Grateful Dead

Was just finishing up Leonard Bernstein & the NY Philharmonic’s recording of Holst’s The Planets while catching up on this thread.
Neptune:The Mystic fades to an end, and now, thanks to you folks; I reached over about three feet to my right, Grabbed Dick’s 12, and am ready for Jam->China->MLB->Rider. Have not played this in a while. Thanks guys!!

I got that about a month to six weeks ago. For years I had the Jam>C>R out of sequence in my digital library, meaning all devices, etc. And I always forgot to fix it until about a year ago.. imagine the frustration....

No right or wrong answer.. no majority or minority. I guess what attracts me to the China Riders is that the progressed or changed more from year to year, decade to decade. It seemed to morph quicker and for a longer period where the Scarlet Fires were seemingly more stable and had less change.

A fun topic certain to draw me out of the woodwork along with many others apparently.

P.S. I loved the redacted passages. Creative harmless humor that seemed to solve whatever problem existed at that moment. Cracked me up. Now where were we.. ah yes.. back to our evil plans to rule the world. If you are at a loss on where to begin, might I recommend the excellent book by André De Guillaume simply titled, "How To Rule the World." It's a must read for the aspiring dictator in us all. (Ooops, should I have redacted some of that?)

....oh yeah Angry Jack. First time I heard that, I think I replayed it three or four times. Still have it on tape.
As a matter of fact, I haven't listened to it for a while, so its going in.....now.
It's approximately 20 minutes long. Same length as hockey intermissions. Imagine that.

I’ll take S>F over C>R. I prefer the 77 S>Fs over any other year. The spring tour specifically. Agreed that 72-74 was the peak for C>R. The duo seemed to lose something once the band discontinued MLB during the transition.

That being said, the 6/26/74 C>R from DP12 trumps all of the versions of both combinations. For me at least. One of my favorite pieces of GD music.

The Devils are flying. Hope they can continue the momentum.

I agree on 5/3/72 and 8/27/72 as standouts, but the off the beaten track sleepers always pull me in.

I was thinking about this very topic over the weekend I had a mystery waterproof device playing while I was on the river.. I have five or six waterproof shuffles and never know what's playing. I think it was 2/24/74, anyway.. it got me thinking about the under the radar excellent versions. For me, a couple that sneak up on you are 5/24/72 Lyceum, 5/17/74 Vancouver and toss in 7/9/89 Giants Stadium simply because I listened to it Saturday night and it's one of those versions where there's is a verse flub and boy did they make hay filling in the empty space with some incredible playing.

Anyway, like someone else in this thread commented, it does a good job of highlighting all the things the GD did that no other band seems to have been able to crystalize so purely, it almost seems effortless but we know better. Man, I miss Jerry.. a 20th century heavyweight.

Love the stand alone Scarlets but there's a few Scarlet Fires I really like, both pre and post Brent. Still.. I could listen to enjoy sequential listens of every China Eleven and China Rider they ever did and never get bored.

That's all I've got.. back to the taboo topics and psycedellic mayhem that makes us all tick.

Have had a tracking number since Thursday, but still not tracking. Whatever. I've been in this situation before where it showed up and there was never any tracking. Not confident with the ole USPS. Three weeks ago, had a mail stop for a road trip to Nashville and Memphis. Came home to a box full of mail.

Used to be Scarlet>Fire. Now I'm more China>Rider. But that's like picking which child you love more.

Checked tracking this morning, said it was 150 miles away and would deliver by Saturday May 6. My tiny rural PO is temporarily closed for repairs, those who do not get home delivery have to pick up at another PO for a while. And there it was, a total surprise. Just the first disc in so far, first impression. Simply excellent, strong vocals, great Bird Song, Jeffrey Norman has done magic again and of course, it's a Bear to begin with. Would not be surprised if this sells out before 45.

Crow - I was about to write a post with exactly the same message you wrote re China-Rider. And I would have referenced the same one , from the original Europe 72 album. It's got so much of what I like about the band in a short space....well, what you said basically. The other one that came to mind was the one from 8/27/72.

I also like the stand alone Scarlets. I like the fact that the 77 versions of Scarlet-Fire have such a different feel to them than anything they played pre-retirement - a bit calypso to me sometimes -a World music vibe. Trouble is I'm not always that keen on it! Definitely good to hear now and again though.

Bonus Disk Set list.
1. Bertha -6:24
2. Greatest Story Ever Told -5:33
3. Bird Song -11:01
4. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toddeloo -7:03
5. BrokeDown Palace -5:45
*** 9/19/72 Jersey City, NJ Rosevelt Stadium
6. China Cat Sunflower- 6:43
7. I Know You Rider- 5:59
8. Brown-Eyed Woman -5:26
9. Trucking -10:24
10. Cold Rain & Snow- 5:30
11. Ramble On Rose- 6:17
*** 9/3/72 Boulder, CO ‘Folsom Field

I've sometimes thought that if somebody who had never heard the GD asked me for one track they could listen to that would clue them in to why the band is so special, I might choose China-Rider. It's got a little of everything: some psychedelia, some funk, some jamming, some country/folk. If we listen to, say, the one from Europe '72, we get absolutely fantastic interplay between Jer and Bob's guitars. And it's a really good showcase for everything we love about Jerry's vocals.

I'm always up for a good Scar-Fire, but I do think they're probably less consistent than China-Rider.

Got my shipping notice a couple days ago, still shows "status not available" when I try to use the tracking number. Whatever. It'll get here in a week or so.