Grateful Dead

Decided to give the Strand lyceum 5/23/72 show a spin and Donna's contributions are just about perfect in contrast to her ad libs in July '78. Wow, what a great show... Oddly enough, I've almost completely neglected the 4 Strand Lyceum '72 shows since getting the steamer trunk box when it first came out. This is like a brand new show to me. I'll come right out and say that my personal favorite versions of "Good Lovin'" are from this tour. So many winners from E'72, that whenever I think I have a favorite show narrowed down, another one jumps out at me. Like the 30 Trips box, E'72 is the box that keeps on giving.

Without going into "show by show" and "song by song" critical analysis mode, this is a very strong run of shows for '78. I like that Phil is up in the mix for much of the first show. The Dead were just starting to tap into the higher energy approach and musical muscle that they would perfect in the '80s, especially the period when Jerry briefly became sober. I acquired the board recording of 7/8 many years ago, and that was good quality. This version surpasses that one. I don't mind Bob's slide playing most of the time, even though he would occasionally go overboard with it. For me, it doesn't detract from the rest of what's going on in the music. I can't say the same for the bulk of Donna's contributions here though. There are moments where she reigns it in decently enough like she did in '76 and '77, but all too often, she over-sings and ruins what are otherwise awesome moments. In hindsight, I really wish Jerry or Phil would have stepped-up into band leader mode and made her listen back to her performances after the shows. All too often, to my ears, her voice distracts from the awesomeness going on around her. It reminds me of an episode of Family Guy where Peter and Lois Griffin find Brian's bag of weed and decide to put their folk duo back together. In their stoned minds they thought what they were doing sounded awesome, then they show the audiences perspective and all they were doing is falling all over each other while moaning and drooling. Donna's voice can be like fingernails on a chalkboard at times for me, yet beautiful when she stays disciplined like the Spring and May '77 run. End of Donna bashing tirade... Otherwise, I think this is a very cool set with some inspired performances. The artwork and package design is another winner.

Agree with Spacebro about one aspect of Donna's vocals in these shows. I love Donna, but there are three distinct elements to her vocal performances in these shows that creep up and detract from time to time: 1) She is over-utilized. I prefer when she did not sing on every track. Back in the early days, she used to come out for certain songs, and then retire for large parts of the show. Back in the Europe '72 days, she had her spots: Playing in the Band; Greatest Story Ever Told; Sing Me Back Home; Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad; later on in '73 / '74, she would come out for Weather Report Suite. You get the picture - she was utilized selectively. There was a truckload of songs she did not sing on, even though she was present at the show: Sugar Magnolia, Ramble On Rose, Deal, Uncle John's Band, Not Fade Away, and many many more. In contrast, by 1978, she was on-stage full time, singing on every track. All of the songs I mentioned above, I personally prefer the non-Donna versions from the early 70s. But this is only part of the story with her vocals, and this is where observation #2 comes in. 2) She is TOO HIGH IN THE MIX! There are performances in this box set, Cassidy for example, where she normally sounds very good, but is so high in the mix on these July '78 versions that it doesn't sound great. You take April 24 in Normal (just a couple months earlier) and we have a mix where she is balanced with Bobby, and they sound great. Same goes for her lead vocal in The Music Never Stops - these were performances I was anticipating enthusiastically, because she blew the door off the hinges in previous '77 / '78 versions. Too much volume, though, detracts from the performance. I also hear the typically smooth balance of Donna / Bobby and Donna / Jerry lacking on a lot of these songs, where it was intact in other releases from roughly the same period. It is important to note that this may not have even been an issue onstage at the show. Depending on how loud their stage monitors were, it may well HAVE sounded good to them. You'll notice she always sounds best on recordings derived from 16-reel Multi-track, because she has her own track that Norman can adjust volume on and mix properly into the final version we hear. And you can't really hold Betty accountable, because, while it is she who mixes them at the board (and subsequently the tape), the only thing that matters at the time of the show is how they sound to each other through the stage monitors, and how they sound over the PA to the audience. Volume was a very difficult thing to manage in the old analog days, and I think in this case, it's illustrated for us the limitations of two-track recording. 3) As Spacebro mentioned, she's a little bit too aggressive with the screams and oooh/aaaahs and other vocalization noises. I guess they all did this a bit more in '78, and that's one of the distinctions in this year of "loose more rockin' Dead". I think all of these things could have been worked out without (and some were), but it seems in the end there was some insurmountable conflict in the band as a whole, sooo.....circle the wagons boys.... I should also note - none of this makes or breaks a show for me personally, or even a song - it's more like a "well, if I had the fine tuning knob of history at my finger tips, what would I do" Cousins - LOL - funny comment about tone-deaf Bobby.

I feel the exact opposite: I don't mind Donna oversinging, because she does not sing over Jerry's solos(with the possible exception of Scarlet). On the other hand, Bob plays(out of tune) over Jerry's leads and while he's doing that, he's not holding the rhythm.Examples abound: Going Down the Road from the '78 30 Trips box, or even worse Sugaree from 12/28/79...Jerry's playing his heart out, while Bobby's ruining the whole feel of the jam. For a while I though he was tone-deaf, how could he not hear how off-key he played??

Happy to see that everyone is enjoying this box as much as I am! The sound quality here is just amazing in my view. I have been having fun listening to these at home and in the car. I went right for 7/7 the other night - really nice. Spent a couple of days on 7/1, which I really enjoyed. Yesterday, I went for 7/3. To my ears, the band sounds on during the second set. In general its seems the band is really "on" during all of these shows. There are a lot of nice little unique nuances and riffs in the version of many of these tunes. Last night I was able to get a nice listening state of mind and put on the headphones - post drums 7/3. Wow! What a Stella. That whole post drums set really rocked me. Show sounds so good on the headphones - true ear candy. I'm psyched to dive into these shows this summer. 7/8/78 was THE tape for me back in the 90s that really drew me into the Dead's music. I'm saving that one and can't wait. Thank you to everyone who brought us this music.

....Day of the Dead 5 disc set. Did anyone else order one of those?....

I made it through a couple of listens to 7-1 over the weekend. I agree with the general sentiment; very energetic despite some vocal miscues. The sound is fantastic, especially at LOUD volumes, but i did notice that bit of vocal distortion at high volume too. Is that distortion something the house heard? Or was it due to Betty's mix? Is it possible to tell? It doesn't diminish the quality or enjoyability of the show, I was just wondering. I plan to spin 7-3 tonight for a first go. Slow and steady wins the race for me. On the 30 trips front I've listened to everything except '95. Just can't bring myself to for some reason. It'll happen eventually. I was positively surprised by '92 - '94 though. I don't listen to that era much, but there were some great moments. Between 30 trips, July '78, and the Dave's picks there's a lot to digest right now. But i'm having a great time trying.

Stoltzfus I like your list, those are some of my goto shows. No coincidence that a lot of them are multi-tracks (while two track is technically multi-track, Producers coloquially use the term multi-track in reference to 4+ tracks). But my point is, I tend to put the better sounding shows higher on my list, and multi-tracks inevitably sound better. That being said, your pick I REALLY like is 3/28/73. I thought this DaP 16 show was really really hot, but my recollection is that a lot of folks just found it to be average.

8/27/7212/31/76 5/2/70 July 78 12/31/78 Winterland 74 Rockin' the Rhein Stepping out with the GD Fillmore East 71 3/28/73 I love everything else, of course; these stand out to me as truly special.

Yes, also love Bobby in China Cat, at I think the same spot you're talking about. Also love his slide playing on Stagger Lee, Closing Of Winterland - he got it right on that one! His guitar sounds very different in the late 70s, not sure what accounts for it. Sounds like some kind of mild flange effect, with high midrange, low distortion. Just guessing. Would love to know how he achieves it.