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.
Friday, August 21, 2015
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
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