Grateful Dead

Hey rockers!!!

Pick Of The Day: Boston Tea Party, December 31, 1969

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was Boston in 1969. No, NOT the Ark, the Tea Party!!! Actually, the same space……..different time…….

The Tea Party actually existed before the Ark opened in January 1969. The April Ark Dead shows get all the love and respect---maybe deservedly so. But the Ark closed by the summer of 1969, and the Tea Party took over the site, which was across the street from Fenway Park. After going through several transitions, the site was demolished, making way for a House Of Blues.

The December 1969 Tea Party shows have a “Rodney Dangerfield feel”. They seem to get no respect and are rarely talked about. However, that being said, they are very very interesting shows, varied and well played, with plenty of oddball tunes and other tunes that were slowly working their way out of the repertoire.

The Dead often handed out “auditory treats” on New Year’s, and this is a good example, starting out high with an opening China/Rider and featuring Mason’s Children, Alligator, Caution, Big Boy Pete, a stand-alone Not Fade Away, Seasons, The Race Is On, Silver Threads, Slewfoot, and a closing Dancin’ In The Streets. Happy freaking New Year’s!!!!

Very good recordings of all three shows are out there and worthy of your consideration….

Hey, how about an Ark AND Tea Party box??!!

I always think of space-time as being the real substance of space, and the galaxies and the stars just like the foam on the ocean……

Rock on!

Doc
I am a being of Heaven and Earth, of thunder and lightning, of rain and wind, of the galaxies…..

Just got to this tonight but holy crap and very well stated..

the second night was the charm. That Dear Prudence was worth the price of admission alone, simply incredible. Wow. and the Morning Dew and UJB to cap things off. It had a couple bumps, but man that was a great show and parts of the second set were superb.

I think you can stream this through January 1st. Well worth it.

Jim - very true . The last two shows I played -12/12/69 and 10/17/72 both feature China Cat/Rider, Cumberland Blues, Casey Jones, Uncle Johns and Black Peter. Two of my favourite years, and interesting to hear how different they could sound playing the same songs.

Yes.. absolutely. I guess this gets lumped into eras.

I have my favorites.. but the fact that for most of their 30 years they kept evolving, changing things up and experimenting is perhaps understated. They cannot be accused of being one hit wonders.

Maybe just me but I dug the second night much more than the previous. Sweet Scarlet/King Solomon’s, one of my favorite tunes! All around good set list and they seemed more settled in. Dug Jason Crosby on keys as I’d never heard him before. Love Holly but it was a cool change up.

Sorry Dennis, another foot of snow and errands so just getting to the mine.

check messages

dennis

Change of personnel was also a factor in the change of the bands sound. Mickey joining in late 67 meant that the sound of 1968 started a few months early. And so on and so forth as people emerged, disappeared..and in Mickey's case came back again. I can't honestly remember now what they sound like, but I would think Keith's last few shows in early 1979 were more like 1978 shows than what are normally thought of as 1979 shows when Brent came on board.

It is a convenient device, though, splitting lives up into years. But it can be a bit artificial. People get born and die at different junctures - we meet and part at random times.

Mornin’, rockers!!!

Pick Of The Day: Hallandale, Florida December 29, 1968

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable…….

High art? Low art? Grateful Dead art!!!

The Dead played numerous festivals in the late 60s, this being one of the earliest big East coast ones. Due to the constraints of time and circumstance, the Dead’s “festival sets” from this era sometimes have a shortened, condensed feel. The “all wheat, no chafe” approach, which usually worked well and was well received…………

Here, the band starts out greasy, then shifts into a big jam sequence that carries through to the end of the set. Things are truly focally shortened, but there’s some decent jamming to be had. Very good recordings of this set circulate, and while there are some edits and drop-outs, it is still worthy of your consideration…………..

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other……

Rock on!!!

Doc
Few people have the imagination for reality…….

It's convenient to divide the GD by year for a couple of related reasons. They often took January and February off to write and record. While they were busy doing this, the alchemists and wizards were often testing out new equipment which was all rolled out and broken in on the Spring Tour each year.

So it's convenient to break things out by year, but that's not what drove change, it was the new toys and new music. Wolf. Late '77 was the return of the Wolf, and it sounded magnificent.

That's my take. We say years mainly because they retooled the first couple months most years, that is until the 80's and as they played larger arenas and demons settled in.. they practiced and recorded less and instrument changes were less frequent / less dramatic.

Man I really liked the Wolf.

Oh, and OB - Streaming last nights show as I write this, that is until I fall asleep (won't be long). Cumberland out of the gate was great.. I think the they could use a lead guitar with more thunder. They have two wide body clean guitars at work, they need to add a little Hendrix or wolf and turn it up. Twangy and clean tones, they need something that will part the red sea so they can get on with it. That's my take. Still enjoyable. Time will tell.

It often seems to me that 1977 shows from September onwards sound more like 1978 shows than they do 1977shows from earlier in the year. A bit more rocking - more rough and ready and less smooth. Jerry switched guitars in September 1977 to the Wolf, and that one seems to me to have a more overdriven sound than the guitar he used in 1976 and the first half of 1977. And this was the guitar he played on through 1978 too, I think.

Maybe it's a bit arbitrary, splitting the bands music up into years. I would have thought they carried on regardless of what month or year it was. Thinking of it personally, I can't imagine I will feel any different, or do anything differently next week, just because we will be in a different year to the one we are in this week.