Grateful Dead

Howsa bouta a little 83 energy for a Fri yea?

6/16/90: good call DV! Haven’t heard this since the Shakedown Stream, man those were fun.
Needed some kind of ritual at the time, even TOO watched and she ain’t really into the dead.

Always dug a good Good Times Roll opener, usually a good sign. Fun Truckin if not mind blowing, solid Touch O,
Nice FOTD, hot Cassidy, fun but perhaps trepid Big Boss, but fun non the less, and another slightly unusual and fun OMSN to close a fun set.
Though the first might not of been thoroughly consistent, the second set gets going nice, good versions of most songs, and a nice China Doll in spite of Jerry struggling a bit. Rousing Mags and and always welcome sweet Baby Blue encore. But!…But, to me that whole sequence from Estimated, terrapin and all that awesome psychedelic goodness that follows is what makes this show stand out for moi.
For a while I was thinking “this shows ok but..?, “ by half way through the second those thoughts were gone baby gone. It’s a shame JG didn’t fully nail the China as that would of really took it up a notch overall.
Good show, even better in person, first trip to the promised land, hot 20 year old GF along, tripping the light fandango in the cool California night sea breeze. What a trip that was, sighhhh.
Dems we’re da daze…

That image that shows either two faces or a chalice depending on how you look at it.
If I try to hear those anomalies I can, but if I just crank up some tunes and don’t try, then I only notice when it gets bad, if that makes sense. Another variable: plangent etc. Those old Road Trips and Dicks didn’t have the benefit of Plangent.
Capitol 71 bonus disc did, AND, their multitrack so if say Bobby had some weird noise issues on his line, it couid isolated and messed with. Wood really love to hear some of that deconstruction tech they used on the Beatles…

St Louie: going in I thought I was going to dig the 73 the most, and that one disc probably is my pick of the litter. I thought I’d dig the 71, but comparatively not as much as the other 2 years. But at first the 71s really stood out to me.
I love when that happens!
I think I recall thinking the music was great overall, but that there were some unfortunate anomalies.
I guess to get full shows that’s going to happen sometimes especially in years that have been mined more extensively.
To me when it comes down to it and your properly prepped and ready, once you settle in it’s all about the music!
Like the band entraining, after a while it all becomes one…

DV with a call for 6/16/90. That sounds good, just not sure if I should wait and watch it, or just fire it up now?
Thinking I might dabble this WE with the Louie…still have some primal Doc to catch up on too.
Finally getting a few extra days off, then one last push at this job swapping out net and installing new Cisco stacking tech. Owners are supposed to be gone so maaaayyybbbeee I can catch some tunes. I really need to get a portable personal rig but I’m such a snob that would get pricey and more importantly I don’t have time, err, if /when I do have time I’d rather just sit and listen to tunes!
So 6/16/90, think that was my 86th show, weird/cool vibe, you had to be there, or maybe it was the roses ; )

For me there's a certain point where both the right brain and left brain agree that it's kick ass Grateful Dead I am listening to and recording anomalies fade into a blissfull background.

Let it be known i am a recording snob.. so it hurts by my left and right to commit to great performance vs. great recording.

I still think so highly of this run. Warts and all, it's classic Fall '72 GD.

Appreciate the insight Jim, BC and OB.
I have found sometimes, for whatever reason I hear differently after the first go around with the Dave's and the Box sets. Most of the time, I think damn this sounds so good, once in a while I think, this sounds a little off. Sometimes I panic and think my speakers must be blown. I need to go out and replace them.
Of course, yes, we are lucky they recorded almost all these shows. We all know there are all kinds of different results of the shows and recordings for various reasons. I would think there is no way Norman finished mastering 10/18/72 and texted Dave and said you can't believe how good this sounds. I could be wrong.
I totally hear what you are saying on the 71 shows OB. Some of them definitely have a different sound to them, Dick's 35, RT#1.3. Great, but different. And then I compare them to the 71 Port Chester shows which sound incredible and are some of my alll time favorites.

Jim, sorry to hear about the issues you are having, definitely hard stuff to deal with.

Let me offer up Charlie Miller's 100th show for tomorrow, 6/16/90. There is a newer version from the man himself from 2019 and the version from VFTV III.

So I saved.. squirrelled, pinched pennies for 45 years and finally dropped the dime on my dream system I have been planning for all these years. I went completely with Fender Amps on the recommendation of some guy named Hal and now I read this.

What are these McIntosh items of which you speak?

OB- Kenny Ban??. The Fatigues episode.

Man I wish I had time….for anything lol
I’ll try to check some more of these audio anomalies out this WE.
Hit me with examples if ya got em.

Ive noticed this phenomenon with other recordings, think mostly 71-72s.
Definitely could be tape degradation and/or perhaps a little oversaturated originally, but I think there’s amp distortion going on too? They were still mostly using dirty fender power at this stage. So like any real Rock and roller by the end of the night the amps are on 11 etc and with those old tube power sections/power supplies their easy to overdrive.
By 73 they had pretty much fully switched to big McIntosh power amps, though they were still using the Fenders for pre amps. Like your pre amp at home though, you wouldn’t be pushing the pre amp that much (let the power amp do the heavy lifting). Think overworking a small car engine versus barely stepping on a big V8.
Could be compromised cabling somewhere. Could be dirty and/or insufficient venue power too? That’s the problem with E lic tri city though, could be a number of things. Probably a bit of all the above…

Yep BC, glad your digging the nice February weather. These days where it’s sunny and up in the 30s, “it’s gold Jerry, gold I tell ya! I should try to check out the ole St Louie, Louie, box, another I’ve barely been introduced too.
Hoping 🤞I might be getting a little quality time off soon.

The '72 shows from the not quite the Fox Box have been in and out of the disc drive several times the past few weeks. All great for sure. I know first run through that it was the 10/19 jam that really kinda floored me. Yesterday listening to 10/18 again with the sound quality question in mind. One thing that struck me was that Keith sounded muddy and almost sort of kind of out of tune. I pay a lot of attention to Keith's playing, especially the "earlier days." Something was off and my guess was it was a SBD thing, how he was miked, and not Keith. (Edit - or as Jim suggests maybe some tape degradation.) Bobby's guitar also sounded a bit fuzzed in a recording artifact kind of way, though not unpleasant in any sense. But none of that stopped me from a thoroughly enjoyable listen. There was a point during the Dark Star where I was suddenly in a zone of complete wonder - a place that reminded me of my first deep "now I understand" listen to the Rotterdam Dark Star (on my weird balance SBD many many years before the box.) A really very cool place to be inside the music. So yes, that Disc 2 is some serious magic. One thing struck me as funny is Donna's yell in the Playing Reprise. I have no issues with her singing in those early days, truly dig it. And that Donna Playing ROAR was maybe the most primal vocalization I've ever heard from her. She was feeling the "Holy Spirit" big time!! Loved her quick soft little "Thank you Thank you Thank you" after it was all said and done. Another truly epic jam sequence.
Listening to 10/19 Disc 1 right now this morning. Keith is hard right - i think he was slightly left of center 10/18. A little lower in the mix, tone sounds better to my ear. I'd have to do a hard A / B to be sure that my thoughts are correct on that. Now on Sugaree and Keith's piano and Jerry's vocals have now moved to center of the sound stage. I think Keith sounds a little better than 10/18 but still a tiny bit muffled? Maybe its my brain, who knows.
Thanks DV for suggesting 10/18 awhile ago. I feel like these are my first really good deep listens to the '72 shows from that box. Like you said, great stuff. I ran through '73 a week or so ago and need to revisit that. At the time I remember thinking that the '72 resonated with me more and given that '73 is generally a big fat sweet spot for me I know that my head may have been ever so slightly out of alignment.
To echo KeithFan over on the 45 thread - I'm really really digging Dave's 45. Spectacular sound. Great playing. Boy are we some lucky Deadheads. It was 10/1 Set II that really got me first run through. The Black Peter is so freaking gorgeous. And then the "random current" of that CB or whatever for a couple seconds and its like oh my freaking goodness. I can only laugh. Really, Universe? I first heard 1/31 NOLA last year while exploring a little around the 2/6/70 Fox (personal favorite.) I remember being very pleasantly surprised to find that they played that acoustic set. I think every single acoustic set they have in the vault needs to be released. Gave 1/31 acoustic another run through Sunday morning. Woke up from a short nap late Sunday afternoon and had Sawmill chorus running through my head again and again. I"m like "What is this song? where do I know it from? Oh Yeah, Bobby sings it on 1/31!" Talk about a poor boy, talk about a poor boy, let me have a dollar bill.
Nice Poster Oro!! Your first show! Glad that the Almanac shone a light on your post - hadn't seen it. Another beautiful day here in paradise. Always loved this time of year in the high desierto. Onward!!

I have to revisit this.. but I think I recalled thinking something similar and attributed it to someone spinning the master reel a couple times too many before they locked it away. All three nights are good, but 10/18 is probably my favorite of the bunch, it would not surprise me a bit that someone on the inside thought so too. That and the BCT shows a month and a half earlier are both special runs from a special year.

For kicks and giggles.. check out the Morning Dew from 5/26/72 at the Lyceum from the E72 box and then listen to it from the version on Europe 72. There is static on the box set version where the original sounds crystal clear. The masters degrade especially when people with two left thumbs (like me) handle them. A lot of the early shows suffer from this, listen to 4/18/70 (the Mountain Girl returned reels) sound and frankly a lot of 69.

Well, at least someone remembered to hit record. Didn't Sony or one of the other music houses have their entire archive burn down a decade or so ago? Image the horror if GD masters were lost in a fire.🔥🔥🔥😭

Been gone a bit lately.. spending quality time in the hospital with my aging parents. They seem to be on the mend though, which puts me back home and in good spirits. I hope to participate more as I get back on line with work and fun.

Thanks for keeping the train a rollin' guys.

Thanks for looking into it OB.
I have noticed it on all three CDs from 10/18. I don't hear it on 10/17 or 10/19, which I think are both smoking!