Grateful Dead live, Dick's Picks etc - S&D

Dick's Picks #4 -- Fillmore East, February 13-14, 1970 -- Better than Live Dead, but do have a chance of finding it? 9.4

Nightfall of Diamonds -- Winterland, 10/10/89 -- Great sound; a bit noodley in places, but right nice. 8.6

Dick's Picks #8 -- Harpur College, 5/02/70 -- Three-Quarters of this is impeccable; good form, nice song selection - one disc acoustic, one disc electric, and one disc rave-ups (i don't much care for their R&B covers like "Dancing in the Streets" and "It's A Man's Man's Man's World"). 8.5

Ladies & Gentleman... The Grateful Dead -- Filmore East, April 1971 -- A good listen, but it delves a bit too much into the Helter Skelter for strict listening. Works better as background -- but is noteworthy for the block of Pigpen's blues numbers. 7.8

my alma mater! (aka "the liberal arts college of SUNY Binghamton")

will do

You can still get any of the Dick's Picks from the Dead's own site (gdstore.com). DP4 is $21 plus postage.

So I don't know why they don't release more albums that take stuff from a variety of performances (and eras), cherry-picking the really juicy tracks. 'The Phil Zone' is a good example of this - it's got a great range of stuff, even some not-bad performances from the late 80s. And it's got an absolutely monster version of 'Hard to Handle', which not only rocks like a bastard, it's from an audience tape so you can hear everybody going mental as they crank it up.

(I also wish you could hear more audience on a lot of the Dick's Picks. They capture the music well, but not always the whole occasion. OK, I know they're mostly taken from the mixing desk so maybe that's not possible.)

Aaron or chaki - could you recommend any good Dick's Picks from 73-4 or 77?

search GRAYFOLDED - Oswald's "plundering" of over 100 versions of Dark Star from 69-95. Essential drone

Anthem of the Sun and Live/Dead are pretty much perfect legit albums btw

And I've just looked at the tracks for 22, that also looks tempting. I listened to Two From The Vaults over the weekend, from the same year (and with a similar set). There's something about the sound of the band/Garcia's guitar from that time (68/69). I can only describe it as having a lot more bite.

Completely agree with you roger about Live/Dead - that's the benchmark for me, both the version of Dark Star and the album as a whole.

I was surprised the first time I heard Grayfolded how 'ordinary' a lot of it sounded i.e. not ordinary as such but just like a great extended version of Dark Star, the first CD at least. The vocal 'swooshes' and 'folds' sound good though.

Just listening to vol 12's lovely version of China Cat Sunflower, as mentioned above by Aaron M.

Any new opinions?

i'm too tired to elaborate, but if you consider that Neil Young has Candian citizenship, and if you exclude the American contingent of Fleetwood Mac at their absolute peak, The Dead are the greatest American rock and roll band of all time.

Trux and the Drive By Truckers are tied for me personally, but we're looking through history's lens here, people. The Dead. the fucking DEAD!!!!

http://usa.festivalexpress.com/

I do have to admit, I didn't get that excited about Closing of Winterland though. THen again, I watched it at like 3 in the morning a couple months ago when I was pretty wiped out. I'll give it another go.

haven't tracked down that Arista set - 71, eh? I'm more a 72-77 kinda guy, but will check it out - thanks!

Yeah, the Ladies and Gentlemen thing is '71 but it's pretty song-oriented. Sort of midway between the psychedelic blow-outs and the Europe '72 stuff. It's a nice, pleasant listen. GREAT version of "Bird Song".

Donna was probably just as proficient a musician as Phil Lesh (making her twice as proficient as Bob Weir) and an all around great, great vocalist. Her live performances were hit and miss due to lack of proper monitor support, everyone knows that.

She never gets a fair shake. It's not like she was Linda McCartney fer chrissakes.

The Godchauxes broght so much life (not to mention a a very vital jazz-informed musical eloquence) to The Dead. I love Pigpen and Mydland as much as the nxt guy, but the 70s are where it's AT because of Keith and Donna!

Rocking the Rhein is good stuff as well.

Au contraire. Au contraire.

i take umbrage with this comment.
and so would CCR.

me rawk.
you snow.

Help/Slip/Frank rules

Thank You

That is such a good show.

I've been really into 07/31/74 (Dave's Picks, Vol. 2). Probably the best Truckin' I've ever heard with some stellar jams that lead out of that. Great Ship of Fools, which is now one of my favorite GD songs thanks to this show.

Can never go wrong with Veneta, easily one of my top five shows and one that always hits right. Definitely has earned the reputation.

When I heard about Walton, I pulled up Dave's Picks Volume 5 - 11/17/1973, due to the UCLA connection (this was performed at the Pauley Pavilion). It's another one probably in my top ten at least, not a whole lot of huge, lengthy jams but so many great versions of songs.

Walton got me thinking about the Dead. I listened to Live Dead and have been working through Dicks Picks vol.36 which is a 72 show from Philly.

Had not heard that show for a long time. Excellent mix for a board recording by Bear on this one. It has a great Dark Star that ends up in this kinda driving country guitar jam leading to Morning Dew.

Never been a huge Weather Report Suite fan, but the one on 06/28/74 is something else and the closest they ever got to jazz.

I will say this, sure it was the Dead and Co. version and not like a prime '72 version or whatever, but listening to a "Dark Star" with the Sphere visuals was pretty fuckin' cool. I can't lie. Glad I got a chance to see a couple shows at that venue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQskcr4v0LI

That's a classic version. Love the Zacherle intro on that show.

the latest Dave's bonus disc (5/4/77) is pretty hot.

Listened to that Dark Star again and realized that has a "feelin' groovy jam" in the middle, so named because uses Simon & Garfunkel's The 59th Street Bridge song as the takeoff point.

xpost - yeah I really like that bonus disc, the main show itself was just “fine”. I get that they want to milk ever show from May of 77 for official release, but kind of a lackluster show for the 50th pick. Glad I subscribed though, that bonus disc is fire.

The medley that starts off the electric set on DP 8 (05/02/1970) is straight fire, especially The Other One. Sometimes 70 Dead is the best Dead.

Ok, sometimes 68 Dead is the best Dead. Dick's Picks 22, excerpts from February 23 and 24, 1968, is maybe the most storming live Dead I've heard.

so J Sam can you recommend some fave good-sounding archive.org shows from, say, each year of the 70s? I am looking for a nice Help/Slip/Franklin in particular but I love all yr recommendations so far

― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Monday, May 29, 2023 9:48 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was reading back through this thread and forgot I said I would do this almost two years ago. So see below, archive.org links included. Sorry for the delay, sleeve :)

8/18/70 - You asked for good-sounding shows so it's a bit perverse for me to start off by recommending this murky yet listenable audience tape from 1970, but this show is so good and so historically important that I can't not mention it. The acoustic set opens with the first known Truckin' and also has the debuts of Ripple, Brokedown Palace, and Operator. Basically American Beauty Live. And a sick Dancin In the Streets jam in the electric set.
(Alt 1970 pick if (partial) SBDs are more your speed: 9/19/70)
11/7/71 - This primo SBD is from an FM radio broadcast. Utterly unique vibe to this show, thanks in chief to Keith playing a legit honky tonk piano. Me and My Uncle materializing from the saloon dust of the Other One jam is a peak moment. If you only listen to one of these shows, make it this one.
10/28/72 - Another sonic caveat here: This SBD has a wonky mix, but it's wonky in a way that sounds great to me. Basically Billy's drums are mixed HUGE and Bobby is prominent while Jerry and Phil are de-emphasized. I like hearing the band from a different angle sometimes. It’s fall 72, so it goes without saying the show itself is fire.
2/15/73 - Sparkling SBD featuring early versions of a bunch of the Wake of the Flood + Mars Hotel songs and one of the most beautiful Dark Stars.
10/18/74 - From the Winterland run famously featured in The Grateful Dead Movie. Some of this show, including the Dark Star, was released on the movie soundtrack album, but imo that is not the version you want to hear, for two reasons. First, the official release truncates the jam sequence; on the Archive you get the Seastones -> Jam -> Dark Star -> Morning Dew in all its glory. Second, the Movie Soundtrack version was sourced from 16-track tape, and while it sounds great, the Dark Star is missing Ned Lagin, who sat in on a second Fender Rhodes that apparently wasn't hooked up to the 16-track mixer. The version on the Archive is sourced from a separate two-track tape that was recorded simultaneously with the 16-track, and that one has Lagin's keys, which are essential to fully appreciating this phenomenal Dark Star.
6/7/75 et al. - They only played four shows in 1975, and they’re all worth hearing. But this is not one of them. It’s a recording of rehearsals at Bob Weir’s studio, mostly consisting of jams and instrumental takes of Blues For Allah tracks. I recommend heading straight to the “Spacely Noodling jam” and letting it wash over you.
6/14/76 - This show embodies everything great about 76: laid-back vibes, strong vocals, fusiony Playin’ jams, and Cassidy and The Wheel in regular rotation.
4/23/77 - April 77 hits different than May. Maybe it’s some residual 76 mellowness hanging around. Great Help->Slip->Franklin's in this one. Franklin's is extra special.
5/6/78 - That Peggy-O!! The rest of the show is real good too.
1/10/79 - I mentioned this show upthread because of the rare 79 Dark Star (the better of the two they played that year), but the whole show is excellent. No SBD circulates, but this AUD sounds wonderful.

xp PBKR have you heard 3/17/68 (Download Series 6)? Unbelievable heat on that one

it's still crazy that there's so little of the workingman/AB live era because owsley was behind bars.

Thanks, J Sam, I have not! Per the other GD thread, I'm having a bit of an early Dead moment so I will definitely check it out. Two From the Vault's Dark Star is so fast!

I think you recommended that 11/07/71 show previously and my recollection was it is incredible. I need to listen to it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY7vbqbNrRM

praying the woody harrelson midi ass solo performance is real

8/17/91 Shoreline has both a Tennessee Jed & Drums->Space

Until last year, the Dead held the record for largest crowd at a show (single band, so not counting Watkins Glen, Woodstock, etc...) with 107,019 people.

George Strait set the new record, at 104,793 people.

sorry, wrong Strait show- the actual record is 110,905 people.

Probably less nudity at the Strait show.

There is a little jam at 9:45 during the The Other One on Dick's Picks 36 (from the 09/03/1972 show from Folsom Field, Boulder, CO) that sounds like one of the parts of Help on the Way (released 1975). It's a pretty simple little riff, but . . . .

Holy shit I’d never heard the 72 Rotterdam “Dark Star” until today. That one is something special.

thanks, that's my next 47 minutes of listening sorted

Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks

Really loving the 5/7/72 Bickershaw Festival show - I'm no fan of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" but Jerry just goes completely off the rails with a wild solo on that one. And has a definite top-10 Pigpen creep rap during "Good Lovin'".

that show is ridiculous, kind of sums up everything great about the Dead imo

The Bickershaw "Ramble On Rose" RIPS. Jerry's tone is extra-hot at that show

the deadcast ep about that show is worth a listen too: https://www.dead.net/deadcast/europe-72-bickershaw

Thanks, Mr. Flavor, pulling that up

Oh yeah it's really cool to hear Elvis Costello's reminiscences

Just thirding(?) the love for the Bickershaw show, that was one of the first Europe '72 full shows that I fell for when I started to dig in.

that Bickershaw "The Other One" should have been my gateway into the dead 20 years ago when i was getting into Oneida.

Another reminder to keep up with the official Deadcast, Jesse Jarnow is doing some amazing work. Still somewhat stunned that an officially branded podcast from the band has turned out to be so impressive.

Love how he connects "King Solomon’s Marbles/’Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin’ the Turkey" to what CAN was doing in a similar timeframe on the new ep.

absolutely one of the best podcasts!

The two German live collections 'Rockin the Rhein' and especially 'Hundred Year Hall' are the two Europe 72 shows I listen to the most of that tour outside the original LP. They set course to the sun on Hundred Year Hall, that one has some pretty inspired psych jamming.

Somehow the deadcast is turning Music Never Stopped into a fascinating window into a GD era that doesn’t get much attention. These ppl are doing great work.

Yeah, this episode is great too!

The early and fast China Cat Sunflower on Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 2 (02/24/68) is so good. Makes me wish we got a 68 Truckin' or Sugar Magnolia or something.

Been spending a lot of time this week on Phil & Friends Quintet era shows, getting convinced this was the best post-Jerry band and really wishing I’d have been dialed in enough back in 2001 to see them.

There absolutely needs to be an official Phil Bombs series of official live recordings.

When was the quintet era? I saw them in November 1999 opening for Dylan at Temple U. and wasn't a big enough Dead fan to appreciate it. In fact, I could have seen them in July 2000 at Merriweather Post Pavillion , but I left after Dylan opened :(

September 2000 to December 2003, mostly. The shows I love most are in 2001 mostly though.

Got listening to some Jerry Garcia Band. That live show from 76 put out as "Don't Let Go" is an interesting listen. The title track is a total New Orleans/Little Feat groove.

His take on “Don’t Let Go” was my entry point to the Dead, and yeah that New Orleans groove was what did it.

i saw Phil a bunch of times in that 2000-2002 era, with Steve Kimock and either Warren Haynes or Jimmy Herring as the guitarists. They were spectacular. John Molo on drums really conspired with Phil to keep things loose and exploratory and psychedelic.

I assume Phish connections are a turn off for some of you (though I know you are sympathetic, jvc!), but I believe the very first shows billed as "Phil & Friends" were April '99 with Trey and Page from Phish, alongside Kimock and Molo. They are excellent, and mythic in the Phish world. Highly recommend, and there are great recordings out there on archive.org and other places

Oh yeah, I love those shows! So much better than the Fare Thee Well shows with Trey. Seconding that highest recommendation, if you can plug your nose at the Phish connection.

I have a soft spot for Fare Thee Well cause it's the only time I saw Phil play (and I like Trey a lot actually). But the more I hear Further, the Dead, Phil and Friends etc shows from the late 90s early 2000s the more I think they're so much better than Dead and Slow. I'm not mad about the D and C shows I saw but I haven't been in 5 years and don't see going anymore.

Going through things trying to get organized, I got my Dead CDs out. Gave Dicks Picks 24 which was the maiden voyage of the Wall of Sound and the Road Trips from Valentines Day 68. They play "Dark Star" so fast on that one. I always really liked both of those live shows.

The early and fast China Cat Sunflower on Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 2 (02/24/68) is so good. Makes me wish we got a 68 Truckin' or Sugar Magnolia or something.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Saturday, October 11, 2025 6:22 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

That 68 show is the same one I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (though I had a typo in the date). Dark Star > China Cat Sunflower > The Eleven with the gas to the floor is so good.

If you ever want a fresh listen of DP24, the full-show soundboard on archive.org is absolutely worth a listen – imo wildly better in some places and makes some DP24 tracks sound quiet / aggressively mixed (compare the Chinacat -> Rider).