The Grateful Dead May 1977 Poll

I'm listening to Scarlet on the Cornell show (for the first time) and Keith's piano is quite good.

Buffalo imo

I think Cornell is still my fave, but Buffalo is pretty close too -- going to have to revisit all of these, I guess.
I also am a big fan of May 19, which was released as Dick's Picks -- tons of great stuff there.

I wasn't able to get into it earlier, but I'm gonna give Cornell another shot.

And looking at the setlists, did they really not play "Truckin'" at the Buffalo show? Because that's kind of a hilarious dick move.

try the audience tape of cornell, it is probably my preferred version.
i think they only played "tennessee jed" once in tennessee so maybe they were wary of that kinda thing.

Didn't stop them from playing "One More Saturday Night" on many a Saturday night!

I don't know all of these, so I'm not voting, but Cornell does not contain either "Sugaree" or "Help on the Way," and those are two of my favorite pieces of Dead music, so I'm putting on Dick's Picks 3 now. (5/22 Pembroke Pines, FL.)

yeah the 77 sugarees are so nice

Dan -- Buffalo opens with an outstanding Help > Slip > Franklin, you'd love it if you're a Help guy (I am too)

lol wimmels you took the words right out of my mouth re: saturday night. gotta go with boston here, despite the rampant tech difficulties. it's pretty much a dream second set for 77. I'd take Eyes Of The World > Drums > The Wheel > Wharf Rat > Around and Around over the Cornell St. Stephen medley any day. plus with boston you also get Terrapin, Cassidy, and a slow Friend of the Devil.

And looking at the setlists, did they really not play "Truckin'" at the Buffalo show? Because that's kind of a hilarious dick move.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, April 25, 2017 10:28 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

to be fair there are a lot of cities mentioned in Truckin

5/22/77 for me

i'm really spotty on my '77 dead, couldn't vote.

but. the copy on the link you posted is fucking golden:

WHAT DEAD HEADS HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT...

NEW HAVEN 5/5/77
"Here is a prime example of the saying ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ … It’s called synergy and the Dead wrote the book on it.”

BOSTON 5/7/77
“The music they laid down brought me places I had not been before.”

CORNELL 5/8/77
“...the single best rock performance anywhere, anytime, by anyone.”

“There was just some kind of magical connection this night between the band members and the band and the audience - some texture, or some type of cosmic or celestial force is in the room.”

"This show is, was, and always will be Mecca.”

BUFFALO 5/9/77
"...an awesome display of the Dead’s captivating power"

i also love how they call the sound clips "listening parties" lol

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

77 box shipped today!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

voted cornell, but really just because that was the one i had listened to most recently. the "official" version might not be revelatory, but it does sound damn good, some new layers/textures revealed in there for me.

i've been into matrix recordings lately, the crowd sounds add a lot for me. also extra cool to listen to during wall of sound era

Well, I'll be damned. I bought the OFFICIAL Cornell dealie in the hopes that it'd turn my head around on it. And it does, and I'm digging it...and I'm realizing that the "Cornell '77" recording I heard before wasn't even this show. No idea what show it was, but "They Love Each Other" was a completely different tempo, and the set included "Truckin'."

Were they still doing Truckin in 77? (probably)

Inspired by this thread, have been digging through my (legit) Dead 77 holdings. Starting w/ the Winterland 77 bonus disc from 12/5/1977 Chicago with a v sweet Mississippi Half-Step, Garcia sounding exquisite on two longish solos.

don't think i'd ever say that Cornell is THE BEST SHOW EVER but I will say after recent listens that the "Row Jimmy" on it is all time best. Garcia's solo is just pure beauty there.

Eleven Truckin's in '77.

http://www.setlists.net/?search=true&venue=&city=&state=&month=&day=&year=77&songs=Truckin%27%0D%0A&submit=Search

got the box this weekend. haven't had the chance to listen but WOW what a presentation.

yeah, getting the box wasn't in the budget, but i was very jealous seeing it show up on my social feeds this weekend. looks beautiful.

The recording I had (but deleted, because I needed the hard drive space) I swore had "Truckin'," "Franklin's Tower," and "They Love Each Other." But apparently, they didn't play all three at any show in '77.

Hm, OK, I think the "Cornell" show I had was actually 12/19/78 in Jackson, MS. Not awful (from the clips I just listened to in order to confirm what I remembered), but certainly not in the vicinity of Cornell's reputation.

otm on that 'row jimmy', it's gorgeous

on the cornell audience tape you can hear a dude desperately calling out for truckin -- "AMERICA'S FAVORITE SONG!! TRUCKIN'!!!" but they do not heed his request.

lmao

hahaha

I like that the audience member thought, "You know, just yelling 'Truckin'!' doesn't get the point across. I need something to buttress my argument..."

"Bob, did you hear that?"
"What, Jer?"
"Someone called out for 'Truckin'.'"
"Yeah, dude, that happens every four seconds. I hear it in my sleep."
"But hold on, apparently...and stay with me on this...it's America's favorite song!"
"...the country, or the band?"
"What difference does it make? How can we turn down such a well-reasoned case?"
"Good point, Jer. Let's do it."

so this is sourced from the betty boards? it sounds pretty different compared to the SBD (i thought) I had. it's up on spotify! if the fidelity is that much different for all the shows i sorta wished i'd sprung for it

It is a Betty, yes. There's something different for sure. These sound matrix-y. Someone who knows more about this than I do might be able to expand on this from a technical standpoint, but I hear the crowd in a way I didn't on previous SBDs. Really, these are some of the best *sounding* Dead shows I've ever heard.

New Haven is better than its reputation would have you believe btw

i'm guessing they just had a better technician handling the mixing/mastering than whoever originally circulated the tapes

yeah it does sound good -- i was wondering if they incorporated some elements of the audience recording in there, since yeah, you can hear more going on there. Keith's keys sound better/more prominent in places too.

the screaming guy in jack straw sounds about the same though

i had never listened to this show before and i don't know if it approaches pembroke pines, which was my dead gateway, but damn, "scarlet > fire" is kicking my ass

"this show" meaning cornell

it's a good one for sure (love jerry's first solo) but it misses some of the weird kind of funky rhythmic interplay between bob and jerry in the intro

love how they included the 'take a step back...' bit specifically as part of the track on here ha

very heavy on the phil, and i can tell a lot of people are way into that

5/5 New Haven (please explain)

Listening to it this afternoon. St. Stephen on this is great, goes from gentle Jerry/Donna vocals that are really *on* into a fiery jam. In fact, whole second set is fire.

I actually agree. Made that mildly snarky comment in the poll before re-listening to this new version. Second set is indeed excellent (but still doesn't touch the other 3 shows of that week). First set is about average, but I need another average first set of Dead music like a need a hole in my water bong

holy fuck the Sugaree at New Haven is OUTSTANDING.

yeah, that one is so good.
is 77 when they reintroduced Good Lovin to the live set? With Weir leading the way that song is super skippable.

if you like that one you might like saint paul 5/11 or 10/16 louisana state, both get kind of fierce

xp

The one and only time I saw Dark Star orchestra they did the St. Paul '77 setlist. That was a good show.

I listened to New Haven in the car today and then when I got into the office (laptop & headphones instead of CD player) I listened to Baton Rouge 9/1/69, whose sound quality is complete garbage but whose set/performance is just a completely diff. world. not sure if the keys are Pig or Tom Constanten (likely the latter) but they're just so good and lively. the distance from '69 to '77 is just so so great

Blasphemy, I know, but these days I prefer even 90s Dead to 60s Dead. Pig bums me out and TC is a snore

not trying to harsh on my dead lovin online buds

and I am a mild fan, and have spent dozens of hours trying to get"there" - live dead, Europe 72, old renaissance fairgrounds, the studio albums etc

listening to Cornell and right now Scarlett Begonias is really great, but how do you guys deal with stuff like Dancing in the Street (not the middle jam which is ok) but just desecrating the absolute genius and economy of that original into this tepid hippie shuffle then esp at the end when they "break it down" and it's "dan....cin dancing in the streets EVERYBODY"

it's just so mortifying I feel embarrassed fur everyone listening to it and like we clown dudes like Bonnamassa but this is ok?

again on the whole I'm enjoying this and not trying to fight

Sam Cutler (via fb):

LONG STRANGE TRIP – my thoughts on the film

Where the hell to BEGIN? Well, let’s begin with love. I loved the film. I loved that so many of the people in the film expressed love, LIVED in love, loved one another, and MOST OF ALL, loved Jerry. I became for a few years another person in that psychedelic army of people all over the planet who loved that gentle and so-loving man and his band. I was just so amazingly fortunate to have been his tour manager, co-manager (with Jon McIntyre and David Parker) and his agent, through my company Out of Town Tours from 1970 – 74.

Amir Bar Lev, the mountain-climber’s mountain-climber, sure picked one hell of a hill to climb when he decided to make this film! Solo unaided up the face of El Capitan in Yosemite has nothing on the perils associated with trying to ‘capture’ who what where how and when on the Grateful Dead. It’s an ‘impossible task’ on a rational level, but thankfully rationality was never a particularly necessary attribute around the band and the family – in fact, it seemed sometimes that the wackier things were, the better. It never seemed to represent too much of a problem, and (of course) people loved the madness, but only up to a point! When it got to be too much, the good ol’ Grateful Dead simply ‘retreated’ or ‘practiced invisibility’.

Jerry might not have been the whole ship, but he sure as heck was the vessel. AND the anchor! I was struck by what people decided to say in the film – what they articulated as ‘appropriate for posterity’. How (for example) some of the more ‘fey’ representatives of the family laughed uproariously at the notion that latter-day dead-heads could be told (or asked) to behave and not come to shows if they didn’t have tickets; whilst on the other hand, these same modern day ‘libertarians’ (so hip and so free) could happily suggest that there were too many nasty hairy Hells Angels back-stage for their taste. Jerry, bless him, kept it all in balance. For example, he point-blank refused to sign any letter to the fans when their behaviour became an issue, and he pointedly welcomed the Hells Angels to concerts as he welcomed anyone who loved the music.

The film left me an emotional mess. In the midst of it all I burst into tears and had to be comforted by my son Bodhi. It was, at times, unbelievably painful to see the mistakes we made, the errors of judgement, the poor planning, the rampant nihilism, that led like some tragic operatic shuffle towards Jerry’s demise. BUT, conversely, it was thrilling to see how all of those too-human errors that we made were happily embraced by the family and the band and laughed about, and thus in some crazy unexplainable way ‘survived’. Embracing ‘failures’ was surely one of the distinctive markers of the magnificence of the Grateful Dead. There was room for all.

One little thing stands out as a perfect example of the Grateful Dead’s approach and how posterity has somehow ‘misinterpreted’ what happened. The record company hated the tapers because they believe it would damage the band’s record sales. The band was in a quandary. It was decided that the taping couldn’t be allowed. Myself and the crew had the unenviable task of implementing this ‘edict’. That lasted for two shows at the most, then we brought up the situation in the dressing room prior to a show. We had all taken a trip and were getting high. We explained to Jerry “we aint cops, we don’t wanna be cops” and the policy of stopping taping was then and there abandoned as it was unanimously agreed that asking ANYONE to ‘police’ the tapers was a bridge too far. That was it. No big deal. We tried it. (banning the tapers) It didn’t work, so we immediately abandoned it and moved on. This was later interpreted by some Wall Street people as a supreme example of the Grateful Dead’s business ‘acumen’ which directly led thru the distribution of the tapers recordings to the bands huge commercial success. As if we’d planned it all ! You have to laugh!

WHERE did I cry in the film? Where did I laugh? When Barbara said that Jerry told her “I’d just like to live on the ice-cream money”. I thought THAT was so poignant that I cried like a baby. Poor Jerry, the thing that he had spent his life creating and nurturing consumed him in the end, and it seemed as if no-one could save him, though they all surely tried. The ONE thing that they COULD have done, they DIDN’T DO !!!! Namely, they could have ‘abandoned ship’. Called the whole thing to a halt and simply STOPPED. Jerry could have scuba-dived for the rest of his days. BUT, no-one could bring themselves to do it, and Jerry, poor Jerry, disappeared down the dumb rabbit-hole of heroin. PigPen had died, Keith had died, Brent had gone before him – tragic and ghastly precursors of what was to come. Vince followed thereafter.

The film captured it all. It was heart-breaking, and yet in the end it was MORE than simply THAT. It was an epic trip those guys wrote on the pages of their lives, an adventure of Homeric proportion and Shakespearian intensity, that has had no equal. Phil said some beautiful soulful things, as did Micky and Billy and Bobby – these guys were the true psychedelic explorers of their time and showed us how to LIVE. Phil said: “the Grateful Dead was the best thing that ever happened to me” and that goes for me too, and everyone else that was ‘on the bus’. As soon as I’ve ‘recovered’ I want to see the film again .. and again. It has so MUCH depth and is so subtle.

Amir Bar Lev is to be congratulated on a magnificent achievement. The Grateful Dead never quite managed to capture the ‘sound of heavy air’ in the recording studio, but Amir got it on film. In the end, the movie rendered me speechless and just simply GRATEFUL to all the guys in the band and all the people in the family for the four years I was involved. They were the best years of my life.

that's nice, he was my fav person in the film for sure

yeah cutler was great -- would probably just watch 3 hours of him rambling in the back of that van.

yeah no shit, i'd love his take on the Stones

Every band should have a Cutler; I can't imagine the Dead continuing past 1972 without him. I really want to check out his book.

It's fucked up that he defends the Angels, though.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Sam_Cutler.jpg/800px-Sam_Cutler.jpg

beautiful review by Cutler there, v nice indeed

he did write a book a few years back -- haven't read it though: https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Always-What-Want/dp/155022932X

ah i need to watch this

Trixie Garcia did a Reddit AMA yesterday:

Yes, Tupac came over to Jerry's house when Jerry was on the road. They didn't destroy it, but I have a distinct memory of people handing keyboards through the windows. Let me clarify, Tupac certainly wasn't a thief and his friends weren't thieves, it was a party that got out of hand. It was my good relationship with Tupac and his boys in Marin City that allowed me to get all that stuff back.

And Jerry never noticed. Or Jerry might have noticed, but he was such a non-confrontational kind of dad that he never told me he noticed.

I'm abt 6 episodes in and the doc is so great. So much footage that I've never seen elsewhere. Bobby is soooo out there, Phil is a tiny bit boring, and the roadies/managers are great.

Sam Cutler's book is very disappointing.

Just bought this cool shirt. Has "Ithaca 77" on the back

http://www.dead.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/product-main/ithacatshirt_1.jpg

Sam Cutler's book is very disappointing.
― Luna Schlosser, Wednesday, June 28, 2017 2:54 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bummed to see this, literally just hit the order button in another tab

Listening to Atlanta Fox Theater 5/18/77 this morning. Man, the first set is mellow if mellow is your bag: slow version of "Friend of the Devil," "Must Have Been the Roses," and "High Time" all clocking in at 10 minutes plus each. Great narcoleptic rainy day stuff.

i've been listening to some 77 JGB and holy shit is it slow. i think some head referred to it as "persian tempos," referring to the strain of heroin Garcia preferred. yow!

I've seen that too. The Atlanta second set also includes an 11 minute "Ship of Fools" and what I'm pretty sure is the slowest "Stella Blue" I've ever heard. Personally I'm loving this show, but Jer must have really been pissing off the twirlers that night.

lol even the "Around and Around" is slow!

https://68.media.tumblr.com/1126a1fca90d5ed1418809b8dc44dea0/tumblr_ou0gaxlSpJ1qzy30io1_1280.jpg

Ouch.

Okay, I'm listening to the Atlanta show again today, and I'm going out on a limb to say it's - if not "better" than Barton Hall - pretty much my ideal Dead listening right now.

No "El Paso" or "Mama Tried" in the first set to harsh my mellow (sorry, not a fan of Dead versions of either) and Bob isn't all shouty on "Minglewood." I'm also not big on "Dancin' in the Streets" and kinda burned out on "Scarlet/Fire" these days, so I prefer the Atlanta setlist to Barton.

Sound on this is stellar too, you can really hear the guitar interplay between Jerry and Bob. Plenty of shimmery leads, but it (almost never) gets over-noodly.

I'm even digging "Lazy Lightning/Supplication," and I'm generally not into those much.

how do you rate the night after? a couple nice slow takes there too

Not familiar, I'll give it a try!

listened to 4/23/77 the other day, kind of my ideal setlist and there's even a matrix recording which i'm normally into but i found the show pretty flat overall... i think there's some saying about not judging a show by the setlist, guess i learned that one

An offending extract from the Sam Cutler book (sorry for long quote)

On the second night of the Port Chester gig, high as a kite and feeling good, with the briefcase stashed and everything in order, I wandered back into the auditorium. The place was cooking, literally —it felt as hot as a baker’s oven. The same policeman in full uniform uniform I had seen earlier now stood at the side of the room with his back to a wall. Immediately in front of him, a couple of thousand delirious hippies were having the time of their lives. I wandered across to say hello.

I introduced myself, showing him my security pass, and asked how he was doing. He remembered me from before, but seemed a little friendlier this time. “Man, I been here for over two hours and I’m sweatin’ and I ain’t had nothin’ to drink and I need a break,” he told me. I smiled at him.

“You fancy a beer? I’ll get you a beer if you want one.”

He looked horrified. “Man, it’s more than my life’s worth to drink a beer. I’m on duty.”

I sighed sympathetically and apologized, saying, “Of course you are, sorry about that. Anyway, what d’you think of the show?”

He smiled. “That’s one hell of a band you got there; the acoustic set was great.” I thought to myself, well, at least he likes the music. He motioned with his arm to the kids boogying like mad in the auditorium. “Nice buncha kids, no problems here, these kids are having fun.”

I looked at him and smiled. “Tell you what, buddy, I know you’re on duty, but you surely could drink a Coca-Cola, couldn’t you?”

He sighed. “You know what, I’d love one, but before we came on duty we had a briefing from the captain and he told us all not to touch anything, ’cos it was likely to be contaminated with that LSD.”

I was as high as the Empire State Building, and I smiled at him again. “Seems a pity a man can’t have a drink on such a hot night.”He nodded and looked glum. I pretended to have a flash of inspiration.

“Tell you what. I could get you a Coca-Cola unopened. That way you’d be safe. There’s no way anyone can mess with a Coca-Cola in an unopened can. You can open it yourself.”

“You know what,” he said, “I reckon that would be okay.” I fetched a cold drink from the garbage can that stood on the stage and wiped away the excess water. Between the tab and the lip of the can a small drop of magic was applied, and I wandered back into the auditorium to find my thirsty policeman. I handed him the unopened can and he pulled the tab and drank with a gasp of satisfaction.

I gave him a wink and told him, “You want another one, you just let me know.” I leaned against the wall with my new best buddy and looked at the audience, checking out the view. A short time passed and the policeman took off his hat. Then he loosened his tie. It was, after all, really hot in the building. “Would you like another Coke?” I asked and he nodded appreciatively. I wandered backstage and grabbed a couple, though it was no longer necessary for the magic ingredient to be applied. He smiled as I handed him the Cokes and nodded toward the audience.

Less than five feet away, a lovely girl danced. She moved like a flower that stands in a soft breeze, her arms like petals wandering above her head, and her whole being shining with a serene light. She danced for herself; she danced for creation; she danced with the music; and she danced quite naturally and effortlessly for the policeman, who thought of himself for once as the luckiest man in the world.

I returned backstage to stand behind the amplifiers, to lose myself in the music of the gods and to relax. Over the stage apron I could see the policeman: he was smiling. In front of him, several beautiful girls were dancing as if for his pleasure. He was like a Pasha with his harem. He was no longer the outsider but was now the same as all of us in the auditorium, at one with the people and the music. Garcia noticed the cop and smiled knowingly at me. I grinned to myself as a voice in my head softly whispered the words: “Game, set, and match.”

It always amazes me that so many people considered dosing someone without their consent a light-hearted prank and not a violation. All those stories of Pigpen specifically saying he didn't want to trip and them making a game out of trying to slip it to him anyway seem creepy to me, even more so when told as though it was just this amusing goof-off. Ditto those times in the Haight house when Lesh (or maybe it was Weir) refused to trip and Bear essentially stormed up and harangued them into doing it despite their objections.

Have I repped for The Mosque 5/25? I've listened to that one a few times on Archive. Laid back and lovely, esp "He's Gone."
― smug dinner-jazz atrocity (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, June 13, 2017 12:05 PM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

came to post about this, really nice. think this might be my favorite may 77 show now, tied with pembroke pines probably

i’m like fucking obsessed with the buffalo show

i'm coming around to thinking AUDs or Matrixes are better than SBDs, you get more of the atmosphere- people singing along, cheering, getting kicked out for smoking, etc. seems the true heads hate em tho because this show is excellent and all the comments are complaining about 'too much high end' and stuff

https://archive.org/details/gd77-05-12.aud.clugston.6484.sbeok.shnf

nah, i think Heads are pretty much split on the AUDs vs SBDs debate with strong feelings in both directions. for me it comes down to my mood at the time. 75% of the time i go for SBDs because i want to be able to focus on the music, but some of the well done AUDs from the 80s in particular are worth hearing.

i'd been doing a trawl through the '85 summer tour starting from the Greek 20th anniversary run and i hit on a couple AUDs from the Oade brothers that i really liked.

a good matrix will give the best of both worlds, but i think finding a "good" one that isn't just harsh cut to audience sounds between songs is difficult sometimes.

most shocking revelation from AUDs is that people cheered at the fact a bob song was starting

(his guitar is quite loud on this mix and it's excellent fyi)

i haven't paid much attention to anything past 1983- but it's my understanding that the taper phenomenon really started picking up steam around then. i could easily see quality matrixes coming out due to that

i haven't listened to any of the tapes from that show, i usually get my fix from the first May 1977 box. i'll have to add that to my list next time i get back in a May '77 mood. as deep as that month is, i got a little burned out on it after last year's box.

i heard the SBD for this was released as part of some winterland set so if you're too picky for an AUD you could probably track that down on soulseek or something

AUDs from 1974 are pretty interesting, because they capture the feel Wall of Sound, which doesn't come through in SBDs of the era.

the roosevelt stadium aud (8/6/74) is fantastic for that reason, and also because they somehow drop into scarlet begonias out of playin' in the band and it's sloppy and totally awesome

if you just want a sampling of this 5/12 i'd say the half-step is excellent, the terrapin is great, and weirdly, dancin' is a highlight for once. it goes to some unique spaces

listening to 5/9, i normally don't care for 77 Other Ones but this is a ripper, Keith doing some crazy stuff here

i’m like fucking obsessed with the buffalo show

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, January 20, 2018 12:55 AM (three months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the buffalo show is so good

this not fade away is excellent too, love it when they chug away at the intro for a good couple minutes

Dan -- Buffalo opens with an outstanding Help > Slip > Franklin, you'd love it if you're a Help guy (I am too)

― Wimmels, Tuesday, 25 April 2017 14:57 (one year ago) Permalink

Finally listening to this one year after the recommendation. Yeah, this cooks.

giving cornell a spin a day late and man great show but this groovy jazzy version of "Mama Tried" is so shit compared to the awesome acid cowboy roller on skull & roses, why would you make such a baffling arrangement decison.

Well...there probably was a lot of drugs involved.

looking for a mutron? i think someone famous owned this one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JERRY-GARCIAS-pedal-A-piece-of-GRATEFUL-DEAD-history-BigSteve/312462357387?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3Db30a40aa2d3c47349b265f69758ac2cb%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D312462333125%26itm%3D312462357387&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

happy cornell day

i like the AUD of this show because you can hear the wasted dude yelling "Play America's favorite song — TRUCKIN!!!!"

"take a step back! and yet another step back! do you all feel better? ...what do you mean, 'no'?"

Someone should do a "Grayfolded"-type collage of all the "take a step back!"s.

i think someone's done a collection of weir's dumbest stage banter ...

Okay now listening to the Buffalo show :) woohaaa this project is eating me alive.