Grateful Dead

Killer show, my brother was there, hopefully it will be an official release one day.

Y'all can join in if you want. As I'll have the entire chateau to myself tomorrow, I'm cueing up "Steppin' Out With The Grateful Dead" and playing it really loud. Need a dose of '72 goodness.

Yes, I know, it's a compilation and familiar to all. But that mix....man. Just imagine if the E72 trunk was mastered/mixed the same way. Have mercy!

Perhaps we can start a crowd-funding campaign to raise enough cheese to persuade Mr. Norman to do his thing. I got a dollar and a quarter to kick things off.

Wow, finally getting to this today. Great sounding recording. Just starting, hopefully it stays at this level.

And 10/29/71, very busy.

Recently got a new version, believe it is a Miller.
Definitely sounded way better than that first off-speed cassette copy I had.

first heard it on a Southern California evening on tape back in...84? 85?

very pleasant, eye-opening experience

I can't keep up with you guys. lol.

Just by chance I listened to 2/9 last night, over two sittings. During the first sitting, ie the first half of the show, work was occupying my mind. The final sitting was with the lights out, just spacin' on the music, but also sort of halfway into dreamland, so no notes were taken. I think I'll listen again as soon as I get through this new (to me) Coltrane '65 date.

The balance on the 2/9 tape is much better than any master of 5/15 that I heard. The setlist is very similar. I have not compared, but all the songs you don't get to hear much after '73 are there for both shows, but there really isn't much evidence of teething problems in the new stuff. US Blues has very embryonic lyrics, which are cool, but nowhere near as iconic, or concise, as Hunter's later revision. The music is pretty much fully formed. Incredible, really. Someone had mentioned 2/18/71 a few pages back. That was another major breakout night, but again, they debuted a set of solid songs, right out of the gate.

Back to 2/9/73, they talk a bit too much about the new PA, but I suppose I'd be pretty over the moon about it, too. Of all the eras, this is when I'd really love to have some good audience pulls, especially once the full Wall of Sound comes into effect. Not sure the wall makes any difference to a board tape.

That cool and confident mellow '73 groove is there, but there seems to be a touch more bounce in the step here compared to 5/15. Again, this is on deck for a relisten.

I made all these notes for the 5/15 upgrade (second half of the second set). Even though that was, like two or three picks ago, I'm gonna put'em down anyway.

The Miller "fix" is a major improvement. Much more raw in many respects. Bobby's killin' it after the He's Gone vocal jam evolves into an instrumental. He's getting some very Jerry-esque tones, but he's significantly lower in the mix. Was he still using a Gibson SG at this time? If so, that would explain the similarities in tone. Jer had been using an SG for a while before switching to Alligator, iirc. Hard to keep track of Jerry's guitars in the early days. I forget when he got Wolf, too. If he didn't have it here, he'd have it fairly soon, again iirc.

No bomb after Truckin's "busted". Not enough Phil in the mix to really get the bass bomb effect when it finally comes. The is The Jerry Garcia Experience. The mix is ALL Jerry. Would really like to hear how this sounded to an audience, especially considering it was the experimental phase of the Wall of Sound.

Would also prefer to see the the "Phil and Drummers" track merged with either Truckin' or The Other One. It could really go either way, though, 'cause it's not unheard of to have a drum solo at the end of Truckin' and it was fairly common at one point to have a drum break between Cryptical and Other One. That's just me. I know most people, certainly the seeders, like more tracks rather than less. What's Joe Walsh say? "Can't complain, but sometimes I still do."

The Other One jam is sublime! Deep into it Phil and Jerry's interaction is so conversational, without being simple mimicry. Much better bass guitar presence than earlier, but it may be that Phil is using the upper registers here, and those frequencies are more well represented on the tape. Holy shit. That was all BEFORE the first verse! Did they even do the second verse? It just all washed by in this warm breeze of intermingling ideas. I didn't take any more notes on the rest of the show. Was not present enough. Some really fantastic stuff was happening at the end of the second set, certainly worthy of the upgrade. I'd imagine this is the only mix that exists, and there ain't no more. Again, this is the era where I'd like to hear the audience perspective the most, but it's still early days for audience tapers, unfortunately.

Digging waaay back in the thread, Neil Cassady, that's a guy I'd go back in time to meet... hopefully when he was hangin' with Jerry!
What a madman! TBH, I probably wouldn't be able to deal with him, but I'd just like to experience what being around him was like.

Used to follow John Perry Barlow on Twitter. Didn't always agree with him, but he always had something thought-provoking to say. So interesting that he went from being a Wyoming rancher, crafting a cowboy image for Bobby, to philosophizing about the electronic frontier, and being a legit expert.

Speaking of cowboy images, I'm gonna hafta remember to imagine the boys in their Nudie suits when I relisten to 2/9, later. That's so funny. It's like the one time the Dead actually entertained the concept of showmanship as a group. lol.

I digress. Having the sense to take on genuine wordsmiths to define their lyrical imagery is yet another example artistic magick. So many fantastic musicians are so horrible as poets. :) Having both Barlow and Hunter, expressing very different views and styles, adds so much to the mix.

One quick comment about this show.. as I am not sure I will finish tonight. Many of these songs are 'new' so just rehearsal and practice. The tone isn't always dialed in, just a little unpredictable and wild which I just love. They sometimes lurch their way transitions, bridges and the more complex pieces but behind it all the timing is there. Jerry in particular has an impeccable sense of timing and the songs, even the ones performed for the first time are still the songs. They seem to be birthed almost fully formed.

That's it for me, great pick Bob (and all). I have great reverence for this show.

Roscoe Maples Pavilion it is.

I am sure I have told this story, but my original cassette of this show was way off pitch, super slow.

Eyes of the World in particular had this groovy, sloth-like swank to it, especially in the outro jam and the vocals in China Doll were sooo slow. Still, I loved it. It wasn't until the Archive came up that I heard what the show actually sounded like. I loved the old and slow, but the pitch corrected version was a welcomed addition, sort of like getting fitted for ear glasses for the first time and hearing what birds actually sound like when they sing.

I knew it was a little off pitch, but once something goes down, once you listen to something and get familiar with it.. sort of a muscle memory.. once you get used to something, that's the way it is. To this day when I listen to this show my memory of the slowed down, etched in memory version comes to mind.

Dang it that's a fave!
Nice call BobT
Happy Anniversary to this all time great show.

Listen to that PITB outside (if it's sunny & not freezing)

For the majority of my life and I always thought this show took place outside, but I'm pretty sure Maples Pavillion was / is a gymnasium?

Anyhow this music was meant to be listened to outside, Jerry soars like a bird.

It takes you places.

I'ma gonna have to listen to it.

Thanks BobT!!

"I'm told to make this short and not political" Roscoe Maples Pavilion 2/9/73 Happy Anniversary....