The Deadcast uncovers a most unusual lost studio session by Robert Hunter & the Grateful Dead, recorded at the Record Plant in November 1973, which we listen to in its entirety & annotate with the help of Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay & others.
by Jesse Jarnow
The Grateful Dead session led by Robert Hunter at the Record Plant in Sausalito on November 6th, 1973 is unlike pretty much anything else in the Dead’s voluminous and weird catalog of live performances, studio projects, and adjacent tapes. Remembered by Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay as being intended for play before Dead concerts, several ear-witnesses remember exactly that happening a few days after this session.
Editions of the band’s newsletter from the early 1970s are available from the Grateful Dead Archive. “Robert Hunter’s Poetry & Prose: A Preliminary Checklist” was published in the program for the 2020 Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus, available soon on their website.
Acoustic Disc recently issued Old & In The Way’s November 4th, 1973 performance in Sonoma.
Ned Lagin’s expanded edition of Seastones is available from his website.
Robert Hunter’s studio notes for Prelude/Tuesday Night Jam (on Alembic tracking sheet, despite being recorded at the Record Plant).
Comment
Who played bass?
I was amazed at the length of this recording. I didn't expect it to take the turns it did.
Phil Lesh's voice appears to be present. I wasn't able to truly identify him as the bassist
in the beginning and I'm still not certain he is. However, I did start to formulate an idea somewhere around Billy's drum solo,
that the bassist is John Kahn. The tones and note choices sound just like him.
This would throw a wrench into the idea of it being a Grateful Dead session, and I'm prepared to duck, for surely someone
would be coming at me for even suggesting such a thing!
On the Corner
This is bonkers. At times it reminds me a bit of Miles Davis’s underappreciated gem On the Corner, which had been released the previous Fall. And at other times it sounds completely different. And Hunter reminds me of Ken Nordine. Wow.
Grateful Dead Songbook
whatever happened to the Grateful Dead Songbook mentioned in the august 1972 newsletter? (i had a great songbook back around that time, with surprisingly good transcriptions/chord charts, but i don't know if that was this.)
Tasty Donna Howling
Wow, she is unhinged like it was a full moon or something!
Yeah, who did play the bass?
None of the bass playing sounds like Phil to my ears. During the improv sections it sounds to me like someone who either can't play very well or someone who's making some fairly perverse decisions or maybe someone who has been severely dosed. Then at other points (eg Sweet Inspiration) it's all very together, but still not sounding much like Phil. Wouldn't John Kahn have been off with Garcia in Old & In the Way? But otherwise I think it might be him. Maybe...
This is bonkers. At times it reminds me a bit of Miles Davis’s underappreciated gem On the Corner, which had been released the previous Fall. And at other times it sounds completely different. And Hunter reminds me of Ken Nordine. Wow.
I was amazed at the length of this recording. I didn't expect it to take the turns it did.
Phil Lesh's voice appears to be present. I wasn't able to truly identify him as the bassist
in the beginning and I'm still not certain he is. However, I did start to formulate an idea somewhere around Billy's drum solo,
that the bassist is John Kahn. The tones and note choices sound just like him.
This would throw a wrench into the idea of it being a Grateful Dead session, and I'm prepared to duck, for surely someone
would be coming at me for even suggesting such a thing!