Grateful Dead

wishing everyone a relaxing Sunday. a good day to play some electric Jerry on the Eel. congratulations Bolo on the grandbaby(!!) and to everyone getting their double dose of vaccine on (yay!!) been spending a lot of outdoor time. early-growing-season yard /garden is very happy, nicest in years. garlic is going strong and going to have a few apricots (most frosted) and one little tree of peaches(!!), and maybe some almonds(!!!) more often than not these all get taken by a late frost here. first real camping trip for a long while this past week with my sweetheart out by the Henry Mtns, last surveyed mtn range in the lower 48, with some insanely cool laccolith action along the south flank of Mt. Hillers. so good for the heart and soul to be out there enjoying the long view.
was really enjoying DaP 36 in the truck. Like the old days spinning '87 while on the road.
yes - 7/18/72 - great great show.
can't wait for DaP38 (and whatever box the Gods may bring).
Onward : )

Rockthing-Proudfoot - a bit away from pick of the day, but mention Lemmy, and I see Hawkwind 1972 - 1975. If you haven't checked it out already, the official film clip of him singing Silver Machine with Hawkwind in 1972 is the business. They were amazing live in those days.

4 18 71 sweet
4 24 71 good
6 19 80 good

Givin' Bobby some luv. First time checkin' out Wolf Brothers.

PROUDFOOT: It's some seriously heavy poetry. Lemmy was a lyricist for a lot of other singers, too. R.A.M.O.N.E.S., for instance, was written for the actual Ramones to record... and I think they might have actually done so. He wrote lyrics for Ozzy, and others, too, but 1916. I think he won a Grammy for that, didn't he?

I usually skip that track because I get so verklempt.

Lemmy excels at high energy swaggering strutting rock n roll

and he can then do 1916, whorehouse blues, God was never on your side....

4/20/84, aka Dave's 35, right? That's in my Amazon cart, but "so soon after payday"... The Holbrook source comes with a little commentary from the Crew. As they indicate, Feel Like a Stranger does not yet seem to have come into its own, but there's nothing particularly wrong with it. Good Cumberland, but that Rooster, which the tapers also mention as being sort of "the beginning of the show", struck me as possibly the best Little Red Rooster I've ever heard the Dead do.

Speaking of splitting hairs, as OROBORUS was alluding to, it's really hard to quantitatively say any rendition of a standard blues number is better than another, but I think the dynamics of this performance are what make it stand out for me. (The opinions of this author in no way reflect the opinions of anyone else anywhere). They bring it up, and then take it back down, creating a dramatic experience. Jerry gets really raunchy with his slide solo, and the crowd responds, lifting the band just that touch further before they drop back down into the verse, which leaves space for the audience show their appreciation, thus giving the band further confidence. The feedback loop of live performance. Many times this tune just seems to plod along, but not on this night.

Let it grow also has a kind of wild vibe on this night. Again, maybe this was the norm for the day. I need to unpack the '84 shows from earlier this week.

The Scarlet-Fire. First of all, I love how the Holbrook source leaves this couplet as one track. Scarlet Begonias also benefits from a dynamic performance that takes it to a raucous place at which it normally never even hints. Perhaps Jerry's breathing difficulties actually contribute to the rousing performance as he begins to scream to get to higher notes that used to be easy for him. The band is pulled along by this energy, and Jerry's guitar work also gets a kick. Love this, despite the mixed feeling about it being a result of Jerry struggling with health issues. Fire has lots of meandering jamming, which, to me, always makes it better. This is amazing, while having a completely different character than the great Scarlet-Fire jams of the late 70s. They really came out of the box strong for the second set.

Hearing Jerry kind of struggling with his vocals in the mid-80s had always kind of left me with a sad feeling, which is probably why my listening experience is weak in this era, but this show may have enlightened me as to that actually being the attraction of this period. Jer has to really dig deep, and the extra effort that once was not required infects the band and the audience with its energy. Dunno, just a thought inspired by listening to this show.

Samson and Delilah absolutely had me out of my seat, lord I had to dance!

I made it up to Drums before other duties required my ears.

OROBORUS: 4/24/71. That's one tape I've had for as long as I can remember having tapes. I tend to go to 4/18 more often, so this'll be nice to revisit.

JIMINMD: 4/22/79 is the last two track Betty Board? Don't really know her history well enough, other than she made a ton a great recordings. Are her masters multi-track from then on, or did she stop touring with the band after that?

Actually, I was wrong about having Brent's first show. I'd read about it somewhere, Deadology, or Dead Listening blog, or something. The closest thing I had was 5/5. That has now been remedied. Fantastic audience source available. Feels a touch mid-scooped, but the Miller transfer of Mark Severson's tapes seemed, to my ears, to have the smoothest frequency response. I have not listened to more than a few A/Bs of Mama Tried, however. Looks like a good time, but we've already moved on.

PROUDFOOT: Yeah, I completely lost track of Shock G and that whole scene, but the Humpty Dance was a phenomenon, wasn't it? There's a really interesting interview with Shock G thread-posted to Twitter. No mention of oatmeal. :P

As much as I like the April '71 tapes I've got, I've never managed to "collect'em all". This is one of my gaps.

Also, Motorhead 1916. The song 1916 is so heavy without actually being "heavy" as in heavy metal. Chokes me up every damn time. Jerry and the boys coulda destroyed that song at the end of the second set. 20 thousand Dead Heads weeping in unison. Also a lotta good old rock'n'roll, cranked to 11, on that album. Picked that up back in the day when I stopped at a random "cassette shop" that I'd passed every day on the way to work for a while. Needed some new tunes for the commute. Couldn't say why the car wasn't full a Dead tapes, but there have been a few periods where I set'em aside for a while... or maybe just didn't wanna leave'em in the car.

6 25 85

85 box would be welcome, ptb.

In lieu of an actual copy of Dave's Picks 35 (sorry Official Dead dot Net ^^;) I had a poke around the Archive. A further poke around revealed I could actually get a copy from Amazon by the middle of next week for less than 80 bucks. I'd just assumed all those things were sold out on pre-order.

So, before realizing I could get the official release (but too late to contribute to any discussion about it) I did some taste testing on The Archive. Using BIODTL as a quick starting mid-first set number, hoping the house sound would be pretty much dialed in by then, I listened to The Executive Crew's FOB Beyer XY cassette master, then listened to the Miller transfer of the Silberman digital source. Yep. A digital field recording from 1984. Pretty avant garde. I listened back to the Beyer. Listened to the Silberman Sennheiser 441's again, then the Beyer cassette master, and so on for a while. The Silberman digital source probably has a touch more clarity, and even more so than a lot of Sennheiser recordings seem to me, even the Senn source attributed to Jim Wise, but suspiciously having the exact same set up as the Silberman source. At the end of the day, there's something that seemed warm and soothing, but at the same time, a little rough and tumble, about the cassette master. Perhaps it strikes a balance between what I often perceive as a kind of muffled sound from the Senns and the hyper clarity of the Silberman/Miller project. I've noticed my ear's preference for Beyer recordings, but it's never guaranteed. The binaural recording from this same team is intriguing and will likely be revisited, but for now, I'll be downloading the Beyer XY cassette pull. Confirmed as a Luddite, I am.

JIMINMD, is your buddy's tape circulating?

So it's Daves's Picks 35? Ah, I see. 4/20. Sounds good to me.

I've really been loadin' up on April '84 shows lately. '82~'85 had been a real weak spot in my listening until a year or so ago. Been really into all the '82 shows I've checked out so far. The '85 New Year's show, with Ken Kesey absolutely freaking the fxxx out, was one of my first dozen tapes, though.

I think I've got a copy of Brent's first show hangin' about on a hard disk. Disco Dead, I'm all over... well, not really, but I've spent more time with that period, at least. Gonna start with that '84, show, though, 'cause I'm sure I've never heard it.

So op away mi amigo!
I felt the same about this one as I did the last; really dug the first set, both H2H were awesome, the banter is priceless, but the second sets....? seemed slightly...? a tad, ruff, ragged, forced, distorted...? Sorry, can’t spit it out, but not as bad as this might make it seem. I’m nit picking comparing to for instance the 17 & 18th. But hey that’s just me...
Have enjoyed em all so far. Really looking to the big final stretch next week!

Had a nice visit with Dave’s 35 too. Need to hit 37 again before 38.
But onward to 4/24/71 today since I have time but won’t tomorrow.

Awful quiet around here.....(sound of crickets......)......
Seems like it might be time for SOMETHING? Come on Dave!!
Now is the Time!