The Grateful Dead Dark Star

[Sundog]

Rockin' the Rhein is indeed quite good. I like it all very much; really nice versions of Tennessee Jed, Chinatown Shuffle, and Truckin'

[jazzbo]

Got my copies of "Rockin' the Rhein" and "Hundred Year Hall" in . . . . Now I am just really lacking "The Closing of Winterland" for the official releases of the band with the Godchauxs on board. . . .

Going to be digging some Dead this week!

[sal]

I've been researching the flood of Dick's Picks that have come out in the past couple of years (I haven't gotten one since vol. 20-something) and there looks like there are some really great ones that have come out recently!! Lots of 1977 shows!!! Might have to place an order soon.

[AmirBagachelles]

I think the hottest playing on the recent 70s DPs would be New Haven 5-78, and Rochester 11-77, those are excellent shows going by my "tape memory". Many folks love the 5-77 Fox Theatre DP, though I haven't heard that in years; accompanying Lakeland FL show is merely a good setlist, not a burner imo.

I'm willing to bet that 8-82 show from Alpine Valley is worth getting, there has to be a reason they picked that one -- PITB, Wheel, and Morning Dew were pretty good right in there and I'd love a scorching Althea (anybody know if that is the case?). Healy was making some amazing tapes of the band in 1982 and Jerry's singing was really good, maybe the last good year on that score (no pun intended).

I mailed in for my first DPs in 4-5 years last week, waiting on DP26 4-69, and DP28 2-73 to make my weekend!

[sal]

I think the hottest playing on the recent 70s DPs would be New Haven 5-78, and Rochester 11-77, those are excellent shows going by my "tape memory". 

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Which volumes are those, Amir?

[AmirBagachelles]

New Haven/Springfield is volume #25, Rochester is #34, the most recent. New Haven was my second show, my friends and I bought at least a hundred tickets on the floor and sold them to friends, mostly our fellow high school seniors looking for a night of good clean fun. For most of a two and a half year period from April of '77 to early January '79, Northeast Deadheads were blessed with a ton of really good high energy shows to attend (and later trade and argue about).

CDRs:

You probably know that for every good Dicks Picks, there are 5-6 good shows on CDR from that same time/tour to check out. As for capturing some late 70s lightning in a bottle, I would say get 7/8/78 above all, and try to find the amazing audience tape that circulates, its better than the board tape.

Hopefully someday we will get a vault release, or a good leaked sbd on CDR, of what I believe to be the real "best show" from that era: 12/30/78 from UCLA Dan

Edited June 1, 2005 by AmirBagachelles

[Chalupa]

There's a rumor going round that Bill Walton made an announcement on his Sirius radio show that beginning next Tuesday June 7 that GDP will begin to open the Vault to digital downloading. The first show available will be 1/18/70 which has never circulated. There will be a new show available for downloading on the first Tuesday of every month. I have no idea how much it will cost or how it will impact free downloading/trading. I heard this from two different people who both claim to have heard Walton make the announcement on his show this week so I'm assuming that the rumor is true. Guess we'll know more next week....

Stay tuned.

[Chalupa]

Okay Itunes has the following:

Grateful Dead Download Series , Vol. 1 (4/30/77) 3cd's, 24 songs, $15.99

(includes filler: 4/29 Sugaree, Scarlet>GDTRFB)

Grateful Dead Download Series , Vol. 2 (1/18/70) 1cd, 9 songs, 9.99

Grateful Dead Download Series , Vol. 3 (10/26/71) 2cd's, 21 songs, $12.99

Caveat Emptor!!!!

These are not lossless recordings. Hopefully the lossless versions will be available next Tuesday on the Dead's website.

[mr jazz]

check out the live music section of archive.org. Almost 2000 Dead shows to stream or download (in a variety of formats including lossless). I've been listening to a lot of 73 shows. Lots of other bands as well.

[Chalupa]

GREAT NEWS!

http://www.gdforum.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.c...8&list=postcard

Dick's Picks 35, and other items

First, Dennis McNally asked me to spread this announcement far and wide about Dick's Picks 35, then we'll deal with a few more items:

A Note About This Dick's Pick: The Legend of the Houseboat Tapes

Although the Dead's vault is enormous and impressively full, the band certainly doesn't have a tape of every show it played; in fact, they don't even have a copy of every show they recorded. Tapes drifted off in a variety of ways - including Jerry Garcia handing them out… And therein lies the story of Dick's Picks #35.

This spring, our archivist David Lemieux got a call from Donna Jean Godchaux-Mackay. It seems that in the late summer of 1971, just before Keith Godchaux began rehearsals with the Dead, Garcia handed him a big box of tapes and said, “Here, this is our most recent tour. Learn our music.” The irony was that Donna Jean doubts mightily Keith ever bothered to listen to them - he'd never listened to the Dead all that much before he auditioned, first with Garcia and then the rest of the band - he just had an uncanny innate facility for the music. In any case, he left the tapes on his parents' houseboat in Alameda, and there they stayed. For 35 years.

A month ago, his brother Brian and son Zion were cleaning out the houseboat, found the tapes, and gave them to Donna, whose jaw dropped. One call to Lemieux later, and the Dead's long-lost missing tour from the summer of 1971 had resurfaced. Master tapes include April 28 and 29 at the Fillmore East (released as “Ladies and Gentlemen,” taken from the multi-track masters), the 7/31 Yale Bowl (alas, blank), a small piece of the Hollywood Bowl, Berkeley Community Theatre, and others.

Dick's Pick #35 will be four CDs: the complete San Diego (8/7/71) show, all that was salvageable of the 8/24 Chicago show, and an hour-plus from the Hollywood Bowl (8/6). It will be available at dead.net Friday, June 17th.

Not a soundboard-recorded note of that tour's music circulates among Dead Heads, so this is a truly remarkable find. How they survived 35 years in a watery environment simply proves, yet once again - if you needed convincing - that God smiles on the Grateful Dead.

**********

Other coming attractions.

By now you won't be surprised to hear that sometime in the future there will be some sort of 'product' release, it happens all the time. But I was told one interesting item slated for later this year, that is cleared for your consumption!

In mid-October, there will be two items released, dealing with the same material. The Grateful Dead shows at the Fillmore West from 2-27-69 to 3-2-69 are legendary, and much of Live Dead comes from those shows. There will be a 10-CD package, limited to 10,000 copies, and available only from dead.net, that will contain every single note from the entire run. Rhino/WEA will release a 3-CD compilation of selected cuts from this series. The Rhino/WEA package will be available everywhere, including the GDForum store.

So, there you go, now you have something else to look forward to!

[AfricaBrass]

Thanks for the info Chalupa!

Those sets sound great. I'm excited about hearing a soundboard of 8/6/71. I love that show and it contains my favorite version of "Hard To Handle." The story is that Garcia dropped to his knees during the solo. It was smokin'.

I better start saving for that 10-disc set.

[Chalupa]

BTW, the lossless versions of 10/26/71, 4/30/77, & 1/18.70 are up now at Itunes in FLAC.

Man, I still pinching myself over the Live Dead Box Set announcement.

[Sundog]

In mid-October, there will be two items released, dealing with the same material. The Grateful Dead shows at the Fillmore West from 2-27-69 to 3-2-69 are legendary, and much of Live Dead comes from those shows. There will be a 10-CD package, limited to 10,000 copies, and available only from dead.net, that will contain every single note from the entire run. Rhino/WEA will release a 3-CD compilation of selected cuts from this series. The Rhino/WEA package will be available everywhere, including the GDForum store.

So, there you go, now you have something else to look forward to!

Ouch!

[WD45]

Does anyone have the setlists for that span?

[Chalupa]

you can find them here:

http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp

[WD45]

you can find them here:

http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp

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Excellent!

[AmirBagachelles]

Cool news. Hopefully one day the tapes from the second half of 1970 will re-surface.

[keberobeats88]

I was always all about Mickey Hart man. Mickey Hart was the one who led me into studying the spirituality of music, ethnomusicology, and percussive roots. Mickey Hart is an idol and The Dead rock. 8). You don't get much more in control and just flowing than them.

[Chalupa]

DP 35 is available to order

http://stores.musictoday.com/store/product...5Fid=171&sfid=7

[jazzbo]

I've been downloading some 1975 material from archive.org. . . . I really enjoy these studio rehearsal discs from Ace's studio and Club Front! Amazing opportunity to hear the band working on material. . . . The few live appearances that year are also interesting so far, and I'll download these. Pretty amazing how little there is from 1975 and what hight quality it its!

[LarryCurleyMoe]

I love The Dead too - sometime's nothing else will do...I have the WB box set of the studio albums. Also have been enjoying Garcia's work with David Grisman - "Shady Grove" - NICE MUSIC - new but rooted in Old Timey music of Doc Watson, Clarence Ashley, et al.!

Our local community radio station broadcast's the Grateful Dead Hour every Saturday night from 8-9 p.m. Nice regular thing for Saturday evening partying! Have come to like "Ratdog" quite a bit - lot o' horns and saxophones!

[gdogus]

I've been downloading some 1975 material from archive.org. . . . I really enjoy these studio rehearsal discs from Ace's studio and Club Front!  Amazing opportunity to hear the band working on material. . . . The few live appearances that year are also interesting so far, and I'll download these.  Pretty amazing how little there is from 1975 and what hight quality it its!

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Lon,

I've really been digging 1975/09/28 - Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park - San Francisco, CA (downloaded from archive.org). I need to look into those 1975 rehearsal discs.

[Sundog]

On a whim the other day I preodered Truckin' Up To Buffalo, July 4, 1989 from CD Universe. Am I going to be sorry? Or is this pretty good late period Dead?

[Quincy]

A recent interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux is available here.

He comments on possible future releases, along with the recently released such as Truckin' Up To Buffalo. The interview is part one with part two coming later.

(Edited to add an Up.)

Edited July 9, 2005 by Quincy

[jazzbo]

Thanks for posting that! Ironically, I bet I would have been even more happy reading part two; going to be interesting to read that. Those Boat Tapes will be fun to read about.

I didn't order the Truckin'. . . .Just not really interested in much of Brent Midland era Dead.

Right now listening to Grey Folded. . . that is quite a work!