Grateful Dead

Last five: 1. Accept- balls to the wall 2.Megadeth-holy wars-the punishment due. 3.Ted nugent-stranglehold. 4.AC/DC- whole lotta rosie. 5.Deep purple-knocking at your back door. There!!

Ween - Colorado 10.30.19 (current)
GOGD - Dave's 31. Chicago 12.3.79
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Oingo Boingo - Only A Lad
Los Lobos - Tin Can Trust

....Phish do a good job when barbershop quarteting.
https://youtu.be/YIyOVw0v5Sk
"You've really made the grade."

I would like to add that Crosby stills nash (young), should also be included in your post on harmonizing. They are a great example. Your post was interesting because this subject is a complex process and not really found in bands anymore. Harmonizing requires extreme dedication and time. P.S. thanks Caseyjanes for your jam DS time question. Good one.

Superb

Thanks Dave. I must have got some defective copies. Bought them from Nugs.net. I will be contacting them.
By the way, what is your favorite from the Download series. #1 kicks ass, would love to see this released on CD.

They sound pretty good to me when in JGB.

5-21-76 Don’t Let Go is a good commercial release if you don’t already have it.

But, your ears are more discerning than mine.

Thanks GD, Dave, Norman, TPTB, ABCD, etc.
Rhino too, but you need to pick up your game a bit and stop letting down your loyal customers.

I’m extremely grateful to be getting these releases on a regular basis. They pretty much always sound better than what was already in circulation, and sometimes we get stuff that wasn’t in circulation.

And if/when it doesn’t sound the way you wanted it to sound, just remember the caveat emptors that used to come on DP’s.
(Some people have called for a return of caveats, which isn’t a bad idea)

Here’s one:

Dick's Picks differs from our From The Vault series in that we simply did not have access to complete shows (nor the modern mixing capabilities afforded by multitrack tapes) But we think the historical value and musical quality of these tapes more than compensates for any technical anomalies... In other words what you hear is what you get. And what you get ain't bad!

....if you wanna good laugh or twenty, watch Schitts Creek on Netflix.

Beat It On Down the Line - first let me say, I agree with you, the vocals do not sound good. But it's not for the reason that you say, which is that Donna can't hit a note. Donna sings exactly what she is supposed to be singing exactly the way she's supposed to be singing it. So is Bob Weir. They are not trying to sing the lyrics the exact same way. They are trying to harmonize, which is what the technique is called when one singer sings a verse differently than the other, for a blend that sounds good when sung together properly. For example, one sings the melody "up" and the other sings the melody "down" (or if there are three singers one can sing it "flat") Or they can accent certain lyrics within a verse differently for effect. As I said when this is done properly it sounds really good and is called harmonizing (Yes - All Good People vocal intro).

The reason it doesn't sound good on this performance (and a lot of these two track tape releases) is because the singers are recorded at two different levels. As you stated yourself the volume of the vocal levels change during parts of this show. What I hear is Donna recorded much louder than Bob - and there's more to it than just volume, let me explain.

But first it should be clear, this does not mean that this is the way it came through the PA that night at the show when people in Philadelphia heard them. Completely different listening experience. It is simply a deficiency with two track recordings. You can't harmonize well on the board recording if the mix is uneven. This is one of the reasons that multitrack recordings sound so much better (the levels can be fixed in the production process). It is also one of the reasons Betty Cantor Jackson was so good at her job. She was able to mix a board like nobody's business. At least by 1977 or earliear. I would guess that she did not record this show at the board.

Mister heartbreak, what you seem to expect is that the two singers should be singing in UNISON on Beat It On Down the Line. Singing in unison is singing the exact same lyrical phrase the exact same way. For example in Scarlet Begonias when Donna and Jerry sing the "get shown the light" lyric.

I think the bottom line is that you've come to expect something that they weren't going for and that they didn't achieve due to the recording. Screams and non lyrical vocals from Donna aside, she and Jerry were the two best singers in the band hands down, technically speaking. Even at this show.