• 1,815 replies
    heatherlew
    Default Avatar
    Joined:

    "The Grateful Dead picked up their instruments and hit the first note with perfection. They never missed a note for the next three and one-half hours. People followed the flow of the tunes. Down on the floor in front of the stage was a sea of heads keeping time with the music. No one sat still. No one, except the youngsters behind us sat still. They were still and stunned." - The Power County Press

    And what a stunner it was, that show at the Boise State University Pavilion in Boise, ID on September 2, 1983. Dave's Picks Volume 27 contains every stitch of music from this mid-80s show (our first in this series), one that's as good as any other in Grateful Dead history. When the Dead were on, they were ON! Straight out the gate with a definitive take on the old standard "Wang Dang Doodle," the band swiftly switches back to a setlist of yore, firing off 70s staples like "Jack Straw" and "Brown-Eyed Women" and wrapping things up with a terrific trio of "Big Railroad Blues"/"Looks Like Rain"/"Deal" (don't you let that epic guitar solo go down without you). Primed for the second set, they tackle the complexities of "Help>Slipknot!>Franklin's" with heart and ease. It's clear there will be no stopping their flow - Bobby and Brent hanging in for a fantastic pre-Drums "Jam" and Jerry and Bobby in the zone on a not-to-be-missed melodic "Space." Not a skipper in the whole lot!

    Dave's Picks Volume 27 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman and it is limited to 18,000 individually-numbered copies*.

    *Limited to 2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

Comments

sort by
Recent
Reset
  • Guss West
    Joined:
    The Wheel Turns
    Looking forward to tipping libations in the rust of summer's evening within the fortnite, my friend. Summer Time, come and go, my oh my! Taking suggestions for a week of luxuriously unrushed stay-cation birthday PTO. Got a bottle of magic-jack and two bucks in my pocket. I'm ready!
  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Reminder....
    ....I cannot stress enough that you fine people check out that Dark Star from The Family Dog i posted lower down yesterday. Listened to it twice last night and blew my mind each time. Simply dripping in acid. Incredible....
  • MDJim
    Joined:
    DS & January 1970
    Boise pulled me on quite the enjoyable 80's tangent. I'd probably still be on it except a few of my devices are more geared to 60's and 70's.. this morning the temperature finally broke and I took advantage by taking a long bike ride. My companion was Dave's Picks 19, 1/23/1970. I had forgotten what a fiery China Rider starts that show.. and we have a cryptical, TOO, Dark Star to start what I think is the second set. It had been a while since I listened to that one. Great sound.. maybe not the best 1970 show, but some of the previously released shows that year are giants among the giants. What a nice show. I can't wait to get to disc 3, overflow songs from the next night. 1970 Cumberland Blues anyone? With all these great shows I can't help but think of the a quote from the movie History of the World Part I, "It's good to be the king."
  • dreading
    Joined:
    Dark Star List
    Cool indeed. Thanks gratefulhan
  • Sixtus_
    Joined:
    re: Wow Gratefulhan
    Ditto on that awesome Dark Star list. That same blog is a 'Go-To' for all things GD-related....so wealthy in knowledge. Looking at the list, one thing caught my eye, early in the listing: it was somewhere between March and June of '68 that Dark Star really started to stretch out - during this brief time, it pretty much doubled in length; starting from roughly the 5-7 minute range (avg) to then up to 15 minutes and well over 10 mins subsequently. A trigger musta popped in there with an epiphany to say, hey, let's jam on this one how 'bout? The overall list is impressive. Those two mentions of '79 Dark Stars also pique my interest - I should listen even if just an aud source methinks. Happy Holiday weekend to USA folks - summer literally has gone by in a snap. Some major things changed on my end over these few short months - for the better - but still, wow it's been quick. Be well All. Sixtus
  • daverock
    Joined:
    Dark Star guide-Gratefulhan
    Thanks for posting that link. Fascinating looking at how often it was played, and how its length expanded and contracted. I couldn't pick a favourite version, but the ones I have enjoyed most this year have been the ones played in 1972. The peak years are definitely 1968-1974 for Dark Star, for me. As stated by 80sfan-the versions of "The Other One" were also phenomenal throughout 1972, too. Incredible that they played either one or the other, to such great effect, at almost all their shows throughout the year.
  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    ....in ice petal flowers revolving....
    ....that Dark Star guide looks awesome! Thanks Gratefulhan!This Dark Star is sounding pretty good....49 years ago today https://archive.org/details/gd1969-08-30.122267.upg.sbd.tobin.flac16
  • fourwindsblow
    Joined:
    8/30/80
    The only CR&S->LLR I know. https://archive.org/details/gd1980-08-30.sbd.miller.110152.flac16 Set 1 Feel Like A Stranger, Peggy-O, Cassidy, Friend Of The Devil, Minglewood Blues, Cold Rain & Snow-> Looks Like Rain, Easy To Love You, Althea, Jack Straw Set 2 Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain, CC Rider-> Ramble On Rose, Estimated Prophet-> Eyes Of The World-> Drums-> Not Fade Away-> Black Peter-> Sugar Magnolia, E: One More Saturday Night
  • mbarilla
    Joined:
    "Tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground"
    https://archive.org/details/gd82-04-14.senn-weinberg.cohen.26234.sbeok… Glens Falls, New York ~ 4.14.82 ~ Dane County Coliseum ~ 10.25.73 ~ China -> Rider Me and My Uncle Dark Star -> Eyes of the World -> Stella Blue
  • LedDed
    Joined:
    Dork Star
    I do have a favourite... but the date/venue escape me presently. It might take a minute or a month to sift through the archives, but I know how it goes and I can cue up parts of it in my head, like a jukebox. When I'm hiking in the woods, I'll play songs, silently, in my head. But is it silent, or just hearing by bypassing the ears? Many mornings I wake up with a song in my head. It's odd, but I like it. And if I don't - I change the song.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

8 years 2 months

"The Grateful Dead picked up their instruments and hit the first note with perfection. They never missed a note for the next three and one-half hours. People followed the flow of the tunes. Down on the floor in front of the stage was a sea of heads keeping time with the music. No one sat still. No one, except the youngsters behind us sat still. They were still and stunned." - The Power County Press

And what a stunner it was, that show at the Boise State University Pavilion in Boise, ID on September 2, 1983. Dave's Picks Volume 27 contains every stitch of music from this mid-80s show (our first in this series), one that's as good as any other in Grateful Dead history. When the Dead were on, they were ON! Straight out the gate with a definitive take on the old standard "Wang Dang Doodle," the band swiftly switches back to a setlist of yore, firing off 70s staples like "Jack Straw" and "Brown-Eyed Women" and wrapping things up with a terrific trio of "Big Railroad Blues"/"Looks Like Rain"/"Deal" (don't you let that epic guitar solo go down without you). Primed for the second set, they tackle the complexities of "Help>Slipknot!>Franklin's" with heart and ease. It's clear there will be no stopping their flow - Bobby and Brent hanging in for a fantastic pre-Drums "Jam" and Jerry and Bobby in the zone on a not-to-be-missed melodic "Space." Not a skipper in the whole lot!

Dave's Picks Volume 27 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman and it is limited to 18,000 individually-numbered copies*.

*Limited to 2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

user picture

Member for

13 years 5 months
Permalink

Unless you are a compulsive completist.. I wouldn't bother. It's ok..
user picture

Member for

8 years 7 months
Permalink

...the albums song selections were mostly picked by Phil and the others were picked by Garcia... :)Since the official release, there has been complaints and praises for the LP... I for one dig it, I love this LP ! At the time of production, quadraphonic technology appeared ascendant. In anticipation, the album was mixed for the QS standard – one of several competing vinyl matrix formats. Rather than a dedicated stereo mix, during mastering the quadraphonic mix was folded down to two channels. Lesh explained that he and Bear decided to mix "the whole thing in 'quad' ... Band chronicler Blair Jackson explained why Lesh's method for song choice didn't mesh with Deadhead expectation: "[It] had none of the natural flow of a Grateful Dead concert. It was as if someone had thrown all the songs into a hat and then pulled them out randomly, which is not the way the Grateful Dead operated at all. Their sets, while definitely eclectic, were built piece by piece according to what songs felt right to play at the moment. Garcia's choices would affect Weir's choices and vice versa. Steal Your Face consisted mainly of short songs that were usually played in the lighter first set, and it was devoid of any extended improvisation. Considering the material that was available from that five-night run, the song selection was mystifying to say the least."[13] Garcia saw the album as a specific statement from the same era as the movie, noting "[Phil] picked out what he liked for his own reasons. If anyone wants to have some concept of what Phil likes, that's a good album. ... We don't interfere with each other on that level."[13]
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....Steal Your Face has no flow. (I read between the lines). Glad you like it. I tolerate it. It's right up there with What A Long Strange Trip It's Been. With the plethora of realeases over the last 16 years, they both collect quite a bit of dust, even though the music is clean. ....the again, good luck guessing a JRAD setlist. Ghaa!
user picture

Member for

16 years 3 months
Permalink

This album is my least favorite live Grateful Dead album, however this reissue sounds excellent. The sound is far superior to the original 1976 release, and more than a few steps above the 1989 Compact Disc 1st edition issue. I agree that the Mississippi from 10/19/74 is a good performance, especially the sound on this on reissued LP. Why I don't like Steal Your Face is because of the song sequence, it is not very compelling to me, not even after 42 years. It just doesn't stand up to Live/Dead, Skullfuck & Europe '72. I bought the original LP not long after my 6/22/76 and 6/24/76 shows at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, near Philadelphia, Pa. Yes, I have all three versions: the original 1976 album, the 1989 CD, and this 2017 remastered LP.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....a few heads stated they felt Garcia was playing a different song during the Boise Throwing Stones. No he wasn't. He was playing the Boise Throwing Stones. Does that make sense? Makes sense to me. And the GDTRFB leaves no prisoners. Everyone is released! Ghaaa!
user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months
Permalink

I'm not so keen on Steal Your Face either, I'm afraid. I was really surprised when I started listening to tapes, years later, just how good those October 1974 shows were-and how mis-represented they had been on Steal Your Face. I have felt this about other official live albums they released in their life time, too. Bears Choice is a bit of a shocker-considering some of the music played at those shows, and while Skull and Roses and Europe 72 are okay (especially the last two sides of the old album of Europe 72) they are again much weaker than the shows they were culled from. Again-especially Europe 72-I have listened to every show from the European tour this year-and every one is stellar. But you would never realise just how good the tour was listening to the old Europe 72 album. It seems as though the band thought the record buying public would prefer to hear their songs, rather than their jams. The one live album that has stood the test of time for me unquestionably, is Live Dead. They got THAT one right.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....got them all right. Next year, they're gonna bust out the AoxomoxoA and Live/Dead 50th's. Ohhhh shit. Better buckle up. AoxomoxoA is my favorite studio release btw.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....Baby Blue. A treasure. And a tear ran down my face, because it was stolen.
user picture

Member for

8 years 7 months
Permalink

...I also have love for ‘Bears’s Choice’, This release is also not very welcomed in the Dead’s fan base, but there’s some there that grabs me; you can hear the wooden floor planks and all...
user picture

Member for

15 years 3 months
Permalink

You know how offensive at least one of this community's core members finds Manson.Please be kind. If you need to oppose JimInMD's outburst (and you have been here long enough to know that Jim is NOT one of our easy-to-rile members, but rather a voice of reason in our often stormy environs) WRITE something. Posting another Manson vid seems really dickish to me. I almost wrote something against Jim's response to your first Manson post (freedom, historical significance, outsider culture, yadda yadda). Now I am really glad I didn't.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....has no place here. Fuck that asshole. You want the truth? There aren't many people that would have me put on some leather gloves, so my knuckles wouldn't be tarnished as I pounded his smirky face into a bloody pulp. The veil is lifted. Have fun in hell you piece of shit. (someone had to say it). Fact of life. Some people just need to get their ass kicked. (I speak for the trees). Problem?
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....is head and shoulders above SYF. Who knew there were so many other choices/USDA prime cuts out there back when it was originally released? We are a spoiled lot....Oh yeah. I would pay to see Manson thrown into a wood chipper. Is there a problem?
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

I think we'd feel entirely different about SYF if it had a third disc. What would have been the perfect jams?
user picture

Member for

6 years 8 months
Permalink

I wouldnt listen to the Beach Boys then cuz Charles Manson known as "The Wizard" befriended a beach boy at the time and co wrote a beach boys song and its now uncredited. that same beach boy slept with a gun under his pillow ever since. read Marilyn Manson's biography his "My Monkey" incorporates elements of that there "mechanical Man" song. played it. I don't even know what to say about it. it's like this big sprawled out rambling mess lol "I sent my monkey off to the country now my monkey's dead" WHAT??? lol and now monkey gone to heaven. shirdeep is communicating and that message is: Monkey
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

.... I've done that. Long story. Last five.The Bangles - Different Light Megadeth - Youthinasia GOGD - 4.15.70 Rush - Farewell To Kings The Cars - Panorama and so it goes....
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....don't laugh. Good vibes in that record. Such good vibes, they were invited to open for the GOGD. That says something. Dust it off and walk like an Egyptian.
user picture

Member for

7 years 10 months
Permalink

I don't always listen to new releases right away. I had an idea that Bob's recent, "Blue Mountain," was full of boring acoustic campfire songs with, perhaps, lyrical wonder but no musical spark. That was about half true. A solid album and graced by two brilliantly produced nuggets, "Lay My Lily Down," and "Ghost Towns." I won't post links, youtube it if you want. I am shocked that Bob has, at least on these two tunes and to a perhaps lesser extent on others, adopted the pillow over the microphone dull, decades old ambiance reminiscent of recent T-Bone Burnett productions, Daniel Lanois, Robert Plant, etc. I don't know what to call it, so I'll call it "contemporary music by current artists making classy recordings that sound decades old and give me hope that great music will continue." God Bless everyone. Happy Sunday.
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

Hi Vguy72 - you mentioned in a post about the 50th anniversary reissues. Do you know if the live albums are going to be reissued or is it just the studio? Cheers
user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months
Permalink

Two live Dead albums I did like-and still do-are Historic Dead and Vintage Dead. Slightly shady releases, but for live albums from 1966 they sound really good. Unlike the later ones I mentioned, these do seem to accurately reflect the bands sound and style, as subsequently revealed on tapes from the year in question. I don't think they have ever been released on cd, either.
user picture

Member for

7 years 4 months
Permalink

Can you please stop posting all of the YouTube links. They're distracting and not relevant to any Grateful Dead discussion. Thank you.
user picture

Member for

8 years 4 months
Permalink

I have this on an LP which is an old radio station promo copy. Its all beat up, and doesn't sound so good anymore. Probably been played 100s of times. I'm tempted to hear a good, new copy. I think the format of the album is well suited for an LP. Its mostly shorter songs, not twenty minute jams. It doesn't "feel" like a live set --- more like an album that happens to be live tracks. Which is okay sometimes. 20-25 minutes of an upbeat, bouncy side while I'm grilling some steaks is perfect. I like the E72 LP for the same reason. Also, curiously, that album isn't on Spotify. Almost everything else that's a general release is. Neither is the GD movie soundtrack, which is what you go to for the live show feel from that run. Maybe they're holding it back for a box set release later :)))))
user picture

Member for

12 years 1 month
Permalink

When I saw Bob live in Dallas for this cowboy tour, Lay My Lily Down was one of my fav's that night. When I got the show I played the living shit out of that tune. Just my two cents, but I'm ok with Sheepdip posting youtube vids. I certainly don't check them all out, but they're easy enough to scroll by and once an awhile you get shown some good stuff you didn't know about. Once again, just my two cents. Two more days of work, then off to Lockn, yeah!
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

I am happy for the 80's fans who have waited long for something from this era. I think I would have had a really good time if I had been at the show, this must be great as a souvenir and a slice of history for those lucky enough to have access to Dead shows at that time (they had given up on Europe by then). Listening now in a quiet room on a good hi-fi though, it is all to easy to be distracted by the deterioration of so many things from the 'Golden Era'(as I perceive it). I enjoyed it more than I thought and maybe now and then might give it another spin. No complaints though. I am happy to pay my subs and get to focus 4 times a year on a selected show from the vault, whether I end up listening to it once or 100 times.
user picture

Member for

7 years 4 months
Permalink

Once I awhile shirdeeps vids are ok, but they're getting to be several times a day of nothing about the Dead. Charles Manson? Had his minions string up a woman 8 months pregnant over a rafter and stab her death as she begged for her baby's life. Fuck him and fuck shirdeep for posting this garbage. Shirdeep used to be cool when he posted rare Dead pics, but he's devolved.
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

Butch, right on fuck that spoiled little bitch! Sorry folks that’s what happens when you poison the Golden well with hate! SYF, I will not argue with the critical comments. Would just mention, again, about keeping perspective. The methodology employed for live albums has mostly been to record as much material as possible, using the best equipment possible (budget etc) and then cull the supposed “best” versions of songs, add a little crowd mix and fade in out overlaps to give the “product” the feeling of an actual concert. Hell King Biscuit Flour Hour used to do the same thing I.e., 5/80 (recorded that off the radio on graduation night whilrpe my giant extended family was all out in the back yard, hee-hee, what a freak! But I digress. So yeah, it has no natural flow, and of course anything from then without big jams is just......? But there are some great versions, and if it was redone as well as the Movie Soundtrack, well..... Mainly though I love this album for nostalgia. It brings back so many memories from when I was 14 and just getting on board. Have always loved the pictures; Bill with that giant bong, Phil with the different colored socks, and man nothing filled the imagination of a budding audio geek like those pics of TWOS! Remember youngins’ there was no internet, and the dead was hardly the well known entity they would become, for good or for ill? That album and a few others were like are only gateway to the dead! So looking at those pics, and digging that amazing, now iconic art...and of course what that album jacket as well as Skull fuck got used for, perhaps more than to retrieve the platter, ahem, yeah..... I will always have a spot deep in my heart for this and skullfuck if only because of what they meant to me at that time in my life etc. Today, hands down, imho, Live Dead will always be the benchmark for not only live dead “albums” but perhaps the greatest live album ever! I dug it then, but still a little to green behind the gills to fully “get it” then. That did change with time, like the first time I “saw the electric light shine” and after getting dropped off at home very late, put on the headphones and figured, “I should probably listen to live dead” Amazing, also, seemed like it was only ten minutes long LOL Tried playing my electric with no amp, but thought I was making too much noise and would awaken the rents, who would instantly KNOW! LMAO! Too funny, cause I lived in the basement with a literal McIntosh, JBL wall of sound, used to come home baracho at all hours, worked as a roadie and sound tech, so again, coming and going at all hours, and they never got up. But of course that night I was sure they’d be on to me! I distinctly remeber after like 12 hours or so thinking “ah, this is what they mean by your either on the bus or off” like, this is never going to end LOL. You know, it will be less there, but it’s always going to be there! NOTE; I personally really think Nightfall of Diamonds is right up there in the top echelon; an actual full show, not cut ups, great audio, super set list. I think this one really flies under the radar. NEW SERIES; I’ve been saying this for years. Not specifically like who was it Kayak Guy? with the Betty Special Select concept, but the general idea of more releases, even if you have different tiers or levels of product. The super multi’s, that deserve the extra care and exspense get released say 4 or 5 times a year, with a box or 2 for the top tier, with perhaps a level, or two more below, including a quick and dirty Cassete SB type level ala 27. Those could certainly be pumped out a bit more steadily. If it’s a matter of staff, Hell im qualified and available. Me and Vguy will spit out enough product to make you dizzy! I fully understand and agree with who ever (sorry?? Memory shot) laid out the great marketing plan that is probably in play about releasing older stuff first since it will attract folks from tha era, as well as the rest, before all us geezers croak, while saving the later years for the youngins from that era. Makes sense, no matter what your fav, I think most folks really love to get official releases of shows they were at, in any form. But they are gambling on this remaining as vibrant, and thus as economically viable, as it is now. Why not get as much out now as possible? What if suddenly they lose their audience? I believe after the band folded, that was sort of the goal. I believe I read something from Mickey about trying to make every show somehow available ala cart so folks could just order what ever they pleased. But then Phil put the kibosh on it with “Im not selling the catalog to a Corp/won’t ever let trucking apear on a Chevy commercial” etc.. At the time that kinda made sense, just like finding someone to Front the huge digitizing costs etc to make it available made some sense. But much time has passed since then, and tech and the music industry have radically changed. So yeah, why the hell not have tiered releases, priced and released according. As our lovely English friends might say RIGHT, BRILLIANT!
user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months
Permalink

Some are really good-the blues and jazz ones from a while back were great. And that one of King Crimson with Adrian Belew on vocals was alright. I don't think shirdeep posted any of these-he has different taste to me-but hey ho. I wasn't so keen on seeing Mansons face peering out at me when I scrolled down, mind you.
user picture

Member for

6 years 8 months
Permalink

I have all four kiss solo albums. I still have yet to give a full listen to Peter's and Ace's.
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

SYF is on Spotify although it isn’t named as such - it’s listed as Grateful Dead Records collection and is with the other albums issued on Record Store Day as a box set, Mars, Wake of the Flood, Blues for Allah although these again are not listed under their actual original titles. SYF is actually called live at Winterland San Francisco CA 10-20/74 after each individual song title.
user picture

Member for

13 years 5 months
Permalink

.
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

“English pig dog, I fart in your general,direction,Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of Elderberries!
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

to have a little fun....The dead heads will put you on the rocks!
user picture

Member for

6 years 8 months
Permalink

felt like I was watching a Time Life compilation late night infomercial. but wait! there's more....
user picture

Member for

13 years 5 months
Permalink

user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....thanx. Like I said a few days ago, social media is a cancer. Behold it in all it's glory. My safe corner of the internet is compromised. Way to go home.. . "Who do you think you are? What do you mean when you put us all down Walking round in circles Your nose to the ground You think you're saying something Because you're making a sound You say you've seen it all You don't care to see no more But you don't get up an go until they throw you out the door." ....Looks like Vince is the smartest man in the room right now. Shazam.
user picture

Member for

13 years 5 months
Permalink

:D
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

....so the Mets and Phillies played a game that counts, on a little league field in front of a bunch of fans. Some of which are little league players. There is hope in the world.
user picture

Member for

6 years 8 months
Permalink

so are you being all butt hurt with me cuz im not exactly throwing a temper tantrum over someone posting up a manson video days ago, and was curious as to what something might sound like, and not joining mob rule on "hey fuck shirdeep"?
user picture

Member for

13 years 5 months
Permalink

Smiling on a cloudy day.
user picture

Member for

6 years 8 months
Permalink

yeah im sure its totally over my head. im pretty sure I hit the nail on the head lol moving on.
product sku
081227931599