Grateful Dead

Good to see you have cheered up a little I hope your dream comes true. But after all your passionate campaigning, when that 80's and 90's box set eventually emerges, you may be held responsible (for better or worse!) ;-)

My favorite aspect of the Grateful Dead and how it relates to their approach to music, is that everybody who ever performed onstage with them at any given time throughout the bands 30 year career had the freedom to translate their parts to the songs in their own unique way. For instance, the original core of Jerry, Bob, Phil, Pigpen and Bill will always be "The" Grateful Dead. Whether these 5 members in specific performed together during '65-'67 and the brief stint after Mickey's departure in '71, they always stayed true to their roots in this incarnation. Beyond that, the subsequent variety of musicians who played with the band, pre-hiatus, whether they were full time members, or the wide variety of guests who recorded, toured or even just sat in for a few shows, consequentially added to the inevitable refinement in the overall sound. Bringing Mickey and Tom Constanten into the mix enhanced the bands sound, for better or worse, depending how picky you might be and your own personal taste, added the experimental nature that stayed with them to the end. The various personnel changes starting with Keith's enterance in October '71 was a necessary evil, if you are of the view that the Dead were terrible after that time in history. For me, I chalk it up to the natural process of evolution, on a musical level. We should feel fortunate that the band lasted as long as they did. Many of their contemporaries from the '60s died young afetr very brief careers, and we'll never know what they would have sounded like 25, 30 years later, let alone until now, nearly 50 years out from 1965. Thats why I love all era's of the Dead. ................................................................... I have to come clean and admit though, that I can't say the same for too many other bands from that era who are still around and have always toured at some capacity. The Stones lost me after Exile On Main Street. Pink Floyd lost me after Roger Waters left. Jefferson Airplane/Starship lost me after Papa John Creach's tenure, in fact, I could have gouged my own ears out everytime "We Built This City" came on the radio every single morning on the way to school in the morning in 11th and 12th grade. Deep Purple on the other hand, they are a band from that era that always, and even still rock, with the exception of that one bad Joe Lynn Turner era album in 1991. The tour was ok, but, he could be the Vince Welnick of Deep Purple....I kid I kid... lol. ;) .................................................................................. I'm now officially and eagerly looking forward to this release from 10/21-22/71 Chicago Theatre, even if I have to wait a little bit longer for the 180 disc Fall '89-Spring '90 super-mega-ultra box set. Just don't limit it's release is all that I ask. ................................................................................... carry on...

Hal_M -- I always enjoy your posts, and I mostly agree with them. Just one tiny quibble. We certainly agree on the best music of the Dead, but you always describe the best years as "tight" and the lesser years as "less tight". Just a matter of semantics, but I would describe the "tightest" playing beginning with 1977. From then on, they stay pretty dang tight through the end, to my ears, and the music suffers accordingly. True enough, the 70-76 years are filled with nights that seem to just crystallize into a perfection that sounds "tight", but it seems to me that was never the Dead's intention. The best years are where they play "loose"! Take 2/14/68 or the Fillmore West '69 shows- it almost sounds like they are playing deliberately, aggressively sloppy!- but it's also some of their greatest and most inspired music. Most of 1970 and fall '73 scream "looseness"! Sorry, I'm just rambling, cuz I'm excited about the new DaP3! Anyways, we love the same stuff!