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Showing posts with label Audience Devotional Tree. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Audience Devotional Tree. Show all posts

Monday, February 15, 2010

1973 May 20 - Santa Barbara, CA

Grateful Dead 05/20/73 by Michael Parish

GRATEFUL DEAD
Sunday, May 20, 1973
Campus Stadium, U.C.S.B. – Santa Barbara, CA
Audience & Soundboard Recordings

If you've been reading these pages for a long while, here's confirmation that new riches can forever be discovered in the Grateful Dead's concert history. A personal favorite, we come to this performance after two years of reviewing other shows before it. Yet the magic within this concert could rightfully have placed its review among the first handful added to the site.

Through the luck of timing and good trading partners I was able to feature this recording as the very first round of my Audience Devotional Tree. In this day of not having to hunt down lists and strike up relationships to acquire new tapes, it is difficult to convey the excitement and power associated with being able to turn on an enormous crowd of traders to a previously un-circulating gem. But such was most certainly the case when I had the pleasure of digitally seeding out this tape back in 2000. Historically through the tape trading ages, there were always a few armfuls of dates which could cause most any trader's eyes to go wide. Bumping into a known low-gen, complete audience tape upgrade of 05/20/73 was indeed one of them.

Set 1: Bertha, Me & My Uncle, Box Of Rain, Deal, Looks Like Rain, Tennessee Jed, The Race Is On, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Beat It On Down The Line, They Love Each other, Playin' In The Band
Set 2: Promised land, Brown Eyed Women, Mexicali Blues, Row Jimmy, Jack Straw, Big Railroad Blues, Greatest Story Every Told, Here Comes Sunshine, Big River, Loser, El Paso, Casey Jones
Set 3: Truckin' > Other One > Eyes Of The World > Stella Blue, Sugar Magnolia E: Johnny B. Goode


Bob Weir 05/20/73 by Michael ParrishThe show is an enormous three set monster in an outdoor stadium, packed full of classic 1973 fare. But things go wildly off the charts as the band moves from Truckin' into Nobody's Jam and beyond. Some sort of cosmic switch gets flipped, and the band takes off, pulling every living soul deeply into the secret spaces of their private musical muse.

As the Nobody's Fault But Mine Jam falls away, a door opens into the purest of Grateful Dead improvisational exploration. The guitars begin to echo each other's little triplets and runs, like birds or coyotes conversing across miles of forest. This echoing casts the music into a slippery kaleidoscope of interweaving musical measures. In mere moments, the audience tape is defying all possibility of representing just some kid holding a microphone amidst a sea of concert-goers in an outdoor stadium. Every conceivable distraction is bleached away into a burning white backdrop leaving nothing but the steady flow of music to fill the ever expanding "now." It's as if some incomprehensibly intricate network of gears has finally slipped into sync setting free an experience that sears away all but our most inner attention. The music grows and turns, drawing this singular moment into one prolonged expression of joy.

These are psychedelic winds. Banners furling, catching sunlight, reflecting raindrops. Colors pooling, intermixing, turning infinite hues beyond count. The jam that has opened up here is fully immersed in the richness of the Grateful Dead's truest expression. The cadence and the loping lazy jazzy journeying are singularly the Dead's. It's been a long show, and they have finally made it to their own desired destination. They let this music play itself. It expands and contracts causing the ground and sky around us the breath peacefully.

Jerry Garcia 05/20/73 by Michael ParrishIt's late May 1973, and if you trace the musical undercurrents that evolved over the 30 year history of the band, you can actually pick out the binding ties between the purest improvisational moments from the Fall of '72 and what we would hear fully develop into the jazzy 1973 playing style that came in late June ‘73 and beyond. In this jamming the convergence produces an utter uniqueness which sweeps us away in an uplifting joyfulness tinged deeply with psychedelic feedom. This is one of the finest 8 minutes to come out of 1973 altogether. It's impossible for you not to close your eyes and smile as Bobby strums sunbeams, Jerry whips out licks that spiral like wisps of perfumed incense, Phil bounds down a hill like a big bear, and Keith fills all the empty spaces perfectly.

Tell tale hints of Other One precede a short drum break. The crowd around us reappears, as if coming up for air. At the end of Drums, in the split second before Other One explodes, we are treated to one of those "audience tape only" moments where someone shouts out something so nicely timed that it catapults the pleasure of the musical experience even higher. A guy calls out "Hey man!" and over him the Other One tidal wave explodes, impossibly huge. We are immediately locked directly back into the glowing furnace of musical purity. It's such a great one of those audience moments that I even made sure to set the track ID a half second early to be sure to start the Other One track with this guy's call out.

Surging along with its full force gale, Other One thunders to fill every empty cavity of time and space. Familiar rhythms sing to us, while the band stokes the fire. We burst into the first verse and it slingshots us out into a portion of music where all previous tethers to reality come undone. Jerry and Phil slowly disown the song's key signature as the count of measures is replaced by a gurgling slow motion sea. Outer space stories in languages beyond words come through the music as Billy's drumming falls completely away and the rest of the band dances as delicately as dew under starlight. The music keeps pushing further into this outer world. New passages appear bringing unknown landscapes and perspectives. Eventually, we slide into the "Tiger" meltdown and Garcia's guitar explodes into a fire hose torrent of broken glass. Physical reality is splintered infinitely in an onrush of fractaled mirroring wormholes.

Phil Lesh 05/20/73 by Michael ParrishAnd then, outdoing the jam before Other One, a passage emerges fueled by Bobby hammering out a percussive Caution-like strumming with Billy's intricate cymbal and snare work. Over this, Jerry begins hitting wide, gaping, primal bell-tone notes which stand as tall as dinosaurs. He adjusts his settings and his sound transforms into something more full of high and low end than can be imagined existing on this mono outdoor recording. Our being is elevated beyond recognition. He takes us so far away we might never find our way back. Phil is stomping broad strokes at impossible angles. Keith is ringing gorgeous bell tones of his own which he would do all too infrequently in the Summer of 73. The music pulses and pulls with unrecognizable sounds and details which defy knowing. The recording has somehow become immeasurably intimate. It seems to be born from the center of our soul more than off of some enormous scaffolding of stage in the distance in front of us. We are more music than anything else; more the Dead than the audience. This end portion jam is fleeting, yet it delivers an overflowing measure of the Grateful Dead's truest face; its heart of hearts. As is often the case, we are in a place absent of any desire to leave. The Eyes OF The World that follows is wonderful. Played at a cooled down tempo, it endlessly flows with rivers of sunshine.

The classic 1973 fare that represents the rest of this show is peppered with some outstanding moments. China>Rider and Playin' are obvious tunes worth some listening. But even more than that, there are a few real stand outs in the second set. Big Railroad Blues and Greatest Story Every Told tower beyond any preconceived notion you might have of these tunes as mid-set filler. Both Weir and Garcia deliver knockout strength blows throughout. At the risk of now having over-hyped them for you, make a point of giving these your full attention. I return to them every once in a while when I want to be reminded of the versions that made me a big fan of these songs over all.

05/20/73 AUD etree source info
05/20/73 AUD Download

05/20/73 SBD etree source info
05/20/73 SBD Stream Audio

05/20/73 photos by Michael Parrish

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

1974 July 31 - Dillon Stadium

Grateful Dead Wall of Sound 07/31/74

GRATEFUL DEAD
Wednesday July 31, 1974
Dillon Stadium - Hartford, CT
Audience Recording


Billy Degen ate some mushrooms.

Undoubtedly feeling no regret over possibly eating them a little bit earlier than might have been prudent for the task at hand, it is this that left him unable to navigate the complex diodes, plastic coatings, and vibratory electrical fields of his recording gear, each of these competing for attention as the 07/31/74 Dillon Stadium show began. That and the full-on pleasure of a Grateful Dead show getting underway while he sat in a very sweet spot indeed. While he made attempts to get the tape going and recording correctly, it wasn’t until he eventually found an opening where the slowly shifting panes of his mental kaleidoscope glass came into something of a focus, that Bill was able to pull all the elements together and get the tape going in time for Mississippi Half Step.

Grateful Dead 07/31/74What he managed to come away with was one of the most multi-dimensional AUD recordings we have from 1974. This tape runs the gamut of audience tape clichés, for good and bad. There are rowdy people chattering all over the place (including a classic where someone inches from the microphone quietly asks if it is a microphone), shifting winds saturating the mics, the sound of trucks rushing along the highway that borders the stadium (they tend to sound like prop planes flying over head), people bumping into stuff, the mics changing positions (often more than once in the same song), the odd tape cut here and there – yet on top of everything, this recoding is also one of the best documents of the Wall Of Sound captured out-of-doors in 1974. At times (especially when it really counts) this recording manages to transport the listener deeply into the pure heart of the legendary sound system. This tape does what only a few from the year pull off well – it demonstrates precisely how loud the Dead were in 1974, and really manages to grab the highest highs and lowest lows that billowed off the stage. The music roars and the energy soars in ways that most other tapes, even good ones, only wish they could emulate.

It was these latter, more positive aspects of the tape the drew me to choose it specifically to be featured on Grateful Dead Hour radio show #751 when host David Gans reached out to me with the idea of featuring a 1974 Wall Of Sound AUD tape on the program. As hard as it can be to decide just what show to review next on the GDLH, picking the right tape for the Grateful Dead Hour back in 2003 was truly painful. As much as it made sense to pick what might be one of the best AUDs ever, Jerry Moore’s 06/23/74, we decided to go for an outdoor recording since it would remove any worry over hall ambience, and thus translate a bit better to the compressed wavelengths of radio. In the end, I was very happy with the way this choice translated to the radio show.

For kicks, I have posted a MP3 version of Grateful Dead Hour 751 for those of you interested in hearing my interview as the online, banner waving, audience tape lover that I was (am).

What kept me from lofting this tape up as one of my first posts on the blog is the same thing that saw me hold off a bit on 06/24/70. The less than savory aspects of this recording could be construed as off-putting to one not somewhat ingratiated into AUD tape listening. So, by now, anyone who has found his or her ears warmed to the ups and downs of AUD tapes will have no problem panning for the gold on this tape. It is there in plentitude. Some moments shine through more than others, and without a doubt, this entire Summer ’74 show is filled with great versions of many songs (three sets worth). I will focus on some of the moments forever burned into my brain.

Jerry Garcia 07/31/74With Eyes of the World, the absolute majesty of this tape fully comes through. The crowd is almost immediately drawn into full attention, the ambient hoots, hollers, and conversations all but fading completely out of the field of Bill’s microphones. And straight off of the intro soloing, we can feel Jerry Garcia choosing his lines with great lyrical care. He seems more intent than usual in expressing distinctly voiced phrases.

After Phil’s solo, the song seems to tumble over an edge, unraveling itself into multiple shifting paths. It expands at several different angles causing our footing to give way into sweet confusion with no idea which direction comes next. The music eventually turns a corner as the band runs through the 7/8 time signature theme that adorned all Eyes in ‘73-‘74, and then glides effortlessly into China Doll. Here, the Wall Of Sound finds its way so deeply into your head as to turn it in on itself. You sense the enormity of the physical crowd and sound system, while feeling that the entire musical experience is yours, without outside ambience. This is the hallmark of a wonderful outdoor audience recording.

This show also has what might rank as my all time favorite Let It Grow. The jamming sections on this one find the band at the peak of their 1974 tightness. There is never any sense that the jam is just going along seeking for a foothold. It is endlessly locked in, constantly blossoming into new colors and textures, outdoing itself by ascending to a gorgeous peak in the final section where the Bobby and Phil begin lightly shredding their notes as Garcia soars higher and higher. It’s a beautiful crescendo, not repeated in any other version of the song anywhere.

Grateful Dead audience Dillon Stadium - Hartford CT July 31, 1974Then, of course, there is the mammoth Truckin’ jam from this show. Filled with a Mind Left Body Jam, into Spanish Jam, back into Mind Left Body Jam *after* the Truckin’ itself goes for 18 minutes, this set three jam is one for the ages. Two things always spring to mind for me with his tape. First, there’s the guy who shouts “Yeah, do it!” during the second or third verse of the song. For some reason, this is my favorite on-tape audience member moment of them all. It’s perfectly timed, and brimming with energy. Second is the mid jam Truckin’ rev up. You know, it’s that part of the song where Jerry starts circling on a triplet that climbs up the guitar neck, as the rest of the band joins him. This one from 07/31/74 has nary any equal, finding Jerry taking things up even higher on the neck that you can imagine, all while Phil is zigzagging notes at rough hewn angles in chaotic tempo. As it boils over you, it’s one of those moments of audience tape rapture – all this going on around you as a sea of people lock into the music in a vast outdoor stadium, in the Summer of 1974, while our intrepid young taper, Bill Degen, manages to reap the rewards of overcoming all the challenges that tapers faced – navigating deck, batteries, tape flips, levels, and paying attention to all of it during a Dead show.

The jam goes on and on from there, and despite the odd tape cut or two, the musical experience is well worth it. It’s great to hear how this overly rowdy audience can settle into near silence and attention as the band deeply explores the jam. And late in the improvisation, Phil reflects back to the gentle shredding done in the Let It Grow. It’s a wonderful tie in, bringing these tendrils back together late in the show.

Phil Lesh 07/31/74At the time that I circulated Bill’s tape, the only SBD of this show was very subpar, and not in heavy circulation. So much so, that this date got no attention what-so-ever. And even now that the full SBD circulates, Bill’s AUD brings something far more special to the listener. First put into digital circulation via the Audience Devotional Tree in January of 2002, it is a true pleasure to share this tape again with you now.

And a special thank you needs to go out to Bill Degen. Bill, you were largely responsible for my coming to appreciate AUD tapes from the start, having sent me copies of 07/01/73, 08/06/74, set two of 06/23/74, this 07/31/74 tape, and so many more. In a true example of the good side of the Internet trading community, we met in an AOL chat room of all places, and became fast friends and trading partners from there. As the years moved along, you even trusted me with your precious 7” reel copies of your master tapes that fell victim to your house fire many years ago, so I could transfer them and set them into digital circulation. I wouldn’t be here without you.

07/31/74 AUD etree source info
07/31/74 AUD Download

Audience Devotional Tree Round 9 – January, 2002

Saturday, October 4, 2008

1973 July 27 - Watkins Glen

1973 Watkins Glen

GRATEFUL DEAD
Friday, July 27, 1973
Grand Prix Racecourse – Watkins Glen, NY
Audience Recording


There are Grateful Dead tapes that often become guideposts in a collector’s journey into tape trading. For me there is no doubt that the 1973 Watkins Glen tapes were just that. The shows from 07/27 and 07/28/73 have played critical roles in my tape collecting life, from sparking my initial desire to trade heavily, to becoming my first, and easily my most effective ever, trade bait in generating inroads to the world of the “huge tapers” - guys with 3000 hours of music. Watkins Glen carves the deepest vein in the landscape of my tape collecting life, and can be seen touching more branches and tributaries in my tape collecting than most any other shows. So personal did these tapes become for me, that I’ve often worn the alias of “Glen Watkins” in online forums, cast upon me by friends who couldn’t help but poke friendly fun at this aspect of my obsession.

1973 Watkins Glen SantaStepping into my own personal Wayback Machine and setting the dials for the early 1990’s lands me squarely within a stone’s throw of the first time I ever heard the 07/27/73 Watkins Glen Soundcheck Jam. Oddly, unlike my many other experiences of hearing a passage of Grateful Dead music that would be forever burned into my soul, I can’t quite manage to call up the memory of the first moment I heard this tape. I find that somewhat strange, but in a way it leaves the sense that the music on this tape might have always been there, defying time and space, and thereby eluding the ability of a pinpoint landing when I look back. Given the powerful music at play, it doesn’t surprise me.

I do know that this was one of those five tapes that my good friend Fritz handed me after I got the sense that I needed to hear more of this band. Fritz was my Deadhead friend who had collected lots of tapes. He was the same fellow who *forgot* his tapes of 05/08/77 Cornell and 06/23/74 Miami in my car after our road trip up to The Mecca in Milwaukee during the Spring of 1989 to see the Dead. Almost by accident, this provided my very first steps down the road into Dead bootlegs. Looking back on that list of five tapes (he gave me 07/27/73, 03/24/73, 08/27/72, 12/06/73, and 02/24/74), I can only imagine the knowing smile that must have appeared on Fritz’s face as he left me with that pile of music. This was still some years before I actually started trading in earnest myself, so this music served more as deeply planted seeds and growing roots, than it did as beautiful flowers to pick from a garden – as Fritz is fond to say about certain shows he holds dear, these tapes did some “major imprinting” on my psyche. I listened to them a lot. They touched me at a deeper level because they weren’t commercial releases – there was no other way to come in contact with this music apart from knowing someone who had tapes. Up until this point I really thought that I could be fully satiated by whatever the then brand new Dick’s Picks series would offer up. That changed with this pile of tapes.

1973 Watkins Glen crowd at soundboardEventually immortalized commercially in the So Many Roads Box Set, the Watkins Jam is probably one of the most widely circulating Dead tapes of them all, not trailing too far behind the 05/08/77 Cornell tape. And while I will save the discussion around the way some of the most famous “best ever” Dead tapes reach such status simply because they happened to make it widely into trading circles in stellar sound quality, this particular 1973 tape is deserving of the highest honors. In this case, the music lives up to the historic accolades. This one really should be in everyone’s collection, and maybe that’s why it is.

Because I knew all too well that many seasoned tape traders would be stumbling upon this site early on, I had to resist coming out and touting the glory of this show right away, because to do so would understandably cast a suspicious eye on the touter’s tape cred. I would absolutely have been skeptical myself if I stumbled upon a blog like this, and found the first post centered around the Watkins Soundcheck. So heavily circulated is this show, I would have had to wonder if the person writing about it even had more than 10 tapes at all. So, I suppose getting to this now is all part of my grand plan. Not to mention, did you notice that this show date lands squarely in the middle of the period of 1973 I hold as the greatest ever? Neat, huh? Chances are that you’ve already heard this show, and the big jam therein. Chances are also that you haven’t heard it in a long long time. And even more so, perhaps you’ve never listened to the AUD. Now’s the time.

1973 Watkins Glen crowd dancing in mud and rainSo, what’s it all about? What’s the deal with this jam, anyway? The easiest way to describe it would be to say the Watkins Jam is one of the most prolonged musical satori experiences in all of Dead tape history. The band drops into the zone from the first notes, and remains there for a solid 21 minutes, all while allowing the music to change direction and color many times over. The jam demands repeated listening, as the opening spacey noodling only reveals its intricate connection to the rest of the jam after you hear where it leads, how it returns, and where it leads again. In the sections of the jam that are up tempo, there is the full embodiment of the 1973 Jazzy Dead jamming going on. Yet, there’s much more.

One of the coolest things about this jam is that it isn’t any of the classic 1973 jams at all. It isn’t a Playin’ jam. It isn’t Dark Star-ish; not Other One-ly. It isn’t even that wonderful Phil-inspired jazz jam that we only hear in 1973. Not only is it not any of those, it’s not any of those twice. There are two distinct jam sections in the Watkins Jam and both defy anything that was stereotypically 1973, the second one even more so than the first – Keith’s amazing lead off to the second jam always sends shivers up my spine. These jams embody the fluid acrobatic and lyrical dancing of Jerry Garcia’s playing style in 1973. And coupled with the rest of the band locking in and playing such intricately inspired counterpoint, it is easy to see how this jam somehow becomes one of the greatest musical events of the band’s entire existence. But, I’m not interested in starting up a debate around the best Grateful Dead show ever. What happens on this night is extremely unique. The themes in this jam never happened before, and amazingly, the band did not immediately work them into every show that followed.

1973 Watkins Glen Summer Jam - speaker towers in rainThe Watkins Soundcheck is made even more special for a number of reasons. This really was the sound check for the next day’s concert, not a scheduled show by any means. The set of music could have stopped at any time, although the band was clearly willing and interested in playing. They hadn’t played a concert since July 1st, and the setting was pretty grand. The fact that the big jam is so utterly unique unto itself also makes it so much more special, especially for any of us who have pretty much heard the complete canon of music from the entire year. It just defies everything.

And the jaw-dropping, spine tingling, continually expanding inspired flashes of musical oneness that go on and on and on, serve to fuse your heart to this music completely. The entire jam exhibits how this band could become five fingers on one hand. By the time they majestically angle into the quasi-Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad jam toward the end, you’re at a point where there is little else in existence beyond the bliss of the musical moment. Nothing beyond the Now has been going on for such a long time that as the psychedelic kaleidoscope of music forms into the carefree 1971-like romp of Goin’ Down The Road, it starts to boarder on more pleasure than one can take in. Yet the music is so heartfelt and so beautiful there is no worry of overload. This entire jam strums the strings of an instrument that is more than simply Rock music. In its ability to intertwine formless spacey improvisation into spiritually and physically uplifting move-your-body music, into a good old country-folksy-rocking homegrown underground Americana jam, this musical journey goes beyond. It transcends.

So, this soundboard recording has essentially always been in circulation. As I said, this tape typically turns up in every collection. It sounds fantastic. The entire set is a good time, Bird Song in particular is phenomenal. Phil’s repeated references to this being a test, being clever androids – it all lends to the fun. Then the big jam appears and burns away all fabric of reality, revealing the hidden truth of Grateful Dead music.

1973 Watkins Glen taperAs I’ve referenced a few time now, I was lucky enough to be trusted by older tapers via online forum and e-mail relationships. Bill Degen was one of the first older tapers I met online, and he warmly shared his music with me (Bill taped quite a few classics including 09/16/72, 11/30/73, 07/31/74, and even Watkins Glen 07/28/73). Bill sent me his reels (all of his masters were lost in a house fire), and on one reel B-side was the Watkins Glen Soundcheck from 07/27/73. I paid it absolutely no mind because I had it in some freshly circulating SBDMR lineage, and of course, everyone had that date already. Why even bother listening to a reel copy of Watkins from back in the 70’s? It couldn’t offer any form of an upgrade at this point.

Eventually I found myself checking out the reel more closely (probably while transfering whatever was on the A side) when I noticed that in the hand written set list for 07/27/73 the Me & My Uncle was listed. That was odd, because this tune was missing from the circulating SBD. So I queued it up, fast forwarding my way to where I could hear the Me & My Uncle. But I went too far, and ended up a few moment after the song, a few minutes into the classic Watkins Soundcheck Jam itself. But something was different. I landed right where Phil’s bass hits its long droning notes that completely over saturate the SBD, overdriving every other instrument right off the tape. But that wasn’t happening here. Phil’s bass was droning, but not driving the tape beyond its ability to capture the music accurately. Interesting.

1973 Watkins Glen - crowd at stageI listened a bit farther up to the point where the band kicks into the first true jam section, and I heard people in the crowd shouting and clapping at the transition. Now realize, at this point my ears understood what I was listening to as a SBD recording, one that was somehow alternately recorded as to have Phil at a different recording level. But the clapping and shouting were unmistakably the hallmarks of an audience tape, and in this case, one hell of an audience recording that sounded clear enough to mimic an old soundboard recording. I was already a good long way into my love of audience recordings by this point, so for me, this was a star aligning, synchronistic, “what did I do to deserve this?” moment. I had just stumbled upon an AUD of the Watkins Glen Soundcheck. An AUD?? Unheard of! I remember stopping the tape right then and there, not wanting to hear one minute more until I could arrange my listening experience into an optimal setting – this was all probably happening late some Tuesday evening after we had just gotten the kids to bed, etc.. and it wasn’t the right time to turn the stereo up to ten and melt into the music. I called my good friend Fritz and told him what I had found. A day or two later we had Fritz and his wife over for dinner, and somewhere between the main course and dessert Fritz and I made our way to my basement listening room and took the whole thing in together. Audience tape nirvana.

Right up to the taper getting busted by the gigantic roadie named “Tiny” as he screams into the mic, this a good five to seven minutes before the actual end of the jam. Somehow, this great taper bust being captured on tape in the middle of an amazing recording of one of the most amazing jams ever, made this tape even more special. I included this as filler on the first tape tree I even ran (The Watkins Glen 25th Anniversary Tape Tree), because I just had to share this amazing recording with anyone who would listen.

1973 Watkins Glen - crowd shotYears later, I was contacted by the actual taper of the Soundcheck (Bill’s reel copy of the date was not of his own recording. He didn’t arrive until the next day for the show proper) after he read my Watkins Glen story online somewhere. Man, the Internet is wonderful for that kind of thing. The taper, Jeff Siniawsky, hooked me up with his own master copies of both the 27th and 28th and I got them into circulation via the gdADT. But I’ll save the Siniawsky story for my review of 07/28 down the road.

More years later, again due to the Internet’s ability to connect us all, I was sent another audience recording of the soundcheck altogether – this time a stereo recording, not busted by Tiny, who was busy making trouble for Jeff. This new recording was even better than Jeff’s, yet of unknown lineage and taper. It beautifully feeds the mystery that exists even to this day of who was at Watkins and Roosevelt Stadium for both 07/31 and 08/01 always sitting way up front with this great recording rig. I’m still waiting for these masters to make their way out of the dusty past. They will, I’m sure.

It is this stereo recording, also seeded on the Audience Devotional Tree, that I want you to hear now. Frightfully clear and upfront, with incredible stereo separation of all instruments, this outdoor AUD recording easily battles for the top spot of best Dead AUD of 1973. The small amount of hiss speaks only to the fact that the mystery of this unknown taper still exists to this day. Worth noting here as well is the fact that these tapers went ahead and recorded on 07/27, when they had only come to record the next day. Realize that tapers had to prepare blank tape and battery supplies gauged to the event they were coming to tape. So, this was an unscheduled addition to the taping event, and they went for it. This without the aid of a 24/7 convenience store right across the street from the venue where they could restock on tape and batteries for the next day.

1973 Watkins Glen outhousesLiving in the shadow of the big jam, yet not to be forgotten from this date, is the sensational Bird Song. Easily one of the longest of the year, this version exudes a psychedelic energy that overtakes the audience and provides the first hints that far more than a friendly extended soundcheck is happening. Billy’s drumming is fantastic, coming at you as if played by more than one single person. It’s a perfect example of where the jazz elements of 1973 were anchored. Phil leaps from note to note, playing his own lead lines throughout. And Jerry’s leads emanate that glorious 1973 characteristic of a bird swopping out of tree canopied shadows into the crystal clear diamond sunlight above again and again. But here it all happens in prolonged slow motion, as if on the back of a giant bird with massive wingspan causing it to take more smooth extended arcs as it sings its triumphant song to the sky. Bird Song seems to have matured many times over while the band wasn’t playing shows in nearly a month’s time. The band seemed to be bursting with the desire to play back into the magic center of their own musical experience on 07/27/73.

So take some time and let yourself settle into this audience recording version of a true classic. It provides every gift we ever look for in an AUD recording, and breathtakingly launches you down an unforgettable journey of Grateful Dead greatness.

07/27/73 AUD etree source info
07/27/73 AUD Download

And if you're interested in hearing the Siniawsky AUD with the taper bust, it is here:

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

1974 August 4 - Philadelphia, PA

Jerry Garcia 1974
GRATEFUL DEAD
Sunday, August 4, 1974
Civic Convention Hall Auditorium – Philadelphia, PA
Audience Recording


Albeit spanning two venues, I think one of the best three day runs by the Grateful Dead occurred on August 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1974. The first night was a tough tape to come by in trading circles. 8/5 and 8/6 were in pretty regular SBD circulation by the late 90’s (and surely well before). And while good quality, low gen versions of those two were hard to hunt down, the 8/4 SBD simply wasn’t around at all. Now featured in Dick’s Picks 31, the soundboard is easily accessible, and this Pick is a must in all collections. But here we’ll talk about the audience recording – another chance to get your head right in to middle of the Wall Of Sound. Never an opportunity you want to pass up.

08/04/74 PosterThe first cassette version of the AUD I was able to score was woefully hissy. But, this show gave such fine rewards upon subjection to the otherwise less savory aspects of the tape itself, it was worth it. It wasn’t the master recording’s fault (as we learned later). It was just a bad copy of the master that had finally made its way around. The master itself, recorded by Jerry Moore, was part of the great Moore digitizing project that a few of us took on back in 2003.

In all fairness, 8/4 probably stands third in line behind the next two nights as a complete show experience. Yet, considering the next two nights, this leaves a ton of room for excellence. Its own highlights shine very brightly indeed.

This show also provides an excellent example of how the Dead’s jamming style had developed over the last year or so. Once you’ve listened to a few 1974 shows you can start to recognize a consistent “feel” to the playing style - a tightly wound, aggressively driven exploration of improvisation. The band would push and pull themes, working their talents at will, sometimes into more than one direction at a time. The evolution of the band’s playing and jamming style from 1973 to 1974 is quite distinct. An analogy that has always come to mind for me in describing this evolution is to describe 1973 as the band riding in the back seat of a car careening downhill on a wild ride with no one at the wheel. It's a never ending adventure. In 1974, the band is in the same car, but they have climbed into the driver’s seat so they can control the madness of flying down the mountain, taking the car where they like. By August ’74, they had fully mastered this, and were using it to brilliant ends.

Grateful Dead 1974On this show in particular, Playin’ In The Band embodies this evolved playing style wonderfully. For the first ten minutes it is a solid romp through this pure 1974 essence. Eventually, Jerry pauses for a break that lets the rest of the band lay down some wickedly dark funk grooves. Billy smashes his hi-hat, which phases the sound into the mic. It’s an awesome little flourish that is hard to forget. When Jerry returns, something has clicked and the music blossoms. Immediately there is a shift and the music fractures into multi-layers, no longer one raging force. The span of colors seems to stretch more completely across the spectrum. Phil steps outside of the firm pocket of bubbling, hopping notes, and starts to pull in some more strange sounds amidst the backbeat. The driving groove doesn’t change, but other elements are taking shape. There are now more open spaces within the soundscape, which allows you to concentrate on different elements a little more. Jerry is flinging pointed phrases everywhere, each dripping with a cosmic psychedelic edge. Time and time again he catches a run of notes and hangs within, circling and spiraling. Like flashes of galaxies normally hidden from view in the night sky, he bursts into view with visions that leave you gasping for breath.

These are the sorts of things that make you want to listen to this Playin’ again, to catch the little openings that fade as quickly as they appear. Through these openings we reach the true nature of magic that this band somehow found the means to express over and over again. Their musical efforts combined like a forest shaman’s potion that, once ingested, peels back the curtain of the everyday cacophonous noise that fills life, bringing you face to face with something more true, more undisturbed. In those true moments there is nothing more than your experience of them. They pass, and you look over your shoulder saying, “That was it.” And with that, it’s already oh so long gone. No different than moonlight, a flower growing through a sidewalk crack, or the passing view of a mountain touching the sky, sun, and clouds; these moments are often veiled by nothing more than the normalness of life, and pass without notice. If you can focus your attention to the beauty within, for a shimmering moment there’s nothing else. This is a beauty that is always around us, of course. We simply don’t often spend our time experiencing it. The Grateful Dead served as a divining rod to the stuff. They knew where to look. We knew our eyes should follow. They could call up this beauty in their music, and it would strip away distraction and chatter, bringing us directly into the moment.

Jerry Garcia 1974We get more of these precious window opening moments in the huge Let It Grow>Wharf Rat>U.S. Blues that follows in the second set. The solo section of Let It Grow (not even the jam) finds Jerry careening over the edge of cliffs, sailing through the sky. His lines are wonderfully lyrical, triumphant, and joyous. As they head into the post song jam, we’re essentially placed right back into the burning hot funk jam feel of Playin’. The band is completely locked in on the groove. Jerry floats lines around, then flips on his wha-wha pedal with a beautiful entry note. From here, he lays down some absolutely drippy lines of music. He seems to go in a new direction with every phrase, sometimes cooking along, sometimes exploring the lightest of musical expressions. Slowly beneath him, the rest of the band is deconstructing completely, until it’s a painted canvas of sharp, bunched up angles, Jerry mixing impossible colors over the top. Crazy patterns overwhelm one’s ability to see straight. Eventually Billy drops out completely and the music slips into an underground lake that echoes all around a mile wide cavern. The chaotic patterns can’t be held off, and they fill the space again until Billy re-emerges and a more classic insect fear / tiger jam takes shape. It’s like being shot up the throat of a volcano. Dangerous music, to say the least. This expands out and Phil and Bobby begin the march into a Spanish Jam. A burst of feedback ensues, and Jerry makes an executive decision to go for Wharf Rat instead. The transition swells into view, and what could have come across as a bumpy turn, renders itself majestically into the next song.

New Wharf Potato Rat

This Wharf Rat, along with most from the ’73-’74 period, locks solidly into one of the Dead’s pervasive core grooves that turns up as a transportational vehicle in virtually all years. If we were to dub it a name tied to one of the songs in which it first appeared, we could call it the New Potato Caboose groove. Easy to pick out, this groove also shows up in Crytpical Envelopment and Bird Song most clearly (I made reference to this before with the Bird Song from 09/07/73). The exit solo section of this Wharf Rat taps directly into the heart of this groove. You need only open your ear to it. The music lifts you into the air, buoyed on nothing more than the breath of creation. A pristine tapestry of refracted crystal shimmering diamonds, the music bores its way into the very heart of you. Pierced and pleasantly poisoned, your heart expands to fill your entire being. Collectively, there is that sense that the single entity of the entire crowd, and the band, has closed its eyes. Jerry plays in a different direction with almost every turn of a phrase. So much emotion courses out of his guitar, it might as well be a lute’s strings plucked by the hand of angels. Under him, the band is continuing its trend to crack the edges of steady song structure, but rather than ferociously taking corners and twisting paths, this all forms within clouds and mist. They weave strange rhythmic patterns out into the air.

Phil Lesh 1974Eventually this simmers down, and Phil hints at Truckin’. But Jerry is working his way into another fabulous song transition that moves to U.S. Blues. You couldn’t ask for two songs more diametrically opposed in theory. But Jerry leads them in, and the band grabs on with sublime perfection. It’s brief, yet sensational. And U.S. Blues is splendid. It somehow exceeds all expectations, delivering itself as a set closer, much like a Sugar Mag, but more so. The cheers of the crowd after this massive three song jam are some of the loudest I’ve heard. Pure delight. Perhaps sensing that there is little where else up to go, the band closes the set with Sugar Magnolia itself.

Don’t miss the chance to give this AUD a good loud ride. The highlights are not to be missed.


Audience Devotional Tree Round 9 - November, 2003

Saturday, June 21, 2008

1970 May 7 - M.I.T. Dupont Gym, Cambridge, MA

Jerry Garcia & David Nelson - New Riders of the Purple Sage, Dupont Gym, M.I.T., May 7, 1970

GRATEFUL DEAD
NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
Thursday, May 7, 1970
Dupont Gymnasium, M.I.T., Cambridge, MA
Audience Recording

I’ve mentioned once or twice one of my earliest trades with a guy who had the whole enchilada: 3000+ hours of music, page after page of a tape list, all hand written. He mailed a photocopy to me so we could arrange a trade. As I've recollected in a previous post, I probably baited him with my 25th anniversary Watkins Glen tapes. In that trade I scored 05/12/74, 06/09/76, and 05/07/70. In retrospect, I know I will never forget this trade, though the name of the trader has completely drifted away. I kept good notes, but not good enough.

Jerry Garcia Canadian Train Tour - July 1970The 1970 MIT tape was mind boggling to me. It wasn’t a good quality recording, but it was complete, and I mean really complete. It was the entire show, end to end, New Riders set included. It was so early in my on line tape collecting journey that going through the show from start to finish was riveting for me. Probably the first time I did such a thing with a 1970 show - there just aren't that many complete documents out there of these three set 1970 shows. The acoustic set has much the same feeling as the famous Harpur College show on May 2nd, five days earlier – it exudes a certain undeniable comfortable swagger from the band. Their interplay with the crowd smacks of confidence. The hitherto almost unheard event of an “acoustic set” manages to stop the entire audience in its tracks. Don’t Ease Me In opens the show and is delivered perfectly. The I Know You Rider come off like a church service, the energy so thick you can’t help but recognize the magic going on. Friend Of The Devil is Jerry story telling at its finest. Before I go on praising the actual show, I want to tell more of the story around the copy I put into digital circulation.

A year or so after scoring this show, someone reached out to me with a request. This person had this grad school professor (East Coast, as I recall) who had been sitting on a large collection of Reel to Reel tapes – not his own, many of which were Dead related, many unlabelled. Since this person didn’t have access to a R2R deck, but knew I had one, he asked if I would be willing to sort through the tapes and look for any potential gold hidden in dem dar hills. As it would come to pass, this was a significant day in my Dead tape trading life.

Phil Lesh May 6, 1970 MIT Free Outdoor ConcertJudging solely on what *was* labeled in the precious boxes I received in the mail, I knew we must be dealing with a very old-school taper. Just the fact that there was a reel with the FM broadcast of 08/13/75 ("One From The Vault") among the tapes was clue enough. That show had passed quite far out of trading circles at the start of the 90’s. In fact, in my own short history of tape trading, I had no clue that such a tape was every out there. Thus the fun began. Probably the most staggering discoveries in this collection came from the single reel that contained an upgrade to 07/18/72 running both sides on the left channel, and 05/07/70 on the right.

So burned into my memory is my first pass at testing the blank side of this tape (the reel was labeled only as holding the 07/18/72 Roosevelt show), that whenever I hear the first strains of the Don’t Ease Me In I am transported back to standing in my basement, staring at the reel turning in front of me as shivers rolled up my back. Not only had I stumbled upon a fantastic show that I knew was in very low circulation, but this was such a profound upgrade in sound quality, I could hardly let myself believe it was 05/07/70 at all. At first I just stood smiling at the fact that I was hearing *some* acoustic Dead set in really fine quality. The 05/07 revelation came later, as I wouldn’t allow myself to quickly scan the tape by fast forwarding to check the song list – the tapes were old, and I didn’t want to take the chance of damaging them. No longer able to just feel lucky, I was clearly living a charmed life in Dead tape land with this kind of stuff make its way into my hands.

Jerry Garcia 1970Months, perhaps more than a year, followed with the process of my trying to validate that I might really be holding onto the best copy around. This is a similar dark, dusty, and sometimes lonely process that any historian might pour through when trying to date a particular literary find. I began reaching out to people I knew, and people I didn’t know, trying to hunt down the truth. Mostly, I wanted to find a better cassette version of what I had gotten in trade a few years prior because a fair portion of the end of Lovelight was going to have to come from an alternate source, since the upgrade reel ran out early. In the end there was no better sounding copy for patching the end of the show other than my original tape. But, I did happen across a completely different master tape, circulating in unknown lineage, that would help bridge some of the in between song passages, and first handful of seconds on songs where the better tape was pausing and missing the first notes. 05/07/70 was my first foray into digital cross fading. As rough as this seed was to assemble, it was a pleasure compared to the pains of assembling edits on analog cassette, trust me.

Musically, this show has quite literally everything. In much the same way as Harpur College 05/02/70 provides an incredible document of a complete evening with the Dead in Spring 1970, 05/07/70 does as well. Many might agree that if only we had a soundboard of 05/07 that could stand up next to Harpur, the battle for which show bests the other would be very tight. The multiple tape sources, all with multiple gens, that represent this best possible version *could* someday be upgraded to the AUD master itself. Heck, if it could happen for 06/24/70, it could happen here to. Everything is possible at this point. Doubtful that there is a soundboard out there, though.

Jerry Garcia May 24, 1970Perhaps the highest recording quality portion of this show occurs for the acoustic set. For a 1970 AUD, it doesn’t disappoint. The set is driven by Jerry’s amazingly emotive vocals. He is so expressive, there are times where his voice sings like a bird. Things are so intimate, at times it’s like you’re sitting around a campfire with just Jerry and Bobby. The Friend Of The Devil and Candyman are flawless in this regard. As the show announcer says, “wood, organic, Grateful Dead.” The crowd is suspiciously silent throughout the set while the band plays, very different (more respectful?) than the 06/24/70 acoustic set. It lends to the church-like, hypnotic proceedings. This set gives and gives. Repeated listening over the years have never failed to satisfy.

The New Riders set elevates the energy up as a perfect segue headed toward to the Electric Grateful Dead. This set finds the Riders (including Mickey on drums and Garcia on pedal steel) in top form. They had really honed their craft in the prior 6 to 8 months, and this was their first actually tour out on the road with the Dead. They perfectly lift the crowd into a more energized state while continuing to draw on the acoustic country leanings of the first set. The Riders managed to condense psychedelia down into 4 minute songs in such a way that they draw you in without knowing why. Great stuff, always.

The Electric set comes out guns blazing, and turns in great song after song. But this show goes down in history for its Cyptical>Other One>Cryptical suite and its Lovelight. This face melting Other One explodes with such force it’s as if mountains are exploding all around you, oceans are boiling over in earthquake-driven frenzy, and stars are smashing together only inches from your eyes. There is no place to hide. It overwhelms the strongest of wills to stand in the face of its power. It will win. There are breaths taken before the second verse, but this seems only to set us up for the band out doing itself on the explosive ramp up to the last verse itself. The fans around the taper scream out of control at this, and you can’t help but feel that it is a most appropriate reaction. Towering, over the top energy. Then the Cryptical Reprise places us in one of those absolutely perfect places of quiet comfort. It is seductively psychedelic, reminding me of times cocooned at the bottom of an empty ocean bowling up around me for miles – the music lightly drifting around like dust in sunlight. When the Cryptical explodes into the “You know he had to die” section, you’re a goner. Massive explosions again rush into the distance leaving us in a drippy Cosmic Charlie. Awesome.

Grateful Dead 1970Ready for the challenge of living up to the Other One, Lovelight is like a self contained set unto itself. Lovelight>St. Stephen Jam>Jam>Darkness Jam>Jam>China Cat Sunflower Jam>Lovelight. There’s nothing like a Lovelight that forgets itself in direction after direction. It’s the fastest 34-odd minutes ever. It rounds corners, pokes its head up, spins, flips, and dances with fantastic creativity. The jamming cooks and rocks. This is inspirational music, the kind of stuff that would turn you into a Deadhead for life. The monstrous front end Lovelight quivers, rumbles, shakes and grooves like a fountain of multi-colored music. They hit St. Stephen at 80 miles an hour and tear the house down. Jerry is everywhere. A tripped out mini jam follows on the way to Darkness Darkness. The Jam out of the Darkness Jam burns hot and eventually finds its way into pure 1970 heaven – that lilting Feeling Groovy groovy-ness that is often found in 1970 Dancin’ In The Streets. Another spot you could leave me forever. Then we whip around into the China Cat Jam from there, and it is just wild. If you didn’t know that this band let things come from an improvisational creative flow, you’d think that this was an orchestrated medley of hit tunes. When they coolly slip back into Lovelight, and Pigpen returns to the mic, they head into a built up ending that will leave you exhausted. An explosive groaning and extended final note serves to scorch the earth in its wake. And then it’s done. The tape runs for a while after, and some guy’s exclamation of “Holy shit” seems to capture the moment perfectly. The tape runs down to the very last clap, and it’s time to come back to earth again.

Grateful Dead 1970 Fillmore EastI’m linking to my original gdADT copy here.


Audience Devotional Tree Round 4 - September, 2001

Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Audience Devotional Tree

“The Audience Devotional Tree is a trading tree that will aim to spread the pleasure of the audience recording medium to those who know it now, and those who seek to know it better.”
(from the gdADT Yahoo Group header)

The gdADT (Grateful Dead Audience Devotional Tree). What was it, and why does it keep coming up as a tag in this blog?

There is no doubt in my mind that part of the motivation to write, and the pleasure I get from doing this blog, were much the same in doing the Audience Devotional Tree many years ago. I loved AUDs, and wanted to kindle that love in others and foster that love in those who might not already have had it.

Before the age of high speed collections and 500 Gig hard drives, tape trading was a little different. Back in the late 1990’s we all marveled at how the pace of trading was catapulted into hyper drive speed because of the ease in which folks could meet each other, exchange lists, pick shows, and send them off to each other. The average trade time could generally be from days to a week, where before the internet it might border on a month or more, and this after you were crafty enough to find other tapers in the first place.

By 1998 I had gotten pretty deep into my steadfast preference to audience recordings and the avenues they opened up to appreciating the experience of Grateful Dead shoe recordings in general. Along with this, I was starting to find that I was having an easy time of reaching out to, and winning the trust of old tapers who were willing to send me their old master tapes, or boxes of old reel to reels.

At this time tape trees were starting to appear more and more online. Essentially, a tape tree is built upon the premise that someone with the “seed” (copy of a show that not too many other folks had ) would would offer it up to four or five people in trade with the contingency that these people would commit to trading it out to another four or five themselves, and so on. The seeder, would gather the names, e-mails and physical addresses of all who wanted to join the tree, generally capping things at a certain number. Thus, like a musical pyramid scheme, hundreds of people could quickly come to possess a copy of something new on the scene in a matter of short weeks or months. Not all tape trees had hundreds of branches and leaves. And, not all trees would do more than one single seed round. Eventually the tape would be traded though a few levels of branches, each spreading the show again, ending with leaves. Leaves were typically people who didn’t have the ability to make copies of the show for others, and would generally do a B&P (blanks & postage) trade with their branch. Some trees became long running versions of “fruit of the month” subscriptions. The ADT was one of them.

I started the ADT because I knew I had a couple of Dead audience tapes that were not in circulation at all – 05/20/73 (review forthcoming) and 08/06/74. The ’74 show was really what cemented my resolve to do the tree. I got the AUD/1 reel from Bill Degen, patched it with Ihor Slabicky’s own master tape, and knew it had to go far and wide.

Back then (2000-2001) the way many multi-round trees were managed was within a Yahoo Group. I took sign ups, gathered about 145 people, split them into those who could burn CDs, and those who could not. I think I might have even had a cassette layer to the tree. Shorten (SHN) lossless compression was just new on the scene, and I took a poll as to who would want to run the tree as a SHN tree instead of audio. We opted to go SHN. With the kind help of some more technically adept tree members, we even got to the point where we were hosting the seeds on a private server where hi-speed capable branches could grab the shows.

The truism of “what you think about comes about” thoroughly applies to the world of Grateful Dead tape trading. My own flurry of activity in getting the tree started seemed to bring more rare and un-circulating AUDs into my world. Old tapers would somehow *find* me (exactly how I came to upgrade my own 25th Anniversary tape tree of the ’73 Watkins Glen shows), and there never seemed to be a short supply of shows to digitally master and get out on the tree.

It was also during this time that through a trading relationship I came to be connected with Jerry Moore, whom we all thought had pretty much fallen off the face of the earth. The era of digitizing Moore’s closet of master tapes began during these years. Priceless, wonderful times.

I released one show every two months or so. This gave the tree enough time to run through its three or four levels of depth. The tree’s heyday was from 2001 to 2003 wherein 24 of the 27 official rounds were released. The ADT focused on AUDs from 1970-1974 only, thus, on top of that, 15 “Extra Shows” ran through the tree as well – these from the collection of tapes I was transferring from post 1974 years, plus things that would come my way already digitized. These would go out to people on the tree who volunteered to turn around and offer them back to the tree in B&P or trade. It all worked very well.

Because I think the only actual list of shows treed on the gdADT is tucked inside the Yahoo Group, I’ve pasted each round here for reference. Please know that in posting this list I am not trying to tell you to grab all these shows immediately. As you've probably noticed, I have recommended a few shows from this list over the last few months, and I will continue to do so as I feel them best fit into the fabric of this blog.

Round 01 - 05-20-73
Round 02 - 08-06-74
Round 03 - 07-18-72
Round 04 - 05-07-70
Round 05 - 07-31-71
Round 06 - 06-30-73
Round 07 - 07-31-74
Round 08 - 08-01-73
Round 09 - 08-04-74
Round 10 - 05-21-74
Round 11 - 07-27&28-73
Round 12 - 07-31-73
Round 13 - 06-22&23-74
Round 14 - 06-26-73
Round 15 - 05-16-70
Round 16 - 06-30-74
Round 17 - 06-26-74
Round 18 - 06-28-74
Round 19 - 06-22-73
Round 20 - 07-29-74
Round 21 - 09-07-73
Round 22 - 12-30-78
Round 23 - 03-05-72
Round 24 - 08-05-74
Round 25 - 06-09-73
Round 26 - 07-27-73 [stereo aud]
Round 27 - 11-08-70

Also from the Yahoo Group header for the ADT:

“Communicating that certain something found in audience recordings of the Grateful Dead.”

As true for me today as it was then.


Sunday, May 25, 2008

1973 June 26 - Seattle Center Arena

Bob Weir September 26, 1973

GRATEFUL DEAD
Tuesday, June 26, 1973
Seattle Center Arena – Seattle, WA
Audience Recording

Along with 06/22/73, the other Don Amick recording I had the pleasure of bringing into digital circulation some years ago was 06/26/73 Seattle. After going years with a cassette copy of the show that was in the “B” range of quality due to generational hiss and tape speed issues, coming into contact with a true reel-2 copy of Don’s recording was a dream come true. The tape was not without its share of challenging tape cuts that needed editing, but the overall sound experience is near that of Don’s 6/22, and certainly outdoes the SBD for overall enjoyment. The soundboard of this show falls short for a number of reasons: hiss, bad mix, technical woes, etc.. The way to really connect here is through the AUD.

I will say that enjoying this AUD will be aided by some ear acclimation time. Similar to an AUD from 1970, you would do better to take the show in as a whole as much as you can. Dropping in on a particular highlight will come without your ear having had time to get used to things. I experienced this myself when getting ready to review the tape after not hearing it for years. I dropped in right on the Playin’ and I was struck by some of the harder aspects of the recording. Afterward, I went back and started from the top of the show, and after a song or two I was able to appreciate the distinct highpoints of the AUD – nice separation, clear high hat and vocals, sweet bass. It then allowed me to be completely in a place to fully enjoy the bigger jams of the show without distraction. I’d say you need a good 15 minutes with any AUD to fully acclimate. If you’re dying to check out the Other One, start with the Truckin’ and let the AUD grow on you from there.

06/26/73 has an ideal set list for me. A show opening Casey Jones (a rare treat to open a 1973 show) is delivered in a rather subdued fashion. But it has such an inviting characteristic to it in the way it bounces around. Its carefree and understated delivery make for a special level of enjoyment – different than the hard driving versions that more typically close a set. It makes me wonder what a Sugar Magnolia might have sounded like placed somewhere other than the end of set two (always). Casey Jones segues into Greatest Story Ever Told, and with that the energy skyrockets. It’s one lovely song after another here, Brown Eyed Women, Jack Straw, Box Of Rain. Yes yes yes. All of them give off a really relaxed pleasure. While it is often a tendency to look at 1973 first sets as less than interesting and lacking energy, this show is a fantastic listen – not because the songs have more amazing energy than you would expect, not even because Jerry is doing things with his leads that are beyond the norm. This show just has a perfect balance of mellow 1973-ness and focused song delivery. The band is engaged in a way they would sometimes not be in other shows from the year.

Jerry and Bob - October 19, 1973The first set goes on forever, tucking a great Cumberland Blues (only 7 of them in all of 1973) and China>Rider still two songs ahead of the eventual set closing Playin’ In The Band. After all of this fantastically Dead-flavored first set music, Playin’ In The Band brings with it a nice jam that allows the band to flex its psychedelic muscle a bit. Early on it finds Jerry opening up to lots of empty passages. He lets non-playing fill between his leads, where the band grooves along. It’s a nice punctuation. Slowly the energy mounts. Jerry rolls all around his pallet of sound colors. You can hear him going from pick up to pick up, changing volume and tone, turning on and off the wha-wha pedal, searching for the right voice. This provides a lot of wonderful intricacy to his solo. However, it is more likely that he is somewhat frustrated with his sound, searching for a place he can settle in and just play. After a bit more of this he seems to strike a good combination and flows back into more lead lines that fire off, then go silent, allowing the emptiness to punctuate the phrases he leaves in the air. He’s like a painter stabbing brush to canvas, then stepping back, then stabbing again. The song wraps up and ends shorter than most Playin’s of the year. It’s just a hint of what the second set will bring.

The second set opens with a Bertha>Promised Land that feels great. The show settles right back into the pre-Playin’ groove of set one – great songs delivered within a focused mellow energy. Then there’s the tape flip shortened Drums that explodes into one of the best Other Ones of the year. Words seem ill equipped to define just what made the Summer of 1973 so unique from the other parts of the year. This Other One does not suffer from that same challenge. It is the pure embodiment of what makes this period so wonderful. The band is a cauldron of power through this opening section of the song. Yet it all feels very lyrical and warm at the same time, another characteristic of the Summer shows.

The audience recording quality here is hypnotic. Phil’s bass is exuding its tone in ways no soundboard tape could ever hope to portray. Bobby is very upfront in the entire recording, while not overbearing, and it allows us to completely appreciate his full spectrum of tone as well, let alone his deft playing style. Billy’s cymbals and snare glimmer. Keith’s keyboard work is right in your face. And Jerry glows over everything happening around him. You are able to sit back and let 1973 wash all over you. After more than six minutes the band’s every circling flower petals of multi-colors seem to close up for the approach of night, and they slip into Me & Bobby McGee.

You know, I’m a big fan of the “Jam>Cowboy Tune>Jam” song structure that the Dead exploited. And, here we find a lovely Bobby McGee tucked inside this Other One. But, maybe it’s because this Other One is so completely what I love about the June ’73 shows, I feel somewhat wrenched away from the Other One with this transition. I just never want that Other One to end. Interestingly, Phil drops out almost entirely, and when he does play, he has stopped playing anything below about the 5th fret. This lends the proceedings to be even more distinct from the Other One that came before. Somehow the entire sound spectrum has been sucked down to two or three colors, where moments ago it was topping three hundred. All in all it ends up being an expert move, because when the band exist back into the Other One, it’s like we’ve just passed through the eye of a hurricane. We’re whisked back into the frenzy, and it leaves a deliciously psychedelic aftertaste to the Bobby McGee (did that just happen?).

For the next seven to eight minutes things are even better than they were before the Bobby McGee. The multi-colored flower is opened wide again and there are as many colors as there are petals on a chrysanthemum. It’s one more fantastic twist and turn after another. Phil is back to reaching low on the fret board. Keith pulls off a solo section that shows that there really was an extremely talented keyboard player in the band. The band displays an impeccable ability to listen to each other and build off of the phrases that each is playing. Jerry’s playing again is fuelled by the expression of licks and phrases that are punctuated by pauses. He ties them together so artfully, holding off on a note that you can anticipate after a phrase until a perfectly syncopated moment a few beats later. As his lead runs move higher up the neck of the guitar, it gives off a feeling of running up a flight of stairs, leaping at times over two or three steps as he goes. The cauldron of power is starting to boil over the sides, and gone are the relaxed jazzy leanings. This is something pure Grateful Dead now. The first verse forms. It comes and goes. From here we drop off into a simply sensational feedback driven space that could be one of the most overlooked of the year.

Amick’s tape has a bunch of trouble over this passage, and it took some daunting effort at the sonic workbench to clean it up. I don’t generally mention my own digitizing efforts, but I recall this one as particularly draining. Plus because of the numerous cuts, I spent the hours getting through it anticipating my own finally being able to hear this Space in as un-mutilated a fashion as possible. Before this editing, the cuts came at you like a hammer to the head, over and over. Seven incidents of apparent pause button tapping later (09:58, 10:12, 11:43, 11:46, 11:50, 11:55, 12:38), and the Space was allowed to flow in almost complete non-distraction. I used to be able to count these edits as the final product passed my ear. Now, years later, that ability is blissfully gone, and I just melt into the multidimensional sound explosion that refuses to allow one to find footing at any angle. It’s a brain crippling ride, itself several minutes long. The band is relentless, while not utterly cacophonous, layering tone, noise, and feedback that strip away you ability to experience anything else. And when it finally ebbs away and places you at the start of Sugar Magnolia, you can’t help but shake your head to reset your balance. The set closer grounds us nicely, necessary after such a deep and twisted exploration, and we can feel our physical bodies again, bopping around and clapping to the music.

Summer 1973. Worth every moment.

06/26/73 AUD etree source info
06/26/73 AUD download

Audience Devotional Tree Round 14 – January, 2003

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