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    Dave's Picks Vol. 52: The Downs at Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (9/11/83)

     

    I remember the venue almost like and old fort with roses everywhere. We came to the site and Wavy Gravy showed us where to camp. Ken Kesey was here as well as a couple other big figures of the counterculture. I think because of Mickey's 40th. During drums a double rainbow appeared. Every time it looked like rain the band would stop and then come back even stronger from their breaks. I saw more outdoor shows in 83 than all the years combined. I have goose bumps even typing this from the memories. - xxuncle johnxx, Dead.net

    One of the best memories I have were these 2 shows. During the break there was a lightning storm behind the stage, followed by a rainbow and then an awesome 2nd set. Morning Dew with a Cold Rain, Phil singing encore. Most of my tour buddies went home after Red Rocks and I tortured them with the Santa Fe tapes. Nothing beats the magic of a great GD outdoor show. "It all bleeds into one." - grateful hawaiian, Dead.net

    In between sets, I remember it rained... and early on in the second set, there was an amazing rainbow directly over the stage behind the band. I don't believe they saw it, but I'm sure they heard about it. "Let It Grow" was awesome! - Johnny_A, Dead.net

    The pot at the end of this rainbow is mighty fine, indeed. Our final Dave's Picks release for 2024 features the complete unreleased show from The Downs at Santa Fe, Sante Fe, NM, 9/11/83 (fun fact, it was Mickey's 40th birthday) with just a squidge of 9/10/83 to round things out. A true trader's treat, this one is solid all around from the lively first set featuring soon-to-be minted 80s classics like "Hell In A Bucket" and "West L.A. Fadeaway" to the return of "Help>Slip>Franklin's," the incredible 2nd set surprise of "Let It Grow," and adventurous takes on "He's Gone,""Wang Dang Doodle," and "Morning Dew." It's all well played, my friend, well played.

    Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 52: SANTA FE, NM 9/11/83 was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

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  • itsburnsy
    Joined:
    Expectations

    My expectations are low, so hopefully they get exceeded. One thing to know Butch is the 3rd and 4th picks are always the weakest, never a long tent pole show. Anyway, I do love a release with filler!

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    Dave Picks 52

    I’m down!
    Only heard these once working in the garage but I really liked em, especially the 10th, but the 11 is good too, perhaps best of the fall, although I’ve always been partial to 8/27 just for the Jack Straw Phil Phest.

    Anyone interested in this time might also enjoy 10/16, 17, 18, and 22, among others…

    Strider! Nice to see ya!

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    Morning Buzz Kill

    FFS, we get it, some folks are very particular with what THEY like.
    No problemo, just why do they have to be such a nasty pricks about it?
    Guess that’s what we’ve turned into in the modern world…

    And as far as unequal representation, hmmmm Id say over representation if you actually think before you spew, with 25 outta 52 picks from the 9 pre hiatus years of 66-74, so almost 50% of all Dave’s are from only 9 years, or less than 1/3 of all the years….really, only six years as 66-68 has for whatever reason been ignored.
    So almost half of all picks are from only 6 years, yeah Boo Hoo, totally under represented…

    And spare us the nonsense about everybody’s opinion is important etc,
    Once again, ad nauseam, I’m not suggesting that folks can’t dislike something or not have an opinion, just don’t be a dick about it!, because ya know what sucks more than being disappointed by a pick…waking up all happy to enjoy a new day, come to what is supposed to be the happy safe place, read about a new pick, and instead get such hostilities. Total Buzz Kill!

    Edit: FOTD box ?…yes, the DL situation is not cool, but your mixing apples and oranges cause the CD box is one of the best as far as recordings, sonics and production!

  • tnjed98
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    Strider

    Strider! Can you please explain how someone calling attention to the repeatedly stale picks, as well as the recent technically deficient FOTD release, is a "buzzkill" ?? As stated, I am personally a huge fan of the Brent years - but the fact remains that the picks are getting stale. I guess if you are not blindly praising and paying Lemieux for whatever half-ass*d product he chooses to put out, then you are a hater. Happy to wear that label if so.

    Personally, I prefer when I purchase something for it to work as expected and not be laden with file errors or poor audio. Did you even listen to 51? Sound quality was utter garbage

  • Strider 808808
    Joined:
    My favorite show of the 80s.

    Remind me not to read all the comments. Hater posts about this Dead show. No buzz kill please.
    Thank you Dave. Great pick.

  • canoncito@gmail.com
    Joined:
    Best and Worst Times in Santa Fe

    Home town shows for me (lived a couple miles away in La Cienega). It was the Best and the Worst of times....

    Best was 3 Red Rocks shows, then coming home for this, and even better, the night off in between was Zozobra night, the kickoff of Santa Fe's Fiesta weekend...ten thousand plus gathered to burn Old Man Gloom, a 50' puppet, groaning and waving his arms in full ritual glory, letting go all our glooms from the year. So fun to share that with a friend from back east and a couple new show-friends who tagged along as we came south!

    Also Best was the aforementioned weather magic, lightning in the foothills behind the stage as the first set ended, and the rainbow as they cranked it up for set 2 with Help on the Way. Classic!

    The Worst, I'm afraid, reared its head in both concrete and creative realms....The Downs was set up for these shows (as in the previous fall) with the stage facing the grandstand from across the track's oval. This created some awful echoes for those in the middle; of course, you could solve that by moving up close enough to the speakers to overwhelm the echo....or by being way back in the stands....but not ideal for those who like to wander! (a later Lyle Lovett show I saw there rectified this by setting up parallel to the stands).

    Sadly, this show featured what I felt at the time to be my clearest experience of Jerry's issues in these years. The way I heard the Help/Slip/Franklins sequence, Bobby was doing something really fun and creative at one point (I'm a "Bobby Fans are People, Too" guy), and ol' Jer just totally fell off the side of the train at just the point we were primed for him to ante up and raise the stakes. Just lost it. Happens to the best of us, I know....but it was pretty striking at the time.

    The next summer, my compilation of the few(ish) highlights of that year's set of Red Rocks shows was called "Are We Having Fun Yet?" It was a rough stretch for sure.

    Ah, well, not griping about the release or the band or the challenges Jerry was grappling with. Just my memories of these shows.... Which of course were still way fun in the moment despite the transient reminders of the deeper troubles lurking within.

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Bulls Eye

    Butch - I agree with most of your post - I'm not sure I'd go along with remixing a show and dropping a musician that was there out of the mix ( Brent) however irksome his contributions became.

    I enjoyed a lot of live music in the 1980's that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny now. I saw Hawkwind loads of time in the 80's and always enjoyed it - but I wouldn't recommend any of their live albums from that era. You really had to have been there - and I suspect it's the same with Dead shows. Maybe they will concentrate on souvenir shows from now on - ones that the greatest number of people attended, which would necessarily mean concentrating on 1980s-1990s.
    Not good. This could be the first year when I haven't wanted any of the Daves Picks shows that have come out.

  • DeadVikes
    Joined:
    Dennis

    Yes, September 11, Dennis.

    Yes, it has been a different couple of years for Dave's Picks, but put me in the camp of wanting more variety, not less. There are tons of great shows out there from all eras. But, not everybody will be happy.

    For me, the Frost shows were my favorite so far and that was a surprise to me, but I really like them and keep listening to them.

    Based on sales, #49 is the only one that is actually sold out. You still have three from last year that are still available. Maybe they should cut it back a few thousand. Not sure that will happen.

    My least favorite of the year was #51, sound quality is not very good.

    I haven't heard the Santa Fe show yet, looking forward to it.

  • tnjed98
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    Joined:
    When will Lemieux stop hoarding and grifting?

    Could not agree more with Butch's comment about how poor these releases have gotten, and this is coming from a huge fan of the Brent years. David, why do you continue to keep so many of the great, classic shows bottled up and give us this bull instead? Holding it all for the inevitable $5-600 GD60 Box?

    Even worse than the choice of show for Vol 52 - how could anyone confidently expect a quality product from these clowns when the FOTD set was such a flaming pile of trash?

    At my last count nearly 40 tracks in the set are totally unplayable, with no solution from Lemiuex and the crew but a refund - if you take the time to reach out and ask. No one from Dead.net coming out and saying, "hey - don't buy this it doesn't work properly." Very shady if you asked me but oh well, on to the next release of "top notch Grateful Dead music," so who cares! I wonder if/when enough of us heads will realize that these "archivists" are really just grifters ripping us all off.

    My recommendation to anyone reading; buy a cheap external hard drive and fill it with free, high quality FLAC for less $ than you're spending on one or two of these bogus releases. Stop giving David Lemieux your money for nothing of value in return.

  • Dennis
    Joined:
    Numbers on Birds?

    I see 11 & 40 on the birds,,, I assume the 40 is mick's birthday. Is 11 the date?

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Dave's Picks Vol. 52: The Downs at Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (9/11/83)

 

I remember the venue almost like and old fort with roses everywhere. We came to the site and Wavy Gravy showed us where to camp. Ken Kesey was here as well as a couple other big figures of the counterculture. I think because of Mickey's 40th. During drums a double rainbow appeared. Every time it looked like rain the band would stop and then come back even stronger from their breaks. I saw more outdoor shows in 83 than all the years combined. I have goose bumps even typing this from the memories. - xxuncle johnxx, Dead.net

One of the best memories I have were these 2 shows. During the break there was a lightning storm behind the stage, followed by a rainbow and then an awesome 2nd set. Morning Dew with a Cold Rain, Phil singing encore. Most of my tour buddies went home after Red Rocks and I tortured them with the Santa Fe tapes. Nothing beats the magic of a great GD outdoor show. "It all bleeds into one." - grateful hawaiian, Dead.net

In between sets, I remember it rained... and early on in the second set, there was an amazing rainbow directly over the stage behind the band. I don't believe they saw it, but I'm sure they heard about it. "Let It Grow" was awesome! - Johnny_A, Dead.net

The pot at the end of this rainbow is mighty fine, indeed. Our final Dave's Picks release for 2024 features the complete unreleased show from The Downs at Santa Fe, Sante Fe, NM, 9/11/83 (fun fact, it was Mickey's 40th birthday) with just a squidge of 9/10/83 to round things out. A true trader's treat, this one is solid all around from the lively first set featuring soon-to-be minted 80s classics like "Hell In A Bucket" and "West L.A. Fadeaway" to the return of "Help>Slip>Franklin's," the incredible 2nd set surprise of "Let It Grow," and adventurous takes on "He's Gone,""Wang Dang Doodle," and "Morning Dew." It's all well played, my friend, well played.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 52: SANTA FE, NM 9/11/83 was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

Admittedly, I have not listened to this box yet. I opened it and inspected the contents and got back to listening to other things--namely Geese (they rock). You say there are 40 tracks unplayable? What shows? Has anyone else had this issue? It give me PTSD from the HCS box set and waiting for those replacement discs.

Now I have to get to listening except it won't be this weekend...too busy seeing live music!

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Dead/WBRhino should adopt a system similar to Pearl Jam, who makes most, if not all, of their shows available. Ordering is easy, you can order as a CD or as FLAC, and the quality is outstanding. I get it is somewhat “apples & oranges” in that Pearl Jam records their shows knowing they will be released, so recording quality is top notch, whereas the Jeffrey Norman team must reconstruct some pretty old tapes for 21st Century listening that were never intended for release.
But the current system of Dave L choosing only 4 shows a year, that never gain full consensus, plus Boxes that often are hit or miss, there must be a better way.
You don’t need an Archivist to tell you what sounds good, anymore than you don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

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In reply to by That Mike

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....but they have a top shelf business model.
Saw Judas Preist Wednesday night. Great show. Rob Halford has still got it 💥

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Nice if they started giving us a hi res file of the cover art.

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