Grateful Dead 24/192 download Spring 1990

[marty]

Listening to an Aud tape from the June 20 1980 Summer Solstice show at the West High School Auditorium in Anchorage, Alaska. I'm going to follow that one up with the 8/27/72 barnburner Creamery Benefit from Veneta, Oregon.

The Oregon show is indeed a classic!
I was horrified listening to the live feed of the Chicago Fare Thee Well tour last night and finally I just had to turn it off. The performance was just horrible although the sound on the Sirius broadcast was good. They simply should not be performing at this stage of their careers. They can longer even remotely carry a tune, and Trey is no Jerry. This is, quite simply, a tour done for monetary reasons, which I have no problem with. Its just a very sad epitaph for this truly transformational group.

Although they had some superb studio albums (Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Mars Hotel to name a few) the magic of the Dead were their live concerts. Fortunately, many of these were reasonably well recorded. What made the Dead special was that they were the first rock "jam band". That is, they brought to rock and roll an improvisational style that was typically found only in jazz. These improvised segments were weaved together by a captivating mix of Country Western, good ol' fashioned R&R, and psychedelic rock that made for an exhilarating and uplifting ride that nobody else has ever duplicated. It didn't hurt that individually, the core four (Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzman) were all superb musicians (many think Lesh was arguably the most gifted), but there is no question that Jerry was their leader. For the improvised "trips", it was always a case of just following Jerry. It was his exploration of musical space that was indeed visionary and to this day, makes their art stand out far from the maddening crowd. It must also be mentioned that the lyrics were also very meaningful to DHs as well. Succinctly put, their message was the very antithesis to "the ends justify the means". Rather it was all about the "means" and how the journey is everything.

For the uninitiated, there are classic Dead concerts and then there legendary shows where the playing equals the myth. Veneta Oregon is a one of the greats. If you are looking for the best of the best, these are widely considered to be among them:
Dick's Picks:
4 Fillmore East, 2/13-14/70
8 Harpur College, Binghamton, 5/2/70
10 Winterland, 12/29-30/77
13 Nassau Coliseum, 5/6/81
Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead Tour England 72
Veneta, Oregon 8-27-72

Obviously this is a biased (towards the earlier years) personal list, but these shows do enjoy a consensus by DHs as being among their best. If these were the only shows I could take to a desert island, I would be content. (Of course, they would have to share my suitcase with works by Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Sinatra and Mahler).
Marty

 

[Joe Galbraith]

The Oregon show is indeed a classic!
I was horrified listening to the live feed of the Chicago Fare Thee Well tour last night and finally I just had to turn it off. The performance was just horrible although the sound on the Sirius broadcast was good. They simply should not be performing at this stage of their careers. They can longer even remotely carry a tune, and Trey is no Jerry. This is, quite simply, a tour done for monetary reasons, which I have no problem with. Its just a very sad epitaph for this truly transformational group.

Although they had some superb studio albums (Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Mars Hotel to name a few) the magic of the Dead were their live concerts. Fortunately, many of these were reasonably well recorded. What made the Dead special was that they were the first rock "jam band". That is, they brought to rock and roll an improvisational style that was typically found only in jazz. These improvised segments were weaved together by a captivating mix of Country Western, good ol' fashioned R&R, and psychedelic rock that made for an exhilarating and uplifting ride that nobody else has ever duplicated. It didn't hurt that individually, the core four (Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzman) were all superb musicians (many think Lesh was arguably the most gifted), but there is no question that Jerry was their leader. For the improvised "trips", it was always a case of just following Jerry. It was his exploration of musical space that was indeed visionary and to this day, makes their art stand out far from the maddening crowd. It must also be mentioned that the lyrics were also very meaningful to DHs as well. Succinctly put, their message was the very antithesis to "the ends justify the means". Rather it was all about the "means" and how the journey is everything.

For the uninitiated, there are classic Dead concerts and then there legendary shows where the playing equals the myth. Veneta Oregon is a one of the greats. If you are looking for the best of the best, these are widely considered to be among them:
Dick's Picks:
4 Fillmore East, 2/13-14/70
8 Harpur College, Binghamton, 5/2/70
10 Winterland, 12/29-30/77
13 Nassau Coliseum, 5/6/81
Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead Tour England 72
Veneta, Oregon 8-27-72

Obviously this is a biased (towards the earlier years) personal list, but these shows do enjoy a consensus by DHs as being among their best. If these were the only shows I could take to a desert island, I would be content. (Of course, they would have to share my suitcase with works by Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Sinatra and Mahler).
Marty

Marty, I could have not said it any better. Great suggestions to get people initiated to the musical magic of GD. A lot of people point to the 5/8/77 show in Barton Hall at Cornell as the apex show. There is no denying that the Spring 1977 run was a series of great East Coast shows. My personal favorite is the 5/21 show at Pembroke Pines, FL. Available as Dick's Picks Vol. 3 I also like the entire Spring 90 run too. The Meadowlands show has an epic Dark Star>Playing>Jam. This is available as a commercial release Nightfall of Diamonds.

While we're on the subject of commercial releases, those who wish to explore some of their music on LP:
American Beauty
Workingman's Dead
Mars Hotel
Europe '72 and Live Dead
Blues for Allah
Terrapin Station
all represent an overall picture of studio versions that are in the live canon, E'72 and Live Dead are both good live LPs sonics and music

With almost 4000 shows between '65 and '95, and almost everyone recorded, there is a complete record of this cultural icon's 3 decade impact on popular music and live concert technology.

I am glad I am boycotting this "last hurrah", for all the reasons so well stated above. Tonight we'll spin the DVD of Trucking up to Buffalo, the July 4, 1989 show. I was at that one, and 10,000 Maniacs opened.

 

[Steve Williams]

Joe

I never knew you were a DH

I was only at one of there concerts and at 2:00 in the morning it seemed like they were playing the same song as the air was heavy with all the herb being smoked

 

[rockitman]

Marty, I could have not said it any better. Great suggestions to get people initiated to the musical magic of GD. A lot of people point to the 5/8/77 show in Barton Hall at Cornell as the apex show. There is no denying that the Spring 1977 run was a series of great East Coast shows. My personal favorite is the 5/21 show at Pembroke Pines, FL. I also like the entire Spring 90 run too. The Meadowlands show has an epic Dark Star>Playing>Jam. This is available as a commercial release Nightfall of Diamonds.

While we're on the subject of commercial releases, those who wish to explore some of their music on LP:
American Beauty
Workingman's Dead
Mars Hotel
Europe '72 and Live Dead
Blues for Allah
Terrapin Station
all represent an overall picture of studio versions that are in the live canon, E'72 and Live Dead are both good live LPs sonics and music

With almost 4000 shows between '65 and '95, there is a complete record of this cultural icon's 3 decade impact on popular music and lie concert technology.

I am glad I am boycotting this "last hurrah", for all the reasons so well stated above. Tonight we'll spin the DVD of Trucking up to Buffalo, the July 4, 1989 show. I was at that one, and 10,000 Maniacs opened.

I'm watching the Chicago pay for view events...very entertaining. It is the end afterall.

 

[Joe Galbraith]

Joe

I never knew you were a DH

I was only at one of there concerts and at 2:00 in the morning it seemed like they were playing the same song as the air was heavy with all the herb being smoked

Steve-
I sold my favorite portable taping rig to pay for my Walker Turntable. I have thousands of hours of live shows and still listen to a lot of them. I have the entire Dicks Picks series ripped to the hard drive of my music server, some of Dave's Picks, lots of other GD goodies and DVDs, along with my own taping efforts from over the years, several milk crates full of tee shirts collected over the years in my basement.

My son and I are headed to Nepal in October, and once we get to Everest Base Camp I will no doubt get him to snap a photo of me wearing GD swag. No- we're not planning to summit Everest itself, but a "little" (18,000 ft) feature near the foot of Everest's Southwest face, the top of which will still be 10,000 ft higher than where we will be.

BTW, a lot of the herb you smelled was coming from the taper's section at the Dead show you attended

 

[still-one]

Joe

I never knew you were a DH

I was only at one of there concerts and at 2:00 in the morning it seemed like they were playing the same song as the air was heavy with all the herb being smoked

I only saw them once and it was enough for me. It was late 1968 at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Even back then I didn't get their music.

 

[Steve Williams]

Gosh Joe from a DH to a mount climber. I'm impressed. Be careful should be the mantra. Have you hired anyone to get you to Base Camp.

As for the concert I attended I would say it was early- mid 70's in Toronto at York University IIIRC

 

[Joe Galbraith]

Gosh Joe from a DH to a mount climber. I'm impressed. Be careful should be the mantra. Have you hired anyone to get you to Base Camp.

As for the concert I attended I would say it was early- mid 70's in Toronto at York University IIIRC

Oh yeah, it's an organized trip with porters, guides, yaks. sold off my R2R and Tape Project software to pay for it.

 

[rbbert]

IMHO most of Europe '72 is better or least more interesting than Veneta '72, although the sound quality of the 24/96 Veneta download is better than any of E72.

And I'm pretty sure the total show count is a bit under 2500, not anywhere near 4000...

 

[rbbert]

What's everybody think of the current shows? Awesome? Sacrilege?

If they played these shows between '92 and '95 the setlists would have amazed people, and the playing would have been at least average for the period

 

[rbbert]

 

[marty]

A lot of people point to the 5/8/77 show in Barton Hall at Cornell as the apex show.

Joe,
Barton Hall is indeed a hallowed performance. But's its legacy is darkened because it is said it to be the only live show for which the Dead do not have the sound board master tape in their archives. The master is presumably out there somewhere, but the Dead have said they will never pay for what they believe they already own. However it is readily available on streaming sources, blogs and podcasts. There is even a bootleg LP but all of these are supposedly of less than stellar quality via multigenerational copies.

Although I tried to impart my musical tastes to my daughter while growing up, which surely included the GD, I took the liberty of using last night's utterly sad performance to have her and my son-in-law hear the real deal. When we finally turned off the Sirius broadcast to avoid my vomiting, I put on some selected high points from some of the legendary shows we already mentioned, including a superb Dark Star from Veneta Oregon and some other classics transition jams such as China Cat>I Know you Rider>Playing in the Band. After a few hours, they looked at me mesmerized and finally understood why I turned off the Chicago broadcast. "So Dad really isn't just an old fart after all" is what the newly enlightened smiles on their faces seemed to say. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to shine some light on the real Grateful Dead.
Marty

 

[rbbert]

Joe,
Barton Hall is indeed a hallowed performance. But's its legacy is darkened because it is said it to be the only live show for which the Dead do not have the sound board master tape in their archives. The master is presumably out there somewhere, but the Dead have said they will never pay for what they believe they already own. However it is readily available on streaming sources, blogs and podcasts. There is even a bootleg LP but all of these are supposedly of less than stellar quality via multigenerational copies...

Actually there are at least a hundred shows for which there are no soundboard masters in the official GD archives. As for 5/8/77, there are easily available copies of SMR>PCM VHS digital>DAT>dbx decoder>DAW workstation>16/44.1 PCM for download; not optimal quality, but hardly "less than stellar".

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=517300

 

[marty]

Actually there are at least a hundred shows for which there are no soundboard masters in the official GD archives. As for 5/8/77, there are easily available copies of SMR>PCM VHS digital>DAT>dbx decoder>DAW workstation>16/44.1 PCM for download; not optimal quality, but hardly "less than stellar".

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=517300

Thanks Rob! You da man!!

 

[rockitman]

Well I am locked and loaded for the PPV show tonight. No jerry but still fun seeing the surviving remnants....especially the drummers.

 

[rockitman]

Chicago 7-4-15 First set just ended. 1hr23min, 9 songs. Pace is slow but tighter than the 3 previous shows. Phil should not sing Jerry tunes ie : Friend of the Devil..lol

Shakedown Street
Liberty
Standing On The Moon
Me & My Uncle
Tennessee Jed
Cumberland Blues
Red Rooster
Friend of the Devil ->
Deal...
Set 2:
Bird Song
Golden Road->
Lost Sailor->
Saint of Circumstance
West LA Fadeaway
Foolish Heart->
Drums->Space->
Stella Blue->
One more Saturday Night..
Enc: U.S. Blues

 

[rockitman]

The Last Show. Very well played all things considered. What a long strange trip it has been.... Chicago 7-5-15

China Cat Sunflower->
I know You Rider...
Estimated Prophet
Built To Last
Samson & Delilah
Mountains of the Moon->
Throwing Stones...

Set2:
Truckin'->
Cassidy
Althea
Terrapin Station->
Drums->Space->
Unbroken Chain
Days Between->
Not Fadeaway..

Enc:
Touch of Grey
Attics of my Life.

 

[caesar]

The Last Show. Very well played all things considered. What a long strange trip it has been.... Chicago 7-5-15

China Cat Sunflower->
I know You Rider...
Estimated Prophet
Built To Last
Samson & Delilah
Mountains of the Moon->
Throwing Stones...

Set2:
Truckin'->
Cassidy
Althea
Terrapin Station->
Drums->Space->
Unbroken Chain
Days Between->
Not Fadeaway..

Enc:
Touch of Grey
Attics of my Life.

I attended the last show (as I did those Soldier Field shows 20 years ago). I couldn't party as hard as I wanted it to due to a kid with a fever and several important business meetings this week, and I did not have the best seats, but it was a complete blast nonetheless!

 

[caesar]

Does anyone know if the Dicks Picks were remastered? I thought I saw some Dicks Picks released on vinyl, but have not seen anything on CD.

 

[rbbert]

Does anyone know if the Dicks Picks were remastered? I thought I saw some Dicks Picks released on vinyl, but have not seen anything on CD.

They are all available as downloads from livedownloads.com, not remastered, HDCD encoded from DP15 on. Some are also available as very expensive newly pressed import CD's. The first 6 have been pressed to LP, in the cases of DP 3, 4 and 5 retransferred to digital at 24/96, mastered and pressed to LP from the new 24/96 masters. 1,2 and 6 were apparently pressed to LP from the CD masters.