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Not Sure Where To Begin?

The intro posts are always a good start, followed logically by
my thoughts on Music & Being, which guide my writing.
You could also try my current favorite show on the blog,
plus there's good reading under the trading community label.
Or, take a walk on a
Listening Trail.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Listening Trail - Best AUDs Ever


Another installment in the GDLG Listening Trails Series

In the world of Grateful Dead tape collecting, we could debate which audience tapes have the best sound quality until we grow too old to press the play button. The list of “Best Grateful Dead AUD tapes” goes on and on. However, there are a few recordings (some of which have been featured on the Guide already) which stand the test of time as tapes that can stop you in your tracks and make you say, “Wait a minute. That’s an audience tape?” Often, these recordings serve well in warming one’s ears to the medium of audience taping itself.

And while they’re at it, these tapes also do a good job of dispelling the myth that all audience recordings from way way back in the 70’s (gasp!) pale to what more “modern” taping equipment can produce. Yes, caveats should be given for certain technical limitations of the day. But, with these tapes, we can absolutely gain an understanding of how amazing the Dead really sounded way back when (and even not so way back).

Rather than ranking them against each other, they are listed simply in chronological order below. This is a subject that will easily allow for the future creation of more than just this one trail. But, this first one is surely one of our most well worn paths. Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.

Please follow the links below to fully enjoy this Listening Trail.

05/03/69 – It’s almost unfair, and like something from another dimension. Audience tapes in 1969 don’t sound this good, ever. Vocals-shmocals, the mics on stage miss the PA speakers that carried the vocals, so the singing is a bit buried. It’s 1969. Get over it.

08/06/71 – Perhaps the most famous Grateful Dead AUD tape of them all. Your ear will quickly acclimate to the sonic landscape and be rewarded with some amazing 1971 magic. Set two will leave you giddy.

09/28/75 – Again, like stacking the deck, we learn that if you can pull off setting up directly on the lip of the stage, the Grateful Dead will reward you many times over. Quite possibly, this is the outdoor recording of all outdoor recordings. Portions can also be heard in podcast listening session 001.

05/13/83 – Score the perfect seats, in the perfect row, at the perfect outdoor venue, on a perfect day. It’s all gravy from there when the Dead deliver a soul quenching performance. Portions can also be heard in podcast listening session 001.

09/19/90 – A tip of the hat to the progress of taping technology! The stars line up here to completely shatter the limitations of any preconceived notions you might have around audience tapes, even if those notions were already pretty good.

Listening Trail - Best Grateful Dead Shows


Another installment in the GDLG Listening Trails Series.

It is understandably natural to want to find your way to the best Dead shows ever when first exploring Grateful Dead music. The band was famous for playing a lot of concerts, and always known for being better live than they ever were on studio albums. However, we are heading into treacherous waters when we try to claim which Dead shows were the best of all time.

None-the-less, that doesn’t seem to change the fact that people are always looking for them. Our goal here will be to call out some performances (from those that have already made it into the Grateful Dead Listening Guide) where the band reaches the golden ring deep inside – shows that truly do stand out for containing extra special musical moments.

A wickedly hard list to compile (and one often fraught with personal opinion), we’ll start below with just a few shows listed chronologically, as truly ranking things in order of greatness is a foolish venture, indeed. No doubt, there will be more “Best Show Ever” trails to come. This first pass is intended to include shows that our entire community could probably agree are true standouts.

Try to forget the “best ever” name of this trail, and see it as a walking tour of some shows that highlight the Dead going over the top musically; hitting musical satori like a bell. These are shows where the Dead’s musical muse is aflame with light and creativity.

Please follow the links below to fully enjoy this Listening Trail.

06/24/70 – Stop here, and don’t pass Go. The sound quality of this tape might be hard on first time listeners (more on that in the review itself). Deadheads may disagree on the topic of “best ever,” but most will agree that it rarely got better than this. Dark Star > Attics Of My Life > Dark Star > Sugar Magnolia > Dark Star > Saint Stephen > China Cat Sunflower > Jam > I Know You Rider. Words can not express… Perhaps one of the longest stretches of pure flowing X factor we have on tape.

07/27/73 – The Watkins Jam. So famous, we often forget just how mesmerizingly special it really was. There was nothing quite like it before or after. This is something for the ages. Note: it’s the audience tape addressed in the review, not the version you might have heard on the So Many Roads boxset. The AUD is fantastic, and a bit of it is featured in podcast listening session 001.

08/06/74 – From a year of knock out performance after performance, there’s something somehow a cut above happening during this day’s first set stand alone Eyes Of The World, and Playin’ In The Band > Scarlet Begonias > Playin’ In The Band. Hold on tight.

05/08/77 – Damned if I don’t include it on a “best ever” list, and perhaps equally damn if I do. Everyone owes it to themselves to figure out how they feel about the most famous Dead tape of them all.

Listening Trails



When this site started in February, 2008, I likened the collection of Grateful Dead recordings available online to a vast sea in which folks needed help navigating. The Listening Guide was conceived as something of a combined compass, rudder, sextant, and ocean map, all aimed at helping people navigate the waters.

Over time, this site itself has grown into something of a sea of its own. And I can’t help but wonder if, despite the handy label cloud of tag links and the personal hand holding fun of the Podcast Series, newcomers arrive here with a sense of uncertainty regarding where to step first, let alone, second. Since these steps were precisely the inspiration which lead to the creation of the Grateful Dead Listening Guide, I’ve decided to add a new layer to site’s information, aimed at easing confusion and making the first steps, and those thereafter, somewhat easier: Listening Trails.

Working with the vision of the Dead's vast music collection as more of a National Park than an ocean of water, it seems appropriate that visitors to the park should be handed a map of trails to consider following. Just as is found when visiting most any natural wonder, we typically are encouraged to follow some well worn, and satisfying paths that have given previous visitors pleasure, rather than just being cut loose to tackle a mountain side, waterfall, or forest rather blindly. And, there should be the occasional park ranger found along the way to point out particularly pleasant viewing stations here and there.

Some listening trails you could walk in a day, while you might find it best to walk others over the period of weeks, camping out at particular shows for extended introspection. However you travel, my hope is that these trails will serve folks well, and always make the daunting task of confronting the Grateful Dead’s musical collection less, well… daunting.

As the trails are built, I’ll try to keep a list of them within handy arm's reach of new (and old) comers. I have a good handful of trail subjects in mind to get started which I believe will help visitors make the best use of the Grateful Dead Listening Guide. I’m sure more will be built as time goes on, and as the GDLG “park” continues to expand.

You’ll find all the trails filtered under a new label link in the cloud called: Listening Trails. Here’s to some enjoyable travels.

Friday, February 6, 2009

GDLG-002 - Golden Rings & Secret Spaces


Listening Session 002: Visiting some classic well known musical moments as well as some more obscure gems from the history of Grateful Dead live recordings, complete with the occasional story and insight adding color along the way.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Happy Anniversary


The Guide celebrates having one year under its belt today. In the first year we’ve logged 70 show reviews. If viewed as being a brand new tape collector, that’s a pretty nice collection of shows to have gathered in a year’s time. Not an overwhelming number, but enough to start causing our non-Deadhead friends to think very seriously that we have some kind of problem, just the same.

In the old days this would represent something on the order of 160 cassette tapes – definitely time to start building some nice wooden cassette racks for the wall! Spread out over a year, we might not even have noticed that we dropped something on the order of $425 on our new cassette habit (to say little of stamps and bubble envelopes). Also worth recognizing is the fact that we would have probably spent a good deal of time sending a fair amount of this music out to other like-minded traders, turning other folks on to some amazing music.

That’s one thing about the Grateful Dead tape trading scene – it resonates with, and follows the laws of balance in the universe. There is a built in regulator switch to tape trading that makes it almost impossible not to share out at least as much music as you accept in. And the more you give, the more you get. It is (was) not uncommon to be gifted tapes pretty regularly, and this then would inspire us to do more of the same. Whether it be adding an extra tape or two in a trade just because you really wanted to share some show that wasn’t part of a trade request, or the handing out of tapes to strangers at a gas station when you see with a Grateful Dead bumper sticker on their car, this sort of stuff went on regularly in tape trading.

I know we touched on this a while back, but it’s also worth recognizing that after a year of this trading, our significant other has not been blind to our new found zeal for something having altogether nothing to do with said “other.” We’re probably spending a bit more time than could be rationalized under headphones, or in the basement. Does she/he know about that $425 bucks!?! And to be sure, we are catching grief for always exiting the normal activities of life every 46 minutes to go flip a tape – and I mean always.

The fact that we seemed powerless to stop these things was a telltale sign that we were in the right place. And I suppose that while the onset of our “digital age” has changed the very nature of our trading community forever, we can be thankful that so much music is now so easily accessible in forums such as this and others across the net. And the give and take is still alive and well. I can’t express how much pleasure I get from knowing how appreciative folks are about the content of this site. That’s what I’m getting in trade – the knowledge that I’m achieving a bit of my intended goal for the guide. Thank you all for that.

If the first days are the hardest days, we shouldn’t worry now about our ability to explore more great music in year two of the Grateful Dead Listening Guide. Whether you started reading a year ago, or have only recently stumbled into our corner of the web, I’m glad to have you along. The wide readership, responses, and always positive feedback are constant reminders that starting this thing was a good idea. I look forward to continuing to explore the music and musical spirituality that inspires me to write and share my thoughts with you all.

You can always blame that grizzled old Deadhead that lives across the street when your friends look at you with an air of confusion. Listen to the music play!

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