The Grateful Dead Dark Star

[.:.impossible]

It does almost sound like a different band (different type of band anyway), and I think the albums are getting more attention now that the band is gone. Sort of a retrospective thing. I'm glad to see that they are remastering them. When I was a teenager, before I had access to bootlegs, I listened to the albums a lot. I got to know them pretty well.

[Tony Pusey]

I still think they made several peerless studio albums (caveat emptor, I know that much of Anthem was recorded live.) Anthem, Aoxomoxoa,Workin mans and ,perhaps ,American Beauty arer still, for me major albums. And as a teenager in London, apart from Live Dead, was all we had to base our judgements on till Skull Fuck and the major tour in 72. I dont count the Hollywood festival in Newcastle because so few of us knew about it. Of course about this time everything began to change, I can still remember the time I got hold of my first Trademark of Quality boots, and then the damn burst...........

[jazzbo]

I really think that Wake of the Flood is an excellent album. . . It was the first that came out under their own label, and everything was different about it: the weight of the vinyl, the production, the sound. . . . I think it holds up very well. Blues for Allah, Ace and Mars Hotel share this sort of vibe . . . They are the studio lps I value the most.

[Peter Johnson]

Sorry if this has been discussed already, butttttt....

I was in tower this afternoon and almost bought the JGB 3-disc set live from Kean College, 1980. Seems to have just been released. I hesitated, then put it back. Setlist looks great--but how is it, really? I'm confident someone here has it! PLease weigh in!

Thanks!

[AmirBagachelles]

I'll let you know after the weekend. So far so good after a casual listening, Jerry is in good voice, high energy, very good recording. The After Midnight Eleanor Rigby jam is good (but not over the top), and the AM set finale is tremendous, over the top. The keyboard player is pretty lame though.

[Tony Pusey]

Jazzbo, I also think that Wake is a fine record, but for me it didnt have the cohesiveness, the inner tension of some of the earlier albums. (and ,yes, I do include Aoxomxoa in that assesment.) You mention Ace, I much prefer Harts Rolling Thunder, a fantastic record which is often overlooked.

[jazzbo]

Hmmmm. . . well, I guess res gustibus nondisputandum est. . . I'm not a Mickey Hart fan, and I prefer Wake to any album that preceded it. But that's cool!

I hope I don't have to wait too long for remasters of the first three albums in the box set!

[Tony Pusey]

Yep, I wont be picking up this box, Ill pick up Wake and Allah when they are individually released. I have also been put off by the seeming merchandising overkill: Box, box with extra cd, film , film plus tee shirt, film plus t shirt plus soundtrack, allof above, sheesh, they could have at least put out the box with alternative coloured covers!

[AmirBagachelles]

As alternatives to the recent big ticket merchandising, good thing there still appears to be solid stuff still "leaking" from the vault. Heard a fine recording of 11-02-77 recently, I didn't know it circulated in almost Betty-board sound. This morning I drove around the city listening to Louisville from June '74, man, it's a killer, and a reminder that great Dicks Picks could continue for some time. I wouldn't care if those came out monthly, I think they are batting around .750 with those.

[.:.impossible]

JGBs greatest moments can be had in one tune... "Shining Star." I've mentioned this before, but November 14, 1993 Hampton VA second set they play a 24 25 minute version of this tune and Jerry really comes through. Find it if you haven't already.

[Tony Pusey]

UM, Clem, whats a DUD DP?

[bertrand]

I was told that the Dead may have jammed with Weather Report on a couple of occasions.

Any info (especially set lists and dates) would be greatly appreciated.

Bertrand.

[AmirBagachelles]

See the sun sparkle in the reeds,

Silver beach fastened to the sea

I stand corrected on that second line.

Edited October 16, 2004 by AmirBagachelles

[.:.impossible]

hah...

dud dick's picks.

dp stands for a few other things but since a) i loathe baseball b) this is a high minded thread, we shall not discuss either of those variants HERE.

clean livin' clem

Clean livin', dirty mind impossible

[gdogus]

I was told that the Dead may have jammed with Weather Report on a couple of occasions.

Any info (especially set lists and dates) would be greatly appreciated.

Bertrand.

I don't think so. Perhaps your source was referring to "The Weather Report Suite," a Weir/Anderson/Barlow composition from the Wake of the Flood album. The band performed it live (whole or in part) quite often.

[Peter Johnson]

I'll let you know after the weekend. So far so good after a casual listening, Jerry is in good voice, high energy, very good recording. The After Midnight Eleanor Rigby jam is good (but not over the top), and the AM set finale is tremendous, over the top. The keyboard player is pretty lame though.

Amir, any further thoughts on this set?

[bertrand]

gdogus,

Actually, my friend found out about these alleged jams with Weather Report because he was searching for the piece you mention on some list of dead tapes, and stumbled across these in the search engine when typing the words 'Weather Report'. Apparently, these jams took place at some benefit concerts both groups were involved in.

Back in the days when I still listened to the dead (I don't really have the urge to do so anymore, although I've been on a massive airplane kick in the last year) and also started listening to jazz, I had always assumed the 'Weather Report Suite' was named in tribute to the group of the same name. Do any of you dead experts have any evidence to support (or infirm) this?

Thanks,

Bertrand.

[gdogus]

Hmmm. A search of Deadbase Online turns up no mention of Weather Report (the group). BTW, this is an excellent resource for searching GD setlists, venues, guests, etc.

I don't think the song is named for the jazz group...the lyrics seems to have a very different set of concerns...

Weather Report Suite (Part I)

Winter rain, now tell me why, Summers fade, and roses die.

The answer came; the wind and rain.

Golden hills, now veiled in grey, Summer leaves have blown away

Now what remains? The wind and rain.

And like a desert spring, my lover comes and spreads her wings, Knowing,

Like a song that's born to soar the sky, Flowing,

Flowing 'til the waters all are dry, Growing, the loving in her eyes.

Circle songs and sands of time, and seasons will end in tumbled rhyme,

and little change, the wind and rain.

And like a desert spring, my lover comes and spreads her wings,

Knowing, Like a song that's born to soar the sky,

Flowing, Flowing 'til the rivers all are dry, Growing, the loving in her eyes.

Winter grey and falling rain, we'll see summer come again,

Darkness falls and seasons change (gonna happen every time).

Same old friends the wind and rain, Summers fade and roses die,

You'll see summer come again, Like a song that's born to soar the sky.

Part II - Let It Grow

Morning comes, she follows the path to the river shore,

Lightly sung, her song is the latch on the morning's door.

See the sun sparkle in the reeds,

Silver beads, pass into the sea.

She comes from a town where they call her the woodcutter's daughter,

She's brown as the bank where she kneals down to gather her water, and

She bears it away with a love that the river has taught her.

Let it flow,

greatly grow,

wide and clear.

Round and round, the cut of the plough in the furrowed field,

Seasons round, the bushels of corn and the barley meal,

Broken ground, open and beckoning to the spring,

Black dirt live again!

The plowman is broad as the back of the land he is sowing,

As he dances the circular track of the plough ever knowing

that the work of his days measures more than the planting and growing

Let it grow,

Let it grow,

Greatly yield.

What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?

As well to count the angels dancing on a pin.

Water bright as the sky from which it came,

And the name is on the earth that takes it in.

We will not speak but stand inside the rain,

And listen to the thunder shouting "I am!"

"I am! I am! I am."

So it goes, we make what we made since the world began.

Nothing more, love of the women, work of man.

Seasons round, creatures great and small, up and down

as we rise and fall.

What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?

As well to count the angels dancing on a pin.

Water bright as the sky from which it came,

and the name is on the earth that takes it in.

We will not speak but stand inside the rain,

And listen to the thunder shouting "I am!"

[Chalupa]

Re: Weather Report/Dead

Never happened.

[Chalupa]

The only connection, besides the song title, is that there was a Dead cover band called "Jazz is Dead" which featured bassist Alphonso Johnson who was a former member of Weather Report.

Edit: Wait I just remembered there is one more connection - Airto Moreira. He is known to haved played a number of times w/ the Dead in the 80's during the "Drum" segements of their NYE shows.

But I hardly think that this qualifies as a WR/Dead jam.

Edited October 15, 2004 by Chalupa

[AmirBagachelles]

Garcia release from 1980: not up to the level of the set list or the novelty of the Eleanor Rigby instrumental (there were at least 3 that were hotter than this one, try Lisner, Oswego, Stone), skip it, wait for the Broadway releases upcoming. The 1980 set features tame ensemble playing, unspeakably lame keyboard player, bad Robert Hunter vocals on two bad Robert Hunter band/solo tunes played by the JGB. Some nice bass flavors from John Kahn. Good voice and spirited playing all the way from Jerry, in what was a real good year from him. Real nice bonus disc that came with the pre-order, as good as any disc in the set. So get it if you're feeling rich or just loved every possible night out hearing Jerry, the way many of us did. If we're lucky and if history is any guide, some of other 1980 JGB material will now get leaked from the vault and that keyboard player will be nowhere to be heard.

[gdogus]

Now Playing:

1977/05/07 Boston Garden

[bertrand]

gdogus,

Is that the one with Shorter and Zawinul

chalupa,

I bet the Airto connection is the one my friend came across. He probably found a listing that mentioned Airto as being a former member of WR, and that was what he remembered reading.

I would be a bit surprised if Wayne had had anything to do with the dead. I came across an interview once where he expressed some disdain for the Jefferson Airplane, which is funny, because they're one of my favorite rock groups (pre-1971), and you know how I love Wayne's music.

Bertrand.

[Tony Pusey]

Clem, dope?

Bertrand, no thats the one with Miles and Wayne

[AmirBagachelles]

Clem - for me and my friends the topic of Garcia's self-destruction was kind of a buzz kill stretching all the way back to 1980 when it was blow, and it was the whole band or so the scene said. Jerry was a sharp player as far as I know before he became an addict. Rumors of addiction started in 1978, as I think back. I think we assumed this great musical man was just bored with the "structures" that the Dead had taken on (e.g. serial annual schedules of a spring tour, a fall tour, two sets a short one and a longer one, stretching out only in the second set, Weir's weird/bad songs, a big payroll, no recent breakthrough songs written by him and Hunter except maybe Terrapin and Shakedown). One thing I do remember from my first few years out seeing shows (1977, 78,79) was that the "old timers" who had seen the band with Pigpen were just appalled at how the scene had evolved to almost all arena and stadium events, no time for the band to hang out, stretch out musically, and they actually loved the 10-20 minutes between songs when the band would re-tune their gear! More time to smoke up I'm sure.

I also got to wondering whether Garcia, who loved great songs, anybody's great songs, would have liked to done things like Russian Lullaby with the Dead. The JGB was like a private passion for an expanded repertoire, even though the limitations of roughly three nights of material in the early 80s was stressing out Jerry's love for the Dead (I think). So the Dead as day job seems to capture the essence of his career trouble, for me. I know much has been written about his personal life, but I don't think that was what took him down the drugs-of-death route that he took.

I have not read much of anything written about Jerry or the band, I guess I will read the books by Rock Scully (mgr), Parish (roadie), and McNally (biographer ??) eventually. I think Garcia just loved music, all kinds of music, and he got off most of all on traditional and Grateful Dead music and living on the road. Tonight, I am going to listen to music from a great weekend twenty five years ago, when 3 friends and I drove 12 hours from DC to the Cape Cod Coliseum, with only tickets, gas money, and about a hundred bucks between us. We slept in the car. Roaring hot music, a sweaty dripping tripping face dance party for two nights, finally after about 15 shows a giant weekend payoff came. Every solo rings the bell, the band is firing everybody up -- Dancing In the Streets, Half Step, China Cat Rider, Franklin's Tower, and The Other One with an outsized skull splitting bass intro. After the first night, it was clear there was no place to go up there on the Cape, and we weren't alone. Several thousand of us just stayed in the arena pounding on the bleachers singing screaming Not Fade Away. All you need to know about Jerry is that he probably would have liked to have been out there playing songs, any kind of great song, to the crowd between those two shows. But times had changed. It was not 1970 and we could not just roll out onto the avenue, and turn around and pay and come back in again, until the next night.