Welcome back to the Tapers' Section, where this week we'll listen to music from a relatively short span, but a very productive and inspired period, 1969-1973.
The first few months of 1969 featured some of the most consistently great music in the Grateful Dead then-brief career, featuring the three nights at the Avalon in January, the four nights at the Fillmore West a month later, and then a terrific April tour, not to mention the two monster shows on May 23 and 24 in Florida. Most shows during this time were recorded to robust-sounding reels, but some were only recorded to cassette, which sound a little less dynamic. But, the music nonetheless shines through. From a cassette master recorded on 4/20/69 in Worcester, MA, we have Morning Dew, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Doin' That Rag.
We next have some music from 2/6/70 at the Fillmore West, during one of the busiest three month spans in Grateful Dead history. Pull out your deadbase and see what they were up to from early December, 1969 to March, 1970, and how much travelling they did. A two week example: January 30, 31 and February 1 in New Orleans (after two nights in Hawaii!), February 2 in St. Louis, February 3 and 4 at the Family Dog in San Francisco for the TV taping, February 5, 6, 7 and 8 at the Fillmore West, February 11, 13 and 14 at the Fillmore East in NY. Phew! From 2/6/70, we have Cumberland Blues ; Cold Rain And Snow ; Dire Wolf, Me And My Uncle, Hard To Handle , Dancing In The Street, Casey Jones.
In September of 1973, the Dead did a short tour of the east coast starting on 9/7/73 and ending on 9/26/73. From the 9/24/73 show in Pittsburgh, we have the end of the first set and the start of the second set: China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Around and Around; Ramble On Rose, El Paso, Mississippi Half-Step.
Be sure to stop by next week for more tunes from the vault.
David Lemieux
vault@dead.net