For you Dead Fans out there...

[RustedFox]

Been letting this play at work a few times over the past two weeks. Anyone care to comment?


Oh, and if I'm not feeling so "mountain music", this:

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[thegenius]

Been letting this play at work a few times over the past two weeks. Anyone care to comment?

You stumbled on a goodie. What can I say. I'll give you my personal musings.

1974 is one of my favorite, if not favorite, years. 1974 was the last year they only used 1 drummer. For most of their 30 years...they had two drummers! But for about 4 years they were down to one. 1974 also was the year that the band went full blown into getting the best sound as possible and their sound crew came up with the "Wall of Sound" where they stacked like a billion speakers behind them in concert. It created sound louder than anything ever seen in the past in a live concert. It looked something like this:

Just look at that for a few seconds. every single one of those black circles is a speaker! It would take an entire day to set it up...and as a result the Dead actually had two sets of this thing during the 1974 tour. They would send one to the first show location and send another immediately to the following night's location, which was always 2-3 days in the future. It would take a day to set up, and about a day to tear down. So it was hard for them to play back-to-back nights in different locations.


The show is very good. It has been released as a special edition for the masses. I often skip the standard flow songs (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus...) and go straight to the meat and potatoes. In this case it's Playin' In The Band and Dark Star.

The Playin' In The Band is a song that is designed for improvisation. They sing a little for the first 2 minutes and last 2 minutes...and everything in-between is literally made up. No two versions sound the same. Not even close. They just jam. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The 5/14/74 version you are listening to is B+/A-. It is VERY GOOD! It is milky. Jerry Garcia puts his guitar in like wah-wah mode, sounds like you are underwater. It's 20 minutes long and should have been longer. And for what it's worth I know so much about this one because I'm into 1974 Playin' In The Bands and I've listened to this particular version about 10 times over the past few weeks.

The Dark Stars by this date started to crumble a little and weren't as good. This one I think is average. It's a little too dissonant for me. (I much prefer the one a few months prior 2/24/74. That one is just off the charts. It is simply off the hook.) Now the Dead are known for "meltdowns" where there is furious cacophonic crash of sound all at once where the band just explodes into this huge ball of flames that reaches to the sky. It often sounds like chickens scratching and clawing out of metal cage...but I have listened to so many that I actually find them melodic. This Dark Star has A GREAT ONE. It only lasts a minute. I wouldn't be surprised if you missed it. You were probably taking care of some dingus who wanted norco for his itchy tooth. Anyway. Listen to it below. It's literally under a minute. It builds and builds and THEN THEY HAVE A SEIZURE. WITH NO POST-ICTAL PHASE. Then they doodle and noodle for about 5 minutes and stumble rather quickly into China Doll, a song that others like but I'm not particularly fond of.

Below...click on this and it takes you directly to the meltdown (< 1 minute) ....




Here is a link to the show's individual song list. It's the exact same version as your Youtube link above.

Bertha | 1974-05-14 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

relisten.net

Good choice my internet friend.

Oh, and if I'm not feeling so "mountain music", this:

I've listened to that before! Not in a while though. I clicked on the link and it jumped me immediately to 2.5 hours into it. I'm into all this space shiit. I listen to this and wish I was on the Enterprise flying around space.

 

[RustedFox]

I've listened to that before! Not in a while though. I clicked on the link and it jumped me immediately to 2.5 hours into it. I'm into all this space shiit. I listen to this and wish I was on the Enterprise flying around space.

I really dig the dystopian feel of it. Grief. Exile. The abandonment of Mother Earth... its trippy.

 

[Birdstrike]

Been letting this play at work a few times over the past two weeks. Anyone care to comment?


Oh, and if I'm not feeling so "mountain music", this:

That Montana show is a very good one. Nice choice. I listened to it a few months back. I'll have to check out the space rock clip. The quick clip I listened to sounds kinda cool.

 

[Birdstrike]

Yes!

 

[thegenius]

That is the best!

 

[Birdstrike]

Choice songs heard on my run this am:


Fearless - Pink Floyd

Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead

Satellite of Love - Lou Reed

Razor Love - Neil Young

Shakedown Street - Grateful Dead

Change - Blind Melon

This Must Be The Place - Talking Heads

Peace Frog - Doors

Hard Sun - Eddie Vedder


Fearless (Pink Floyd) Radio, Spotify playlist

 

[njac]

Honestly haven’t listened to much Grateful Dead - my parents were too young to be hippies so much more late 70s early 80s playing in the car when I was growing up.

But I love the War on Drugs cover of Touch or Grey:

 

[Birdstrike]

Honestly haven’t listened to much Grateful Dead - my parents were too young to be hippies so much more late 70s early 80s playing in the car when I was growing up.

But I love the War on Drugs cover of Touch or Grey:

Yeah, that's a cool version. I'm sure you've head the album that came from, but if not, it was put together by The National. Lot's of current acts putting a more modern twist on some classics, >>> here.

If you like that, you might like my favorite cover of a Dead song, of all time, which is Ripple, by Jane's Addiction, >>> here.

 

[Birdstrike]

Rocking The Cradle sounds just beautiful, today

 

[thegenius]

oh yes!

 

[Birdstrike]

Jail - Kanye West

 

[Birdstrike]

Today, I'm listening to Formerly the Warlocks, 10/8/89 and 10/9/89 on Spotify.

This one is strong, I say. S t r o n g .

Jerry's solo at 4:00 of Death Don't Have No Mercy....just...

Fock!

 

[thegenius]

Today, I'm listening to Formerly the Warlocks, 10/8/89 and 10/9/89 on Spotify.

This one is strong, I say. S t r o n g .

Jerry's solo at 4:00 of Death Don't Have No Mercy....just...

Fock!

Whisper the lyrics as you are doing a spinal nerve block.....

"death don't have no mercy in this land
come to your house, you know he don't take long
look in bed this morning, children find that your mother is gone"

death will leave you standing and crying in this land"

 

[Birdstrike]

Gold

First time I've ever heard Pigpen talk! [20:00]

 

[thegenius]

Man Pig was not a good looking guy was he.

 

[thegenius]

It's 4 in the morning and I'm jamming to a variety of Dead in the hospital. I'm playing it loud! I've listened to

9/17/72 DS
11/11/73 DS -> MLB Jam -> Eyes of the World
4/23/77 the second set
6/22/73 Bird Song (the best ever)
2/24/74 PITB
5/14/74 PITB
5/17/74 PITB
6/23/74 Spanish Jam -> US Blues
7/27/74 PITB

So much fun. It's a slow night.

 

[Birdstrike]

It's 4 in the morning and I'm jamming to a variety of Dead in the hospital. I'm playing it loud! I've listened to

9/17/72 DS
11/11/73 DS -> MLB Jam -> Eyes of the World
4/23/77 the second set
6/22/73 Bird Song (the best ever)
2/24/74 PITB
5/14/74 PITB
5/17/74 PITB
6/23/74 Spanish Jam -> US Blues
7/27/74 PITB

So much fun. It's a slow night.

Nice!

 

[Birdstrike]

Today I’m listening to Spring ‘90. I’m doing a run of multitrack, live releases, at least all the ones on Spotify.

 

[Birdstrike]

Started the am run off with a spotify rap mix. Wasn't bad.

But after that, I wanted to be able to pull a sure thing off the shelf. So, right now:

Veneta '72

And we're in Dark Star...

 

[thegenius]

You know, I've reflected on that 8/27/72 Dark Star in the past. Most people put this Dark Star in the top 3 or 5, definitely top 10. I really don't know what it's all about. To me it's rather banal, there are few exciting parts to it. The last few minutes are kind of cool, but I don't understand why it's so noteworthy. It's a great show, it has spectacular sound. There are better highlights from that show including Jack Straw, Birdsong(!), and Playin' In The Band. Plus I love watching the video of the naked guy tripping on top of a pole behind Jerry. Classic.

 

[Birdstrike]

You know, I've reflected on that 8/27/72 Dark Star in the past. Most people put this Dark Star in the top 3 or 5, definitely top 10. I really don't know what it's all about.

It's dark. It's scary. It's beautiful. And best of all there's a great video that goes along with it. The whole show, is just amazing.

 

[thegenius]

Here it is! The naked guy tripping on a pole at the concert. It's cued to the right timestamp. Maybe this is @RustedFox in an alternate life.

 

[RustedFox]

Here it is! The naked guy tripping on a pole at the concert. It's cued to the right timestamp. Maybe this is @RustedFox in an alternate life.

Lol.

I'm weird, but I'm not "naked behind the stage" at ANY concert caliber weird.

 

[Birdstrike]

Lol.

I'm weird, but I'm not "naked behind the stage" at ANY concert caliber weird.

Naked pole guy is legendary.

Apparently his naked-poleness led to a boring life selling real estate in Florida and he doesn’t want to talk about his naked pole-guy past. Lmao

Interview with Ken Babbs:

“Hey – you know that naked guy on the pole in the movie? Oh yeah … (laughter)He drives you nuts after a while. He’s right there in the background – it looks like his ba*** and his d*** are banging on Jerry Garcia’s head (laughter) – and then he’s gone! And then he appears again … but he has shorts on! When we were watching it in the theater, several people in the audience yelled out, “Oh, thank God!” (laughter)They were clapping where we were. (laughter) I wonder where he is now.Well, that’s the thing: when Adrian was making the documentary, he went to look for him. Turns out that he isn’t a long-haired, backwoods fella any more … he’s a straight guy and sells real estate. (laughter) And he didn’t want to talk about the movie. (laughter) Well … that’s too bad. His loss.Yeah!“

@thegenius

 

[justin8818]

Fellas, was lucky enough to see Dead and Company at Riverbend this past Saturday. It was my first show and, man, did the boys deliver. What a night! Gave me a whole new appreciation of the music.

 

[Birdstrike]

Fellas, was lucky enough to see Dead and Company at Riverbend this past Saturday. It was my first show and, man, did the boys deliver. What a night! Gave me a whole new appreciation of the music.

Nice! I was supposed to see them summer 2020, but it was canceled due to COVID. Glad you had an awesome time!

 

[Birdstrike]

Listening to Bird Song 8/27/72 Veneta. So chill. I love it.

 

[thegenius]

Fellas, was lucky enough to see Dead and Company at Riverbend this past Saturday. It was my first show and, man, did the boys deliver. What a night! Gave me a whole new appreciation of the music.

Good times. I was going to see them this year but couldn't for a variety of reasons.

Luckily...there are free audience recordings of Dead and Co on www.relisten.net

 

[thegenius]

Listening to Bird Song 8/27/72 Veneta. So chill. I love it.

Yes it is fantastic. It really is. that version and 6/22/73 are extraordinarily. the 6/22/73 version is a little more trippy / psychedelic than Veneta but they are both good

 

[thegenius]

It's dark. It's scary. It's beautiful. And best of all there's a great video that goes along with it. The whole show, is just amazing.

The darkest Dark Star I'm aware of is 5/11/72. Listen to that on a run. It gets downright evil in the middle. Like darkness is coming. Darkness is near!

Then....Keith comes in after the evil segment and all is right again. The evilness just drifted away like a puff of smoke on a breezy day.

 

[thegenius]

Folks, what do you think of this list?

The 10 Best Grateful Dead Shows of All-Time

Starting from the 1970s, the Grateful Dead faced the most iconic period. For instance, the year 1971 laid a foundation for other years such as 1977 and

chaospin.com

There are a couple of "eh" mentions in my book. 3/18/77? Huh? Where did that come from?

 

[Birdstrike]

Folks, what do you think of this list?

The 10 Best Grateful Dead Shows of All-Time

Starting from the 1970s, the Grateful Dead faced the most iconic period. For instance, the year 1971 laid a foundation for other years such as 1977 and

chaospin.com

There are a couple of "eh" mentions in my book. 3/18/77? Huh? Where did that come from?

Uh...yeah.


10/16/89?

Uh. No. I just listened to that show. It's not bad. But any show that starts with Picasso Moon and has two Brent solo songs that aren't Blow Away.....Uh....just, no.


3/18/77?

Uh...I don't know. I don't know if I've ever listened to that one, so I'm not sure.


Carousel Ballroom, the '72 shows....ok. Fillmore East, sure.


12/26/69?

Uh...that's another head scratcher. While I like their acoustic stuff, it don't see how you give "top 10 of all time" to any show that opens up with Monkey and the Engineer, ffs, one member of the band absent. Lol. But....okay. I have listened to that show (I think). But top 10? Not even close.


9/10/91?

While I like the shows with Marsalis (I've listened to all 3, there's only 3, right?) and I know some people love '89-'91, any show where Jerry comes with his post-coma voice has to be really special to get higher than an A-, with me. That's a good show, but calling it top-10 of all time smacks of either someone who was at that show, or a blogger who just did some quick googling so he could write an article without ever having listened to it. There are a lot of post-coma shows I like, a lot, but Jerry's vocal limitations hold a lot of them back from best-ever status. Just being honest. It is what it is.


8/13/75?

Hard to argue too much with that one.


If you google the author, she's pretty young. Super cool that she's into the Dead, but she's a noob, obviously. If she actually listens.

 

[thegenius]

I generally agree with Dick Latvala's releases as the "best" shows ever. They are quite good. He focused on 72-77, but overall gave each year from 69-78 equal representation. He picked the best Dark Star in 71, the best Other One in 72, best Bird Song in 72, best Help-Slip-Franklin in 77, etc.

 

[thegenius]

I finally got around to seeing Netflix's The Other One, and it was just splendid. I cried at the end.
Really good! Well balanced with Bobby's life intermixing Jerry, Phil and others. Loved the music too.

 

[Birdstrike]

Listening to this tasty little gem, today:

 

[thegenius]

That show has arguably the best Whart Rat ever. Great intro

 

[justin8818]

That photo is incredible. I'll have to give it a listen on this dreadful overnight....

 

[justin8818]

Pretty awesome show. The whole second set was fire. Especially the Wharf Rat > Franklin's > Sugar Mags

 

[Birdstrike]

Pretty awesome show. The whole second set was fire. Especially the Wharf Rat > Franklin's > Sugar Mags

I like the Werewolves of London, too.

 

[Birdstrike]

I'm doing a chronological run of official multi-track released live shows.

Today, it's 5/8/77, Cornell, which I've listened to enough times over the years I've lost count.

I don't hold this show above all others in some exalted way, like the recording itself is a demi-God. But this really is a very, very good show. I love the sound. The performance is damn near studio quality. I love (almost) all the versions of the songs here. But if there was one thing I could substitute, it would be to trade out the disco-Dancin' for a garage-Dancin' from '70. Even that is a minor consideration, because the version of Dancin' here, is very good. I just like the older, dirtier-rock versions better. Everything else from this show is farking great Grateful Dead. Yep, 5/7 and 5/9 are excellent, too. Damn near everything from this Spring '77 tour is. So, yeah. Cornell. 'Nuff said.

 

[Birdstrike]

Truckin'>Jam

5/19/74 Portland

Incredible

 

[Birdstrike]

Bird Song

6/22/73 Vancouver

Beautiful

 

[thegenius]

Truckin'>Jam

5/19/74 Portland

Incredible

That Truckin' is just sick! Off the charts!!

 

[Birdstrike]

3/19/86 Visions of Johanna

So, so sweet

 

[thegenius]

Good Phil Stomp at an end of a Dark Star

Dark Star > | 1973-09-11 | Grateful Dead | Relisten

relisten.net

Jump to 18:30. Enjoy the next 3 minutes

 

[Birdstrike]

On my morning run, I listened to some Dead studio tracks. Then, a shift of gears:

"...we could have the BEST....OF....BOTH...WORLDS! A little bit of heaven right here on Earth.."

 

[Birdstrike]

"...I knew right from the beginning that you would end up winnin'...."

"...You put an arrow through my heart. Round and round!"

 

[Apollyon]

"...I knew right from the beginning that you would end up winnin'...."

"...You put an arrow through my heart. Round and round!"

I didn't want to "RATT" you out here!

 

[Birdstrike]

Stop That Train - Peter Tosh