Grateful Dead

The two albums where Mick Taylor really shines for me, are the Keith lite Goats Head Soup and It's Only Rock n' Roll. Superb soloing by Mick T. on Time Waits For No One.

I like Ron Wood, but he seemed to adopt a kind of court jester role with The Stones which I found a bit tiresome. I do like these archival Stones live releases though - the Taylor years are still the gold standard, but the last two I got-from The Steel Wheels tour 1989 and 1998 in Beunos Aires rock like the proverbial b......Specially the 1998 one.

50 years ago today………….

April 25, 1971
Fillmore East, New York City, New York

Set 1: Truckin'-Loser-Hard To Handle-Me And Bobby McGee-Cold Rain And Snow-The Rub-Playing In The Band-Friend Of The Devil-China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider-Casey Jones

Set 2: Morning Dew-Beat It On Down The Line-Next Time You See Me-Bertha-Sugar Magnolia-Second That Emotion-Good Lovin'-Sing Me Back Home-“Spanish jam tuning”-Not Fade Away>Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad>Not Fade Away

It’s long way from Durham to the Fillmore East. About 480 miles, give or take a little………

Pinballing through New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Maine, North Carolina, and finally back once again to New York, you’d think the Dead would be tired by now…………

On this evening of wonders, they sure don’t sound tired. As so often happened, it appears the Dead upped their game being back in the big apple. They start high, and then soar. The ultra crunchy Hard To Handle. The hyperkinetic Rub. The once-in-71 Friend Of The Devil. The fine China/Rider. The powerful Dew to open the second set. The greasy Good Lovin’. The typically fine NFA suite to close it all out. Maybe not so famous as other shows in this run, but oh so worthy!!

This is classic Dead!!!

Rock on!!!

Doc
Life is one long process of getting tired

Received mine. #38 on the way. I actually forgot the show date other than the '73 part. Would be fun to receive it before the on-sale announcement for the surprise.

Just wanted to chime in about my appreciation
for the Mick Taylor era. As Daverock points out the real
secret to the Stones true sound was the Jagger/Richard/Watts
lock-down (Charlie comes in a nano-beat behind Keith).
That said Mick Taylor played the sweetest leads for their
material - by far. He was more instrumental in a few
key songs than most people realize - Moonlight Mile - Keith
passed out on the studio floor and Jagger, ever the economist
demanded the sessions proceed and Taylor composed and played
all guitars, Likewise with Goats Head Soup where he plays bass
on several of the tracks as well as co-credited for Winter.
Live by ’73 he was very frustrated with Keith’s erratic
playing. One night MT was just expected to be the gun slinging
guitarist while others he had to carry the show cause KR was
checked out. The final straw came on It’s Only Rock and Roll
when he and Jagger co-wrote “If You Really Want To Be My
Friend”, yet when the album came out it was credited to the
Glimmer Twins. Adios Stones …
I always loved Ron Wood with the Faces, yet it seemed
he really dumbed down his act when he joined the Stones.
His best work was on Some Girls - otherwise he was all mod-rocker
hairstyle and shades and no substance (probably just what Mick
& Keith wanted).

http://pinballmuseum.org/
I chipped in fifty bucks to help make the move happen.
I've got a pocket full of quarters.

The Stones are the one band I know as well as the Grateful Dead. Right you are about Beggars and Bleed Daverock. Taylor was not involved much. He started with the Honky Tonk Women single, which for some odd reason they used as a single and went with Country Honk for the Let It Bleed album (certainly my least favorite on the record). Played on Live with Me from that record too.. Taylor contributed substantially to Sticky Fingers through Only Rock and Roll. He One of the reasons he quit was because he was not getting the writing credits he deserved. I was surprised by your comment crow told me, but I guess if you're not a Stone Head you may not know how involved he was in the writing and recording sessions. I am surprised too hear you found his live playing a distraction. His soloing was so smooth. Prime example is Dead Flowers at the Marquee '71 -OMG unbelievable how many notes he played "in time" on such a fast little diddy, and exits right when he needs to for the next verse after improvising a solo that had a proper beginning middle and end. As far as "weaving" the China cat example is cool yes, but not mahatma Keith is talking about. He means chord weaving, where, he'll play one thing and the other guy will fill in something in between (also chord playing) but the key is that they compliment each other's playing. I would emphasize that I do not mean they playing the same thing in a different octave (this is a different technique altogether that is used to fill out guitar sound). Check out Stray Cat Blues live at the Roundhouse 1971. Mick Taylor was so good he alternate modes within a song, he could play a different solo every time, or in some cases (Midnight Rambler) Keith would start a lick and Mick would finish it for several bars. To each his own is my philosophy I just couldn't figure out where the Taylor criticism made sense. I will say this, that one live song I am too keen on his playing is the Brussels Brown Sugar where he picks up the slide and does sound like he's overplaying. But that was the only time I've heard him play slide on Brown Sugar or sound distracting. Overall he was easily the best guitarist the Stones ever had. Brian Jones was easily the best multi-instrumentalist they had, but he added his touches to music that was already written. Taylor actually composed music in the writing phase (and to his credit he played bass on some tracks that Bill Wyman was not in the studio to play on like Tumbling Dice and Happy).

Yes, China Cat/Rider features wonderful complimentary guitar playing.

I agree with what you say about The Stones to some extent. I think Mick Taylor happened to be in the band when they made some of their greatest recordings, without necessarily contributing to them being great. Both Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed were based around Keith Richards playing, with embellishments on some songs by Brian Jones or Mick Taylor. But Keith is the only guitarist, I think, on many tracks on those two albums.

In many ways, with The Stones, the rhythm is both that, and the lead. The riffs of so many of their songs define the songs -the solos are just the icing on the cake. It doesn't matter to me too much what the soloist is doing on tracks like Jumpin' Jack Flash - its the groove that counts.

Live, the pulse is what I like most, and that is provided primarily by Keith and Charlie Watts. And again, the soloing is the secondary to the groove.

You want to hear "the art of weaving," as Keith Richards sometimes call the two-guitar thing he supposedly loves? Listen to what Garcia and Weir do on pretty much any recording of China Cat. Or pretty much any recording, period. Because Weir is truly the master of being the Other One, playing jazzy chords and single note runs that complement Garcia's genius. And he can do it on the fly, spontaneously responding to whatever musical thoughts cross Jerry's mind.

If I say that Weir is the most under-rated guitarist in rock, I doubt if anyone here will argue with me. What he does isn't "rhythm guitar." It's more like what a great jazz pianist does.

The Stones? I mean, I love the Stones, but at least 90% of the time all that's going on with the guitarists is that one guy is playing lead and the other (almost always Keep) is playing "rhythm": ie, playing the same chords or riff over and over while the singer sings or the other guy solos. This was particularly true during the Mick Taylor years: people talk about how great he was for the band, but when I hear live recordings from that era, half the time Taylor's noodling without regard for anything anybody else is doing, and it's just a distraction. The Stones were much more interesting live with Brian Jones OR Ron Wood.

Keith's a GREAT songwriter, a great RHYTHM guitar player, AND one of the all time GREAT bullshitters.

Package last seen in Fontana.
Hopefully it departs Fontana today and gets Truckin’ on.

Morning all! Good news - awoke to find a shipping notice for DaP 38 AND the tracking number works and shows the package was shipped yesterday and departed Fontana around 3 am today.

So fingers cross we all get these soon. Always need a little ‘73.

Hope folks are getting access to vaccines and getting prime to see shows again.

Be well!

Ps thanks to Doc for the daily write ups on the ‘71 tour.