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Saturday, September 20, 2008

1976 September 28 - Syracuse, NY

Jerry Garcia 1976

GRATEFUL DEAD
Tuesday, September 28, 1976
Onondaga County War Memorial - Syracuse, NY
Audience Recording


This show is featured almost in its entirety on Dick’s Picks Vol. 20. But it has history from long before it came out commercially, and that history is in part related to demonstrating the glory of AUD recordings from a part of a year that isn’t famous for its soundboards. Most of the SBDs from Fall 1976 fall a bit flat. They just lack a lot of sparkle. As we have been dabbling into this period with AUD tapes, there are a fair number of good ones to be found, and it is now time to add 09/28/76 to this list as one of the more satisfying 1976 AUDs. Very up front, with exceptional low end, this tape permeates the sound field with the power of the Dead’s new (in ’76) sound system. Particularly sweet are the sound of the kick drums and Phil’s bass. These instruments tend to lay very flat on the SBD’s, while in the AUDs you can literally touch the energy coming out of them. The drums, especially, pulse with power. You can almost feel the push on the air, absent almost completely from the soundboards. On 09/28 we are thus treated to that most wonderful alignment of the stars – a wonderful recording of a wonderful performance.

Grateful Dead 1976It’s hard not to talk about 1976 without mentioning the dismissing the year gets in many Dead trading circles. Generally you either love 1976, or absolutely don’t. However, even some of the most anti-76 folks out there will generally acquiesce that there are a few glowing spots in this year. 09/28/76 falls into this category easily. In fact, after revisiting this AUD after a good many years myself, I regret that it took me so long to share it here on the blog. This show and recording demonstrate all that I love about 1976, and then some. It was one of the first late-1976 tapes I acquired in trade, and as an AUD, continued to cement my preference for this recording medium over soundboards. For this show, and a few others from the Fall of ’76, the audience tape brings an entirely heightened level of experience to the music itself – not because of the crowd, or the energy in the air, but strictly based on the way the sound of the band comes through on tape.

After a first set that contains some fine songs including Candyman and Friend Of The Devil, the set closes with a herculean Let It Grow>Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad. This song pairing only occurred twice – the first being on 10/25/73. The Let It Grow displays a rather ferocious intent to grab the audience’s attention, elevating the overall energy of the first set by leaps and bounds. The solo sections sizzle in and out of verses, and the transition over to GDTRFB is quite extended. Things idle with a raw potency between songs, cascading over a large extended peak while the music finds its own path from song to song. But, make no mistake, set two of this show trumps nearly everything that has occurred on the entire tour thus far. This is music that can leave you changed after listening.

First and foremost we have one of those second sets that looks frightfully good on paper. One complete jam:

Playin’> Wheel> Samson> Jam> Comes A Time> Drums> Eyes> Dancin’> Playin’

If the music therein could even come close to being as impressive as the set list, we’re in for a good time. What we get is far more.

Playin’ In The Band launches the second set directly into your heart, exhibiting the quintessential quality of 1976’s deeply psychedelic-mellow vibe. It’s the sort of energy and music that you could completely miss if you don’t fix both eyes (or ears) upon it – like thinking nothing of walking past an everyday looking patch of flowers only to double-take when you catch the fact that the rich colors of the flowers are somehow flowing from one to another the way light reflects off a huge school of phosphorescent fish as they turn and swirl, as if driven by one mind. 1976 has a lot of this kind of stuff going on.

Jerry Garcia 1976Playin’ moves in a slow watery boil. Garcia pulls out lead lines like fingers pulling honey from a jar. Everything breathes together. There is a point where you can sense The Wheel coming from a thousand miles away. Like pre-dawn light in the eastern sky, it barely kisses the swirling darkness of the Playin’ jam. Eventually, The Wheel hint cracks the horizon and begins filling the sky with a throbbing rainbow sun, each solar flare a different color bleeding into the next.

If we give 1975 the credit it truly deserves for bringing us Help>Slip>Franklin’s, rather than attributing it to 1976 when it merely exploded forever into our vernacular as a Dead classic, then The Wheel is ‘76’s crowning jewel – the greatest gift to us of the entire year. In that, it encapsulates 1976 completely. The way it could form out of a jam (on 9/28 perhaps even more artfully that it does on 10/10/76), somehow demonstrates how the song’s musical arrangement in 1976 was written out of the sheer fabric of the band itself. Simply put, it fills your soul. It seems like nothing more than a “good song.” But placed correctly, it elevates you. It draws you into that distraction-free experience of the Now that is typically reserved as the ability of a deep jam only. The Wheel in 1976 just has this power. The Wheel on this night might easily claim the title of best of the year. As if the song itself wasn’t potent enough to lay this claim, it’s exquisite intro from Playin’ and outro into Samson and Delilah assure it.

And Samson itself is elevated by the seamless transition. The song cooks. But it’s the jam that returns directly off of Samson’s final downbeat that begins to cement this set as one for the ages. We are placed directly back into the night-mist fabric of Playin’ In The Band without transition. It just rushes forward again and silences the crowd which had been brought to its rowdiest level by the previous song. The Dead demonstrate their complete control of the proceedings with this shift. The next few minutes of music are picture perfect – the kind of stuff that could only appear like this, pure inspiration and improvisation tucked deep in a long string of music. Jerry is whipping out lead lines now in his classic swooping birdlike arcs. There is no resistance to the fusing together of everyone in the building. The band’s singularity of being suffuses the crowd – all hearts beat as one. As if this wasn’t elevating enough, next comes a song that could deliver prayer-like spiritual oneness in almost any year: Comes A Time.

It’s arrival is like emerging from a dense forest into a wide valley of grassy hills under a sunlit sky tinged with the smell of Spring. And as is often the case, this song brings out the best in Garcia. His voice - its inflection, emotion, and pure intoxication – is matched only by his guitar work. Man, to hear Jerry and Donna repeat the final sets of the line “only love can fill” sends chills down my spine – absolutely riveting. This section is like almost nothing else, somehow far more than you’d ever expect it to be. The exit solo is short and sweet, and it ends with the band seeming to search for the next step. Drums to the rescue, we get treated to the awesome power of Billy and Micky.

Here you can completely appreciate the already wonderful audience recording all the more. 1976 Drums on a soundboard never sound this energetic. Proving that fact, there is a tape flip covered by the SBD itself for about 15 seconds. You can completely hear what is lost in the SBD. The AUD returns for the last few minutes of Drums and we are headed for more glorious music.

Eyes Of The World charges at breakneck speed. This is a supercharged version of the song, and the music sets off an effervescence of stars appearing and burning out all around you. The speed of the song propels Jerry’s solo work into heavenly realms. His leads manage to float lazily above the locomotive pace of the music beneath them, gently singing and dancing. This is a 1976 Eyes through and through; not better or worse than those of 73-74. It brings about those involuntary smiles throughout. At the end, the song angles sharply back into the Playin’ jam, but only for a moment. Quickly, the band finds itself in a unique thematic jam that walks a line between loping and stomping. It’s slightly Bolero-like - something not quite heard before or after this show. It goes on for a nice while, and then Phil starts hinting back at Playin’. But Jerry has another idea.

Donna Jean Godchaux 09-17-76As if this colossal complete set long jam wasn’t big enough already, the band heads into Dancin’ In The Streets. This late in the year (about four months after the song’s re-introduction to the lineup), the song has fully matured, each musical part integrating perfectly with the other. The crowd becomes fully locked in, clapping along. Yet, the music is so loud, when the band starts jamming, you can’t hear the claps – another great example of the music’s power and energy. The jam dances along (no pun intended), resolving in a near perfect run through of the syncopated end refrain. This leads to the final verse which fades itself to a whisper, upon which Playin’ finally makes it’s true return (after, what? Four teases throughout the whole set?).

The band takes some pleasant time letting the jam float about the arena. Slowly the entire band simmers all the way down and lets the reprise fully take form. Ecstatic, the crowd bursts into cheers as the song draws to its close.

When listening to the audience recording, this set easily defies all negative connotations cast at 1976. This is the Dead firing on all cylinders. Enjoy.

09/28/76 AUD etree source info
09/28/76 AUD Download

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Live On The Dead


A number of years ago, David Gans interviewed me on his Grateful Dead Hour radio show, asking me to talk about audience tapes, and the Wall of Sound in particular. We played and talked about the Dillon Stadium 1974 AUD, one of my favorite tapes (just waiting in the wings for an upcoming review here). Well, my luck continues..

I figured that most of the GDLG readership would be interested in knowing that their trusty DeadListening tour guide, icepetal, is going to be featured on the radio this weekend. I was invited to appear on “Bring Out Your Dead,” the weekly Psychedelic/Dead-based 2 hour radio show that broadcasts on East Village Radio, a live 24/7 streaming radio station based in New York City. The show airs each week in the late night hours each Saturday (okay, very early Sunday morning) from 2AM – 4AM EST. And fear not, they also provide podcasts of all shows, so you can download, or even subscribe (as I do) via iTunes or your favorite player and listen whenever you want.

This week’s show will feature Grateful Dead music that I handpicked for the evening, and a mid-broadcast interview with the show’s weekly host, Jeff Conklin. We pre-recorded the show last night. In the interview Jeff asked me about how I got started down the path of collecting shows and transferring masters in the late 90’s, the history of archive.org, and Dead shows in general. You can hear why I generally prefer writing over speaking as I rewrite history, misrepresent old tapers I’ve known, and cloud the facts for a good 15 minutes or more on the air. A great time was had by all! :-)

You can check out the upcoming play list for this weekend’s show (September 20, 2008), and get set up for the podcast at the Bring Out Your Dead home page. The podcast will be available as quickly as 10 minutes after the show finishes up at 4AM, Sunday morning.

Happy DeadListening!

[edit-09-20-08]
Direct Link To 09/20/08 Bring Out Your Dead Podcast (Dead Link)
[09/20/08 interview only download]

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Into The Eighties

Grateful Dead crowd May 1982

I don’t know if it has something to do with the way I built my collection of Grateful Dead tapes, but I am endlessly impressed with how great the band was in the early 80’s. Of all the eras that I listen to, this one seems to be able to wow me more often than others after so many years of listening. I think it has something to do with the fact that I built up hundreds and hundreds of hours of tapes before ever going after shows from the 80’s at all. In some ways, that caused me to encounter the 80’s Dead as something of a new band when I finally took the plunge.

I think it also has to do with the relative obscurity of the early 80’s Dead music. Not that the music can’t be found, but that there are very few dates that ring out as historic events from the 80’s, while the 70’s produced all kinds of classic dates (Europe ’72, Watkins Glen, Englishtown ’77, playing at the pyramids in Egypt in 1978, etc..). Someone not in our obsessive compulsive little world of collecting wouldn’t generally think of 1983 when they think of the Dead. They think 710 Haight Ashbury in the Summer of Love, or 70’s classic rock or something. In the 80’s there are all these amazing musical journeys quietly sitting in nondescript corners of nondescript years. Somehow, this makes the good stuff all the more satisfying to me, adding to the pleasure to be found there.

My tape collecting started off with a focus on the early 70’s and 60’s. Early on, I met what for me became a natural road block with the 10/21/78 show. I was so underwhelmed by that tape that it soured me to anything from 1978 or after. Also, I was finding it hard to fully fall in love with 1977 like every other Deadhead and their brother. Oh, I dappled into the 80’s (as I described in the 02/21-22/82 review – when I found Rango Keshavan’s webpage nothing stopped me from doing a four show trade for copies of his 82 masters), but for the most part my world centered around 1973 and the few years that circled it in each direction.

When I did finally recognize that I must be missing something - from the high regard given the early 80’s by many folks in my trading circle - I force-fed my way into the decade. Trusting my trading partners’ recommendations, I probably gathered a dozen shows (20 plus tapes) or more within the span of a week, all from the period of ’81 to ’84 (I know coming into possession of a dozen shows over a week means nearly nothing now – we can download that in a day now. But it was a lot of deck spinning, bubble mailers, and trips to the post office back in the late 90’s) . Included in that first batch was 08/28/81, which, of them all, had the a most piercing impact on me, as did some 1984 shows. There was something about the actual sound of the band from this time period that oozed Grateful Dead-ness to me. I can’t really place why. It sounded very different from the 70’s (let alone the 60’s), but portrayed something that spoke the very language of the Dead all the same.

Even now – in fact, maybe more so now that back when I was heavily collecting – I catch a special thrill off of really good early 80’s shows. Maybe it's because historically I don't expect these shows to impress me like, say, 1974. While the songs and power of Grateful Dead lyrics provided an unmistakable continuity between the decades, the Dead were absolutely an ever-changing band as each time period came and went. While it was not part of their own design, when the band was *on* in the 80’s, they sounded like a more mature, polished, and developed group of musicians than they ever did in the two previous decades. This is not to say that they were *better* in the early 80’s, which is why you didn’t catch me using that word. :-) It is more about how they seemed to have honed their craft in ways they hadn’t in earlier years. There might have been more fat to trim from show to show (although, one could argue that there was a ton of needless music played in the first sets from 1972 to 1974), but time and time again the early 80’s can reward even the most jaded fan.

In the online Grateful Dead community, we have the ability to rub shoulders with young and old ‘heads alike. And it’s interesting to hear how a number of older heads tend to discredit much of what happened after the 1974 retirement, or perhaps post-1977. To many, shows in later years (i.e after 1974 and sometimes even earlier, as discussed in Primal Dead - The Early Years) completely paled to what came before. The Dead had sold out, given up, disappeared. The disco Dead of the late 70’s were enough to cause some to consider walking out on the band. Strong sentiments, which somehow the passage of time brings into different perspective. For most folks, all eras of the Dead have something to offer, and it is hard to understand how some older fans could dismiss vast amounts of the archive – “after Pigpen, it was over!” . Personally, I can tell you that if it happened after 1984, I am hardly interested. And shows in the 90’s? It’s really hard for me to embrace them as I do the earlier decades. So I’m as jaded as the next guy. I often wonder if the late 80’s and 90’s are waiting out there for me to show up. Will I someday fall in love with the later years as I eventually did with the early 80’s?

I guess the point is that it is worth allowing yourself to meander into as many corners of the Grateful Dead’s musical history as you can. There is always something special just around some corner. For me, the early 80’s have been an ever opening flower of delight that I found tucked in the back of a garden I once thought ended at 1979.

Friday, September 12, 2008

1982 September 17 - Portland, ME

Jerry Garcia 1982
GRATEFUL DEAD
Friday, September 17, 1982
Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME
Audience Recording


Back to 1982. Jim Wise pulled off an A+ sound quality AUD for us here. And the Dead did their part in delivering a top shelf performance as well. If you find yourself needing a really good AUD recording to help you fully appreciate the medium itself, and are also on the lookout for some shining musical moments tucked away in the early 80’s, this is the tape for you.

On 09/17/82 we are treated to a well delivered first set. Particularly nice is the Candyman (always a personal fav). Jim’s recording is so fine, and Jerry’s heavily wha’d guitar solo just goes down so nicely. On Dupree’s you can hear Jerry straining on the highest notes – a precursor to the demise of his voice to come shortly thereafter. But for the most part, we are still hearing a strong Garcia. We also get the debut of Throwin’ Stones which is well played, if a little rough around the edges. It then segues into Deal with the precision of an FM D-Jay’s skilled hand very nicely. Deal closes the set with some good power.

Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir 1982Set two opens up with the second Touch Of Grey ever, which is also very nice. Woman Smarter, which follows, is in its prime. Then there’s one of only three High Time’s from the entire year, all of them tucked into this September run. It’s light and airy, somehow more deeply psychedelic than you would think the song should be. The music sort of shimmers into view all the way through - Bobby’s guitar laced with wonderfully gooey affects. And from here we go directly into the meat of the show.

Estimated Prophet is delivered with a great deal of energy and gusto. The song just seems to want to break its leash and run. Bobby howls out the vocals, and the drums pound. The song wastes little time in finding its pocket. After Bobby gets off sufficient rounds of “Heh HEH’s!” to confirm his ultimate cheesiness from this era, the band quickly slips into the kaleidoscope of interweaving rhythms and sound patterns that pervade great Estimateds. Jerry syncopates with the drummers, while Bob flashes chords in all the right corners. The music beams out into wide interlaced arcs and waves, fitting together like tiny gears inside of a pocket watch. We come out on the other end briefly slipping lightly into a night lit meadow of rolling grasses and flowers which endlessly open up before us until they fill our entire visual field, revealing a lilting Eyes Of The World within.

Eyes has a delicious tempo. Waves of warmth flutter out of the music like birds doing ballet. They drag long feathered trails behind them that curl and turn like streaming flags in watercolor hues. And when Jerry solos, everything exudes happiness and exuberance. He reaches for extra expression time and time again, his playing drawing on the joyful emotional backdrop of the music. The extra efforts are unforced, and it all lends to the magic. With the last solo, the band settles into a simmering ocean of music. Phrases are being echoed throughout, such that rippling patterns of sound vibrate into light and air. Wave patterns crisscross, and the band is listening to itself so well that each echo migrates between instruments causing any path your ear would follow to be swept into a converging path. Wonderful stuff.

Grateful Dead May 1982There is a light yet brooding Space out of Drums which eventually turns a corner into Spanish Jam. It angles toward Other One and finds itself dipping deeply back into Space before the band confirms the path to Other One for sure. Again, things are being pushed a good deal further than you’d expect. The band has made it completely into the zone, all members coming at you like the multiple arms of an Hindu God. At times when you think a strong passage has ended, it rounds a corner and comes back at you again. Somehow, as quickly as it comes, Other One is gone, and we get a Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad. It bounces, bobs, and bubbles with its own distinctly 1982 flavor. The song melts away and out of the air comes Morning Dew

As ever, it’s hard not to be fully immersed in the timeless beauty of this song . Things slowly grow to a towering first solo section. Jerry’s tone is just piercing the air around you. The entire band supporting him like warriors. Then the last verse comes with a hush – Jerry’s gentle and mournful vocal inflections sounding completely heartfelt. The quiet solo section begins under the entire audience clapping in slow time to the beat. You can feel the entire room synched up together. Quickly the energy floods back over the music and Jerry is sending light beams over the stage. The solo ends somewhat sooner than you might like, but it’s still a lovely version.

Enjoy this show for its wonderfully tight musical interplay throughout – something always very akin to good 1982 shows. The recording quality allows the doors of enjoyment to fully open wide for you. Good times.

09/17/82 AUD etree source info
09/17/82 AUD Download

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

1979 October 27 - Cape Cod Coliseum

Jerry Garcia - Early 1979
GRATEFUL DEAD
Saturday, October 27, 1979
Cape Cod Coliseum, South Yarmouth, MA
Audience Recording


1979 often gets overlooked. It sits in the gargantuan shadow of 1977, and somewhere lost in the pre-dawn twilight of the early ‘80’s. This year might easily qualify as the very best year you fail to think of at all. And, failing to listen to what ’79 has to offer would be unfortunate; bordering on tragedy. It’s as if the entire year is hiding like so many individual shows lurking in so many years.

It was a transition year (the Godchauxs left the band, Brent Mydland joined in the Spring), and clearly a rejuvenating time for the group. By the end of the year, probably due to Brent’s infusion of musical craft and quickness to develop comfort with the band, the group was getting deeply into their own music; jammed out songs were getting a lot longer, and there was an obvious energy growing that shows the natural bridge from the ‘70’s to the ‘80’s.

It’s really hard to find a bad show from late 1979, and most any night holds at least something spectacular, even if in only a song or two. This show on October 27th is a classic example of everything great that was happening toward the end of the year.

Steve Rolfe’s AUD captures the magic energy beautifully on this night, and I recommend playing it loud. It lets more of the full spectrum (both sound and vibe) come off of the tape and allows it to fully pack its punch.

While most of the highlights are in set two, it would be unfair not to mention the first set Big River. It’s good enough to make you always make sure to listen to Big Rivers in the future because of Jerry’s potential to really get off in the song. Also a nice early Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance is worth hearing. The song pairing was only two months old at the time.

But it is in set two where things really come together. The set opens with a 14 minute Dancin’ In The Streets that lifts the crowd. The jam is tight, and the music swirls like a sea of city lights seen from above, dancing and weaving together. Bobby’s guitar cuts out momentarily deep in the jam, and this provides a cue for the band to let things loosen up some. The music starts to slip out nicely, eventually coiling around Phil to the delight of the crowd. From here the syncopated end section of the jam picks up, and the song is back on its tight track. A beautiful set opener, the energy is set for a real good time. The smooth as glass transition into Franklin’s Tower elevates things to an even higher level.

Frankin’s was getting a major workout in the Fall and Winter of 1979 too. Here, a very typically long 17 minute version ignites the audience as a song that in four short years had already become an absolute classic. Now you can tell that the second set is touched with something special. The audience is fully engaged and loving it. As the solo sections build, the drummers punctuate the beat beautifully, clearly having one heck of a time leading the groove. And this is not wasted on Garcia, who elevates his solos with them all the while. The song burns and burns, lavishly long. The solos become towering trumpets that howl at the sky, punctuated by the intimacy of Jerry’s voice in the verses. Now, with this 30 plus minute two song set opener over, the room is fully electrified.

Jerry Garcia - December 7, 1979Almost seeming out of necessity, everyone gets a breather with He’s Gone. That often noticeable feeling of complete comfort and relaxation takes over as the crowd enjoys the presence of an old friend. But the cool thing about He’s Gone in 1979 is that it was also getting a workout, often finding the end jam portion evolving into a more intense exploration of music – often Caution-esque. And tonight is no exception. After the crooning vocal section of the song, the familiar sense of spinning, galaxy-huge, wagon wheels of light and color begin their slow turn across our entire visual field. Like waking up to a dream you’ve had before, this soft caressing turn of time, space, and music is a staple of the Dead experience. Here, things slowly weave to and fro, and before long the energy is picking up. The tempo increases, and the pace of Jerry’s lines quickens. Something is waking up underneath. It’s as if the heart rate and breath of the music are picking up speed. There’s also something a touch more sinister on the air. The jam catches fire and He’s Gone is left in the distance. We are now in a mostly free form improvisation that allows the band to stretch its legs.

The Other One appears like a stalking beast, eyeing us through the bars of a cage throughout the end of the He’s Gone jam. The song’s theme slowly takes over and the monster is casting a dark hypotonic power into the emotions of the entire audience. When Phil crushes the entire building with the true opening line, the beast has broken free, and there is no place to run. Phil is so loud, it is a wonder that the entire sound system didn’t topple over. The raging monster is now more a sea of serpents coiling throughout the air of the hall. Useless to resist, surrender becomes the only option. The first verse comes and goes without a warning - you barely notice. It passes, and with it was your only chance to catch a breath. Phil attacks with the theme-roll again, and the world is cast into flame. The second verse comes, and directly after it nothing is the same.

Space appears without transition from the verse. The band absolutely disappears completely into a formless charge of energy. It is as if we’ve been pushed through a membrane barrier, appearing in an entirely new world - like falling off the true edge of the flat earth into a unfathomable expanse of open space. It’s a humming, coursing, burning vacuum that extinguishes breath. The entire Space portion of music could be occuring between two heartbeats. There is no time here. No music. No escape. You can’t help but come out of it dumbfounded that this is happening in 1979. Drums slowly appears with Phil beating out the rhythm on his strings, setting sparks off with every stroke.

The Drums is alight with a dark tribal energy, never really letting up. The Not Fade Away that finally forms comes stomping into the room – it too, alive with this dark energy. Eventually we get a really fine Black Peter to bring us back to some semblance of normalcy. But this show manages to leave its mark in the pit of your soul.

1979, go for it.

10/27/79 AUD etree source info
10/27/79 AUD Download

This show also exists as a Matrix (AUD and SBD blended together), and might make a fun listen too:

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