Post reply Log in to post comments

October 16, 2024 - 3:17pm

842 replies

Dead Admin

Joined:
April 28, 2021

Dave's Picks Vol. 52: The Downs at Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (9/11/83)

I remember the venue almost like and old fort with roses everywhere. We came to the site and Wavy Gravy showed us where to camp. Ken Kesey was here as well as a couple other big figures of the counterculture. I think because of Mickey's 40th. During drums a double rainbow appeared. Every time it looked like rain the band would stop and then come back even stronger from their breaks. I saw more outdoor shows in 83 than all the years combined. I have goose bumps even typing this from the memories. - xxuncle johnxx, Dead.net
One of the best memories I have were these 2 shows. During the break there was a lightning storm behind the stage, followed by a rainbow and then an awesome 2nd set. Morning Dew with a Cold Rain, Phil singing encore. Most of my tour buddies went home after Red Rocks and I tortured them with the Santa Fe tapes. Nothing beats the magic of a great GD outdoor show. "It all bleeds into one." - grateful hawaiian, Dead.net
In between sets, I remember it rained... and early on in the second set, there was an amazing rainbow directly over the stage behind the band. I don't believe they saw it, but I'm sure they heard about it. "Let It Grow" was awesome! - Johnny_A, Dead.net
The pot at the end of this rainbow is mighty fine, indeed. Our final Dave's Picks release for 2024 features the complete unreleased show from The Downs at Santa Fe, Sante Fe, NM, 9/11/83 (fun fact, it was Mickey's 40th birthday) with just a squidge of 9/10/83 to round things out. A true trader's treat, this one is solid all around from the lively first set featuring soon-to-be minted 80s classics like "Hell In A Bucket" and "West L.A. Fadeaway" to the return of "Help>Slip>Franklin's," the incredible 2nd set surprise of "Let It Grow," and adventurous takes on "He's Gone,""Wang Dang Doodle," and "Morning Dew." It's all well played, my friend, well played.
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 52: SANTA FE, NM 9/11/83 was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

Comments

sort by

Recent

Recent Oldest A to Z Z to A

Reset

October 17, 2024 - 8:50am

#821

Oroborous

Joined:
June 19, 2007

Morning Buzz Kill

FFS, we get it, some folks are very particular with what THEY like.
No problemo, just why do they have to be such a nasty pricks about it?
Guess that’s what we’ve turned into in the modern world…

And as far as unequal representation, hmmmm Id say over representation if you actually think before you spew, with 25 outta 52 picks from the 9 pre hiatus years of 66-74, so almost 50% of all Dave’s are from only 9 years, or less than 1/3 of all the years….really, only six years as 66-68 has for whatever reason been ignored.
So almost half of all picks are from only 6 years, yeah Boo Hoo, totally under represented…

And spare us the nonsense about everybody’s opinion is important etc,
Once again, ad nauseam, I’m not suggesting that folks can’t dislike something or not have an opinion, just don’t be a dick about it!, because ya know what sucks more than being disappointed by a pick…waking up all happy to enjoy a new day, come to what is supposed to be the happy safe place, read about a new pick, and instead get such hostilities. Total Buzz Kill!

Edit: FOTD box ?…yes, the DL situation is not cool, but your mixing apples and oranges cause the CD box is one of the best as far as recordings, sonics and production!
October 17, 2024 - 8:39am

#822

tnjed98

Joined:
August 2, 2024

Strider

Strider! Can you please explain how someone calling attention to the repeatedly stale picks, as well as the recent technically deficient FOTD release, is a "buzzkill" ?? As stated, I am personally a huge fan of the Brent years - but the fact remains that the picks are getting stale. I guess if you are not blindly praising and paying Lemieux for whatever half-ass*d product he chooses to put out, then you are a hater. Happy to wear that label if so.

Personally, I prefer when I purchase something for it to work as expected and not be laden with file errors or poor audio. Did you even listen to 51? Sound quality was utter garbage
October 17, 2024 - 8:22am

#823

Strider 808808

Joined:
June 20, 2007

My favorite show of the 80s.

Remind me not to read all the comments. Hater posts about this Dead show. No buzz kill please.
Thank you Dave. Great pick.
October 17, 2024 - 7:50am

#824

canoncito@gmail.com

Joined:
November 1, 2010

Best and Worst Times in Santa Fe

Home town shows for me (lived a couple miles away in La Cienega). It was the Best and the Worst of times....

Best was 3 Red Rocks shows, then coming home for this, and even better, the night off in between was Zozobra night, the kickoff of Santa Fe's Fiesta weekend...ten thousand plus gathered to burn Old Man Gloom, a 50' puppet, groaning and waving his arms in full ritual glory, letting go all our glooms from the year. So fun to share that with a friend from back east and a couple new show-friends who tagged along as we came south!

Also Best was the aforementioned weather magic, lightning in the foothills behind the stage as the first set ended, and the rainbow as they cranked it up for set 2 with Help on the Way. Classic!

The Worst, I'm afraid, reared its head in both concrete and creative realms....The Downs was set up for these shows (as in the previous fall) with the stage facing the grandstand from across the track's oval. This created some awful echoes for those in the middle; of course, you could solve that by moving up close enough to the speakers to overwhelm the echo....or by being way back in the stands....but not ideal for those who like to wander! (a later Lyle Lovett show I saw there rectified this by setting up parallel to the stands).

Sadly, this show featured what I felt at the time to be my clearest experience of Jerry's issues in these years. The way I heard the Help/Slip/Franklins sequence, Bobby was doing something really fun and creative at one point (I'm a "Bobby Fans are People, Too" guy), and ol' Jer just totally fell off the side of the train at just the point we were primed for him to ante up and raise the stakes. Just lost it. Happens to the best of us, I know....but it was pretty striking at the time.

The next summer, my compilation of the few(ish) highlights of that year's set of Red Rocks shows was called "Are We Having Fun Yet?" It was a rough stretch for sure.

Ah, well, not griping about the release or the band or the challenges Jerry was grappling with. Just my memories of these shows.... Which of course were still way fun in the moment despite the transient reminders of the deeper troubles lurking within.
October 17, 2024 - 7:46am

#825

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

Bulls Eye

Butch - I agree with most of your post - I'm not sure I'd go along with remixing a show and dropping a musician that was there out of the mix ( Brent) however irksome his contributions became.

I enjoyed a lot of live music in the 1980's that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny now. I saw Hawkwind loads of time in the 80's and always enjoyed it - but I wouldn't recommend any of their live albums from that era. You really had to have been there - and I suspect it's the same with Dead shows. Maybe they will concentrate on souvenir shows from now on - ones that the greatest number of people attended, which would necessarily mean concentrating on 1980s-1990s.
Not good. This could be the first year when I haven't wanted any of the Daves Picks shows that have come out.
October 17, 2024 - 7:35am

#826

DeadVikes

Joined:
October 26, 2016

Dennis

Yes, September 11, Dennis.

Yes, it has been a different couple of years for Dave's Picks, but put me in the camp of wanting more variety, not less. There are tons of great shows out there from all eras. But, not everybody will be happy.

For me, the Frost shows were my favorite so far and that was a surprise to me, but I really like them and keep listening to them.

Based on sales, #49 is the only one that is actually sold out. You still have three from last year that are still available. Maybe they should cut it back a few thousand. Not sure that will happen.

My least favorite of the year was #51, sound quality is not very good.

I haven't heard the Santa Fe show yet, looking forward to it.
October 17, 2024 - 7:30am

#827

tnjed98

Joined:
August 2, 2024

When will Lemieux stop hoarding and grifting?

Could not agree more with Butch's comment about how poor these releases have gotten, and this is coming from a huge fan of the Brent years. David, why do you continue to keep so many of the great, classic shows bottled up and give us this bull instead? Holding it all for the inevitable $5-600 GD60 Box?

Even worse than the choice of show for Vol 52 - how could anyone confidently expect a quality product from these clowns when the FOTD set was such a flaming pile of trash?

At my last count nearly 40 tracks in the set are totally unplayable, with no solution from Lemiuex and the crew but a refund - if you take the time to reach out and ask. No one from Dead.net coming out and saying, "hey - don't buy this it doesn't work properly." Very shady if you asked me but oh well, on to the next release of "top notch Grateful Dead music," so who cares! I wonder if/when enough of us heads will realize that these "archivists" are really just grifters ripping us all off.

My recommendation to anyone reading; buy a cheap external hard drive and fill it with free, high quality FLAC for less $ than you're spending on one or two of these bogus releases. Stop giving David Lemieux your money for nothing of value in return.
October 17, 2024 - 7:14am

#828

Dennis

Joined:
November 1, 2012

Numbers on Birds?

I see 11 & 40 on the birds,,, I assume the 40 is mick's birthday. Is 11 the date?
October 17, 2024 - 5:29am

#829

Butch

Joined:
August 2, 2017

Worst Dave's Picks Year

I'm done subscribing. There is so much good 60s and 70s material in the vault, and half the releases these days are the band on the decline. Doesn't matter how many people were buying tickets for the shows (thus is always the argument for the 80s), the recordings suck. I don't how people can stand listening to that keyboard player's bar band vocals. Sure the concerts were great live and in person, but so were the Stones this year but I am not listening to a recording of them in 2024. It's no secret why sales are down. There used to be so many subscriptions that these things would sell out in less than 24 hours. It goes to show hiw few people want a subscription where they're getting two Brent shows a year, usually with bad audio. I would remix Spring 90 without his vocals or most of his keyboards. Dude, learn when to stop playing. Oh, but he made Jerry smile onstage. Never mind. Keep them coming.

We had 1 show from before the hiatus in 2024, including the box set. Dave, Rhino, and Pinkus don't deserve my money when they're holding back great material from 68-74. There won't be 25K Dave's Picks per release next year. They got cocky and tried to mix in too much after hiatus music. The Dave's Picks titanic is sinking. Shame.
October 16, 2024 - 9:19pm

#830

Deadheadbrewer

Joined:
February 2, 2010

Fall '83!

For my money, the best tour between the end of 1978 and the Summer of 1987.

LOVE the cover art!

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Dead Store Products

Dave's Picks Vol. 52: The Downs at Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (9/11/83)

I remember the venue almost like and old fort with roses everywhere. We came to the site and Wavy Gravy showed us where to camp. Ken Kesey was here as well as a couple other big figures of the counterculture. I think because of Mickey's 40th. During drums a double rainbow appeared. Every time it looked like rain the band would stop and then come back even stronger from their breaks. I saw more outdoor shows in 83 than all the years combined. I have goose bumps even typing this from the memories. - xxuncle johnxx, Dead.net

One of the best memories I have were these 2 shows. During the break there was a lightning storm behind the stage, followed by a rainbow and then an awesome 2nd set. Morning Dew with a Cold Rain, Phil singing encore. Most of my tour buddies went home after Red Rocks and I tortured them with the Santa Fe tapes. Nothing beats the magic of a great GD outdoor show. "It all bleeds into one." - grateful hawaiian, Dead.net

In between sets, I remember it rained... and early on in the second set, there was an amazing rainbow directly over the stage behind the band. I don't believe they saw it, but I'm sure they heard about it. "Let It Grow" was awesome! - Johnny_A, Dead.net

The pot at the end of this rainbow is mighty fine, indeed. Our final Dave's Picks release for 2024 features the complete unreleased show from The Downs at Santa Fe, Sante Fe, NM, 9/11/83 (fun fact, it was Mickey's 40th birthday) with just a squidge of 9/10/83 to round things out. A true trader's treat, this one is solid all around from the lively first set featuring soon-to-be minted 80s classics like "Hell In A Bucket" and "West L.A. Fadeaway" to the return of "Help>Slip>Franklin's," the incredible 2nd set surprise of "Let It Grow," and adventurous takes on "He's Gone,""Wang Dang Doodle," and "Morning Dew." It's all well played, my friend, well played.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 52: SANTA FE, NM 9/11/83 was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

43 minute Lovelight.

That's longer than most L.P.s ! If anyone asked me about a great Lovelight, I'd suggest they listen to Live Dead. All of it. One of the best live albums ever released, and one in which every track - including Lovelight - adds to the brilliance of the whole. I think that one clocks in at around the 15 minute mark.

Road Trips Vol4 no 1. features a generous helping of this track. The Big Rock Pow Wow from 4/23-24/69. The first disc ends with a 31 minute version and the second opens with a 27 minute version. What are you waiting for?

JoeyMC

Hey Joey,

In Dave's #52 seaside chat he mentions #53, which will be announced soon.
Per Dave, not a 100% verbatim quote, "#53 is a terrific show that has been on the radar for a long time. When we hit this era next this would be the show for that era. Actually it came down to two shows from that era...."

This would seem to indicate the usual suspects like 77 and 73 are out.

Just speculation at this point. Maybe this means 1980, 1968, not sure.

53

??/??/74

Oh yeah

Forgot about the Priest references over the weekend. Unleashed in the East is still my favorite metal album. I listen to it every couple of years. The time frame for me and my priest was a crossover point in life. Hard rock and metal fading getting into the dead asd still love affair with prog rock. Rush, Yes, King Crimson, ELP, etc. Saw a bunch of prog shows. Metal show July 1981, Whitesnake (with Lord and Paice)>Iron Maiden (Killer's Tour)> Priest. All three great but Priest what an incredible voice back then. Was at the Fox Atlanta mid section 10 rows back. Bought tickets the day b4 as we came to atlanta not knowing they were going to be there. Saw them in 1984 in Hometown. Buddies went to see them a couple months back, said they were very good.

Eras

Deadvikes,
I see what you mean, I think there has been a lot of '77 to start the year off in the past. Something completely different would be nice.

Dave, if you asking me, I what I'm waiting for, I was hoping the "Good News" shipping notification for our latest pick, 52.

RIP Paul Di'Anno....

....original vocalist for Iron Maiden.

Dang Vguy

You were right on it. When I saw him Paul and Maiden, they were excellent. Had just stumbled onto them a few months b4 that fox show. May have to track down the first 2 albums. Maiden played home town in 1983. Dickenson was at a local attraction and a buddy who twerked there let me know. Dickinson about 5'8" and was kind of rude. Guess it matches his name.

Yeah!

I have been hoping for this show to be released for years now! Super terrific and as always...go Brent!

Listening to my fav band…

Listening to my fav band after casting my vote for Trump. This country is so effing effed without him. 78 sounds great. smoke another you dumb hippies.

The clouds of delusion are strong in this one

What a maroon

#52

I’ve had a shipping notice! Of course it hasn’t actually moved yet but DHL have been told about it. The process begins.

Listens to his favorite band....

....then proceeds to call hippies dumb.
You can say the word fuck you know.
Go all in. We're all adults here.
Whatever makes sense. Which that post did not.

This week's tapers section

All 80s selection guess Dave is a bit of a prankster to those ripping on this selection.

Waiting for the worms

All you have to do is follow the worms….

Anniversary show 10/21/78 Winterland

46 years ago I was up at Winter land for another killer show with the Good old Grateful Dead. Fun times!

Very jelly btk

10 21 78

Nice

Listening to my fav band

Go have another Arnold Palmer because you are just boring.

Waiting, Waiting...

Dave says 53 sounds incredible, it's a great show/ terrific show... There were two we were looking at last time we hit this era?? The other that didn't make the cut this time we'll get too next time we hit this era...

March 73??

There I go, thinking again...

I'm putting big money on next year's box being fall '72. (Say, $2?) Dave once said it "has to happen" at some point and it's been years since he said that. Not that his loose ruminations are any more reliable than mine. but that's the box I want, so why not predict it? Black magic has been known to work...

I'm thinking that with the DP series devoted to a full, main show, sometimes with filler, and the remaining late '67 and newly discovered '68 tapes unable or unlikely to fill a box (their sweet spot seems to be 15-20 discs) that maybe Rhino/GD will permit OSF to release something early and tasty. Or just do a "special release," (whatever that is) dammit!

I think the enormous volume of '77 and '78 releases is because TPTB cut a deal with the guys behind ABCD Productions that, in exchange for turning over the tapes, TPTB agreed to release a certain torrent of them. Absolutely unconfirmed, so you see I can play fast and loose with reality, which, to be honest, is what I do best.

Just wishing for wishes on sunny fall morning at the foot of the Rockies. Hope # 53 is tasty. Maybe '81? I have good audience cassette tapes from a late friend who taped the late December run (Oakland?) and 12-26-81 really stands out. (marye said she attended and concurred it's a hot one. Did Billy the Kidd?)

Just ruminating here. Put a dollop of Jameson in my coffee this morning. Obviously...

P.S. I'm glad that the folks here are psyched for '80s tapes and that Dave has an enormous inventory of '80s tapes to release. Yet, like someone commented earlier, I too caught many shows in the '80s, or it seemed like a lot. But that experience is one thing, and listening to the tapes 40 some odd years later and buying the corresponding releases is a different matter. So at some point, they've gotta find a rationale for getting the '67-'69 stuff out. Blah blah blah!

H.F. 12/26/81

Yeah, I was there. It was cool to see Garcia sing Big Boss Man. Fun Times

New O.S.F. Release

My reliable sources tell me that is going to be John Hammond from the Boarding House in 1973. I believe that it is coming out in November. I saw John Hammond play a couple of times, it sounds like a winner.

Box...

November '72

Marye also liked 12/28/81

Dav's Pick 53

11/23/73 County Coliseum - El Paso, TX would be cool!

A Day at the Dentist

Been a longtime fan of 12/26/81.

Out of drums, the boys dick around by mimicking drilling sounds from a dental office before going into a cool little jam and then an Eleven jam. Funny as hell. I used to play that for my kids on the way to daycare. They loved it.

I would be up for that one.

OSF

The OSF site is showing a November release for the John Hammond set.
If I look at preordering from the site it calculates customs charges greater than the cost of the cd, so that’s not on. Amazon US are also showing it as available for preorder and the extra charges are considerably lower. Amazon UK isn’t showing the release yet, but they have had all the previous releases so I’ll wait to see if it appears. Should be good.

The Other One!

Good stuff today, except the other one :(

Would love some '81 New Years run.

Colin & Bear

Just finished Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III. Went to his wiki page and indeed the next journal release is 11/24 John Hammond.

Santa Fe 1983

So excited to get the new Dave’s pic! This was one of my all time favorite shows!

RockinRobinKansasStateU is in....

....RIP Fernando Valenzuela.
I'm old enough to remember him pitching.

Sub 25

Is in. Starting with 10/2/76. Good for me.

Gerhard

Where are you seeing this Gerhard?

Sub 25

At store > music > New Releases.

Sub 25

Gerhard, Thanks. My order is in first attempt with no problems.

There it is

Got it, thanks. Strange they don't have it on the opening page.

10/2/76. Alright! Definitely not a normal era for Dave to start the year with. Great idea

Gerhard & Dave's 2025

Thanks for the heads up.

Order in. My 10/2/76 leaves a lot to be desired, so the "official" release will be welcomed.

Seems the announcement is early this year? Is it?

CSN&Y set to arrive on Friday (Live at Fillmore East, 1969).

Enjoy

Vote?

Vote. But please not that terrible and dangerous clown.

53..

PLUS the last 1 set songs from 4/5 - 77, not on Daves 50.. Number 53 will be a great one..

Shipping?

Anyone get a shipping email for this one yet?

No shipping notification for me

Probably in the near future

Man, that's close to '77…

Man, that's close to '77 though isn't it?
Lol.
He kills me this guy Dave...
:)

One of my favorite Grateful Dead shows....

....ever is going to show up normanilized around the same time that the United States will be on the precipice of a potential major crisis.
Santa Fe Morning Dew to the rescue.

Shipping notice received

Label created, package not yet in transit.

The thing with voting..

Gerhard - is that a vast proportion of society will vote for a nincompoop.

Holy Crap!

You step out for a quick little 3400 mile RT and all kinds of deals go down here lol.
RE 1stshow, TOO and I tag teaming it, time is exit to exit, not including time changes, so actual road time including all stops and hassles. Oh, and not quite exactly 1700…she ended up doing more driving this time as I couldn’t sleep, which sucks as I used to be able to sleep anywhere, even on the base of Arc De Triumph in mid day once lol. The key is to limit time not in motion. When velocitzed etc, time gets weird so it’s easy to blow a half hour, or hour at pit stops etc and not realize it. We approach those like an Indy pit crew: one to the restroom while the other does gas etc, try to keep pit stops under 10 minutes, optimally 5!
But hey, still not bad for a couple old farts. Horrible run coming back, many hassles and perhaps too much too fast with only 2 crazy daze in between.
26.25 hours coming back, 23-24 is average. Caught some of the 10/74 XM plays on way there.
But, Nice to to finally get last of the family loose ends tied up and nice to visit the tundra…sort of lol. Beautiful weather and leaves etc back there and Fun to be in the heart of the mafia especially with a home game win, Go Bills!
Always good to get home though!

53: Berry interesting, that rascally rascal Dave does it again lol
Makes sense in a way, not quite 77 or 78 but…
Haven’t heard this one, and still delinquent on this tour?…
Personally would have loved to see the awesome Rochester show, or something from summer Orpheum, but that’s just talkin out my ass..set list looks good and we were due for some 76! Speaking of, figured ole SeventySixtus would be doing Belushi cartwheels here lol Happy for ya Bra!
Yeah DV I still don’t think the Cobo Boxilla show has resonated with me either, but of course always loved DP 33!
I’ll always do sub, can’t beat it for the price and I enjoy them all, even a dog like 51 (sonically that is, the show (s) were ok). Nowadays, where else can you get that much for a lousy 25 bucks (per show). And if we don’t support it, it will ALL go away and we’ll get nada…AND, you can easily gift or sell one if it’s that big a deal…

Really looking forward to 52, and 53…

Not so much The gales of November. All politicians suck or the TPTB wouldn’t allow them to get elected. But unless I’m more senile then I think, we fought the revolutionary war to NOT have a Dictator/King and royal family etc, but for a free democracy…
And I don’t care who it is, even if it was Garcia, even if in all other ways they’ make a great candidate, anyone who worships and quotes Hitler and Hate ain’t never getting my “dumb ass hippie vote”…gotta light?
AIN’T NO TIME TO HATE!
But, fortunately for now at least it’s still a free country with free speech…
Ok, sorry…soap box back in closet…