Welcome back to the Tapers' Section, and a huge Happy New Year to everyone. We hope you have/had a great New Year's Eve.
We'll end our 2012 and start our 2013 with a nice sequence from 1/24/71 in Seattle, with a double dose of Pigpen followed by a classic Garcia/Hunter tune, Lovelight>Drums>Good Lovin'>Uncle John's Band. There's a cut in the master reel (reel change would be more accurate) during Good Lovin', and the sound gets a bit fluttery from then onward, but the music's good so it's very tolerable. The Grateful Dead only played four shows in early 1971 before Mickey left the band, but they're all really good.
If you've been following the Tapers' Section the past few weeks, you'll notice we've played some music from 4/21/78 in Lexington, KY, and we're happy to continue that this week, with the end of the show featuring Jam>Stella Blue, Truckin'>Playing In The Band; Werewolves Of London, US Blues. The show three days later on 4/24/78 is widely known for it's Stayin' Alive teases, but this Jam from 4/21 coming out of Rhythm Devils has distinct Stayin' Alive grooves going on. Very cool stuff, one of the better stand-alone jams from 1978. This is the second version of Werewolves Of London, debuted a couple of days before on 4/19/78 in Columbus. Interestingly, Warren Zevon's Werewolves entered the pop music charts on 4/22/78. Did the Dead have anything to do with that? We just don't know. An old friend from Ottawa, Canada, went to see the Dead in Syracuse on 5/9/78, a short three hour drive from Ottawa. On the way down, he and his crew played Werewolves of London relentlessly, singing along the whole way. He said they were completely floored when the Dead encored with Werewolves. The Dead, playing a cover of a current, brand-new hit single that was all over the radio at the time. Very cool. Steve Willcock, this one's for you.
Jumping ahead a decade, we've got a good post-Drums sequence from 12/28/88 in Oakland, with a couple of unique twists, featuring Uncle John's Band>I Need A Miracle>Foolish Heart>Lovelight; It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. The first little oddity here is the Uncle John's Band out of Space, and the second is the Foolish Heart in the “ballad slot.” Foolish Heart was new in 1988, and still hadn't found its home in the set list, similar to Victim Or The Crime, which could appear in the first or second set as well. One thing to note is the nifty little jam out of I Need A Miracle. As Miracle is winding down, they build it up to a short-but-monstrous energy level. For a few seconds, it felt like the roof was going to blow off the place.
Thanks for stopping in, and we'll look forward to seeing you here next week.
David Lemieux
vault@dead.net