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    Dave's Picks Vol. 51: Scranton Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, PA (4/13/71)

    Look out Big Boss Man, Pigpen's on the loose! We're shedding our lovelight on the not-to-be-overlooked Spring 1971 tour with DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51, featuring the complete unreleased show from the SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 AND the 2nd set from the previous night at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, PA on 4/12/71.

    These gems find the original Grateful Dead quintet delivering some of their most inspired, energetic, and tightest performances. There's a dab of WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, a splash of AMERICAN BEAUTY, a great foreshadow into what would soon appear on SKULL & ROSES. And you'll need nearly all those fingers (or those toes) because - count 'em - there's eight classic covers ("Mama Tried," "Hard To Handle," and a rare "I Second That Emotion," to name a few) done as only the Dead could do them with Mr. McKernan and his magical harmonica.

    Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51: SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

    P.S. We had a little extra room on Disc 2, so please enjoy the final five DP48 bonus tracks to complete 10/24/70, St. Louis, MO.

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  • fourwindsblow
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    2025 Dave's Sub...

    Too early to talk about 53?

    2/21, 22/73 Assembly Hall perfect four disc Dave's Pick.

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Flight b741 just dropped....

    ....new Gizz.
    Check it out.

  • wissinomingdeadhead
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    36

    LATVALA

  • proudfoot
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    Sorry, I dont hear Jim Morrison in there

    .

  • proudfoot
    Joined:
    Time for

    another listen

  • HaGizMo
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    Pigpen = Jim Morrison?

    I've listened to this release 3 times. Each time when it gets to Big Boss Man I think "Is that Jim Morrison singing?" Anyone else get that sense?

    I think the fake out has to do with Pig sounding a little extra soulful / sexy on this tune. Plus the vocals are pushed forward, yet a good warm vocal mix.

    All said, really digging this release. good energy, good vibes!

  • alvarhanso
    Joined:
    Agree with HippyGeorge

    This is a very good Pick, one of my favorites. Very raw era, with just guitars and drums and vocals. Sometimes the recording goes into the red (surprised it doesn't happen more often, honestly), but a wonderful delight for Phil plans, of which I am a huge one. You get to clearly hear some of his unorthodox choices, Me & Bobby McGee is especially revelatory; with no keys, Phil has to be more of a rhythmic anchor, and he adapts to it well. I get why Doc loves this era so much. Very potent. Not a huge fan of Sugar Magnolia, but was digging the ones on here quite a bit.

  • Hippygeorge62
    Joined:
    My God, this was a good buy!…

    My God, this was a good buy! Just one word...Energy! Thanks Dave!

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    Vguy

    Did Dick's 30 a couple of weekends back. Just love the Bo Diddly.

    Cant remember which song he has a minor discussion about you got to "Eat it, eat all of it." If memory is correct.

    Has to be a reference to we ate the acid, especially at that Hell's Angel benefit. Haha benefit, right.

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    my found on road dead

    had to be towed to mechanic. (Of course towed is an out dated word)

    After car was loaded, the drive said "Thank You Big Boss Man."

    Nice.

    It is amazing how 99% of the people react when meeting them, you treat them with kindness.

    Of course, you have to learn how to watch and scope manipulators.

    He was genuinely kind also.

    That is all.

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Dave's Picks Vol. 51: Scranton Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, PA (4/13/71)

Look out Big Boss Man, Pigpen's on the loose! We're shedding our lovelight on the not-to-be-overlooked Spring 1971 tour with DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51, featuring the complete unreleased show from the SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 AND the 2nd set from the previous night at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, PA on 4/12/71.

These gems find the original Grateful Dead quintet delivering some of their most inspired, energetic, and tightest performances. There's a dab of WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, a splash of AMERICAN BEAUTY, a great foreshadow into what would soon appear on SKULL & ROSES. And you'll need nearly all those fingers (or those toes) because - count 'em - there's eight classic covers ("Mama Tried," "Hard To Handle," and a rare "I Second That Emotion," to name a few) done as only the Dead could do them with Mr. McKernan and his magical harmonica.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51: SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

P.S. We had a little extra room on Disc 2, so please enjoy the final five DP48 bonus tracks to complete 10/24/70, St. Louis, MO.

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Does anybody remember a daytime show, in which Jerry, screwed up a part of China doll, and said to the audience "wait a minute, that's *ucked up."

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In reply to by wissinomingdeadhead

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Well, for three of the last four years, the last DaP of the year was a later-era show - Vol. 36 was 1987 and then Vols. 40 and 44 were both from 1990. So it seems a reasonable supposition to think he might dip into '91 for Vol. 52.

On the other side of the coin, this year Dave already cracked open 1985 for the first time (Vol 49) - you have to go back to Vols 35 and 36 for the last time he broached two new years (new for the DaP series, that is) in one calendar/subscription year. Would he really end the year with a 1991 release? People have been speculating about 9/26 for some years now, but it never really sounds like informed speculation but just more of "I was there" and "this was the best night of the run" chatter. And ofc one of Dave's first releases when he took over the Dick's series was 9/25, so he surely considered the 26th back then but passed.

My own feeling is that while '91 is the last strong year for the band, the energy did wane as the year went along. I think the March shows, or perhaps Vegas in late April, have more to offer. The August Shoreline shows have some fire to them. But for any of these it's not hard to imagine that Rhino will struggle to shift 25,000 copies. And if they are willing to risk a Fall '91 release, one of the MSG shows (8 still unreleased) seems a safer sales bet than Boston.

But there's still no Dave's from 1989, nor '88. Either would likely sell better than a '91. And I note that the last '76 released (notwithstanding the 2020 box set) was Vol. 28.

Oh well, I'm always wrong when I play the "guess what Dave will release" game. Since I didn't mention it, it will probably be '73.

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In reply to by Obeah

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Not sure about a China Doll - maybe you're thinking of Brokedown Palace at Telluride 8/16/87? Double encore - as they start Brokedown out of Touch It slowly grinds to a halt and Jerry exclaims something to the effect of - "Wait a minute! This is all fucked up! We're in then wrong key! You folks are used to this - oxygen deprivation. Forget that all happened!" And they start Brokedown fresh.

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In reply to by bluecrow

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Obeah,

The one thing we know for sure is Dave can be unpredictable at times. Never thought he would release another 71 show for #48 and release this Scranton show two releases later. Who knows, maybe he will release another 71 show for #52.

Would love to see an 88 or 91. It is time.

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That's it, thanks. Believe it or not, but I typed in BP first but China somehow came to mind. It's pretty rare to hear Jerry talk much at shows, except for his sweet lyrics.

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In reply to by carlo13

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They muffed the beginning of Brokedown Palace when they played it as an encore when I saw them on 3/27/81, too. Looking in The Taping Compendium to jog my memory, after playing the opening chords, Jerry came in with the wrong verse. To quote the good book -
""Sorry! Premature senility," says Jerry with a grin, before playing and singing it so soulfully that I'm reduced to tears for the second time in one night."

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Good points, all, Deadvikes. Dave is indeed unpredictable.

It probably surprises no one to observe that 1977 leads the way in the DaP catalog of releases with 8 shows to date. And it's most welcome to note that 1974 comes second with 6. But 1971 now has 5. All three of those years were represented in the very first year of the DaP series, so empirically it might seem that Dave has a strong affinity for each one.

And yet I also recognize that some of his decisions were governed by what's in the vault (or maybe what was repatriated to the vault!); what is available in a very high-quality recording; what was already released in other series or box sets, and so on. One thing we can probably all agree upon, though, is that Dave truly has one of the most interesting jobs in the world. He's like a real-life version of that Dos Equis guy. Except Canadian and clean-shaven.

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