Like most half-assed bloggers on the internet, I take a break from time to time, this being more of a passing fancy and exercise in vanity than an actual way to put food on the table. So you'll have to indulge my artistic ebbs and flows while simultaneously contemplating my erratic approach to churning out magnificent content.
Now, with all of that out of the way, lets get down to brass tacks!
Back in late August I was in a 3-way email correspondence with 2 of my greatest GD resources, eVop and Gumball. I had read an interview / article with the famous deadhead, Bill Walton and felt that it was uplifting and not embarrassing, so I passed it along to those two. eVop immediately seized upon how irritating it was during the 2015 Fare Thee Well 'reunion' shows how the camera focused on Walton so much (and then eVop absolutely started frothing at the mouth, raging about how they would also focus on David Gans too).
Gumball, who really likes Bill Walton and appreciates his place in GD history, said that he liked the article but also said that he laughs a lot at Walton's take on GD because he inevitably seems to conclude that every show ever played was 'amazing'. But then Gumball, always the positive yin to eVop's negative yang, finished his email with, "but like you said the other day, they were all amazing". I said that? Really? Yeah - I guess I did. Hmmmm.....well, that is because it is true.
But let me contextualize that statement. I recently got into one of those futile conversations with my Father where he started explaining something to me that I could not even begin to refute because, in my mind, it almost did not even deserve a response. Long story short, he was putting on his Rolling Stones / Keith Richards apologist hat, telling me that Keith's recent shit-talking on Jerry had some actual credibility behind it. I could not believe what I was hearing. After all, ANY musician worth their salt would never ever compare Keith's skill with a guitar to Jerry's skill with a guitar. I dont even think that is a conversation. Furthermore, dear old Dad's explanation of Keith's skill as a guitarist went even further out on a limb when trying to describe how great his solos are...during some mysterious as-yet-unspecified special moments. That is where I, being the polite son, pulled up stakes and changed the subject.
This whole Keith / Jerry thing is NOT the point of this article, but it is merely an interesting aside. Here is my quick summary of it: Keith is fantastic (one of the best ever?) at writing classic 3-minute rock songs. But make no mistake, every significant guitar solo anybody has ever heard on a Rolling Stones record was either performed by Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, or Ron Wood. As a 'guitar player', Keith is not fit to carry Jerry's guitar case. End of that particular discussion.
But I do want to expand how this then relates to 'all of them being amazing'. 99% of all rock 'n roll shows, tours, and/or big productions are canned. Thats right. These concerts are carefully planned, rehearsed, staged and executed in accordance with a very specific formula that all the players (sound engineers, crew, lighting people, musicians, promoters, etc) are in on. You have as much variety and spontaneity in the latest Rolling Stones, AC / DC, Rush, U2, or Taylor Swift show as you do in the local schoolhouse production of 'Annie'.
People often ask me how I could switch back and forth so abruptly from being a hardcore deadhead to being into punk rock, and to me the answer is simple: Both of the live experiences are so anti-authoritarian in nature that trying to choreograph or plan any bullshit like a set list or how long the song has to be is a fool's errand. Furthermore, the crowd is on it. The real audience does not need (nor do they necessarily want) back-up dancers, pyrotechnics, a spinning stage, or any of those other decoys.
Lots of people went to see the Dead for the drugs. Lots of punk rockers go to any damn show because it is their 'tribe' and so they feel compelled go to every show because they have no other place to go. But the hardcore fanatics, the faithful, they go for no other reason than it is home. That real connection between band and fans, where there is no pageantry or peacockery, can only be established when you feel like yourself (even that clumsy and ugly side which we all have) while simultaneously realizing that this 'event' is a real ceremony where you can be who you are and then let the energy of that space take over and guide your movement.
Sorry, but a bunch of frat-boys with their arms over each other shoulders singing along to one another during the big hit misses the point completely. You'll see that at the Rolling Stones or AC/DC concert all night long, throughout the arena. However, at a GD or punk rock show it is a rare occurrence. The celebration and dance is shared, for sure, but it is profoundly individual in how it goes down. The music is so damned sacred that nobody bothers talking to each other while it is happening, much less tries to sing it into their buddy's ear.
My point is that in that respect, all GD shows were amazing because by the early 70s they were playing to 5000+ member audiences and still playing with that unpredictable energy to their audiences who 'got it'. Because as we all know, the big rock-concert industry business demands that you and your band swear fealty to the formula by having some canons fire while your lead singer dances all over the arena. Furthermore, you must swear with hand over heart that your good looking lead singer will extend a phony choreographed sentiment "Goodnight [fill in the city], we love you!" that is delivered at precisely the right moment between, behind, or during a very specifically selected song. And when you do all that, as if on cue, a sheep-like audience will cheer and buy beer (as well as merchandise) in blind obedience.
Any time that does not happen...it is amazing. So even when the GD were sucking, at least the show (and audience) was never like a Rolling Stones or Madonna concert. In that respect the GD were the best only because everybody else on gigantic tours was a cardboard cut-out of what rock 'n roll is supposed to be, and the fans who attended those other concerts had dutifully sworn their corporate rock allegiance oath before entering. But when the GD were on, and when all the deadheads were there and tuned-in, it was the best for a whole host of other reasons. Musical reasons. I'll back that up with some data in a subsequent article.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
The Midnight Audiophile: Chapter 2
Not unlike the designs of particular firearms, older modes of transportation (cars, motorcycles, bicycles, boats, planes, etc), Unix / Linux, unprocessed food, or 'stacking systems' ala permaculture on your land, I've found that the least complex designs tend to offer the most visceral experience(s). Music playback systems are no exceptions. In fact, I've found that almost without exception, the most simple playback chain will bring you closer to the music than you've ever been. Sadly, the systems that embody this type of 'playback chain' are elusive. One oftentimes has to dabble in the underbelly of the audiophile hobby in order to achieve this simplicity.
Without getting too far out there, the philosophic principle of 'Occam's razor' states that all things being equal, the most simple solution is the best solution. In a flourish of post-modern irony, I've probably over-simplified 'Occam's razor', so please indulge me for the moment. Now of course we have extreme deviations on either side of the razor; imagine trying to get into space using the most 'simple solution', or trying to manage type 1 diabetes in the most simple manner. Both of these things involve a tremendous amount of science in order to get to the stated goal, so we'll just have to take it on faith (or, better yet, in stride) that perhaps someday we'll be achieving these goals with simplicity. BTW - easy and simple are not the same. 2 + 2 = 4 is easy for all of us to state and understand, but to somebody that has never learned the concept of addition, it is not simple to articulate or form a picture in their mind on their own without at least *some* direction or instruction.
My simple music playback system has a turntable (with a tonearm and a stylus), a phono stage (with the necessary RIAA equalization curve), amplification with very low 'voltage gain', and single driver speakers with no crossovers. It is connected together by cables with low capacitance and it requires electricity. Simple? Easy? You be the judge. But in fact, when you compare this system to anything you'd pull off the shelf at Best Buy (receiver, speakers, etc), you'd see that there were way more wires and chips in the Best Buy stuff. The designs of those components fly in the face of Occam's Razor.
BTW - an aside - I dont mean to throw Best Buy under the bus here. They are just an easy target, and only guilty of being the carrier of mid-fi and low-fi consumer electronics. Their gear masquerades as the 'latest and greatest', and by extension, 'the best'; but I am here to testify that components sold at Best Buy are not the best, and that the components themselves are their own worst enemy due to their complexity. Best Buy is not at fault. The only culpability they have is in choosing to carry shitty sounding gear. But there is nothing wrong with that. It being a mostly free country with a mostly free market, after all.
Anyway, back to my simple system. I'm not the guy that invented this audiophile philosophy. There probably is no one guy (or gal) that is responsible for inventing this audiophile philosophy. Though I'd like to tip my hat in the direction of Arthur Salvatore, Harvey Rosenberg, Nelson Pass, Art Dudley as well as more than a few others. Indeed, I've had a wide array of influences when it comes to choosing my path of least audiophile resistance, not the least of which has been listening to a lot of music through a lot of different gear (at my own expense) in my own home. Listening late at night tends to be my style. The sun is down, everybody is asleep, and the electricity is cleaner. Late night listening tends to require lower listening levels, which is the primal test for how well a system plays music.
The second most important test is determining how palpable the music is in your room. Do voices sound like voices? Do bass notes feel like bass notes (even softly and gently played ones)? Can you sense the air around the instruments? Can you pick up on the reverberations of the woodwinds or be startled by the brass? Are the 4 beats in a measure easy for you to find? Answering in the affirmative for all of these things when your system is playing at low volume means that it can produce palpable sound. The sensation is that you cant quite touch the sound...but there is that strange sensation that you might just barely be able to...and it is just out of reach...but, whoa, there is *something* there. To wax poetic for a moment: "Strange fingers of light | Float in air" - Robert Hunter
But there are some who can claim all of the above when their system is at a high volume. Yes! Congratulations to those folks. But lets push it a little harder. Can you get it with really low volume? Be honest with yourself. Hell, get a 2nd opinion. It is likely that even if you have it at high volumes, you probably do not have it at low volumes. Dont feel bad. It took me years and cost countless thousands of dollars screwing around in order to achieve this playback state. Here is the guaranteed way to get it, starting with where the signal originates:
MC Cartridge with very low mV output
Belt drive or idler-drive turntable
Phono stage w/low gain
Optional: volume control - CAUTION - this is only optional if you know what you're doing
Amplifier w/ low voltage gain
Speakers w/ no crossover
A word about the whole 'optional' part above. Having something (anything!) between your phono stage and amplifier does stand in the way of your signal purity. But for 99.99% of the kooky audiophile population (that is 999 out of 1000 weird audiophiles), that notion is still considered insane, even by their bizarre standards. Imagine having no remote control, no 'source' selector switch, no mute switch, and no volume control. You 'drop the needle' and music plays. But just that statement has you literally swan-diving off of a cliff. Imagine if somebody were to 'drop the needle' not on the record. KABOOM. Imagine if you had an amplifier with high voltage gain. KABOOM. Imagine if the mV of your cartridge is high. KABOOM. Imagine if the gain stage in your phono stage is high. KABOOM. Imagine if your speakers are *too* sensitive. KABOOM.
I cant think of an easier way of blowing up your speakers, scaring the hell out of your cats, or pissing off whoever you live with than by improperly experimenting with the above. But imagine what awaits. The whole unattainable concept of 'straight wire with gain' is finally within your grasp. Oh the simplicity and the purity. Brother Occam would be so proud! Do you have the guts to do this? Or perhaps more specifically, can you even be bothered?
This type of audiophile is perhaps made, but I'm more inclined to believe that we are chosen. You must not turn away from the quest if you seek the grail. Fear not, for I have instructions.
Without getting too far out there, the philosophic principle of 'Occam's razor' states that all things being equal, the most simple solution is the best solution. In a flourish of post-modern irony, I've probably over-simplified 'Occam's razor', so please indulge me for the moment. Now of course we have extreme deviations on either side of the razor; imagine trying to get into space using the most 'simple solution', or trying to manage type 1 diabetes in the most simple manner. Both of these things involve a tremendous amount of science in order to get to the stated goal, so we'll just have to take it on faith (or, better yet, in stride) that perhaps someday we'll be achieving these goals with simplicity. BTW - easy and simple are not the same. 2 + 2 = 4 is easy for all of us to state and understand, but to somebody that has never learned the concept of addition, it is not simple to articulate or form a picture in their mind on their own without at least *some* direction or instruction.
My simple music playback system has a turntable (with a tonearm and a stylus), a phono stage (with the necessary RIAA equalization curve), amplification with very low 'voltage gain', and single driver speakers with no crossovers. It is connected together by cables with low capacitance and it requires electricity. Simple? Easy? You be the judge. But in fact, when you compare this system to anything you'd pull off the shelf at Best Buy (receiver, speakers, etc), you'd see that there were way more wires and chips in the Best Buy stuff. The designs of those components fly in the face of Occam's Razor.
BTW - an aside - I dont mean to throw Best Buy under the bus here. They are just an easy target, and only guilty of being the carrier of mid-fi and low-fi consumer electronics. Their gear masquerades as the 'latest and greatest', and by extension, 'the best'; but I am here to testify that components sold at Best Buy are not the best, and that the components themselves are their own worst enemy due to their complexity. Best Buy is not at fault. The only culpability they have is in choosing to carry shitty sounding gear. But there is nothing wrong with that. It being a mostly free country with a mostly free market, after all.
Anyway, back to my simple system. I'm not the guy that invented this audiophile philosophy. There probably is no one guy (or gal) that is responsible for inventing this audiophile philosophy. Though I'd like to tip my hat in the direction of Arthur Salvatore, Harvey Rosenberg, Nelson Pass, Art Dudley as well as more than a few others. Indeed, I've had a wide array of influences when it comes to choosing my path of least audiophile resistance, not the least of which has been listening to a lot of music through a lot of different gear (at my own expense) in my own home. Listening late at night tends to be my style. The sun is down, everybody is asleep, and the electricity is cleaner. Late night listening tends to require lower listening levels, which is the primal test for how well a system plays music.
The second most important test is determining how palpable the music is in your room. Do voices sound like voices? Do bass notes feel like bass notes (even softly and gently played ones)? Can you sense the air around the instruments? Can you pick up on the reverberations of the woodwinds or be startled by the brass? Are the 4 beats in a measure easy for you to find? Answering in the affirmative for all of these things when your system is playing at low volume means that it can produce palpable sound. The sensation is that you cant quite touch the sound...but there is that strange sensation that you might just barely be able to...and it is just out of reach...but, whoa, there is *something* there. To wax poetic for a moment: "Strange fingers of light | Float in air" - Robert Hunter
But there are some who can claim all of the above when their system is at a high volume. Yes! Congratulations to those folks. But lets push it a little harder. Can you get it with really low volume? Be honest with yourself. Hell, get a 2nd opinion. It is likely that even if you have it at high volumes, you probably do not have it at low volumes. Dont feel bad. It took me years and cost countless thousands of dollars screwing around in order to achieve this playback state. Here is the guaranteed way to get it, starting with where the signal originates:
MC Cartridge with very low mV output
Belt drive or idler-drive turntable
Phono stage w/low gain
Optional: volume control - CAUTION - this is only optional if you know what you're doing
Amplifier w/ low voltage gain
Speakers w/ no crossover
A word about the whole 'optional' part above. Having something (anything!) between your phono stage and amplifier does stand in the way of your signal purity. But for 99.99% of the kooky audiophile population (that is 999 out of 1000 weird audiophiles), that notion is still considered insane, even by their bizarre standards. Imagine having no remote control, no 'source' selector switch, no mute switch, and no volume control. You 'drop the needle' and music plays. But just that statement has you literally swan-diving off of a cliff. Imagine if somebody were to 'drop the needle' not on the record. KABOOM. Imagine if you had an amplifier with high voltage gain. KABOOM. Imagine if the mV of your cartridge is high. KABOOM. Imagine if the gain stage in your phono stage is high. KABOOM. Imagine if your speakers are *too* sensitive. KABOOM.
I cant think of an easier way of blowing up your speakers, scaring the hell out of your cats, or pissing off whoever you live with than by improperly experimenting with the above. But imagine what awaits. The whole unattainable concept of 'straight wire with gain' is finally within your grasp. Oh the simplicity and the purity. Brother Occam would be so proud! Do you have the guts to do this? Or perhaps more specifically, can you even be bothered?
This type of audiophile is perhaps made, but I'm more inclined to believe that we are chosen. You must not turn away from the quest if you seek the grail. Fear not, for I have instructions.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
The Midnight Audiophile: Chapter 1
Bose sucks.
Here are brands I endorse (that people will not find absurdly expensive) which, in my experience, dont put out products that sound wrong.
Components:
Rotel (British)
Marantz (American)
Rega (British)
Creek (Canadian)
Quicksilver (American)
Speakers:
Spendor (British)
Sonus Faber (Italian)
NOLA (American)
Zu (American)
...actually the list of products I'll endorse over the ones you'll find in Best Buy, Magnoila Hi-Fi, etc, is almost endless. I realize that not everybody wants to try and shop at a place other than the big-box stores that offer brand names that you are familiar with, but if everybody reading this blog is so "out of step", then why are you so "in step" when it comes to buying audio gear?
Almost all the companies I listed supply products that are designed, engineered, sourced, manufactured, and assembled without the use of RED china (though there are some exceptions). But if that is not reason enough for you flag-waving types, then why not find another reason? Try listening to these brands. As a matter of fact, the salespeople at the audio shops that carry these brands will encourage you to bring in your own music so that you can get an idea of how it will sound coming through something you might purchase. They want you to sit down and listen.
I dont proselytize beyond a few selective subjects, but I do have amazingly high expectations and standards when it comes to certain things (audio components and tattoos come to mind) so I'll just lay this little diddy on you:
Independent audio salons are truly a music lovers dream. They offer lots of product, in many different configurations, for many different budgets. A lot of them have moved into home theater in order to stay even remotely competitive. A lot of these audio salons could care less about the "big box stores", because it is really the network of hobbyists that keep them in business, but they do want your business. So if you wander into a store that has a $5000 CD player playing through a $35,000 pair of speakers, do not feel intimidated. That gear is for the hobbyist with an insatiable hunger and the wallet to match. There is more within the audio salon that is probably right up your financial alley (and will more than exceed your needs).
Many audio salon shopkeepers realize that most people out there are just average jack and jills who want an audio system that works...and sounds good. The average jack and jill does not want to drop a mint either. That is why the audio salons carry brands to accommodate the average citizen that wanders inside. Sometimes, the average citizen comes back into the shop as an audiophile hobbyist (it happened to me).
So if there is a store near you, which there probably is, that carries a lot of brands you have never heard of, I would advocate that you at least poke your head in there before your next purchase of "electronics" from a big-box store. These audio salons are in the phonebook or just a google search away. Why not at least see what they have to offer?
Here are brands I endorse (that people will not find absurdly expensive) which, in my experience, dont put out products that sound wrong.
Components:
Rotel (British)
Marantz (American)
Rega (British)
Creek (Canadian)
Quicksilver (American)
Speakers:
Spendor (British)
Sonus Faber (Italian)
NOLA (American)
Zu (American)
...actually the list of products I'll endorse over the ones you'll find in Best Buy, Magnoila Hi-Fi, etc, is almost endless. I realize that not everybody wants to try and shop at a place other than the big-box stores that offer brand names that you are familiar with, but if everybody reading this blog is so "out of step", then why are you so "in step" when it comes to buying audio gear?
Almost all the companies I listed supply products that are designed, engineered, sourced, manufactured, and assembled without the use of RED china (though there are some exceptions). But if that is not reason enough for you flag-waving types, then why not find another reason? Try listening to these brands. As a matter of fact, the salespeople at the audio shops that carry these brands will encourage you to bring in your own music so that you can get an idea of how it will sound coming through something you might purchase. They want you to sit down and listen.
I dont proselytize beyond a few selective subjects, but I do have amazingly high expectations and standards when it comes to certain things (audio components and tattoos come to mind) so I'll just lay this little diddy on you:
Independent audio salons are truly a music lovers dream. They offer lots of product, in many different configurations, for many different budgets. A lot of them have moved into home theater in order to stay even remotely competitive. A lot of these audio salons could care less about the "big box stores", because it is really the network of hobbyists that keep them in business, but they do want your business. So if you wander into a store that has a $5000 CD player playing through a $35,000 pair of speakers, do not feel intimidated. That gear is for the hobbyist with an insatiable hunger and the wallet to match. There is more within the audio salon that is probably right up your financial alley (and will more than exceed your needs).
Many audio salon shopkeepers realize that most people out there are just average jack and jills who want an audio system that works...and sounds good. The average jack and jill does not want to drop a mint either. That is why the audio salons carry brands to accommodate the average citizen that wanders inside. Sometimes, the average citizen comes back into the shop as an audiophile hobbyist (it happened to me).
So if there is a store near you, which there probably is, that carries a lot of brands you have never heard of, I would advocate that you at least poke your head in there before your next purchase of "electronics" from a big-box store. These audio salons are in the phonebook or just a google search away. Why not at least see what they have to offer?
Our final years with the Grateful Dead: Chapter 5
Nobody likes belaboring a point more than deadheads, so I'll continue to address the 'compromised songbook' of 92-95 in the following article.
Really, I had wanted to put this subject to rest because I continue to stand firm on my position concerning the question of whether the show was hot or not due to the 'sacred set list' for that evening. My belief is that the show's level of quality should not be held hostage by the black-or-white factor of whether they played a new song (or three) that any one deadhead did not like.
Without apologies, I'll say that anybody who dismisses a show exclusively due to it having Vince playing keyboards, Donna singing, or because a particular song (or three) was performed is a fucking idiot! Yes, that is how strongly I feel about this brand of criticism which I continually encounter on the internet. It literally reminds me of people who say that they 'hate [fill in the city] because they gave me a parking ticket'. Get over yourself!
But one of my best sources for GD conversation fodder, EVOp, threw down the gauntlet with my approach to the 'compromised songbook'. The following paragraphs were in an email that I received from him. In some places I have made slight edits and/or paraphrased:
***
I'm not sure you get that in your explanation you pretty much said every time they go into a new song you could see the wind completely come out of the sails.. So I absolutely 1000% understand your take. But I also think that you're splitting hairs with the semantics.
In other words, by bringing up Karina or Easy Answers, there is somehow the implication that the show suddenly is not hot anymore, or that it probably will not regain any traction, or that it is more or less a throwaway. I think a better experiment might be to find some shows from 1992 through 1995 that do not have all the new songs in them or at least a combination of the new songs, but also would be noted as a crappy show?
I think that 3/8/92 would be an absolutely fantastic example to refute naysayers of shows that had new songs. I'm in love with the first set and I stand by that statement. I wonder who else is going to agree with me. Probably nobody, but that is their loss.
However the second set, after drums, is majestic. It is like they came out to open the second set and they were determined to play the new songs whether it was going to be hot or not, and frankly, I was megadosed at the show and I thought it was fucking awesome! But now we look at the setlist and the entire pre-drums is basically new songs so this show will go down in history as a throwaway despite one of the most ripping 'All Along the Watchtowers' you're ever going to hear, despite the fact that the 'Throwing Stone's is one of my top five of all time, and despite the fact that I'll put the first set up against any set from the 80s...easily.
And it also bears mentioning that those new songs in spring of 1992...well, nobody was sick of them yet. And it was kind of refreshing because we hadn't had a batch of new songs since 1989 or something like that (Foolish heart, Just a Little Light, Built to Last, etc). So by spring of 1992 we were not sick of these songs yet! Of course, Wave to the Wind turned out to be a prime conversation-piece for the worst Grateful Dead song ever. And, well, Long Way to Go Home also got brought into the conversation for worst Grateful Dead song ever too.
Yet those two songs were played in that 3/8/92 pre-drum segment, and they were new, and they were fresh, and it was fantastic to actually hear a new Phil Lesh song. 'Wave to the Wind' is certainly a musically sophisticated song (kind of like 'Unbroken Chain') when you look at the arrangement. I mean the arrangement was definitely the reason they stopped playing it. It is hard to play! We all know Phil has no problem beating songs into the curb. Obviously, he didn't think Jerry had the chops to follow along, so he wasn't going to play his song anymore.
To me, 'Long Way to Go Home' was like a statement that Bruce had just left the band (or was considering leaving), and that Vince was going to stand on his own two feet and start contributing. Now we were going to have a good rock band without two keyboardists and two drummers! It was already a jamboree with way too many artists on stage. This was the turning point where I thought, 'OK - Vince has some material of his own and Bruce is going to go touring away from the Dead.'
So I hope you could move that March 8 1992 forward into your listening rotation. I know you're backlogged on your listening, but if you could put that show in there and move it up, we could have a serious conversation about that show. I consider it an all-timer for that era. But the set list, back to your original point, really isn't all that much. Although the first set (if you look at it song for song) is actually pretty good, but the second set you would probably just turn the page.
***
Wow! Quite a lot to address here. Thank you to EVOp for a pretty extensive (and credible) take. I will move 3/8/92 forward in the rotation. Working through the two 'A Day on the Green' shows from October of 1976 at the moment (Dick's Pick #33), but I will re-prioritize.
For those of you who continue to believe that 'new songs' ruin a show, I give you this list to work though. These are the shows played during 1992-1995 that have NONE of the new original songs. So there is no version of Liberty, So Many Roads, Lazy River Road, Days Between, Easy Answers, Corinna, Eternity, Long Way to Go Home, Samba in the Rain, Wave to the Wind, If the Shoe Fits, or Childhood's End at any of the following shows:
3/2/92
3/20/92
5/20/92
5/21/92
5/23/92
5/25/92
5/29/92
6/6/92
6/11/92
6/18/92
6/22/92
7/1/92
12/5/92
12/6/92
12/12/92
12/16/92
1/24/93
1/26/93
3/24/93
5/16/93
6/15/93
12/12/93
3/4/94
4/1/94
9/29/94
10/13/94
12-18-94
3-18-95
7-2-95
Part of me wants to say, 'choke on them', but instead I'll just ask a favor. If you listen to these shows and find that one or more of them is really awesome...or extremely crummy, please let me know. I'd like to hear your thoughts. BTW - a great number of these shows do have the new cover songs like 'I Fought the Law', 'Baba O' Riley', 'Broken Arrow', etc. We're leaving the new cover songs out of this particular facet of the conversation for now. Happy Trails!
Really, I had wanted to put this subject to rest because I continue to stand firm on my position concerning the question of whether the show was hot or not due to the 'sacred set list' for that evening. My belief is that the show's level of quality should not be held hostage by the black-or-white factor of whether they played a new song (or three) that any one deadhead did not like.
Without apologies, I'll say that anybody who dismisses a show exclusively due to it having Vince playing keyboards, Donna singing, or because a particular song (or three) was performed is a fucking idiot! Yes, that is how strongly I feel about this brand of criticism which I continually encounter on the internet. It literally reminds me of people who say that they 'hate [fill in the city] because they gave me a parking ticket'. Get over yourself!
But one of my best sources for GD conversation fodder, EVOp, threw down the gauntlet with my approach to the 'compromised songbook'. The following paragraphs were in an email that I received from him. In some places I have made slight edits and/or paraphrased:
***
I'm not sure you get that in your explanation you pretty much said every time they go into a new song you could see the wind completely come out of the sails.. So I absolutely 1000% understand your take. But I also think that you're splitting hairs with the semantics.
In other words, by bringing up Karina or Easy Answers, there is somehow the implication that the show suddenly is not hot anymore, or that it probably will not regain any traction, or that it is more or less a throwaway. I think a better experiment might be to find some shows from 1992 through 1995 that do not have all the new songs in them or at least a combination of the new songs, but also would be noted as a crappy show?
I think that 3/8/92 would be an absolutely fantastic example to refute naysayers of shows that had new songs. I'm in love with the first set and I stand by that statement. I wonder who else is going to agree with me. Probably nobody, but that is their loss.
However the second set, after drums, is majestic. It is like they came out to open the second set and they were determined to play the new songs whether it was going to be hot or not, and frankly, I was megadosed at the show and I thought it was fucking awesome! But now we look at the setlist and the entire pre-drums is basically new songs so this show will go down in history as a throwaway despite one of the most ripping 'All Along the Watchtowers' you're ever going to hear, despite the fact that the 'Throwing Stone's is one of my top five of all time, and despite the fact that I'll put the first set up against any set from the 80s...easily.
And it also bears mentioning that those new songs in spring of 1992...well, nobody was sick of them yet. And it was kind of refreshing because we hadn't had a batch of new songs since 1989 or something like that (Foolish heart, Just a Little Light, Built to Last, etc). So by spring of 1992 we were not sick of these songs yet! Of course, Wave to the Wind turned out to be a prime conversation-piece for the worst Grateful Dead song ever. And, well, Long Way to Go Home also got brought into the conversation for worst Grateful Dead song ever too.
Yet those two songs were played in that 3/8/92 pre-drum segment, and they were new, and they were fresh, and it was fantastic to actually hear a new Phil Lesh song. 'Wave to the Wind' is certainly a musically sophisticated song (kind of like 'Unbroken Chain') when you look at the arrangement. I mean the arrangement was definitely the reason they stopped playing it. It is hard to play! We all know Phil has no problem beating songs into the curb. Obviously, he didn't think Jerry had the chops to follow along, so he wasn't going to play his song anymore.
To me, 'Long Way to Go Home' was like a statement that Bruce had just left the band (or was considering leaving), and that Vince was going to stand on his own two feet and start contributing. Now we were going to have a good rock band without two keyboardists and two drummers! It was already a jamboree with way too many artists on stage. This was the turning point where I thought, 'OK - Vince has some material of his own and Bruce is going to go touring away from the Dead.'
So I hope you could move that March 8 1992 forward into your listening rotation. I know you're backlogged on your listening, but if you could put that show in there and move it up, we could have a serious conversation about that show. I consider it an all-timer for that era. But the set list, back to your original point, really isn't all that much. Although the first set (if you look at it song for song) is actually pretty good, but the second set you would probably just turn the page.
***
Wow! Quite a lot to address here. Thank you to EVOp for a pretty extensive (and credible) take. I will move 3/8/92 forward in the rotation. Working through the two 'A Day on the Green' shows from October of 1976 at the moment (Dick's Pick #33), but I will re-prioritize.
For those of you who continue to believe that 'new songs' ruin a show, I give you this list to work though. These are the shows played during 1992-1995 that have NONE of the new original songs. So there is no version of Liberty, So Many Roads, Lazy River Road, Days Between, Easy Answers, Corinna, Eternity, Long Way to Go Home, Samba in the Rain, Wave to the Wind, If the Shoe Fits, or Childhood's End at any of the following shows:
3/2/92
3/20/92
5/20/92
5/21/92
5/23/92
5/25/92
5/29/92
6/6/92
6/11/92
6/18/92
6/22/92
7/1/92
12/5/92
12/6/92
12/12/92
12/16/92
1/24/93
1/26/93
3/24/93
5/16/93
6/15/93
12/12/93
3/4/94
4/1/94
9/29/94
10/13/94
12-18-94
3-18-95
7-2-95
Part of me wants to say, 'choke on them', but instead I'll just ask a favor. If you listen to these shows and find that one or more of them is really awesome...or extremely crummy, please let me know. I'd like to hear your thoughts. BTW - a great number of these shows do have the new cover songs like 'I Fought the Law', 'Baba O' Riley', 'Broken Arrow', etc. We're leaving the new cover songs out of this particular facet of the conversation for now. Happy Trails!
Friday, August 7, 2015
Our final years with the Grateful Dead: Chapter 4
In my previous chapter I started to address the perceived 'compromised songbook' during the final years that the Grateful Dead were playing. I confronted the issue by stating that there were 39 songs added during those years, rather than talking about the songs that were left behind.
What I'd like to do now is address this idea of a 'compromised songbook' during the years 1992-1995 (268 shows) through a very specific lens. To wit, I'd like to look at it from the perspective of "sins of omission, rather than sins of commission".
My primary inspiration for looking at the songbook from this perspective is due to me reflecting back on some of the feelings I was having about the band while seeing so many shows during 92-95. At the time, I was continually flummoxed by how the band never seemed to play a few songs that I previously took for granted. Sure, I knew that I was extremely lucky if I caught 'Dire Wolf', 'High Time', or even 'Cumberland Blues', but given that I was seeing 30+ shows a year and still never catching a performance of 'They Love Each Other' was something that began to gnaw at me.
So without further ado, I'd like to list the rarest songs of 92-95 (268 shows) that we previously took for granted:
To Lay Me Down
It Must Have Been the Roses
Beat It On Down the Line
Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad
They Love Each Other
High Time
Big Railroad Blues
Dire Wolf
Cumberland Blues
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Might As Well
Comes a Time
Mama Tried
Black Muddy River
Notice how almost all of these are original Garcia / Hunter songs? Weir (and Barlow) were never as prolific as their counterparts, but I do find it odd that NONE of these are original Weir / Barlow songs. NOTE - there are four cover songs on this list (GDTRFB, Big RxR Blues, Mama Tried, and BIODTL) Anyway, lets get on with the analysis. During the years 1992-1995 (268 shows), the songbook suffered dwindling numbers of these once common songs:
Uncommon
Dire Wolf (played 13 times)
Beat It On Down The Line (played 11 times)
Cumberland Blues (played 11 times)
Mama Tried (played 10 times)
High Time (played 9 times)
Rare
It Must Have Been the Roses (played 8 times)
Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad (played 8 times)
They Love Each Other (played 6 times)
Extremely Rare
Big Railroad Blues (played 4 times)
Black Muddy River (played 3 times)
Comes a Time (played 2 times)
Dupree's Diamond Blues (played 2 times)
Consider yourself one of the lucky few
To Lay Me Down (played ONCE - Deer Creek 6/28/92)
Might As Well (played ONCE - Nassau 3/23/94)
Now, I know people are going to proclaim that the 3 performances of Supplication (2 of which were a 'Supplication jam') are missing from the list above, or that 4 performances of Casey Jones which were played during this era (3 times in 1992 and 1 time in 1993) should be on this list, but the point is that both Supplication and Casey Jones had not been common for a long time! You did not watch them go extinct before your very eyes during 92-95.
For example, Casey Jones had only been played twice in 1984 and twice in 1982 before the breakout at RFK Stadium in 1992. Supplication (whether just a 'jam' or a version that included the vocals) was gone by the early 1986. Whereas, during the 80s, you couldnt throw a rock without hitting a 'Black Muddy River', 'Might as Well', or 'They Love Each Other'.
My point with the list above is that we watched the light burn out on 14 wonderful songs that you used to be able to count on, while simultaneously having them replaced with 39 'new' songs.
Ok, so now is the idea of the 'compromised songbook' starting to make more sense? When you include the 'sins of omission' along with the 'sins of commission', it starts to add up to a wildly changing Grateful Dead. But make no mistake; I dont consider the fairly substantial ebbs and flows of the GD songbook during 92-95 an indicator of the band beginning to suck. Instead, I see it as a bellwether for a band that is riding off into the sunset with an expanded vocabulary. I'll leave it to the performances to tell me whether they are truly sucking or not.
Now let me share another way of looking at this idea of a changing GD songbook (oddly, it somehow manages to be both personal and objective):
The song 'Cold Rain and Snow' was one of the true-blue fixtures within the Grateful Dead songbook, along with 'Beat It On Down the Line' and 'Morning Dew'. You could count on seeing 'Cold Rain and Snow' year-in and year-out, on a fairly regular cadence (with the exceptions of 1974 when it was played only once, and in 1977 when it was played only twice). But when the GD were actively playing in their final years, Cold Rain and Snow was never considered one of my favorite songs. I liked it, I'd get into it, and I'd dance to it, but I didnt ADORE it. And why bother trying to fall in love with it? They played it all the time! I would be hoping for Shakedown Street or Hell in a Bucket to open the show, but instead they would play Mississippi 1/2 Step, Bertha, or Cold Rain and Snow.
However, after the GD were finished, I began to adore Cold Rain and Snow (wayyy more than I like Shakedown Street at the moment). I cant really explain why Cold Rain and Snow is now one of my favorites. Perhaps my experience is somewhat emblematic of how band members related to songs. So many GD songs are awesome, but I think it is possible over the course of decades for you to fall in and out of love with the songs in different ways (e.g. - fleeting affairs, long term relationships, transactional interactions, torrid exchanges, etc) . The way that the band changed their approach to songs throughout the years defies description!
I'll take an Eyes of the World from 1974 over 1984 fairly regularly, but I would NEVER EVER take a Jack Straw from 1973 over a Jack Straw from 1983. A band member's relationship with the songbook is something we will never understand, if only because we're still playing catch-up with our own relationship to the songbook as we gradually ride off into the sunset ourselves. Happy Trails!
What I'd like to do now is address this idea of a 'compromised songbook' during the years 1992-1995 (268 shows) through a very specific lens. To wit, I'd like to look at it from the perspective of "sins of omission, rather than sins of commission".
My primary inspiration for looking at the songbook from this perspective is due to me reflecting back on some of the feelings I was having about the band while seeing so many shows during 92-95. At the time, I was continually flummoxed by how the band never seemed to play a few songs that I previously took for granted. Sure, I knew that I was extremely lucky if I caught 'Dire Wolf', 'High Time', or even 'Cumberland Blues', but given that I was seeing 30+ shows a year and still never catching a performance of 'They Love Each Other' was something that began to gnaw at me.
So without further ado, I'd like to list the rarest songs of 92-95 (268 shows) that we previously took for granted:
To Lay Me Down
It Must Have Been the Roses
Beat It On Down the Line
Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad
They Love Each Other
High Time
Big Railroad Blues
Dire Wolf
Cumberland Blues
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Might As Well
Comes a Time
Mama Tried
Black Muddy River
Notice how almost all of these are original Garcia / Hunter songs? Weir (and Barlow) were never as prolific as their counterparts, but I do find it odd that NONE of these are original Weir / Barlow songs. NOTE - there are four cover songs on this list (GDTRFB, Big RxR Blues, Mama Tried, and BIODTL) Anyway, lets get on with the analysis. During the years 1992-1995 (268 shows), the songbook suffered dwindling numbers of these once common songs:
Uncommon
Dire Wolf (played 13 times)
Beat It On Down The Line (played 11 times)
Cumberland Blues (played 11 times)
Mama Tried (played 10 times)
High Time (played 9 times)
Rare
It Must Have Been the Roses (played 8 times)
Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad (played 8 times)
They Love Each Other (played 6 times)
Extremely Rare
Big Railroad Blues (played 4 times)
Black Muddy River (played 3 times)
Comes a Time (played 2 times)
Dupree's Diamond Blues (played 2 times)
Consider yourself one of the lucky few
To Lay Me Down (played ONCE - Deer Creek 6/28/92)
Might As Well (played ONCE - Nassau 3/23/94)
Now, I know people are going to proclaim that the 3 performances of Supplication (2 of which were a 'Supplication jam') are missing from the list above, or that 4 performances of Casey Jones which were played during this era (3 times in 1992 and 1 time in 1993) should be on this list, but the point is that both Supplication and Casey Jones had not been common for a long time! You did not watch them go extinct before your very eyes during 92-95.
For example, Casey Jones had only been played twice in 1984 and twice in 1982 before the breakout at RFK Stadium in 1992. Supplication (whether just a 'jam' or a version that included the vocals) was gone by the early 1986. Whereas, during the 80s, you couldnt throw a rock without hitting a 'Black Muddy River', 'Might as Well', or 'They Love Each Other'.
My point with the list above is that we watched the light burn out on 14 wonderful songs that you used to be able to count on, while simultaneously having them replaced with 39 'new' songs.
Ok, so now is the idea of the 'compromised songbook' starting to make more sense? When you include the 'sins of omission' along with the 'sins of commission', it starts to add up to a wildly changing Grateful Dead. But make no mistake; I dont consider the fairly substantial ebbs and flows of the GD songbook during 92-95 an indicator of the band beginning to suck. Instead, I see it as a bellwether for a band that is riding off into the sunset with an expanded vocabulary. I'll leave it to the performances to tell me whether they are truly sucking or not.
Now let me share another way of looking at this idea of a changing GD songbook (oddly, it somehow manages to be both personal and objective):
The song 'Cold Rain and Snow' was one of the true-blue fixtures within the Grateful Dead songbook, along with 'Beat It On Down the Line' and 'Morning Dew'. You could count on seeing 'Cold Rain and Snow' year-in and year-out, on a fairly regular cadence (with the exceptions of 1974 when it was played only once, and in 1977 when it was played only twice). But when the GD were actively playing in their final years, Cold Rain and Snow was never considered one of my favorite songs. I liked it, I'd get into it, and I'd dance to it, but I didnt ADORE it. And why bother trying to fall in love with it? They played it all the time! I would be hoping for Shakedown Street or Hell in a Bucket to open the show, but instead they would play Mississippi 1/2 Step, Bertha, or Cold Rain and Snow.
However, after the GD were finished, I began to adore Cold Rain and Snow (wayyy more than I like Shakedown Street at the moment). I cant really explain why Cold Rain and Snow is now one of my favorites. Perhaps my experience is somewhat emblematic of how band members related to songs. So many GD songs are awesome, but I think it is possible over the course of decades for you to fall in and out of love with the songs in different ways (e.g. - fleeting affairs, long term relationships, transactional interactions, torrid exchanges, etc) . The way that the band changed their approach to songs throughout the years defies description!
I'll take an Eyes of the World from 1974 over 1984 fairly regularly, but I would NEVER EVER take a Jack Straw from 1973 over a Jack Straw from 1983. A band member's relationship with the songbook is something we will never understand, if only because we're still playing catch-up with our own relationship to the songbook as we gradually ride off into the sunset ourselves. Happy Trails!
Monday, August 3, 2015
Our final years with the Grateful Dead: Chapter 3
One thing that has seemed to stick in my craw around the final years of the Grateful Dead was how deadheads related to the 'compromised songbook'. At the time, it was common to hear people complaining about the 'new songs', as opposed to complaining about GD's actual performance that night. Even today I still encounter people taking 92-95 (268 shows) to task for the songbook rather than the performances.
I'll be the first to admit that I had some serious issues with a lot of the new songs; how they would interrupt the 'flow' of a show or detract from the evening's accumulated momentum the band had harnessed. It that respect I considered them a liability. Upon the first 30 seconds of a new song, it was not uncommon to see the audience lose its momentum, and any iota of psychedelic energy that had been conjured up to that point would begin to dissipate. This was especially apparent during 1st sets where psychedelic energy was a lot more precious. 2nd sets fared only slightly better for the band, given that they had the advantage of being able to both kickstart any intermittent loss of energy via the power of playing classic 2nd set songs, as well as having gotten their ensemble's sea legs for that evening.
But in my mind the criticisms or 'write-offs' of shows due to the songbook chosen that evening only served to obfuscate the obvious; which was, namely, that the actual Grateful Dead performances were suffering. On this very particular subject I will digress for a moment to state that I instantaneously dismiss 90% of all 'deadhead commentary' outright due to both its lack of sophistication and objectivity, but that does not change the fact that I had to listen to it in real-time. Perhaps even worse, I now have to read this type of uninformed criticism in online comments. Little nuggets of shit like:
"Bobby wanted to be a dick, so he forced Jerry to play Easy Answers"
"Jerry wasnt feeling Stagger Lee, so he played Lazy River Road instead"
Just for the record, anytime I ever encounter anybody who structures their GD opinion around imagined band-member feelings (how can one know what a band-member was thinking or feeling???), I immediately know that I'm dealing with somebody less intelligent. The same also goes for anybody talking about how a show was special because it was 'their birthday show' or because 'they got miracled'. Those little things may mean something special to that particular person, but they illustrate to me that this person will substitute meaningless anecdotes as something to be quantified in our conversation; an immature habit that I refuse to endure because I suffer no fools. But let us return to this concept of the 'compromised songbook'...
Many folks believe it began in 1992 (55 shows that year) with the introduction of:
Long Way to Go Home
So Many Roads
Eternity
Wave to the Wind
Corinna
And then continued in 1993 (81 shows that year) with the introduction of:
The Days Between
Liberty
Easy Answers
Lazy River Road
And saw further advancement in 1994 (85 shows that year) with the introduction of:
Samba in the Rain
If the Shoe Fits
Childhood's End
I spy 12 new original songs! A whole album's worth of material - 4 Jerry songs, 3 Bob songs, 3 Phil songs, and 2 Vince songs. Quite an expansion of the songbook (as far as 'originals' are concerned).
To further complicate matters, there were 10 new cover songs introduced from 1992-1995 too:
Take Me to the River
Baba O Riley
Tomorrow Never Knows
Broken Arrow
I Fought the Law
That Would Be Something (yes - I realized it was debuted, and played once, in the Fall of 1991)
I Want to Tell You
Rain
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Rollin' and Tumblin'
To say nothing of 11 reintroduced cover songs:
The Same Thing
I Just Want to Make Love to You
King Bee
Gloria
Satisfaction
The Race is On
Midnight Hour
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Matilda
Visions of Johanna
4 bust-outs of old original songs:
Alabama Getaway
Supplication (wow- talk about an unrehearsed mess, but still so much fun at the time!)
Casey Jones
Here Comes Sunshine
And last but not least, 2 older originals that they had never played before:
Salt Lake City
Unbroken Chain
So if you add it all together there were 39 'new songs' that entered and changed the songbook during GD 92-95 (268 shows). I'll speculate for a moment and imagine that if you were a member of the band it was likely refreshing to be playing all this new stuff. Probably having played so many 'crowd favorites' for so many years, they became quite tired of many of these 'crowd favorites'. Remember - a lot of the band members were at every show ever played. If you think that your little deadhead-self grew tired of Easy Answers, perhaps a band member grated his teeth during Sugar Magnolia or Friend of the Devil. But plainly stated, if you were in the audience, or 'on tour' for that matter, you were having to seriously accommodate the band member's indulgences with these big changes to your 'sacred set lists'.
It was as if Vatican II was happening to the Grateful Dead scene. The Holy Mass that you attended was no longer in latin and now the priest no longer had his back to you. 25+ years of tradition were being messed with, and not by any exterior forces, but by the psychedelic apostles themselves! However, as devout parishioners we remained steadfast in our faith. We kept going to the shows. And heaven forbid that we show some introspective ability and actually address the lack of holy presence during our mass! No, we instead chose to whimper about the new brand of crackers being used when we received the Eucharist.
As pilgrims we had no choice but to endure this test of our faith. We rationalized it by explaining how many times they played Alabama Getaway in 1980, Estimated Prophet in 1977, U.S. Blues in 1974, or Bertha in 1971. But again, I say our eye was not on the ball! The real issue was not a lackluster songbook (although, at times, it certainly didnt help), but rather how sloppy the GD performance was, how quiet the sound was at the shows, and how lame the scene had become. Our time of reckoning was at hand, and the only happy trails we were going to see was the unattractive prospect of 'getting on with our lives'.
I'll be the first to admit that I had some serious issues with a lot of the new songs; how they would interrupt the 'flow' of a show or detract from the evening's accumulated momentum the band had harnessed. It that respect I considered them a liability. Upon the first 30 seconds of a new song, it was not uncommon to see the audience lose its momentum, and any iota of psychedelic energy that had been conjured up to that point would begin to dissipate. This was especially apparent during 1st sets where psychedelic energy was a lot more precious. 2nd sets fared only slightly better for the band, given that they had the advantage of being able to both kickstart any intermittent loss of energy via the power of playing classic 2nd set songs, as well as having gotten their ensemble's sea legs for that evening.
But in my mind the criticisms or 'write-offs' of shows due to the songbook chosen that evening only served to obfuscate the obvious; which was, namely, that the actual Grateful Dead performances were suffering. On this very particular subject I will digress for a moment to state that I instantaneously dismiss 90% of all 'deadhead commentary' outright due to both its lack of sophistication and objectivity, but that does not change the fact that I had to listen to it in real-time. Perhaps even worse, I now have to read this type of uninformed criticism in online comments. Little nuggets of shit like:
"Bobby wanted to be a dick, so he forced Jerry to play Easy Answers"
"Jerry wasnt feeling Stagger Lee, so he played Lazy River Road instead"
Just for the record, anytime I ever encounter anybody who structures their GD opinion around imagined band-member feelings (how can one know what a band-member was thinking or feeling???), I immediately know that I'm dealing with somebody less intelligent. The same also goes for anybody talking about how a show was special because it was 'their birthday show' or because 'they got miracled'. Those little things may mean something special to that particular person, but they illustrate to me that this person will substitute meaningless anecdotes as something to be quantified in our conversation; an immature habit that I refuse to endure because I suffer no fools. But let us return to this concept of the 'compromised songbook'...
Many folks believe it began in 1992 (55 shows that year) with the introduction of:
Long Way to Go Home
So Many Roads
Eternity
Wave to the Wind
Corinna
And then continued in 1993 (81 shows that year) with the introduction of:
The Days Between
Liberty
Easy Answers
Lazy River Road
And saw further advancement in 1994 (85 shows that year) with the introduction of:
Samba in the Rain
If the Shoe Fits
Childhood's End
I spy 12 new original songs! A whole album's worth of material - 4 Jerry songs, 3 Bob songs, 3 Phil songs, and 2 Vince songs. Quite an expansion of the songbook (as far as 'originals' are concerned).
To further complicate matters, there were 10 new cover songs introduced from 1992-1995 too:
Take Me to the River
Baba O Riley
Tomorrow Never Knows
Broken Arrow
I Fought the Law
That Would Be Something (yes - I realized it was debuted, and played once, in the Fall of 1991)
I Want to Tell You
Rain
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Rollin' and Tumblin'
To say nothing of 11 reintroduced cover songs:
The Same Thing
I Just Want to Make Love to You
King Bee
Gloria
Satisfaction
The Race is On
Midnight Hour
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Matilda
Visions of Johanna
4 bust-outs of old original songs:
Alabama Getaway
Supplication (wow- talk about an unrehearsed mess, but still so much fun at the time!)
Casey Jones
Here Comes Sunshine
And last but not least, 2 older originals that they had never played before:
Salt Lake City
Unbroken Chain
So if you add it all together there were 39 'new songs' that entered and changed the songbook during GD 92-95 (268 shows). I'll speculate for a moment and imagine that if you were a member of the band it was likely refreshing to be playing all this new stuff. Probably having played so many 'crowd favorites' for so many years, they became quite tired of many of these 'crowd favorites'. Remember - a lot of the band members were at every show ever played. If you think that your little deadhead-self grew tired of Easy Answers, perhaps a band member grated his teeth during Sugar Magnolia or Friend of the Devil. But plainly stated, if you were in the audience, or 'on tour' for that matter, you were having to seriously accommodate the band member's indulgences with these big changes to your 'sacred set lists'.
It was as if Vatican II was happening to the Grateful Dead scene. The Holy Mass that you attended was no longer in latin and now the priest no longer had his back to you. 25+ years of tradition were being messed with, and not by any exterior forces, but by the psychedelic apostles themselves! However, as devout parishioners we remained steadfast in our faith. We kept going to the shows. And heaven forbid that we show some introspective ability and actually address the lack of holy presence during our mass! No, we instead chose to whimper about the new brand of crackers being used when we received the Eucharist.
As pilgrims we had no choice but to endure this test of our faith. We rationalized it by explaining how many times they played Alabama Getaway in 1980, Estimated Prophet in 1977, U.S. Blues in 1974, or Bertha in 1971. But again, I say our eye was not on the ball! The real issue was not a lackluster songbook (although, at times, it certainly didnt help), but rather how sloppy the GD performance was, how quiet the sound was at the shows, and how lame the scene had become. Our time of reckoning was at hand, and the only happy trails we were going to see was the unattractive prospect of 'getting on with our lives'.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Thoughts on Alpine Valley (7-17-89) and GDTRFB
Having grown up in the suburbs just north of Chicago, Alpine Valley Grateful Dead shows have a special place in my heart. It really was a wonderful place, and the 'vibes' before, during, and after the shows have been permanently imprinted into my DNA. In fact, it is easy for me to conjure up visions of GD playing there on the nights I
missed in the early and mid-80s. All I need to do is hear tapes of shows from Alpine's past in good stereo sound, and I can teleport myself back. This is due in no small part to the fact that I benefited from having seen them there (on psychedelics) a number of times in 1988 and 1989, so I have the advantage of having built a palace of this location and the Dead playing there in my mind
Anyway, when reviewing the Dick's Picks #32 (8/7/82), I was continually brought back to one of my favorite shows that I ever saw at Alpine Valley (7/17/89) in order to properly contextualize and visualize what I was hearing. A reference point and personal standard for me, this show stands out for a multitude of reason. But lets start with the set list for the moment:
07/17/89
Alpine Valley Music Theater - East Troy, WI
Set 1:
Let The Good Times Roll
Feel Like A Stranger
Built To Last
Me And My Uncle
Cumberland Blues
It's All Over Now
Row Jimmy
When I Paint My Masterpiece
When Push Comes To Shove
The Music Never Stopped
Set 2:
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Playin' In The Band
Uncle John's Band
Standing On The Moon
Drums
The Wheel
Gimme Some Lovin'
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad
Not Fade Away
Encore:
We Bid You Goodnight
Johnny B. Goode
A helluva show on paper. Performance-wise it leaves no doubt and answers all questions. What I'd like to address for the moment though is the closing of the 2nd set; specifically the combination of GDTRFB > NFA. At the moment that this was played during the show, I was transported back to the early 70s when this combination was played regularly. To me, this particular medley was a natural and very loose GD, as opposed to the predictable, stiffly executed, and familiar motions of Throwing Stones > Not Fade Away. Think the flow of Tai Chi rather than a robotic 'kata'.
There are many vivid memories from this particularly brilliant night of Grateful Dead, and many academically-cozy statistics to accompany them (a 10 song first set, the return of 'We Bid You Goodnight', a double encore on the first night of a run, Me & My Uncle > Cumberland Blues, etc), but GDTRFB > NFA deserves special mention from a 'stats' point of view:
* The last time that combo had been played was Summer Tour 1983 (Harrisburg 6/22/83)
* It was also played at the 5/28/82 (Moscone Center) Vietnam Vets benefit show
* You'll reach back to Spring 1977 (4/23/77 Springfield, Ma) to find an appearance before that
* Prior to that night in 1977 above, it was played only once in 1974 (2/24/74), a handful of times in 1973, but it was played all the time in 1972
My point here is that GDTRFB > NFA in 1989 was its own form of 'bust-out' that night at Alpine Valley!
So after establishing that GDTRFB > NFA (in 1989) was exceedingly rare it nevertheless provoked an interesting conversation with one of my best sources for GD banter, EVOp. His take is that it is the inverse, NFA > GDTRFB, seems more rare in his mind and that particular combo should also be examined a bit more closely. So I decided to look at those stats to compare 'rarity factors'. NFA > GDTRFB was performed:
* For a final time on 4/15/83 (Rochester), but also a few weeks before that 1983 Spring Tour they played the combo at the Warfield in SF (3/29/83)
* Before that it was played on New Years 1981
* Twice in 1980, once in 1979, six times in 1978, twice in 1977, and countless times in the early 70s
So when we break down the rarity of these particular combos, here is what I find:
* I count GDTRFB > NFA being played a total of four times after the year 1975
* I count NFA > GDTRFB being played fourteen times after the year 1975
Some special notes about Goin' Down the Road in general:
* Brent Mydland played his first show with GD on 4/22/79. However, he did not play GDTRFB with the band until 4/28/80 (Birmingham, Al)
* There was only one single solitary GDTRFB in both the year 1979 and the year 1992
* Sadly the song became very infrequent during GD's final years (only 8 times between 1992-1995)
Yes, GDTRFB is not a Grateful Dead original, but it is a critical part of their songbook and history so I consider it worth examining very closely. I was blessed with seeing it at least once every year that I saw them (1988-1995), and I considered it quite a treat every time. It continues to be a timeless song, and I especially love the version that Jerry selected for the theatrical release of The Grateful Dead Movie. To me, that particular cinematic selection means that the song also meant something timeless to him, the band, and their crew too. Happy Trails!
***FINAL NOTE***
One of my crucial sources, EVOp, has come forward and stated a few things (paraphrased):
1. Did you know that they added land and almost doubled the size of the hill inside the venue around 1987? In the early 80s and mid 80s, Alpine was a more intimate venue (not unlike Deer Creek, the Riverport Ampitheater in St. Louis, or even Star Lake in Pittsburgh)
2. The NFA > GDTRFB from 5/14/78 (Providence, R.I.) is especially out of control
To his point on #1, I did find an old website that is meant for Alpine Valley staff workers. It does have a bit more history on the expansion of the venue, but does not specify the year(s) that the work was done - http://www.alpinestaff.com/about_us.html
Anyway, when reviewing the Dick's Picks #32 (8/7/82), I was continually brought back to one of my favorite shows that I ever saw at Alpine Valley (7/17/89) in order to properly contextualize and visualize what I was hearing. A reference point and personal standard for me, this show stands out for a multitude of reason. But lets start with the set list for the moment:
07/17/89
Alpine Valley Music Theater - East Troy, WI
Set 1:
Let The Good Times Roll
Feel Like A Stranger
Built To Last
Me And My Uncle
Cumberland Blues
It's All Over Now
Row Jimmy
When I Paint My Masterpiece
When Push Comes To Shove
The Music Never Stopped
Set 2:
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Playin' In The Band
Uncle John's Band
Standing On The Moon
Drums
The Wheel
Gimme Some Lovin'
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad
Not Fade Away
Encore:
We Bid You Goodnight
Johnny B. Goode
A helluva show on paper. Performance-wise it leaves no doubt and answers all questions. What I'd like to address for the moment though is the closing of the 2nd set; specifically the combination of GDTRFB > NFA. At the moment that this was played during the show, I was transported back to the early 70s when this combination was played regularly. To me, this particular medley was a natural and very loose GD, as opposed to the predictable, stiffly executed, and familiar motions of Throwing Stones > Not Fade Away. Think the flow of Tai Chi rather than a robotic 'kata'.
There are many vivid memories from this particularly brilliant night of Grateful Dead, and many academically-cozy statistics to accompany them (a 10 song first set, the return of 'We Bid You Goodnight', a double encore on the first night of a run, Me & My Uncle > Cumberland Blues, etc), but GDTRFB > NFA deserves special mention from a 'stats' point of view:
* The last time that combo had been played was Summer Tour 1983 (Harrisburg 6/22/83)
* It was also played at the 5/28/82 (Moscone Center) Vietnam Vets benefit show
* You'll reach back to Spring 1977 (4/23/77 Springfield, Ma) to find an appearance before that
* Prior to that night in 1977 above, it was played only once in 1974 (2/24/74), a handful of times in 1973, but it was played all the time in 1972
My point here is that GDTRFB > NFA in 1989 was its own form of 'bust-out' that night at Alpine Valley!
So after establishing that GDTRFB > NFA (in 1989) was exceedingly rare it nevertheless provoked an interesting conversation with one of my best sources for GD banter, EVOp. His take is that it is the inverse, NFA > GDTRFB, seems more rare in his mind and that particular combo should also be examined a bit more closely. So I decided to look at those stats to compare 'rarity factors'. NFA > GDTRFB was performed:
* For a final time on 4/15/83 (Rochester), but also a few weeks before that 1983 Spring Tour they played the combo at the Warfield in SF (3/29/83)
* Before that it was played on New Years 1981
* Twice in 1980, once in 1979, six times in 1978, twice in 1977, and countless times in the early 70s
So when we break down the rarity of these particular combos, here is what I find:
* I count GDTRFB > NFA being played a total of four times after the year 1975
* I count NFA > GDTRFB being played fourteen times after the year 1975
Some special notes about Goin' Down the Road in general:
* Brent Mydland played his first show with GD on 4/22/79. However, he did not play GDTRFB with the band until 4/28/80 (Birmingham, Al)
* There was only one single solitary GDTRFB in both the year 1979 and the year 1992
* Sadly the song became very infrequent during GD's final years (only 8 times between 1992-1995)
Yes, GDTRFB is not a Grateful Dead original, but it is a critical part of their songbook and history so I consider it worth examining very closely. I was blessed with seeing it at least once every year that I saw them (1988-1995), and I considered it quite a treat every time. It continues to be a timeless song, and I especially love the version that Jerry selected for the theatrical release of The Grateful Dead Movie. To me, that particular cinematic selection means that the song also meant something timeless to him, the band, and their crew too. Happy Trails!
***FINAL NOTE***
One of my crucial sources, EVOp, has come forward and stated a few things (paraphrased):
1. Did you know that they added land and almost doubled the size of the hill inside the venue around 1987? In the early 80s and mid 80s, Alpine was a more intimate venue (not unlike Deer Creek, the Riverport Ampitheater in St. Louis, or even Star Lake in Pittsburgh)
2. The NFA > GDTRFB from 5/14/78 (Providence, R.I.) is especially out of control
To his point on #1, I did find an old website that is meant for Alpine Valley staff workers. It does have a bit more history on the expansion of the venue, but does not specify the year(s) that the work was done - http://www.alpinestaff.com/about_us.html
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Review: Dick's Picks #32 (Alpine Valley 8/7/82)
Long heralded as one of the best places that the Grateful Dead would play, Alpine Valley represented a Midwestern deadhead's sacred ground (not unlike the Greek Theater or Frost Ampitheater in the Bay Area, or even Red Rocks in Colorado). Even those on tour, coming from other parts of the country, considered it a favorite. And who could blame them? The bucolic setting was hospitable enough for non-deadhead tourists coming to nearby Lake Geneva, and in the winter the rolling Wisconsin hills offered skiing for those who could stand their run being over after 3-7 minutes. Hah!
The band played at Alpine Valley as their primary Midwest summer stop for the entirety of the 80s, with one year being an exception - in 1983 they played 2 shows at nearby Poplar Creek in Hoffman Estates, Il. My circle of friends all came of age during the final years that they played at Alpine, and we always had a quite a time when 'the circus came to town'. The sole exception being my friends, Rico and Gumball, who both attended one of the Poplar Creek shows at the ripe old age of 10 years old. They were those seasoned vets among my contemporaries that had seen the Keep On Growing at Alpine in 1985, etc.
The band and crew would typically stay at one or two of the fancier resorts on nearby Lake Geneva (one of those resorts was actually a former Playboy Club) and so it was not uncommon for the more well-heeled deadheads that did not camp with the rest of the hoi polloi to hoist a few drinks with band and crew after the shows in those posh resort bars. Everybody seems to have an Alpine Valley 'story'. A few that come to mind:
* This is where they played Blackbird for the first time
* This is where Texas Dave taught Duke how to drive
* This is where they opened the show Music Never Stopped > Sugaree > Music Never Stopped
* The is where an ant crawled up Bennet's dickhole, while he was on acid (Imagined?)
* This is where they broke out the first 'We Bid You Goodnight' in 11 years
* This is where Bobby and Mickey wore disguises and wandered around in the parking lot
The venue tolerated camping and so the parties that went on in empty fields for those that stayed for 2, 3, or 4 days got pretty wild. Of course the vending was brought to a new level outside of the venue, given that the deadhead bazaar would stay open 24/7 for days on end with no authorities to shut it down. The nearby townspeople loved it too! The injection of cash into their smaller towns was a huge part of the local summer economy. By the end of a run, there was no ice, no beer, no soda, no chips, no candy, and no cigarettes left to be found in any of the neighboring towns.
And so all these fond memories seem to culminate and converge in the officially released "Downhill From Here" DVD (7/17/89) that marks the last year that GD played at this venue. It was a wonderful run to cap off many other wonderful Alpine Valley runs. But indeed, it is one of these prior and early runs that I want to focus on in this article; specifically the Dick's Picks 32 release that celebrates their appearance at Alpine Valley on 8/7/82.
The master for 8/7/82 is a cassette...yes, the lowly, forgotten cassette. It is quite well preserved, but it is a sonically limited cassette none-the-less.
My own personal opinion on this subject is that deadheads are accustomed to poor audio quality, and we'll take what we can get. However, when I listen to material that stems from 24 track analog tapes that were the sources used on the Spring 90 box sets, or other official releases that came off of Betty Cantor's Nagra IV-S, I have to shake my head at what GD and Dan Healy were doing around 1982 at Alpine Valley.
Incidentally, my aural disdain on this particular subject first started when I christened my copy of the Hampton '79 vinyl release, which also happened to have used cassette masters. So with these major sonic whiffs in mind, I find that there is another rant brewing within me concerning GD's sometimes clumsy approach to family solidarity and audio foresight. To illustrate that 'it is not just me', I'll leave you with this article for now:
http://www.relix.com/articles/detail/whats_become_of_the_bettys
Does that get your blood boiling, or what? Ok - back to the performance at Alpine! Audio quality aside, let us immediately acknowledge the first scorching alert around this show - an 11-song first set. Not uncommon for the era, but still something to note. Next, let us note that there is only one new song (for that time), 'Women are Smarter', so the crowd was treated to some very classic GD. With the exception of Althea and CC Rider (both introduced at the tail end of the 70s), the most recent song is Music Never Stopped, which was first played in 1975. So yeah, if you were a deadhead at this show you saw chestnut after chestnut, and old war-horses trotted out throughout the evening.
BTW - I think hearing 'new songs' are great. Just like the GD members themselves, I never considered the songbook closed. But during the last few years that GD would take the stage, we'd take it in the teeth with how much new stuff was played (but I suspect that similar complaints probably emanated from deadheads in 1977, late 1982, and other eras too). Not this crowd at Alpine Valley that night though. They still got a recent awesome song like Althea, but only received one other 'new song' to interrupt a blissful night of the familiar...and for the record, I happen to like Women Are Smarter.
The opener of Music Never Stopped > Sugaree > Music Never Stopped probably seems more thrilling as an idea than it ever sounded in real life. I saw the one other time that they did this at the Shoreline ampitheater (7/2/94), and even though the air was out of the balloon at that point, I dare share the opinion that the Shoreline combo is better (Sacrilege???). This Alpine version is a good representation of those two songs from that time period, although in my mind the Alpine Sugaree has a bit less of of a jam that it normally did during that era. Still, to be in the audience that evening during the Summer of 1982, with the sun just beginning to sink, and those two songs starting off your evening....well, I cant think of a place I'd rather be. It was a simpler time; when GD killed it nearly every night, and the doses were real. NOTE - they do not actually sing any Music Never Stopped lyrics when they go back into it after finishing Sugaree on either the Alpine or Shoreline version, just in case you're curios about that.
Cowboy songs are sometimes considered throw-away tunes or just fun little diddys by deadheads. I never considered them throw-aways, given how they represented a fixture of the songbook (especially Me and My Uncle). And to my mind, Big River always opened up a huge high-speed playing opportunity for Jerry, This version at Alpine contains shades of his banjo technique revealing themselves. I would posit that this cover of a Johnny Cash song (and even this particular version) should be used at all times as a subtle vehicle to torpedo naysayers of Jerry Garcia's technique whenever you encounter them.
Both CC Rider and Ramble on Rose are played elegantly and adequately, but it is the BIODTL > On the Road Again (as well as the set closing Let It Grow) that represent the crown jewels of the set. However, I'll admit to MUCH preferring the inverse of that particular combo, On the Road Again > BIODTL, that they played 3 nights later at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse (8/10/82). Anyway, back to this Let It Grow for a second. The Althea preceding it was just average, but like Deal and some other exciting first set closers, they can really turn Let It Grow into a monster. A superb version without a a flubbed note to be heard was played that evening. Listening to Brent and Jerry's interplay during Let it Grow is especially interesting.
Catch your breath because the China > Rider to open the 2nd set is just as epic as the one from Alpine 7/17/89. In fact, I'd say this version is better. It is probably is the highlight of the show, which is saying a lot considering that I have not even covered the Playing in the Band or Morning Dew yet (which are both very very good). But I do have to say that the Ship of Fools is kind of depressing given how trashed Jerry's voice is at that particular point in the evening. The Dew that comes later in the evening (following a good Wheel and nice Playing Reprise) does not sound nearly as hoarse, but even if it was hurting vocally, his playing is wonderful. Sidenote - Weir's accompanying notes to Jerry's Dew solo, especially during the slower and more quiet parts are so tasteful and gentle that it pleases me to no end that he could actually, as a rhythm player, 'add' to Jerry's Dew solo that night without being the slightest bit disruptive.
This One More Saturday Night that closes out the 2nd set is good by any standard, but Bobby's extra vocal flourishes in the song ("Right Now", "Right Now", "One more Saturday Night NOW", "One more time", "Right Now", "Right Now") are just the dose this song needs to continually keep it fresh. The MVP award actually goes to Mr. Weir this evening for his singing that night. Very rarely does he let us down vocally, but when he steps up it up to another level, he needs to be recognized. And so I'd like the opportunity to pin a medal on his chest for his vocal contributions on this night at Alpine Valley.
The US Blues encore is fun as usual...but seriously folks, get this one for the China > Rider. Everything is right-on about this show, and those particular songs that dont have the momentum of some of the others are still mistake-free. In fact, I'd say the only tough one is Ship of Fools, and that is because you can hear Jerry's voice really croaking (fortunately, the other Jerry tunes dont suffer the vocal lows of this one). His guitar playing is beyond reproach though.
I'd like say a quick word about the drummers and Phil's bass playing on this release. More and more I like to listen very carefully to these contributors, but the cassette source sonics that I mentioned earlier do not let me fully appreciate the details. When I can pick them up very clearly, I enjoyed what I heard, but alas, it is a bit of a sonic mess. Weir and Brent are clearly picked out in an instant (and Jerry too), but this listener had to seriously focus in order to pick out clear bass notes and differentiate between the two drummers. It does not take nearly as much work to do the same on other official GD live releases. Oh well - such is life.
All in all it was a great night at Alpine Valley and although I'd recommend that Dick's Picks #32 be picked up only by completists, I think that newcomers should start with crisp audience tapes from the era in order to get a better 'feel' for what this band could do at the time. I know that particular opinion is very hard to substantiate and quantify, but it is the best way I know how to summarize my findings at the moment. Happy Trails!
The band played at Alpine Valley as their primary Midwest summer stop for the entirety of the 80s, with one year being an exception - in 1983 they played 2 shows at nearby Poplar Creek in Hoffman Estates, Il. My circle of friends all came of age during the final years that they played at Alpine, and we always had a quite a time when 'the circus came to town'. The sole exception being my friends, Rico and Gumball, who both attended one of the Poplar Creek shows at the ripe old age of 10 years old. They were those seasoned vets among my contemporaries that had seen the Keep On Growing at Alpine in 1985, etc.
The band and crew would typically stay at one or two of the fancier resorts on nearby Lake Geneva (one of those resorts was actually a former Playboy Club) and so it was not uncommon for the more well-heeled deadheads that did not camp with the rest of the hoi polloi to hoist a few drinks with band and crew after the shows in those posh resort bars. Everybody seems to have an Alpine Valley 'story'. A few that come to mind:
* This is where they played Blackbird for the first time
* This is where Texas Dave taught Duke how to drive
* This is where they opened the show Music Never Stopped > Sugaree > Music Never Stopped
* The is where an ant crawled up Bennet's dickhole, while he was on acid (Imagined?)
* This is where they broke out the first 'We Bid You Goodnight' in 11 years
* This is where Bobby and Mickey wore disguises and wandered around in the parking lot
The venue tolerated camping and so the parties that went on in empty fields for those that stayed for 2, 3, or 4 days got pretty wild. Of course the vending was brought to a new level outside of the venue, given that the deadhead bazaar would stay open 24/7 for days on end with no authorities to shut it down. The nearby townspeople loved it too! The injection of cash into their smaller towns was a huge part of the local summer economy. By the end of a run, there was no ice, no beer, no soda, no chips, no candy, and no cigarettes left to be found in any of the neighboring towns.
And so all these fond memories seem to culminate and converge in the officially released "Downhill From Here" DVD (7/17/89) that marks the last year that GD played at this venue. It was a wonderful run to cap off many other wonderful Alpine Valley runs. But indeed, it is one of these prior and early runs that I want to focus on in this article; specifically the Dick's Picks 32 release that celebrates their appearance at Alpine Valley on 8/7/82.
- Disc One
- First set:
- "The Music Never Stopped" > (Bob Weir, John Barlow) – 4:19
- "Sugaree" > (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 9:51
- "The Music Never Stopped" reprise (Weir, Barlow) – 4:00
- "Me and My Uncle" > (John Phillips) – 3:02
- "Big River" (Johnny Cash) – 6:12
- "It Must Have Been the Roses" (Hunter) – 5:51
- "C.C. Rider" (traditional, arranged by the Grateful Dead) – 7:34
- "Ramble On Rose" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:31
- "Beat It On Down the Line" > (Jesse Fuller) – 3:11
- "On the Road Again" (traditional, arranged by the Grateful Dead) – 3:04
- "Althea" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:56
- "Let It Grow" (Weir, Barlow) – 11:39
- Encore:
- "U.S. Blues" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:16
- Disc Two
- Second set:
- "China Cat Sunflower" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:42
- "I Know You Rider" (traditional, arranged by the Grateful Dead) – 7:43
- "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (Span) – 8:29
- "Ship of Fools" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:39
- "Playing in the Band" > (Weir, Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 11:15
- "Drums" > (Hart, Bill Kreutzmann) – 5:31
- "Space" > (Garcia, Phil Lesh, Weir) – 5:31
- "The Wheel" > (Garcia, Kreutzmann, Hunter) – 5:51
- "Playing in the Band" > reprise (Weir, Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 4:09
- "Morning Dew" > (Bonnie Dobson, Tim Rose) – 10:11
- "One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 4:59
The master for 8/7/82 is a cassette...yes, the lowly, forgotten cassette. It is quite well preserved, but it is a sonically limited cassette none-the-less.
My own personal opinion on this subject is that deadheads are accustomed to poor audio quality, and we'll take what we can get. However, when I listen to material that stems from 24 track analog tapes that were the sources used on the Spring 90 box sets, or other official releases that came off of Betty Cantor's Nagra IV-S, I have to shake my head at what GD and Dan Healy were doing around 1982 at Alpine Valley.
Incidentally, my aural disdain on this particular subject first started when I christened my copy of the Hampton '79 vinyl release, which also happened to have used cassette masters. So with these major sonic whiffs in mind, I find that there is another rant brewing within me concerning GD's sometimes clumsy approach to family solidarity and audio foresight. To illustrate that 'it is not just me', I'll leave you with this article for now:
http://www.relix.com/articles/detail/whats_become_of_the_bettys
Does that get your blood boiling, or what? Ok - back to the performance at Alpine! Audio quality aside, let us immediately acknowledge the first scorching alert around this show - an 11-song first set. Not uncommon for the era, but still something to note. Next, let us note that there is only one new song (for that time), 'Women are Smarter', so the crowd was treated to some very classic GD. With the exception of Althea and CC Rider (both introduced at the tail end of the 70s), the most recent song is Music Never Stopped, which was first played in 1975. So yeah, if you were a deadhead at this show you saw chestnut after chestnut, and old war-horses trotted out throughout the evening.
BTW - I think hearing 'new songs' are great. Just like the GD members themselves, I never considered the songbook closed. But during the last few years that GD would take the stage, we'd take it in the teeth with how much new stuff was played (but I suspect that similar complaints probably emanated from deadheads in 1977, late 1982, and other eras too). Not this crowd at Alpine Valley that night though. They still got a recent awesome song like Althea, but only received one other 'new song' to interrupt a blissful night of the familiar...and for the record, I happen to like Women Are Smarter.
The opener of Music Never Stopped > Sugaree > Music Never Stopped probably seems more thrilling as an idea than it ever sounded in real life. I saw the one other time that they did this at the Shoreline ampitheater (7/2/94), and even though the air was out of the balloon at that point, I dare share the opinion that the Shoreline combo is better (Sacrilege???). This Alpine version is a good representation of those two songs from that time period, although in my mind the Alpine Sugaree has a bit less of of a jam that it normally did during that era. Still, to be in the audience that evening during the Summer of 1982, with the sun just beginning to sink, and those two songs starting off your evening....well, I cant think of a place I'd rather be. It was a simpler time; when GD killed it nearly every night, and the doses were real. NOTE - they do not actually sing any Music Never Stopped lyrics when they go back into it after finishing Sugaree on either the Alpine or Shoreline version, just in case you're curios about that.
Cowboy songs are sometimes considered throw-away tunes or just fun little diddys by deadheads. I never considered them throw-aways, given how they represented a fixture of the songbook (especially Me and My Uncle). And to my mind, Big River always opened up a huge high-speed playing opportunity for Jerry, This version at Alpine contains shades of his banjo technique revealing themselves. I would posit that this cover of a Johnny Cash song (and even this particular version) should be used at all times as a subtle vehicle to torpedo naysayers of Jerry Garcia's technique whenever you encounter them.
Both CC Rider and Ramble on Rose are played elegantly and adequately, but it is the BIODTL > On the Road Again (as well as the set closing Let It Grow) that represent the crown jewels of the set. However, I'll admit to MUCH preferring the inverse of that particular combo, On the Road Again > BIODTL, that they played 3 nights later at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse (8/10/82). Anyway, back to this Let It Grow for a second. The Althea preceding it was just average, but like Deal and some other exciting first set closers, they can really turn Let It Grow into a monster. A superb version without a a flubbed note to be heard was played that evening. Listening to Brent and Jerry's interplay during Let it Grow is especially interesting.
Catch your breath because the China > Rider to open the 2nd set is just as epic as the one from Alpine 7/17/89. In fact, I'd say this version is better. It is probably is the highlight of the show, which is saying a lot considering that I have not even covered the Playing in the Band or Morning Dew yet (which are both very very good). But I do have to say that the Ship of Fools is kind of depressing given how trashed Jerry's voice is at that particular point in the evening. The Dew that comes later in the evening (following a good Wheel and nice Playing Reprise) does not sound nearly as hoarse, but even if it was hurting vocally, his playing is wonderful. Sidenote - Weir's accompanying notes to Jerry's Dew solo, especially during the slower and more quiet parts are so tasteful and gentle that it pleases me to no end that he could actually, as a rhythm player, 'add' to Jerry's Dew solo that night without being the slightest bit disruptive.
This One More Saturday Night that closes out the 2nd set is good by any standard, but Bobby's extra vocal flourishes in the song ("Right Now", "Right Now", "One more Saturday Night NOW", "One more time", "Right Now", "Right Now") are just the dose this song needs to continually keep it fresh. The MVP award actually goes to Mr. Weir this evening for his singing that night. Very rarely does he let us down vocally, but when he steps up it up to another level, he needs to be recognized. And so I'd like the opportunity to pin a medal on his chest for his vocal contributions on this night at Alpine Valley.
The US Blues encore is fun as usual...but seriously folks, get this one for the China > Rider. Everything is right-on about this show, and those particular songs that dont have the momentum of some of the others are still mistake-free. In fact, I'd say the only tough one is Ship of Fools, and that is because you can hear Jerry's voice really croaking (fortunately, the other Jerry tunes dont suffer the vocal lows of this one). His guitar playing is beyond reproach though.
I'd like say a quick word about the drummers and Phil's bass playing on this release. More and more I like to listen very carefully to these contributors, but the cassette source sonics that I mentioned earlier do not let me fully appreciate the details. When I can pick them up very clearly, I enjoyed what I heard, but alas, it is a bit of a sonic mess. Weir and Brent are clearly picked out in an instant (and Jerry too), but this listener had to seriously focus in order to pick out clear bass notes and differentiate between the two drummers. It does not take nearly as much work to do the same on other official GD live releases. Oh well - such is life.
All in all it was a great night at Alpine Valley and although I'd recommend that Dick's Picks #32 be picked up only by completists, I think that newcomers should start with crisp audience tapes from the era in order to get a better 'feel' for what this band could do at the time. I know that particular opinion is very hard to substantiate and quantify, but it is the best way I know how to summarize my findings at the moment. Happy Trails!
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Our final years with the Grateful Dead: Chapter 2
In an amusing turn of events, two of the most esteemed GD oracles (EVOp and Gumball) have conveyed similar, yet somehow different messages around this project:
Paraphrased from Gumball: Although I appreciate your passion, this is somewhat of a lost cause. Given that I'll never bother listening to a show from 92-95, I dont know how much I can actually contribute to this project. It is just not something that I feel compelled to dive into. I've never even bothered putting on a show from 92-95....wait, that is not true. There is a Garden show from Fall Tour 1994 with a Scarlet > Fire that is pretty hot...but aside from that input (which I think you already have on your list), I dont really have anything to contribute to this project.
EVOp's paraphrased messaging was slightly more vitriolic: For what its worth, even if we were able to prove that there are five shows from each year spanning 92-95, I am still not going to listen to those shows. So it is a fun and scientific exercise, but there is no way to listen to those years without Vince and/or Bruce clouding up the mix for me. It just curdles my blood! And that is the bottom line! I cant stand Vince's backup vocals. They literally ruin it for me. I just cant take it!
And to both their respective points; when I woke up this morning, I did not put on a show from 92-95. Instead, I continued to indulge in the official GD 5-show May 1977 box set. A wonderful set that has recently seen me complete the St. Paul show, and now move on to the first of two Chicago Auditorium shows. Perhaps an extensive review of this set is forthcoming. If moved by the spirit, I will certainly provide one. For now I'll be content to share that Bobby telling some people in the first few rows, slightly away from his microphone, before Donna starts "Sunrise", that they should, 'shut up', is good for a few laughs. How serious he was we'll likely never know.
But back to the subject at hand, I'll finish up this 5/12/77 Chicago Auditorium show and then tackle something from 1994. Until then, Happy Trails!
Paraphrased from Gumball: Although I appreciate your passion, this is somewhat of a lost cause. Given that I'll never bother listening to a show from 92-95, I dont know how much I can actually contribute to this project. It is just not something that I feel compelled to dive into. I've never even bothered putting on a show from 92-95....wait, that is not true. There is a Garden show from Fall Tour 1994 with a Scarlet > Fire that is pretty hot...but aside from that input (which I think you already have on your list), I dont really have anything to contribute to this project.
EVOp's paraphrased messaging was slightly more vitriolic: For what its worth, even if we were able to prove that there are five shows from each year spanning 92-95, I am still not going to listen to those shows. So it is a fun and scientific exercise, but there is no way to listen to those years without Vince and/or Bruce clouding up the mix for me. It just curdles my blood! And that is the bottom line! I cant stand Vince's backup vocals. They literally ruin it for me. I just cant take it!
And to both their respective points; when I woke up this morning, I did not put on a show from 92-95. Instead, I continued to indulge in the official GD 5-show May 1977 box set. A wonderful set that has recently seen me complete the St. Paul show, and now move on to the first of two Chicago Auditorium shows. Perhaps an extensive review of this set is forthcoming. If moved by the spirit, I will certainly provide one. For now I'll be content to share that Bobby telling some people in the first few rows, slightly away from his microphone, before Donna starts "Sunrise", that they should, 'shut up', is good for a few laughs. How serious he was we'll likely never know.
But back to the subject at hand, I'll finish up this 5/12/77 Chicago Auditorium show and then tackle something from 1994. Until then, Happy Trails!
Monday, July 27, 2015
Our final years with the Grateful Dead - Chapter 1
The years 1992-1995 have mostly been written off by deadheads for a
good number of reasons. The primary reasons that astute deadheads often cite are that the band not only had a 'compromised songbook' filled with weak material,
but that the musical performances on most nights were not good either. Of course on the other harder-to-quantify side of this equation, the
'deadhead scene' was simultaneously suffering from its own problems. However, we'll leave that particular facet of the story for an entirely different set of articles in the future.
What I'd like to do in the here and now is at least salvage some of the performances by the band during 1992-1995 for (ir)regular listening sessions in my own living room. That is my goal! It goes without saying that the years 1965-1991 still kill it, though to be fair, there are still more than a few rough patches during that span of time too. But I ask again, what shows can we cherry-pick from the twilight of the Grateful Dead's time with us?
The goal is to pick 5 shows from each of these final years (fully knowing that we may just come up short in 1995) that stand on their own as an isolated GD show. The criteria that I am using was inspired by David Lemieux's methodology for selecting shows in the '30 Trips Around the Sun' box set; i.e. - not just "it was a great show for 1994", or "this was a great show except for the post-space material". but rather "this was a great show...period".
Can this list of 5 shows per year be done for the years 1992-1995? There were 268 shows played from 1992 - 1995. Your input and comments on what I should spend my time listening to would be appreciated.
On a more personal level, I was at many of these shows. However I have not heard every show from each of the years under scrutiny, and there may even been some shows that I saw which I've overlooked as extremely hot numbers (though not likely, heh). My first crack at building the list below was based on how the show looked 'on paper', other reviews that I've read, my own recollections, and/or anecdotes passed along to me by extremely well-schooled deadheads. I'm gradually working my way through listening to these years on www.archive.org, but I could use your help on how to most efficiently use my time for this particular project.
By all means, please tell me if I should be removing OR adding more for consideration (and, for the moment, let us err on the side of removing more than we add). My preliminary list so far....
55 shows played in 1992. My keepers so far:
3/8/92 Cap Center
3/20/92 Copps Coliseum (selected for 30 trips box set)
5/30/92 Vegas
5/31/92 Vegas
6/18/92 Charlotte
6/22/92 Star Lake
6/28/92 Deer Creek
12/16/92 Oakland (selected for Dick's Picks)
81 shows played in 1993. My keepers so far:
3/24/93 Dean Dome
3/27/93 Albany (selected for 30 Trips box set)
5/26/93 Cal Expo
9/13/93 Spectrum
12/12/93 San Diego
85 shows played in 1994. My keepers so far:
3/16/94 Rosemont Horizon
3/21/94 Richfield (omg w/ Lovelight>Stella Blue>Lovelight)
3/28/94 Nassau
10/1/94 Boston (selected for 30 trips box set)
10/3/94 Boston
10/5/94 Spectrum
10/14/94 MSG
10/17/94 MSG (w/ Dylan for Rainy Day Women)
12/9/94 Oakland
12/18/94 LA Sports Arena
12/19/94 LA Sports Arena
47 shows played in 1995. My keepers so far:
2/21/95 Salt Lake City (selected for 30 trips box set)
4/5/95 Birmingham
5/21/95 Vegas
Happy hunting...and Happy Trails!
What I'd like to do in the here and now is at least salvage some of the performances by the band during 1992-1995 for (ir)regular listening sessions in my own living room. That is my goal! It goes without saying that the years 1965-1991 still kill it, though to be fair, there are still more than a few rough patches during that span of time too. But I ask again, what shows can we cherry-pick from the twilight of the Grateful Dead's time with us?
The goal is to pick 5 shows from each of these final years (fully knowing that we may just come up short in 1995) that stand on their own as an isolated GD show. The criteria that I am using was inspired by David Lemieux's methodology for selecting shows in the '30 Trips Around the Sun' box set; i.e. - not just "it was a great show for 1994", or "this was a great show except for the post-space material". but rather "this was a great show...period".
Can this list of 5 shows per year be done for the years 1992-1995? There were 268 shows played from 1992 - 1995. Your input and comments on what I should spend my time listening to would be appreciated.
On a more personal level, I was at many of these shows. However I have not heard every show from each of the years under scrutiny, and there may even been some shows that I saw which I've overlooked as extremely hot numbers (though not likely, heh). My first crack at building the list below was based on how the show looked 'on paper', other reviews that I've read, my own recollections, and/or anecdotes passed along to me by extremely well-schooled deadheads. I'm gradually working my way through listening to these years on www.archive.org, but I could use your help on how to most efficiently use my time for this particular project.
By all means, please tell me if I should be removing OR adding more for consideration (and, for the moment, let us err on the side of removing more than we add). My preliminary list so far....
55 shows played in 1992. My keepers so far:
3/8/92 Cap Center
3/20/92 Copps Coliseum (selected for 30 trips box set)
5/30/92 Vegas
5/31/92 Vegas
6/18/92 Charlotte
6/22/92 Star Lake
6/28/92 Deer Creek
12/16/92 Oakland (selected for Dick's Picks)
81 shows played in 1993. My keepers so far:
3/24/93 Dean Dome
3/27/93 Albany (selected for 30 Trips box set)
5/26/93 Cal Expo
9/13/93 Spectrum
12/12/93 San Diego
85 shows played in 1994. My keepers so far:
3/16/94 Rosemont Horizon
3/21/94 Richfield (omg w/ Lovelight>Stella Blue>Lovelight)
3/28/94 Nassau
10/1/94 Boston (selected for 30 trips box set)
10/3/94 Boston
10/5/94 Spectrum
10/14/94 MSG
10/17/94 MSG (w/ Dylan for Rainy Day Women)
12/9/94 Oakland
12/18/94 LA Sports Arena
12/19/94 LA Sports Arena
47 shows played in 1995. My keepers so far:
2/21/95 Salt Lake City (selected for 30 trips box set)
4/5/95 Birmingham
5/21/95 Vegas
Happy hunting...and Happy Trails!
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