

Nick, you talkin' crazy, man!

In my book, Veneta has a top five of each of these: Dark Star, China Rider, Playin, Bird Song and Sing Me Back Home. Great Jack Straw, Greatest Story, Sugaree, He's Gone and Deal as well.

Now, you could argue that they should have gone into Morning Dew from Dark Star like Jerry wanted and you'd have a point, but...I've always liked the insanely incongruous transition into El Paso. Kinda like flying along in deep space when your a.m. radio suddenly cuts in with an old cowboy song. To me, this is peak Dead. Tiger Woods in 2000. Even naked pole guy couldn't spoil it!

Thanks for the pointer to the Issac Hayes album and walk on by. I have the album and didn't know it.

Can you go wrong with a 12 minute Walk on By!?!

I like the Sinatra quote I read about Burt,,,, He writes in hat sizes 7 and 3/4. (the article said his time signatures were unusual)

Great album to have..... Johnny Mathis sings the Best of Bacharach & Kaempfert. Sure go ahead and laugh, but it's one of my faves.

Nick- I think if I was married it would be more a case of me being swopped for a younger model than the other way round !

No Dave, I wouldn't swap my 60 year old wife for a 30 year old. I've been training her for 41 years and I'm not giving up on all that work now . Let's wait until she's 80 😀. She's actually the most extraordinary person I've ever met.

Cornell and Veneta on the other hand I've always found drab and uninteresting. Slick yes, but dull, I've never understood their popularity.

It always strikes me as ludicrous when people think they have nothing in common with others who disagree with them. The commonality lies in the fact that people understand each other, not that they agree. If I told my neighbour that I thought Veneta or Cornell were overrated, she would neither know nor care what I was talking about. If I said the same thing on here - I'm not assuming anyone would care - but at least a lot of people would understand what I was saying. Whether anyone agreed or not would be interesting to me - but not divisive.

Ledded - that Nash tele sounds alright. I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of that.

I am sure the 50 year old wives find it reassuring that they wouldn't be swopped for 20 years olds. What about when they are 60, though? With a 30 year old ?

....Yo La Tengo just dropped a record. Like, forty minutes ago.
Yessssss

Yngwie Malmsteen - Relentless
The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
GD - 10.2.77 Portland, OR
The Cult - Love
Deep Purple - Deep Purple In Rock
List works imo....

Wow

(Star Trek reruns)