Sorry, I meant '76 Roosevelt.  Senior moment.

Mark listens to way more Dead these days than I do and I'm guessing you do also.  He should jump in on the discussion too.  There's not a lot of GD talk on this forum.

Never heard a Winterland I didn't like.  I'm not overly impressed with any of the DVDs but they're fun to watch.  And yes, more JGBs would be great.....in ANY format!

I never got into downloading shows like many others like my little brother for example (he's 40 but still my little bro).  Some tapes just sound so good even still and IMO beat the crap out of some of the DPs and other releases.  It was nice when they finaly released Englishtown (I was at that show also).  I still have about 4 versions on tape.  That Estimated-Eyes turned more folks at my college into Deadheads then anything else.  Also, the '78 Iowa show (DPs 18) is one of my favs.  Great show and excellent recording.

Those original W7s on Khorns and tubes can't be beat!!!  Are you into vinyl?

RWNay:

77 was a great touring year, but hard to give it a better overall year than anything from 72-74.  I will give you May 77 as one of the greatest tours ever.

I suppose I have personal reasons for preferring '77.  I went to a lot of shows for one thing.  Also, I just loved the way Jerry solo'd in '77/'78.  His solos on songs like The Deal, Bown-Eyed Women, etc. were about 3 times longer in '77 than '72-'74 (or just about any other year) and had that cool gritty "garage" type sound if you know what I mean.

I've never been a Bobby fan so anything he did in any of those years doesn't make a difference in my book.  The biggest downside to '77 was Donna sang too loud.

You guys are way out of my league with the facts, dates, and show trivia. Gary, you remind me of my old college roommate. He could walk into the room and tell you what show was playing. It could even be during space. Now.....that is a Deadhead. I never got to that point. I've read a ton and continue to listen a ton.......just never got able to spit it all out like you guys.

mark1101:

You guys are way out of my league with the facts, dates, and show trivia. Gary, you remind me of my old college roommate. He could walk into the room and tell you what show was playing. It could even be during space. Now.....that is a Deadhead. I never got to that point. I've read a ton and continue to listen a ton.......just never got able to spit it all out like you guys.

LOL.  There's only one way a person can truly apreciate space.  That said, I haven't enjoyed space in a LONG, LONG time!  That was the worst thing about cassettes.  You had to fast forward through drums and space.

 

For the benefit of Larry, if I were to ascribe a one word term for classifying the Grateful Dead, that word would be "psychedelic".

But since one word is never enough to describe any entity as singularly unique as the GD, I would expand that definition to include "American, jug-band-style, rock and roll roots oriented psychedelic outfit."

I think it was promoter Bill Graham who said about GD, "They're not the best at what they do, they are the only ones who do what they do."

I could package up the entire 1970's decade of live Grateful Dead and recommend it all. A local talk show host, in the midst of an unrelated discussion, asked a caller to make a choice: go back 40 years in time and use the experience/knowledge you now have to live those 40 years again, or begin living at the age you would have been 40 years ago starting right now. The host stated he would prefer the latter, because who would want to live through "stagflation" again and so forth. I would prefer the former, because I would want to see a lot of these shows again (not to mention Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Band, and others too numerous to mention).......in addition to gathering up all of that old tube gear because transistors were better, and so forth.

For the uninitiated and curious, I recommend the live release "One From The Vault", August 13, 1975 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. This is a very clean, well presented recording, offering a good mix of straightforward, easy to enjoy material with enough "psychedelia" to show you what this band can really do in this element. Put simply, the band just cooks and is very focused.....almost TOO focused for thier norm, but the energy that prevails from what was a very important performance (first performance of material from Blues For Allah at an invite only show for 500 people) translates well through the recording. This was my first GD live tape. I wore it out, so you can imagine that I was quite happy when it was released as an official offering.

In the cassette/analog days, many would "skip" drums/space by the convenience of how that was usually laid out on the tape. The good "editors" would lay that show out so that drums was last on side A and space was first on side B, so you could flip the tape when drums started and end up where space ends. The spot where the taper chose to edit could be a topic of debate amongst the exceptionally choosy/geeky collectors, as did the specific sources/"generations". Those were the days.....

To me, the Grateful Dead are as American as hot dogs and apple pie. They exemplified "freedom of expression". The symphonic "takes" and spinoffs/"logical musical extensions" don't surprise me in the least - I suspect that this music will be played, sang, and otherwise enjoyed for generations to come.

If you enjoyed hearing the GD do "space", then you must have been at the show. You had to be there

This thread is too funny... reminds me of how little I remember about the shows. I only went to a handful of GD's shows - mostly when a DH friend asked and I never followed them around but it was a unique experience to say the least. I do recall an interview where Bob Weir was talking about making the 'American Beauty' album. It was noted that the band did everything they could think of to piss off the suits and techs - mainly to have more control of the project. At one point, Bob told the recording engineer that he wanted 'THICK AIR' at the beginning of a song. After a heated back n' forth, the engineer threw his hands up and walked out of the studio mumbling "thick air' repeatedly. He never came back but Bob did figure out how to get 'Thick Air' on tape and the band moved on.

The amazing thing is that they actually did record the "thick air" and used it on the record (although I thought it was a different LP).  I think they went to the dessert at night with mics.  Funny as hell.  The recording execs at Warner though Mickey Hart was insane.  They were scared to death of him and basically let the band do whatever they wanted so as not to piss him off.

BTW Audible - Nice write-up.  Couldn't have said it better myself.  I often think about going back in time and one thing I'd certainly do is go to some real early Dead shows.  I'd LOVE to see a Pig Pen show and hear songs like Doin' That Rag, The Eleven, and all those other great tunes we missed by just a few years.  I also would have spent my entire summer of '73 touring with Old & In The Way!!!

OT -- I was just listening to Janie Harris's weekly Sat evening radio program on jazz, broadcast here in Boise, Idaho, and liked Lil' Darlin' by the Ray Brown Trio enough to order the CD Summer Wind (http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Wind-Live-at-Loa/dp/B0000006IV/ref=pd_bbs_9?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1212287963&sr=8-9).  The Gene Harris Trio used to play here at the Idanha Hotel.  Janie was his wife; she said she watched the performance, and to her it was "magical."

I once had the Soular Energy LP but sold it, so I'm trying Ray Brown again.

What or where is "Loa," anyway?

Ratdog about to play 2nd set right now........live.......mountainjam.com.  It's free....and it is coming in pretty good here streaming through the system.

hits?  trips? hits?...........

'loa' ???  

Audible that was a great post and it makes me think back in time to all the shows I went to. The best part was the pre-show gathering....getting ready! Wherever we traveled to a show we made sure to get to the venue at least 3 hours early or more so we could hang out and check out all the vendors and "prepare" properly. Those times were more fun than I can even describe. The outdoor shows were my favorite....Rich stadium, Giants stadium, RFK stadium, Foxboro, SPAC, Hollander Stadium (Rochester)......man the good 'ole days. Madison Square Garden shows were always excellent, as were most of the Albany shows at the knick. My first show was in Sept. '76 in the Syracuse aud. It's a Dicks Picks but I can't recall which one right now. I have it and listen to it every once in a while.

You mentioned that the Dead were as American as hot dogs. I think a lot of people miss that Jerry Garcia was a pure Americana song writer. Brown Eyed Women, Rambin' Rose, Black Peter, Cosmic Charlie, Scarlet Begonias, Truckin.....heck that stuff is all about growing up and living in America.

colterphoto1:

'loa' ???  

 

The Loa (also Lwa or L'wha) are the spirits of the Vodou religion practiced in Haiti, and other parts of the world.

What the......

I will be attending a Phil Lesh concert this Friday in Chicago.  I can't wait!

The current Phil line up is excellent. I really like Jackie Green. I saw 2 shows last fall plus just saw Jackie and his own band at MountainJam (streamed into my stereo system). All excellent. Jackie is a sort of young dylan/garcia music stylist but with the voice (better voice) of a young Bob Weir. Phil sure knows how to pick 'em. You will see an excellent show.