For you Dead Fans out there...

Started by thegenius
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I'm telling ya that the Grateful Dead is a gift that keeps on giving. Even after almost 20 years of listening to them.

I was just cruising around 1973 listening to a bunch of Playin' In The Bands back-to-back.. These days I just skip the intro and Donna's awful screech and jump right to 2:45 - 3:00. Anyway...it's perfect music while I rip up 650 sq ft of carpet and padding in our downstairs in preparation of refinishing the hardwood floors.

I stumble upon "11/25/73 Feyline Field, Tempe, AZ." Whoa! I thought. Nobody has ever mentioned this show. And who names a stadium "Feyline Field????" I wasn't expecting much of anything.

PITB is nothing special. Pretty standard drippy psychedelic notes consistent with 1973. Then I hear Phil.....

...Phil lays down a very nice long bass note to end the song. Again...nothing spectacular. But its....just....there......and it crescendos/decrescendos the room for about 20 seconds.

Playing In The Band 11/25/73 Grateful Dead

Listen starting around 13:30. It's a little gift from Phil. From him to you. You put out your hand, and he gave you a nice little gift. This one will be stored in my temporal lobes for years.

The gift that keeps on giving. If the whole world enjoyed the dead even just a little, we would have markedly more happiness, less crime, less suffering, and more peaceful days and nights.
 
thegenius said:
I'm telling ya that the Grateful Dead is a gift that keeps on giving. Even after almost 20 years of listening to them.

I was just cruising around 1973 listening to a bunch of Playin' In The Bands back-to-back.. These days I just skip the intro and Donna's awful screech and jump right to 2:45 - 3:00. Anyway...it's perfect music while I rip up 650 sq ft of carpet and padding in our downstairs in preparation of refinishing the hardwood floors.

I stumble upon "11/25/73 Feyline Field, Tempe, AZ." Whoa! I thought. Nobody has ever mentioned this show. And who names a stadium "Feyline Field????" I wasn't expecting much of anything.

PITB is nothing special. Pretty standard drippy psychedelic notes consistent with 1973. Then I hear Phil.....

...Phil lays down a very nice long bass note to end the song. Again...nothing spectacular. But its....just....there......and it crescendos/decrescendos the room for about 20 seconds.

Playing In The Band 11/25/73 Grateful Dead

Listen starting around 13:30. It's a little gift from Phil. From him to you. You put out your hand, and he gave you a nice little gift. This one will be stored in my temporal lobes for years.

The gift that keeps on giving. If the whole world enjoyed the dead even just a little, we would have markedly more happiness, less crime, less suffering, and more peaceful days and nights.
Click to expand...
Amen, brutha. Life's too short for excess negativity and the Dead bring mucho positive vibes, for sure.

That's one helluva bass bomb from Phill at the end of that jam, you're 100% right. Super cool. I hadn't heard of that show either. I found a couple of things on it though. I'm gonna have to listen to the whole thing.

A pic from the show, and a link with some comments from people that were there, at the bottom (small venue out in the desert?) Notice the clean shaven Jerry ( 😆 ) and a super pregnant Donna.

Ds3MSFBX4AAG_yc.jpg
 
Yea it's kind of a weak second set. Eyes > LIG isn't bad.

Donna was a bad singer but she was the perfect hippy woman back then. Long straight flowing hair down to her butt, natural beauty. Thankfully her singing actually got better prior to her departure.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
What's great is that there are 19 pages of discussion and while I may like something more than Birdstrike or Birdstrike likes something way more than me, we don't argue, nobody gets pissed off and we are friendly and peaceful. This thread brings me happiness that there are other doctors who like the dead and we get to share in some joy in our lives. I kid you not that probably 20% of all my happiness in my life comes from this band. Including spouse, kids, job (ehh...) money, whatever else.

The SDN EM forum can be toxic...most threads there is significant arguing...it's always the same people arguing. Occasionally we talk about fun stuff or serious things like whether to activate STEMI or have you seen foot compartment syndrome. But it can be tiresome reading SDN EM.

There is no arguing here...and I love it!
 
Let's keep the positivity alive...

Today, listening to Mission In The Rain, Live at French's Camp, from Electric on the Eel - Jerry Garcia Band

A1FQ1Ira3yL._SL1500_.jpg

cc @RustedFox
 
PS: New G n' R song out yesterday, called Absurd. It's hardcore.

Btw: Posts about any music from any band you dig, is cool by me on this thread.
 
Last edited:
thegenius said:
This is for you @RustedFox. I know you like Ripple.

The best version of Ripple, as determined by Headyversion.com, comes from 9/20/1970. Enjoy!

Ripple | 1970-09-20 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

Fillmore East New York, NY, USA
relisten.net relisten.net
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I gotta admit; I'm really starting to come around to some of these jams.

I'm still by no means a deadhead. I have zero deadhead-cred. But there is something rather soothing about a lot of it.
Its also good for work, in that it tends to set a good metronomic "pace" in my brain.
 
RustedFox said:
Thanks.

I gotta admit; I'm really starting to come around to some of these jams.

I'm still by no means a deadhead. I have zero deadhead-cred. But there is something rather soothing about a lot of it.
Its also good for work, in that it tends to set a good metronomic "pace" in my brain.
Click to expand...
I have no deadhead-cred, either. I never saw them live, although I've listened since the '80s.

For more of that soothing, metronomic-pace vibe, try:


Row Jimmy, from Pauley Pavilion at UCLA 11/17/73

Track 13


or, a little more upbeat:


Franklin's Tower, at Great American Music Hall 8/13/75

Track 4
 
RustedFox said:
Thanks.

I gotta admit; I'm really starting to come around to some of these jams.

I'm still by no means a deadhead. I have zero deadhead-cred. But there is something rather soothing about a lot of it.
Its also good for work, in that it tends to set a good metronomic "pace" in my brain.
Click to expand...

Yea man it's background music. That's how I listen to most of it. I don't focus on it intently. At work it's great...you're in and out of the doc room and it's nice to hear. I like it when I'm doing stuff around the house: chores, cleaning up, yard work, whatever. I put it on. Sometimes I space out while doing the work and it's soothing, sometimes I'm focused on it. I like it while driving. It takes me about an 45-60 mins to drive to work, and especially when I'm driving home at night on the highway and there is nobody around I just set the cruise control to 65, throw on a soothing jam, and just relax.

I'm in no hurry to get home.

This is something you can put on at work. It's a collection of jams someone put together on YouTube. It's about 5 hours so there is no reason to pause it. Just kind of float in an out of it while you're doing something else. I bet your telomeres won't shorten as quickly if you listen to this music. And I also bet there are no other non-MD deadheads who even know what a telomere is.

 
thegenius said:
Yea man it's background music. That's how I listen to most of it. I don't focus on it intently. At work it's great...you're in and out of the doc room and it's nice to hear. I like it when I'm doing stuff around the house: chores, cleaning up, yard work, whatever. I put it on. Sometimes I space out while doing the work and it's soothing, sometimes I'm focused on it. I like it while driving. It takes me about an 45-60 mins to drive to work, and especially when I'm driving home at night on the highway and there is nobody around I just set the cruise control to 65, throw on a soothing jam, and just relax.

I'm in no hurry to get home.
Click to expand...
Amen. There is no better road trip music than a Dead show.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Three hours into road trip, Mrs. Birdstrike, “Could you puh-LEEZ turn this Dead crap off? I’m dying here.”

“No problemo, Honey. Gotcha covered,” says Birdstrike, casually, having prepared for this, as he deftly swipes over to the Jerry Garcia Live, Volumes 1-16 playlist.

@justin8818 @thegenius
 
Listening to a smokin' hot Jerry Garcia Band rendition of Let's Spend The Night Together, from 11/16/91

ShiningStarCD-01.jpg
 
thegenius said:
Is there an archive.org or Relisten.net equivalent for JGB? Where do you get all those concerts from? Are they freely available?
Click to expand...
I have Spotify which has countless shows by JGB, Legion of Mary, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and others. Spotify is worth every penny and then some. It has almost all of the official Dead releases, too, with the exception of Dave's Picks, which I don't think it'll get until the CD release subscriptions end.

Relisten is weak on JGB, for some reason. I'm not sure why. Archive has a little bit, though.

Get Spotify, though. It's incredible.
 
thegenius said:
Today I'm going to attempt a very unlaudable goal of listening to all the meat of the 1974 PITBs. There are allegedly 21 versions in 1974. Of course....I'm going to skip the Donna screaching and jump right to 3:00.

Let's see if I go more insane than I already am.
Click to expand...
This is a good goal. Those have some really good exploratory jamming in them. Should be fun to tease out the differences, back to back.

As far as Donna and her screeching during PITB, I noticed something while listening to all of the Europe '72 shows. Her "Yeah-ah, yeah-ah, ha- ha!' wailing actually sounds in tune before '74 and after, just not during '74. It's the funniest thing. I heard her explain once that the Wall of Sound mics made it impossible to hear herself that year. It's also possible she was too stoned to sing in tune that year.

I like her vocals '75-'79 pretty good. She could hit high notes Jerry couldn't (example, '77 High Times) In '74 her vocals were off. Pre-'74 she was such a small part of the band she was almost irrelevant. But her wailing during Europe '72 surprised me as to how much more in tune it was, than '74.

File that under random things Deadhead care (actually don't even care) about. Lol
 
Alright, amigos.

I'm officially converted.
Been listening to a lot of Dead longplay stuff while at work. It helps a lot. Keeps my mood from straying too far to the dark side.

Thanks, you guys. Thanks.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Went and saw Blitzen Trapper this weekend and was reminded of this thread. It's been a few years since I've paid attention to them, but they're basically what the Dead would be like if they could have just played the songs in under 4 minutes and moved on to the next one. I really do like the Dead's songwriting and music, but I just can't do with the jams. Which I realize is sacrelige, but it is what it is.
 
gutonc said:
Went and saw Blitzen Trapper this weekend and was reminded of this thread. It's been a few years since I've paid attention to them, but they're basically what the Dead would be like if they could have just played the songs in under 4 minutes and moved on to the next one. I really do like the Dead's songwriting and music, but I just can't do with the jams. Which I realize is sacrelige, but it is what it is.
Click to expand...
I'll check out Blitzen Trapper for sure.

You might like the Dead's studio stuff, which is more focused, no jams. Try a playlist of these studio tracks. (If you have Spotify @gutonc , let me know. I'll forward the link to this exact playlist, if you want).

New New Minglewood Blues (album, "The Grateful Dead")
St. Stephen (Aoxomoxoa)
China Cat Sunflower (Aoxomoxoa)
Uncle John's Band (Workingman's Dead)
High Time (Workingman's Dead)
Dire Wolf (Workingman's Dead)
Casey Jones (Workingman's Dead)
Friend of the Devil (American Beauty)
Sugar Magnolia (American Beauty)
Ripple (American Beauty)
Brokedown Palace (American Beauty)
Truckin' (American Beauty)
Bertha (Skull and Roses album)
Mexicali Blues (album by Bob Weir, "Ace"; actually a Dead album)
One More Saturday Night (Bob Weir, Ace)
Deal (Jerry Garcia album, Garcia)
Bird Song (Jerry Garcia album, Garcia)
Sugaree (Jerry Garcia album, Garcia)
Loser (Jerry Garcia album, Garcia)
The Wheel (Jerry Garcia album, Garcia)
Brown Eyed Women (Europe '72)
Mississippi Half-step Uptown Toodeloo (Wake of the Flood)
Here Comes Sunshine (Wake of the Flood)
Eyes of the World (Wake of the Flood)
Scarlet Begonias (From the Mars Hotel)
Fire on the Mountain (Shakedown Street)
Franklin's Tower (Blues for Allah)
They Love Each Other (Jerry Garcia, album Reflections)
Estimated Prophet (Terrapin Station)
Touch of Grey (In the Dark)
Hell in a Bucket (In the Dark)
 
Last edited:
There's a pretty great Goin' Down The Road Feeling Band, from 3/25/90 in Albany.

Archive recording, here.

March251990KnickerbockerArena.jpg


Also on Dozin' At The Knick, official release.
 
More musings of the beautiful, calming kind.

Comes A Time was only played 66 times over 30 years and > 2,000 shows. But there isn't another song like it. The 1977 versions, and in particular the May 77 ones, are spectacular. They will take you back to the era of the swanky speakeasy, smoke-filled lounge bars where everyone is well dressed with a drink in their hand amidst the backdrop of city lights

Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe
Don't give it up, you got an empty cup
That only love can fill, only love can fill



My two favorite versions:

relisten.net

Comes a Time -> | 1977-05-09 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

War Memorial Auditorium Buffalo, NY, USA
relisten.net relisten.net

relisten.net

Comes A Time > | 1977-05-21 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

Lakeland Civic Center 4nuyKoY91WKwR6HLq7Gzkl Lakeland, FL, USA
relisten.net relisten.net


1607378246_ca-merchantsbar-3-1600.jpg

1920s-Speakeasy-Bar-During-Prohibition-1088x400.png
CLV_HKDrink_SmokeOnTheBoulevard_4c_630x419.jpg

635960545108372868-cigardrink.jpg
 
thegenius said:
More musings of the beautiful, calming kind.

Comes A Time was only played 66 times over 30 years and > 2,000 shows. But there isn't another song like it. The 1977 versions, and in particular the May 77 ones, are spectacular. They will take you back to the era of the swanky speakeasy, smoke-filled lounge bars where everyone is well dressed with a drink in their hand amidst the backdrop of city lights

Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe
Don't give it up, you got an empty cup
That only love can fill, only love can fill



My two favorite versions:

relisten.net

Comes a Time -> | 1977-05-09 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

War Memorial Auditorium Buffalo, NY, USA
relisten.net relisten.net

relisten.net

Comes A Time > | 1977-05-21 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

Lakeland Civic Center 4nuyKoY91WKwR6HLq7Gzkl Lakeland, FL, USA
relisten.net relisten.net


1607378246_ca-merchantsbar-3-1600.jpg

1920s-Speakeasy-Bar-During-Prohibition-1088x400.png
CLV_HKDrink_SmokeOnTheBoulevard_4c_630x419.jpg

635960545108372868-cigardrink.jpg
Click to expand...


There's a version I heard once. I think it was '77 or '78 and the 2nd half of it was so heavy, so dark, so garage-y with dirty guitar, that I swear, Nirvana-Jerry could've been playing it. But it was even better than that.

I barely noticed this song until that version I heard a couple of years ago. Now I love the song. But I've never been able to find that version again! I'll have to listen to your faves. Maybe it was one of those. I wanna say it was '78, though (?) I don't know.

7/17/76 has a real different 2nd half jam, too, by the way.
 
Last edited:
Birdstrike said:
There's a version I heard once. I think it was '77 or '78 and the 2nd half of it was so heavy, so dark, so garage-y with dirty guitar, that I swear, Nirvana-Jerry could've been playing it. But it was even better than that.

I barely noticed this song until that version I heard a couple of years ago. Now I love the song. But I've never been able to find that version again! I'll have to listen to your faves. Maybe it was one of those. I wanna say it was '78, though (?) I don't know.

7/17/76 has a real different 2nd half jam, too, by the way.
Click to expand...

Yea I listened to 7/17/76 last night at like 3:00 AM when I couldn't sleep. I'll have to explore that more.

Don't think it's that garagey, dirty guitar sound you heard. I'm betting what you heard was from 1977.

I'm listening to 5/16/78 the only time in 78 they played it. It's meh. Not particularly soulful.
 
I'm glad the kids are back in school because I love my weekdays off. It's 10:00 AM and I'm BLASTING my favorite band as loud as my speakers can handle it. Couldn't do this for over a year because the kids were ZOOMING their classes.
 
Birdstrike said:
Today, listening to Postcards Of The Hanging.

Tasty stuff

View attachment 342728
Click to expand...

My favorite are A Hards Rain A Gonna Fall (not sure if the Grateful Dead ever did that, but spinoffs have), Queen Jane Approximately, and Desolation Row.

Much more story telling in Dylan's songs than the Dead. You really gotta listen to the lyrics. Which is funny...because nobody can understand Dylan at all.
 
Bobby forgets the Lyrics!

We all know that he forgets lyrics from time to time. It's not like The Other One has complicated lyrics. It's only a few paragraphs. And by 1974 he had probably sung them at least 200 times.

relisten.net

The Other One > | 1974-05-12 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

U. of Nevada Reno, NV, USA
relisten.net relisten.net

Go directly to 9:00. He flubs them big time and you can almost hear him saying "ba da, la ba day....."
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Grateful_Dead_-_Go_to_Nassau.jpg



Go to Nassau

My Highlights:

The Jack Straw>Franklin's Tower opener is pretty great. So are Peggy-O and Althea. The High Time is surprisingly good. The China > Rider is good, for the era. A solid PITB births a nice Uncle John's Band. Feel Like A Stranger is a funky-good version with a nice groove that swings real hard.

I can't find fault in any of the playing or the mix. I would've left the Sailor>Saint and Far From Me off and replaced them with anything else from either night, or even other surrounding shows.

Go to Nassau is worth a listen, the band is very tight here. The set lists and song selections for the release aren't ideal, but it's what the band was vibe-ing on at the time, so it's cool.
 
I liked that Jerry Garcia video above, although after listening to it I remember I've heard that before. There is so much information out there on the Dead and the Warlocks from like 63-70....I really wish there was info from 72-77. I want interviews, recollections, memories, etc from that time period. There isn't much if I recall.
 
thegenius said:
I liked that Jerry Garcia video above, although after listening to it I remember I've heard that before. There is so much information out there on the Dead and the Warlocks from like 63-70....I really wish there was info from 72-77. I want interviews, recollections, memories, etc from that time period. There isn't much if I recall.
Click to expand...

Grateful_Dead_-_The_Closing_of_Winterland.jpg


Listening to 12/31/78, Closing of Winterland right now, at work.

58a946124acb8178e24af7a7b0bf7729.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

cyanide12345678
Any VA ER docs out there?
Replies
25
Views
5K
Mtbk
M
H
Calling out sick culture!
2 3
Replies
104
Views
7K
Groove
Groove
Birdstrike
Thanks for all you do
Replies
4
Views
3K
WorkNoteEmergency
W
D
took the easy way out
Replies
15
Views
3K
emergentmd
E
RustedFox
Anyone out there into the men's-health/testosterone replacement game: PM me for a question.
Replies
9
Views
4K
TooMuchResearch
T