Grateful Dead

I have a feeling that this might very well be your last chance to get these shows through Dead.net. Why else would they discount them 25? Of the 22 shows in the box, yesterday 13 were still available. Today that number is down to 11. If you don't have any of the ones still available, maybe you should not hesitate any longer? Rock on

Funny, when you don't get on this discussion page daily, a lot of cool things are discussed, but like 3 days ago. I want to comment! So, a few things.... Someone talked about guitar players, and Townsend on stage with Jerry. The whole thing with 'blowing someone off the stage' is the competition mindset that I don't think Jerry had much of. Jerry knew how good he was, (and his band) he didn't need to scream it at the top of his lungs. I don't think Jerry ever would try to embarrass another musician on stage with him. Pete is the only person I ever read that Jerry used the term 'genius' for. I can't see Pete trying to show up Jerry and more than I can see Jerry trying to show up Pete, or any other musician for that matter. As for the ABB, as someone else said, they are so frickin' jealous of the Dead's success! 1st, their brand new cd, which is awesome!, looks JUST LIKE the first Dick's Picks. Weird. 2nd, in their liner notes, the guy writing them, who must work for them and edits a magazine or newsletter named 'Hittin' the Note(?)" says so much stuff that just sounds like he's comparing the ABB to the Dead. So without using the name 'Grateful Dead' he says the ABB are the most improvisational band in the land, how, though they had settled on a set setlist, never played the same song the same way twice, recognized as the 'best live act in the country', the ABB was 'unique in its sound and approach to music', a bassist who 'played like a 3rd lead guitarist', they were greater than the sum of its parts, redefined the term "improvisational", you get the point. Look, I love the ABB as much as anyone, and Duane was uniquely special, but come on guys...give it a rest!!!! Why they feel the need to knock the Dead all the time is beyond me. Jeez, I saw a Beacon show one year (with Betts still in the band) and during the show they showed images of Hendrix, Jerry!, and the of course Duane. As for Rush, they were one of my brothers favs, so I saw them on the 2112 tour and Farewell to Kings tour. My brother loved Yes, so I saw them, too. Never got that into Rush, though I did like those albums. My favorite song, though, is I Think I'm Going Bald! (2nd album?) There was a recent doc about Rush, and when they 1st toured the states they were the opening band for Kiss! The Kiss guys watched out for them. Kiss would like tuck the Rush boys in bed after the show and then the Kiss guys partied!!! But Rush said what they learned touring with Kiss was that you HAD to bring your A-game every night. So, other American bands I listen to? NRBQ, who are still out there with Terry, but I hear are playing just awesome shows. How can any deadhead not love the Radiators???? And I think if you haven't listened to the 3 Big Star records, you are missing out on something truly special and unique....

Lots of folks love the JGB gospel cover: "I'll Be With Thee." The woman who sang it originally is (for me) a recent & radiant discovery...the amazing Dorothy Love Coates. While her "best of" CD is packed with so-called "hits," it's another CD, of alternate takes & previously unreleased tracks, entitled "Get On Board," that's the true treasure. My God, this woman's raw vocal approach is so authentically stirring; and I'm not even Christian...it doesn't matter! I hate to use the overused cliche "jaw dropping," but her songs are overflowing with jaw-dropping, eye-bulging moments of raw uplifting power. No doubt Jerry knew of this, since the JGB covered "I'll Be With Thee."

Cant understand the love for Dire S, saw them often at the Hope and Anchor, Islington back in the day, an Ok pub rock band, but thats about it. Been following all the fave band contributions, but what about now? Well heres a suggestion, HAZMAT MODINE!!!Any love? And if not, why not? Check them out. Public Service Announcement.

E72 is great but the learning curve involved for Dead.net was steep and hence E72 was under-delivered. Still it is great but the underestimation of the required time did indeed result it less than the perfect amount of time and devotion given to the mixes. The cd sleeves needed a more solid and costlier prototype and some of the 'trinkets' were not there. Bottom Line: E72 is still great and the cost per disc was still a bargain. I do prefer the smaller boxes like the forthcoming July 78 over the 30 Trips. My 2 cents. Come on Spring Time already!! Cold morning up here in the North East of The Americas.

Still a great band. True, the albums through Signals were their best, but they still continued to make decent albums with a few great songs on them, and every few albums would have mostly great songs on them, especially their last few. And despite not selling multi-millions of records post-Signals, their albums all sold gold, and some platinum. They also continued to sell out arenas every album and tour they did, and there many since Signals (13 I believe). Compared to other bands who survived the 70s, I think this is an almost unparalleled accomplishment. Other bands have had the touring success, but not the volume and success of the studio LPs. They also experienced a resurgence in mainstream popularity the last 10 years, which culminated in their selection for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

The recording of Cornell '77 in the library of Congress was deemed so important that the govt used an audience and/other soundboard sourced tape for the federal archive, I can go look up the actual lineage if anyone is really cares. I saw this a few years ago in an article about the Betty tapes, I believe. So it is not a master copy from the reels but a higher quality tape than most that circulate. I have a copy of what I believe was used for the LOC if anyone would like a copy, I pulled it from Archive.org before they shut down the downloads and backdoors. The tape is thick sounding, mixed we'll and quality throughout with no hiss, even the audience is audible but not overbearing like some audience tapes. Whenever I play it for people most are baffled as to why this recording of the show is heads above what they have heard from Cornell before. The first song, as is typical, starts out sounding a little more hollow and may be a patch from an earlier less quality tape. Cheers! Edit: oops I guess I should scroll down more before tackling a question Minas already provided the link to Blairs explanation, cheers again!

Thought I would comment, but will have to watch what I say, sometimes it's easy to say what really went down, but wouldn't want the safety Nazis to get offended and turn me in...lol. I totally agree, E72 is the best release that the ptb and Rhino have released to this date, the dark stars and the other ones from this tour are the best of the best. My favorite dark star is of course 5-4, Paris, what a fantastic piece of orchestration, done on the fly, by the best bunch of improve artist ever. Don't get me wrong, they are all great, the best, but this one is special. This dark star will take you there and back again like no other, simply gorgeous and fantastic and trippy, all at once. The overdub thing is kind of a silly argument, it's what it is, can't change it, wish it wasn't so but there you have it, they wanted perfection "just exactly perfect" comes to mind, so they dubbed, so what, it's all still the greatest show on earth. Butch Trucks and the ABB, what can you say, these guys were so jealous of the Dead it is almost pathetic, they wish there following was as loyal and dedicated as we were to the boys, they are also so pissed off that they did not record all their shows, so add the green with envy color to them for not having the forethought to do it, even after they knew the dead were doing it, too bad, I would have loved to have some of those shows with Duane to listen to now, but they were not recorded. As far as Trucks' opinion, he definitely did not listen to the dead or understand the beauty or "get it" in anyway, just a drummers opinion which, according to Billy's book, didn't hold a lot of weight. Rush was, I repeat, was a great band, their 2112 lp was the best thing they ever did, Ticket to Bangkok was an anthem to all us heads back in the day. Saw them several times, for a three man band, they were the best thing going in the early seventies, for a three man band. Dire Straits, loved Mark Knoffler, saw them several times in the seventies, loved his style, loved the band, even though they had a hard time keeping up with him. I have a story that is true, please, the names have been changed to protect us all... A close friend knew Mark and was in communication with him in 78 when they were coming over to the US for a show, they had never been here before and they were a bit weary of the US audience and how they would be received, my friend said "we will make you feel right at home, don't worry, you guys are great" so over they came, played a great tour and at the end, at a show in Florida, my friend and I were invited to attend with full backstage admittance. It was fabulous, we were treated like one of the band and all due to my friend who had turned the guys onto a real treat...I can't mention it here but they were all familiar with the European version of it but not the US version, they loved it, simply loved it and played such a frenzied and laid back show that night, all due to the party favors supplied by my friend. That's how the seventies were, real comrades, real good times, will never be another decade like it.

Yes, I listened to 4-8-72 tonight, too. It's been awhile but, man, it's an all time favorite. Top 10 Dark Star for sure, almost certainly a top five. But it's more than that, a great show from start to finish. The energy from this era is just incredible and, while I'm not opposed to 80s shows, it's obvious why there are so many releases from 72. More fall 72 would be just fine with me, but more fall '73 (post-horns, obviously) is way overdue for the box set treatment.

http://m.sfgate.com/news/article/SFO-grateful-dead-7222686.php