Oct 1974 Winterland revisited

 

Recently, I felt the tug to revisit these famous Dead shows, and the anniversary timing is a pleasant coincidence.  The milestone of being their final pre-hiatus performances after a year of larger-than-life technological, financial, and chemical excess probably casts too large a shadow on the performances themselves -- not to mention that they also produced an awful live album and a fantastic, but crushingly expensive, concert film.   One also doesn't typically talk about these shows without some grumbling about the unusual (at times bizarre) audio mix and sound quality of these tapes.  Given those two big "extra-musical" factors, I figured it wouldn't hurt to roll through all five shows and see what happened.

I am sure you know all about the state of the Grateful Dead world in October 1974.  So since these tapes have a unique provenance, I might as well start there:

They used my equipment, but I didn't do [the recording].  They thought I didn't want to do it because I had just had my kid... they took all my gear and Billy Wolfe [sic], who had been on the Rowan Brothers project with which Jerry was involved, recorded it, and it came out very strange.  The tapes were pretty awful.  He used a lot of audience in t.he mix; I don't know why or how he recorded so much leakage  -Betty Cantor-Jackson, Taping Compendium Vol 2

"[Steal Your Face] was made from totally screwed-up master tapes recorded on a 24-track machine, except that the nitwit who was given the  job to put Donna Godchaux's vocal on an onboard Nagra along with a SMPTE sync track driven so hard [saturated] that the vocal was wiped by the leakage.  At the same time, on the 24-track, there was one channel used for an "audience/ambience" mike!
Believe it or not, this continued for the whole run of shows. Weir's guitar mike fell over and the signal was lost during the first set of the first night, and this, too, continued -- not only through the second set, but through the entire run!"  -Bear, Taping Compendium Vol 1

Weir's guitar is more audible than Bear makes it out to be, but no one will disagree that these tapes sound bad, even by the more limited standards of 1974 sbd tapes.  10/16 and 10/17 aren't too bad, but the final three nights get progressively further out in the weeds.  In poor Billy Wolf's defense, it seems that Garcia had the idea of recording the music with an ear to multiple mixes that would emphasize different sound from different audience perspectives (e.g. how it would sound from the hotdog stand out in the hall vs. up close to the stage).  In a bonus feature on the GD Movie DVD, Jeffrey Norman described his work on the master tapes:  

[Garcia and Dan Healy] had some real concepts, some very technical, on why they did what they did.  There's a lot of kind of 'delay sounds,' with the idea that wherever you were in the theater - because remember this was for a theater presentation; the idea of 'in the home' didn't even exist - so for the theater, they wanted everyone to hear all instruments from wherever you were in the house, in the theater. ... now it's not the same at home... you'll hear your front wall and then there's a lot of kind of delays, things kinda moving around. It's cool.

Also, um, Wolf was also apparently dosed to the gills, as was just about everyone else.  In his book Skeleton Key, Steve Silberman recounts that  

Stephen Barncard, the producer of American Beauty, remembers that to get onstage you were encouraged to "lick a puddle of acid off your wrist," dropped there by a member of the road crew. "I was off an on that stage about fifteen times, which would have been OK, but I was smoking the hash oil too, so I was stupid and in outer space. People couldn't figure out why I wasn't saying anything. I couldn't say anything."

Rough mixes from those 24-track tapes have been in circulation, I think, since the mid-70's.  I recall reading once that most of these copies derived from cassettes given to a prominent trader by a nephew of a famous producer at Atlantic Records, but I have no citation for that.  Charlie Miller's transfers source from Rob Eaton's DAT copies of vault reels (although I assume that means a rough mixdown from the multitrack masters for some unknown purpose?)  More recently, copies of Garcia's own work tapes have come into circulation via the GEMS crew.

Given the historical weight and problematic sound quality, the general reception of the music itself seems to be all over the place.  I don't think anyone would stack these up in terms of musical quality against some of the biggies from June 74, but I'm sure that this run carries a lot of extra-musical association that influences many heads' feelings about the music itself.  Here's my own personal spoiler: 10/16 and 10/17 were better than I remembered when heard in contrast with the whole run, and I think both are underrated.  10/18 remains a deep-space favorite.  10/19 was dinged the most in comparison with the other four and didn't hold up as a whole show, and 10/20 remains mostly a big puddle.

10/16/74
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-16.sbd.patched.eaton-miller.90145.sbeok.flac16

The first couple songs are only on the aud tape, but once the mix is settled on the sbd tape, things sound pretty good.  The trademark wet thumpy reverb of these shows isn't as present here.  It feels to me like they're getting their space together during this first set, energetic but a little bug-eyed in general.  They finally let it all hang out for a gargantuan 30+ minute Playing in the Band to end.  It never gets too noisy and may feel a little low energy for some, but I like this trip.  This divides neatly into thirds with interesting shifts at around 10 and 20 minutes; Garcia and Godchaux kind of play through each other without much connection at first, but they find their way.  Notice that Garcia cues the ending a couple of times, but no one else is ready to leave the pool.

Phil & Ned generally opt for a gentler, introspective, probing kind of vibe for all five of these nights.  Garcia joins in tonight around 15 1/2 minutes in, and Lagin seems to ease off and let Garcia and Lesh go at it.  Kreutzmann shows up, then Godchaux, and the Jam that follows is less spacey and more like a loose, ambling digression down a few paths: some fragmented funkiness here, more of a vaguely Playin-ish feel there.  Lagin's electric piano is audible in the mix along with Godchaux's.  Weir seems not as involved in this -- but it was his birthday, after all, so there have been more pressing concerns waiting for him in the wings.  A groove begins to slowly solidify, then Lesh and Kreutzmann duet for a bit, then some looser, sparse Space (and impatient audience clapping) and finally Wharf Rat.  That was just 50 minutes of pure improv, folks, 35 of which was with Garcia.  Wharf Rat is maybe a little too placid, but maybe just a good fit for this lazy vibe.  Garcia wanders off the path again on a mostly solo trip, eventually joined by Lesh and Lagin for a very relaxed set up for Eyes of the World.  To me, this is an ideal relaxed pace, laying out a smooth but focused trip through this one (Lagin on electric, Godchaux on grand piano).  Rather than ride the end jam too long, Garcia drifts back into solo space noodling and glides them all back to earth.  Wowza.  

The final stretch feels more like recalibration than rock concert, but they deliver a nice earthy follow-up jam with a longer Truckin' > GDTRFB > Uncle John's Band, a most satisfying end to things.  And Lesh sings happy birthday to Weir.  I've felt that this show was overlooked in the past, and I still feel that: ideal '74 Dead for those who prefer the scenic route.


10/17/74

https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-17.sbd.smith.gems.99032.flac24
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-17.140588.SBD.Gastwirt.Miller.Noel.t-flac1644

It's a toss up between the GEMS and Miller sources: the GEMS sounds brighter (maybe too bright?) vs. Miller's sounds quieter and hissier in spots, but is more complete.

The night kicks off in a big way when the piano lid falls midway through Promised Land -- without any satisfying audible crash, but with a host of buzzy tech issues.  But this first set is my favorite one of the five shows, with a prime selection for my liking and a warm, natural flow.  I really like both this Half Step and China>Rider, and the cowboy tunes are consistently very well-done (a feature of this run that warrants a little shout out, btw).  The Weather Report Suite is spotless and excellent, and right now it feels like it edges out the one from the 18th.  Phil & Ned's set is a compact 10 minutes (on tape, at least), the shortest of the run but also the edgiest and most "challenging."  I also detect a live mic picking up what appears to be a toddler having a temper tantrum (around 4 minutes in).  

The second set opens with the best of the three Scarlet Begonias, featuring a nice Donna "scat" solo in the jam. He's Gone is divine and mellow until Lesh rather abruptly kicks thing up a notch (which he does on 10/19 as well) for the Other One.  Lesh seems ready to rock, but Garcia pulls in a more introspective direction and the jam coalesces after a few minutes into a themeless but driving jam that I associate more with 72-73 era Dark Stars.  Lesh nudges the Other One again, but they fall instead into full Space which they take to a full screeching meltdown (the only one of the run).  The post-space reverie has some tasty Garcia/Godchaux pillowtalk before finally slamming back to the Other One for real.  After the first verse, they veer into a 90 second Spanish Jam digression, a longer Mind Left Body Jam, and then another interesting harmonic tug-of-war slightly akin to 10/29/73.  Garcia has his sights set on Stella Blue, and Godchaux follows his lead but Lesh keeps pushing for the Other One; Garcia responds with Other One-y licks but refuses to leave E major until Weir sets 'em up for the second verse.  A nice moment of pleasant tension!  The promised Stella Blue is a real beauty and a fine bookend for the jam.  '74 wasn't a big year for long-form Other Ones, but this is a quiet sleeper.


10/18/74
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-18.111459.gems.BOSWELL-SMITH.flac24
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-18.BEAR.gems.110515.flac16
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-18.sbd.miller.110771.flac16

The GEMS Boswell/Smith copy is the best one, imho.  Interestingly, there is also a separate GEMS source with the note "recording and mix by Bear" (no other lineage) with a drier mix: less drum reverb and room ambience but with more hum, and a kind of a toss-up for sound quality - and it's also not the complete show.  Wait, Bear also rolled tape at these shows?  I have questions.

This was the one show from the run that I had on cassette as a teenager, but the lure of nostalgia unfortunately isn't working it's magic on the first set, which feels fairly laconic to me.  The country tunes come off as the most energetic and appealing, especially Cumberland Blues.  The Weather Report Suite closer is prime time, however, even though I think I like 10/17 better.

The main event, anyway, is the jam, which is ultimately the most memorable music from this run.  Like 10/16 and 9/11/74, here is a unique blob of acid-saturated '74 Grateful Dead that doesn't have the cocaine-edged sharpness that characterizes a lot of the year's most exciting music.  It may have more longeurs, but I still have a warm spot in my heart for this deep-spelunking expedition.  The Phil & Ned portion seem to go deeper than the rest, and with more patience, although Lagin gets a big LOL for dispersing some impatient clappers with a big synth wash around @8:30.  Garcia becomes audible around 14 minutes in, and the deep spaceship vibes just go on and on and on.  Kreutzmann appears after nearly a half hour and his steady beat changes the course of things.  Kruetzmann and Lesh play together, then just Kruetzmann, until Godchaux makes his return.  The following jam has a jaunty, less spacey feel thanks to Lesh's stop/start bass idea, and it becomes evident that Garcia is heading towards Dark Star.  The pre-verse jam is sparkling and bright, and Godchaux's electric piano adds a lot of nice color to this.  Garcia sings the verse, but rather than pivot to something new, the jam rolls on in the same general direction and works up to a satisfyingly tasty climax around 12:45 on this GEMS copy.  After some sneaky tuning and a change in direction, the following jam feels more directionless and loose to me, with Garcia vanishing for a few brief stretches, though the general flow never gets too far from the standard Dark Star groove.  The last minute is pretty splashy and given mostly to Kruetzmann, until Garcia slowly and quietly starts Morning Dew.  Slow, beautiful, and a classic performance immortalized in the movie.  A glistening set of uninterrupted, totally in-the-zone spacey Grateful Dead magic.

The third set seems a bit obligatory at first, but they rally for a final ride through a solid Not Fade Away (not a barnstormer, but some nice rollicking Godchaux piano) and then GDTRFB from the movie, another classic -- "going where the cliiimate suits my clothes."  


10/19/74
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-19.140626.sbd.gastwirt.miller.sirmick.fixed.flac1644
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-19.131704.sbd.boswell-smith.flac16
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-19.sbd-pset1.bear.gems.stevesw.112791.flac16/


I like the quality on the newest Charlie Miller source, although there is another partial Bear recording that again features a drier, more palatable mix -- but is just part of the first set.  The mix gets wetter, with an overall more reverbed, ambient sound to the drums, and both Lesh and Godchaux quite prominent in the mix.  The first set is very long at 95 minutes, but they sound kinda scattered.  Eyes of the World is the one big exception: it's a popular favorite and one of the best, with crisp and memorable solos and an overall smooth, gliding feel that I enjoy more than some other "grinding" '74 Eyes jams.  Otherwise, I think they excel on the ballads in this set, and not much else.  Phil & Ned starts off unusually with what sounds like a recording of the ocean and a drum machine, before getting into the usual headspace for the second half.  Garcia doesn't join them tonight.

The second set is fine in many ways, but is ultimately unsatisfying to me since there's kind of a hole in the middle of the set where the big jam should be.  A beautiful Uncle John's Band opens (repeating the rare openers on 8/6/74 and 9/18/74, an inspired idea that they almost never did again), followed by a longer run of country-flavored tunes that all sound great to me: I'll forgive the, ah, overenthusiastic vocals on the otherwise delightful Tomorrow is Forever, and Garcia sounds cracklin' on Mexicali and sublime on the slow Dire Wolf.  They bookend the jam with a split Sugar Magnolia (I believe the first they'd ever done this?) (edit: they had done this on 6/28 and 8/6/74 as well; thanks Pat for pointing out my mistake); He's Gone winds into Truckin' as usual, but the intro just grooves on and on for a minute (nothing seems obviously wrong with Weir) until Kreutzmann starts the tangalang cymbal beat that moves them into Caution territory.  Weird; not bad, but not much beyond the initial surprise that they're playing Caution.  Garcia doesn't sound wholly committed to wherever this train is going: he takes flight for a few minutes then sputters out, leaving Lesh and Kruetzmann to plonk around for a bit.  The heart of the jam is 10 minutes of loose, open Space, a lot of which feels like a Garcia/Kreutzmann duet.  They return to the deferred Truckin', which does sound very fine indeed, and then pull out a surprise Black Peter (one of only three that year) that sounds excellent, then wrap it up with Sunshine Daydream.  Not bad at all!  But the real improvisation never seems to take root in anything and consequently is pretty forgettable, more like a surprise digression than a focused exploration.


10/20/74
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-20.sbd.alligator.GEMS.94851.flac16
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-10-20.132113.sbd.boswell-smith.flac16

The best circulating digital sources all come from the GEMS crew; the Alligator source has a drier mix than the filesets sourced from Garcia's copy, but ymmv as to what sounds better.  The tape quality is the worst of the five shows, as is the playing.  I am sure it was one hell of a party, but this is a pretty weak overall for '74.  The first set is actually pretty solid.  They up the novelty factor by opening with two rarities -- the first Cold Rain & Snow in a year and another Mama Tried -- and they hit their stride with Jack Straw through a fine China>Rider.  Like 10/19, the Phil & Ned segment starts off with a drum machine and some rhythmic pinging from Lagin (it reminds me a little of Stereolab!) who grooves along until Lesh makes his audible appearance.  A more typical but pretty sparse jam follows, and Garcia joins in for the final 15 minutes.

As you know, the prodigal Mickey Hart appeared backstage during the break and, despite grumping from Kreutzmann, rejoined the band for much of the rest of the show.  Insert requisite cowbell joke here (and he did indeed bring one along).  The second set doesn't ever really get there, as far as I'm concerned, but the mix is so bad that it's hard for me to say for sure. Garcia is low, Weir is practically MIA, Lesh & Godchaux are front and center, and double drum kits means even more thwumpy reverb.  Playing and Not Fade Away are fine enough but stay in the shallow end, and the Other One has more spacey noodling than primal era thunder.  To be fair, I quite liked this Wharf Rat and the jam back into Playing.  They muddle through a surprise (and I would bet unrehearsed) Good Lovin': no one seems sure what to do (Lesh sounds ready to jam it 70-72 style, but Garcia seems to want to follow the changes at first?), and Garcia plays a lot of low-gear slide guitar.  Promised Land is a total mess, and Eyes of the World is pretty tepid and lumbering, although setlist asteriskers do correctly note that Garcia clearly plays the Slipknot! melody at the very end.  At least Stella Blue ends thing on a bright, beautiful note, before Sugar Magnolia stomps it out (with Mickey again joining in) -- for the record, I only hear Mickey (after the jam) on Good Lovin' and Sugar Mags.  Bill Graham pulls the crew onstage, and the second encore is an odd pick of Half Step (but well played) that ends with a perfectly timed drop into And We Bid You Goodnight, a very nice final touch.

7/17/82: a little beach music

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1982-07-17.fob.nak300.ho.bowen-foster.102172.flac

This isn't exactly a rave review, but this show's setlist inspired some curiosity while I was puttering around at work, and, frankly, I'm ready for the beach myself.  The FOB aud quality is very, very good.  And who doesn't like their Dead with some palm trees in the background?

courtesy Airplane Life

1982 shares the dubious honor with 1986 as being my least favorite year of the Dead’s “early Brent” pre-coma period.  Unlike other fallow periods, there’s nothing egregiously “wrong” with it, but -- for me -- most of the performances occupy a kind of gray zone between the sharp, creative playing of 1980-81 and the ragged, hare-brained (and, yes, hirsute) intensity of 1983-84.  Jerry was still keeping it together, Phil wasn’t quite back in the saddle yet, Brent ditched his older electric piano for a faux-acoustic one, and it all sounds, I dunno, a little too polite; I don't want to say autopilot, but there's not a lot of sweat in the music.  There are certainly a few shows that prove me wrong, but they’re outliers.  And yet, perversely, I’m periodically drawn back to it, partly to see if I can pin down what exactly I don’t like about it (who has time for that? I do, apparently) and partly just for the pleasure of rooting around for some undiscovered gem.  This show, sporting an attractive setlist, isn’t exactly that.  But it’s a nice show.

The first set is model '82: no clams, no shamefully bad vocals, a decent performance all around, and almost none of it stuck on me.  Althea has a heavy groove, but the only other standout was the surprising (unprecedented?) call of Truckin’ as the set closer.  Huh?  Not only that, but they rock it for almost 11 minutes and, a couple of slips notwithstanding, it's pretty strong.  Towards the end it almost feels like they’ve forgotten that they’re not deeper in the 2nd set, before yanking back for a big explosive finale.

To be fair, they did get creative with some setlist choices in 82, often structured around Playing in the Band.  Here’s a vintage example of a “Playin’ sandwich” kind of set: they forego an opening rocker and dive right in, swim around in it for a bit with an airy, vaguely ominous feel: clear and nicely textured yet shallow waters, perhaps.  It sounds like China Doll is coming, but Jerry switches things up with China Cat instead, another very unusual selection.  Not bad!  The guitars are way up in the mix here, making for an extra changly jam, and Phil seems sufficiently roused by the time Rider comes around.  Ol’ Jer belts out a good “headlight” line, and at the end they make a well-timed drop right into Estimated.  Not much to note here; it’s a typically fine one with one flub coming out of the bridge (“like a swiss watch,” Bob quickly quips) and a decent jam that trails off into the early 80's standard Jerry-less jam with Bob and Brent (and briefly Phil) splashing around for a few miunutes.  Not bad as those things go.  A brief Drums, a briefly noisy Space, a long Wheel complete with lengthy prelude and a pretty outro (an ideal groove for this show, actually), back into Playin’, then a goofy Bob closing twofer, and it’s all over now, baby blue.

This music, like a lot of the year, wafts by pleasantly without really getting its hooks into me; it’s got toes but no claws.  Or, to borrow from Thom Gunn, “the music comes and goes on the wind / comes and goes on the brain.”

I’m ready for summer.

(these shows, incidentally, were the first of several years' worth of "weekend at the beach" shows in Ventura)

July 1976: Orpheum Theatre

edit: I just noticed now (6/9) that there was a post about this run and the Orpheum at lostlivedead a month ago, so I've amended some of the info below.

This is a repost of my reviews that were posted on a now-defunct forum.  There was some more discussion between myself and others involved, but I figured now would be a good time to resurrect these and clean them up somewhat.  

I'm elated over the announcement that an upcoming Dave's Picks is going to be 7/17/76 at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco.  It's one of my favorite shows, but one that I suspected would never actually be picked for a release: what I like about it feels even more personal and introverted than what I like about other favorite shows, and besides, the next night, 7/18, seems like a far, far more popular choice among deadheads, particularly deadheads who don't like 1976.  Which, from what I gather, is a lot of them.

I won't go so far as to say that 1976 is the band's most polarizing year among fans, but it has enough qualities that make it feel like their most sui generis period.  The contrast between it and its neighboring years is striking: the Dead were a very different band in many ways in 1974, and they had yet to attain the polished, muscular grooming of 1977 (well, as groomed as the Dead ever got, anyway).  Many others have covered this, so I'll spare the explanations, but one standard line is that they needed time to readjust to Hart's return to the band.  While true, I've never fully bought that as the primary reason for the uniqueness of the "1976 sound."  Whereas 1974 had an extroverted, pushed-to-the-limit style of improvisation and a quicksilver responsiveness (helped, to be sure, by having one drummer), most of 1976 feels almost chastened and introspective by comparison.  "Exploratory" is an overused adjective in Dead-dom (guilty!), but 1976 feels like the most appropriate place to use it: a lot of their improvisations do really feel like they're actually exploring something: not so much bravely plowing forward to uncharted spaces, but taking some time to root around in the corners of spaces already charted, maybe now with a more reflective frame of mind.  To my ears, this particular feeling or mood dominates more than almost any other year.  It's like you're listening more to 1976 first, and a particular individual song second.

At any rate, they hit the road in June 1976 for a tour that was different in nearly every way possible, then finally took the stage in their hometown for the first time in 9 1/2 months, a week after the country's bicentennial (apparently a free concert in Golden Gate Park was rumored).  I'm sure the connected local heads had a sense of what to expect, but I really wonder the average fan thought of all this.  I shall, however, limit my speculation and focus on the music itself.  This run of shows, in short, deserves a full-scale box set release, and the happy news that 7/17/76 (and most of 7/16) is coming our way in high quality is only slightly shaded by the fact that we'll probably never get the rest.  Maybe, at least, some upgrades will come leaking through the usual channels?  I sure hope so.  The currently circulating sbds of 7/12-7/17 don't sound terrible, but they don't sound great, either.  7/18 was broadcast (locally on KSAN and nationally via the King Biscuit Flower Hour) and has always circulated in good quality.  Bob Menke taped every other night and his recordings are very good, but I prefer the thicker, more viscous sound of the sbd recordings.
 
side note: um, the Orpheum?  Any insight from the more knowledgeable heads as to why the band played here?  I know they'd scrapped much of the Wall of Sound and had been touring smaller venues, so was Winterland suddenly too big?  Seems unlikely.  The JGB played a wonderful concert there on 5/21 (released as Don't Let Go) and the Dead apparently rehearsed there a bit for their June tour, so there seems to have been a short flurry of activity, but that was it until Garcia played a string of shows there in 1988-89.

edit: Corry has answered all of these questions and more...

 
the soundcheck
edit: Corry convincingly argues that this video isn't actually from 7/12/76 or anytime from this run, but from the pre-tour rehearsals in May.  But what the heck:
The week begins with an hour-long video tape of the band rehearsing (the audio sounds like it's sourced from the video), apparently on the afternoon of the first show.  As you'd expect, it's more a curiosity than an inspiring listen, but still worth visiting once.  Besides a long stretch of working through the bridge of Stella Blue, there's very little "work" on this tape, just a string of nearly complete performances with few interruptions: a workmanlike Dancin', a brisk, chipper TLEO, two runs through The Music Never Stopped, and then the highlight, a great, flowering Eyes of the World with the standard '76 arrangement of a very long intro jam and and (presumably) very little at the end: the tape cuts after the last verse, unfortunately.


night one: 7/12/76
https://archive.org/details/gd1976-07-12.sbd.unknown.10362.sbeok.shnf

The opening night in their hometown, and they start off on the right foot, full of energy and in a tight groove.  A great Music Never Stopped opener (an appropriate choice for their first official home gig in a year and a half!), then BEWomen and Cassidy make a great opening trio, although it doesn't sound like they're ready to push the boundaries much.  Garcia's playing in each is mercurial, creative, and energetic, but also very concise: these are all little gems, but may disappoint anyone looking for the boys to just cut loose and wail.  Listen closely, though, and you'll hear kinds of great left-field little fills and solos cut from fresh cloth. I especially love that little moment of zen in the first TMNS jam.  Bob breaks out Minglewood for the first time since 1971 in a cool, funky arrangement that was dropped by the fall; but listen to Phil going to town on this!  Typical for '76, there's a questionable setlist call of three slow numbers in a row (Candyman/LLRain/Row Jimmy), but take some time to revel in how nice the vocals sound.  Donna really shines in a small room with good acoustics and decent monitors, and the interplay between her and Bob is noticeably more present than in 72-74: there's this great moment in LLRain when he sings, "you were listening to a fight," then emphasizes, "that's right" and she sweetly replies, "yeah."  It's a little detail, but one that makes a real difference.  (serendipity! I just noticed this excellent and long, long overdue post on Donna at lostlivedead.  Hear hear!)

Sugaree is a laid back kick-off for the 2nd set, but you can feel them digging into the groove and seeing what happens when they take the scenic route through the song.  After Bob's nightly Samson, they settle down into a very good Help>Slip>Franklin's, fairly tight (minus that intro) and full of the exploratory playing with dynamics mentioned above -- I can't help but think that a lot of fans seeing this in person would have been confused or underwhelmed (especially if their last experience seeing the Dead was in 1974!), but on tape the subtleties really glisten.  Franklin's pops along with its trademark mellow bounce and some fine Garcia soloing.  Dancing in the Streets is only decent -- even after a month on the road, they don't seem to have figured out how to reliably make this soar yet -- but the following Wharf Rat is excellent, with great vocals and a lovely outro jam that hints at the golden summer glory to come later in the week.  A brief Drums>Wheel>Around and US Blues wrap it all up.

A fine but not outstanding show, and a nice relaxed start to the week.  There's definitely less of a jubilant "welcome home" feel and more of a low key, warming-up/getting-everything-just-exactly-perfect feel to this show, and the real magic was still to come. 

Orpheum rehearsals, Ed Perlstein

night two: 7/13/76
http://www.archive.org/details/gd76-07-13.sbd.vernon.18480.sbeok.shnf

Everyone says they'll take quality over quantity, but the length of shorter sets is such a standard deadhead complaint that I wonder sometimes.  Many folks want a 3+ hour feast rather small portions of gourmet delicacies.  But even though we get barely an hour of music to start with, I remember this night's first set more fondly than almost all of 7/12 as a whole.  This was the breakout for Half Step (last played 10/20/74; it was last song they played that night, actually, before AWBYGN) and much like Sugaree, you can hear them testing how far to extend it and where.  They don't reach the pinnacles that versions from the following years shoot for, but it doesn't seem like they're trying to, either.  Once again, the M.O. is to find the hidden backroads in these tunes and see where they go.  I'm absolutely in love by the time Peggy-O comes around with it's wonderful slow roll and two Garcia solos.  Later versions have a punchier groove to them, but there's an appealing lazy feel to this that fits the back-porch vibe of the song perfectly.  The meat of the set is nearly 30 minutes of Crazy Fingers>Let it Grow, one of the year's unique combinations that works perfectly.  76 was really the only year they took Crazy Fingers as far as they could, and nearly every version is worth hearing.  Might as Well gets its hometown debut before the break.

The second set opens with another TMNS, longer, looser, and more jammed than the previous night.  Roses and High Time glisten as usual, particularly High Time, another treat for the crowd (not heard in San Fran since April 1970).  I like how they keep this sweet and low compared to some of the 77 versions, which to me can sometimes sound a little shrill (I! was! losing! time!) and almost melodramatic.  Then, if the old-timers weren't satisfied, they certainly get what they've been waiting for with the return of St. Stephen to the west coast (last played in SF on 8/19/70!).  This has great energy and the jam jumps right away into a NFA jam with a bouncy, calypso-ish feel to it.  Heads up for some great Fender Rhodes from Keith, who even takes a little solo.  I really liked this jam, which lands in NFA, keeps jamming, tapers down to a quick little Drums back into Stephen.  Sugar Magnolia breaks off for a beautiful Stella Blue, of all things; a little slippery at first, but with a gorgeous solo at the end, then back to SSDD.  Maybe to compensate for the short sets, we get a long Dancin' encore, sounding already much better than the night before.  Garcia even gets on the wahwah for a bit at the end.  Great encore!  Great show!  Folks will naturally complain about the length, but there's really no down spots in this one at all.


night three: 7/14/76
http://www.archive.org/details/gd76-07-14.sbd.vernon.18594.sbeok.shnf

The first set tonight is well done, but most of it doesn't do much to grab my attention.  There's a questionable positioning of a late first set Ship of Fools, but the ending jam more than makes up for all of it, a 35 minutes Playin>Wheel>Playin sandwich.  The first jam stays relatively close the surface before breaking for Drums, then a fine Wheel, whose jam quickly shifts back into a cool Playin' groove.  They drift off into a very long, deep Space that starts pretty sparse, but gets more involved and intense  after a good low-end Phil rattling, then culminates in a very long, wonderfully slow swim back to the Reprise.  It's not as moving a first set as the shorter but much sweeter 7/13, but not at all bad.

The second set, however, is one of the more underrated sets of the year, and given the eye-popping, unique jam segment, I'm surprised more folks haven't happened upon it.  BEWomen was a very rare opener, but I'll take it anyday.  Let it Grow kicks off the jam, one of the better '76 versions, and I believe the only one that dispenses with the drum interlude.  They take the end jam down a nice quiet place, then up into an Eyes of the World that zings along with that perfect elastic snap.  Unfortunately, most of the whole song is missing from the sbd, though Menke's aud makes for a fine patch.  The ending dissolves into maybe two minutes of a quiet, floating jam that's mostly just Garcia completely solo, an early incarnation of the solo theme he played a few times in May '77 that served as a prelude Wharf Rat, and that's what it does here.  Wharf Rat is a soft, gentle version and winds down without much fanfare, but then the band throws a sucker punch with the Other One, another hometown first (and the first one of '76, though on 6/29/76, they got pretty close to it).  Garcia got on slide for the tail end of Wharf Rat and even starts off the Other One with a little bottleneck.  Nice!  Things never get too wild, certainly nothing like 7/17's Other One, but this one simmers along with a quiet intensity that I quite like.  Phil grabs the spotlight for a quick solo at the end, setting up one more unique transition into the Music Never Stopped.  Whoa!  No one thing about this segment really jumps out like a thunderbolt, but taken as a whole, this exemplifies some of the best of the year: everything that makes 76 special put together in a one-time only package.  I say it's must-hear stuff, well worth an hour for the many folks who appear to have missed it.

the night off:I would hope that both the band and the fans all got a good night's rest, but I wonder if any folks took the night off to go see Robert Hunter's short-lived band Roadhog playing at the Shady Grove in the Haight?  There's no digitally circulating tape (edit: Corry says there's a Jerry Moore recording?), but there is a recording of the band from two weeks later if you're curious:
https://archive.org/details/rh1976-07-30.83233.AUD.flac16

Ed Perlstein

night four: 7/16/76
http://www.archive.org/details/gd76-07-16.set1aud-set2sbd.miller.23569.sbeok.shnf

The Dave's Picks release will be augmented by almost all of 7/16, whose first set is the only set of the run that currently circulates only as an aud tape.  Allowing for differences in quality, this first set stills comes across as nearly ideal for the year.  They must have all gotten a good night's sleep on the night off, because this one seems to have an extra energetic kick -- it's hard to say for sure, but they seem to be pushing a little harder and stretching a little further on stuff like Cassidy, TMNS, and an especially nice bonus Scarlet to close the nearly 80 minute set.  Excellent stuff!

Playing in the Band opens the second set, which is the first of many remarkable things about the next 66 minutes.  Framing a larger, nearly set-length jam segment with both ends of Playing in the Band eventually became a standard practice, but at this point it was still quite rare.  The main song itself has a strong start, but to my ears it drifts away into a fairly nondescript Playin' jam for the first few minutes.  It starts to drift into space, but Lesh pulls it back together with a bassline that's reminiscent of Stronger Than Dirt, but also not too far removed from his 72-74 era nameless "jazz theme."  Labeling this "Stronger Than Dirt" seems like a stretch, but the resemblance is there.  Garcia doesn't seem particularly interested at first, but as he brightens up, the jam starts to cohere more fully.  There's some stunning Jerry/Phil/Keith interplay before the end as Phil cues different chord changes.  Pretty hot stuff!  Jerry gets out his slide and leads the way into Cosmic Charlie, another big moment for the older hometown heads.  Honestly, I've never been all that moved by this tune, either in the 60's or in in '76, but they certainly nail this one.  Here, though, Bob makes a questionable call with yet another Samson.  There's a moment's pause, then they rise back momentarily to the Playin' jam.  Bob, however, seems to have made the faux pas of needing to retune in mid-jam.  Rather than disrupt the flow, they opt for a very quiet space jam, Jerry playing flurries of harmonics either to cover Bobby's tuning or maybe to retune a little himself.  I find myself torn: couldn't they have just taken a break and let the drummers do their thing?  does this disrupt the flow of an otherwise interestingly structured jam, or is it a clever, on-the-fly adjustment?  I've loved it in the past, but this last time through I wasn't convinced.  From here, Bob nudges into the Spanish Jam theme, which I believe is its only appearance between 1974 and Brent's entry in 1979.  Again, it spills back into the Playing/Stronger Than Dirt jam and, amazingly, they're able to immediately find their way back to the same space they were in two songs prior.  Even with a Drums break, they're able to keep the deep groove going on through the Wheel and a particularly beguiling Playin Reprise, and Bob ties it off with Around, maybe thinking that the set was done.

This Playing in the Band sequence is remarkable for a number of reasons, but, unfortunately for me, musically it never quite adds up to something truly special.  There are some really breathtaking moments of brilliance that the band almost unearths by accident, but the meat of the jam just doesn't really get me going.  Those moments of brilliance, however, are the first glimmers of the x-factor that lift the next two nights to their respective ecstatic heights.  Also interesting is that, in this case, the entire jam has a notable lack of Garcia lead vocal tunes.  Cosmic Charlie and The Wheel are his songs, of course, but they strike me more as ensemble performances.  For that reason, maybe, the set keeps going.  After some lengthy tuning, Jerry gets to sing his only lead vocal of the set, a lovely High Time that nevertheless feels a little out of place.  They take another beak to fix the drums, during which Phil wishes a mock happy birthday to Bill Graham, before they close with Graham's favorite Dead tune, Sugar Magnolia.  Another so-so US Blues encores for the second time.

I go back and forth on the merits of this jam.  The first set is great and I'll be glad to hear the sbd on the new release.  I'll certainly revisit the second set, too, but it's ranked behind 7/13's 1st set and 7/14's jam in my mind, and certainly isn't at the level of the next two nights.


night five: 7/17/76
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1976-07-17.mtx.chappell.sb25.95734.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1976-07-17.sbd.fricker-fix.tetzeli.34708.sbefail.flac16

I know I'm reading too much into this one, but Promised Land's travelogue to California is almost a subconscious announcement, "okay, we're home now" to the crowd, signaling a special night to come.  Full disclosure: I have listened to this show more than any other from this run (more than the more famous 7/18), and it's a treasured personal favorite of mine.  The magic starts with Half Step, another a low-key version that stands out for the delicate, lovely interplay between Garcia and Keith during the jam.  Mama Tried, Deal, and Minglewood (again, special note for this short-lived slower, funkier arrangement) all keep it moving in the right direction, then we hit highlight #2, a perfect, slow, soulful Peggy-O.  Big River is a good nudge, but Garcia is already following that fat summer sun and unleashes a wonderful Sugaree.  Part of the smoothness is a result of the drummers easing back and letting Keith and Garcia really drive the groove.  And was this the first time he fans/scrubs the climax as he would do so often in 77 and beyond?  It looks incongruous on paper, but the JBG closer feels like just what's called for.  The opening/closing Chuck Berry combo wasn't unheard of, but it's a nice surprising kick that sets us up for what's to come.

For whatever reason, Donna never makes it back onstage for the second set.  Given my love for her singing in 76, I still can't say I miss her particularly here, since the vocals aren't what stand out about this set.  7/17's jam may not look as outrageous as 7/16's.  It may not twist and turn unexpected corners, but as much as 7/16 seems to exemplify Bob's uniquely twisting turning approach, 7/17 is all Garcia and that sweet, sun-baked, flowing groove.  He starts it off with Comes a Time, a tune we would expect to hear at the end of a set-long jam like this, not at the beginning.  This Comes a Time, though, unrolls before us as the song sweetly fades way, leaving only that beautiful outro.  Why didn't they ever repeat this?  Why did they never again squeeze more than a minute or two out of this jam, and what inspired them to stretch this one as far as they do?  It's not as emotionally charged as other famously beautiful moments like 2/18/71; rather, it just plants itself on that cosmic back-porch of neverending summer evenings and pops open a cold one (in a rocking chair right next to the 6/23/74 Ship jam).  Seeds of future songs start to sprout from this fertile soil: I hear Eyes for a sec, but the Other One wins out.  After a quick minute of drums, they begin in earnest, jamming the Other One with a surprisingly aggressive feel, and jumping fairly early into a longer space.  This, paradoxically, is the darkest they got during the whole run, tucked in the heart of their warmest jam.  Ain't that just the way? 

Space gets noisy, but nothing too crazy, but then they find their way back into a beautiful jam and this amazing slooow transition into Eyes of the World.  This is one of my favorite moments of the whole run, and maybe of the whole year, actually.  Just listen to these few minutes, listen to how subtle everyone's individual transitions are.  Listen to Keith's amazing Rhodes sound, too (how did he get that sound, btw? is it a Leslie speaker?).  Eyes itself crackles and glows in prime style, but this is one of the only versions of the year to feature any substantial jamming after the last verse.  It sounds like Keith returns to a vamp he was playing with during the previous night's Stronger Than Dirt jam, but Phil is definitely still rooted in Eyes, and between the two of them it almost sounds like a half-forgotten variation on the 73-74 Eyes jam.  It peps up towards the end and sounds like it's headed for GDTRFB, but Jerry takes a quick left and pulls the Other One back in for the second verse before turning right back around and zipping into GDTRFB for real.  A bombastic, joyful ending to a most enjoyable sequence, and One More Saturday Night is a preferred Bobby closer for me (and yes, it was a Saturday), so I'm left smiling.  Nothing missing, nothing extraneous.  An absolutely ideal second set.

The usual US Blues encore seems like a pretty paltry offering after all that, but they're not done yet.  They had already played a few standalone Not Fade Away encores that year, so it's not a total surprise, but after the concentrated brilliance of that jam, you'd think they would be ready to call it a night.  And, to be honest, they do sound a little drained as they wind across 14 minutes of this, but it's involved and creative enough to make it a memorable encore for a very memorable show.

This is one of my very favorites, like I said, and one of those Dead sets I'd put above most others.  For a much less gushing review, I direct you to http://www.deadlistening.com/2008/02/1976-july-17-orpheum-theatre-san.html

Ed Perlstein

night six: 7/18/76
http://www.archive.org/details/gd76-07-18.sbd.bertha.14838.sbeok.shnf
https://archive.org/details/gd1976-07-18.pre-fm.kbfh.berger.107832.flac16

By this point, the band was certainly on top of their game.  They don't, maybe surprisingly, sound all that tired or worn out, but it does feel like they're maybe a tad overly conscious of the radio broadcast.  The opening Half Step is a well executed version and probably "better" for many folks than 7/17 in terms of excitement, but to me it seems like they're playing it pretty safe.  The first few songs have that feel, actually.  Scarlet Begonias is the highlight of the set for me, with a long, sweet jam that builds and crests naturally -- a great version, and one of many fine 1976 Scarlets that tend to be overlooked.  The second half of the set kind of slumps for me, personally, with a lackadaisical LLRain-Jed-Loser stretch, though the Music that ends it is probably the best one of the whole run.

A strong Might as Well starts the second, but the Samson and Candyman feel a bit like unnecessary finger food before the main course.  Lazy>Supplication has its usual gooey center that the band work into a hot jam, and Bobby wastes no time in leading the charge into a breakneck Let it Grow.  It's not as hot as 7/14, but still a smoker.  The drums break sounds more juiced up and energized, but the second jam already sounds like they're anticipating the jam to come.  That's usually a good sign, in my book, and this LIG drifts into a smooth, pretty, floating jam for a few minutes that sounds like it could be… I mean it doesn't sound exactly, but… well, I mean they hadn't played it that tour, and the last one was 10/18/74, so it could have been possible, but… is that it? … If/when an aud of this part ever surfaces, I'll bet whatever you want that every meathead in the place was hollering DARK STAR! as loud as he could.  Nope.  It's a pretty spectacular transition to a pretty titanic Wharf Rat.  After a very strong reading, the last three minutes are given over to another Jerry/Keith night flight.  These always are breathtaking little jams in my mind, and Jerry really does us right in this one.  He soars higher and higher, finally climaxing by cascading into the Other One theme, then dropping out for a few seconds for the drummers to properly set it up.  This Other One certainly isn't the ride that the previous night's was, but the energy is right.  Phil sets up Stella, Jerry's not having it, they do the push & pull for a minute, and St. Stephen it is.  Am I being curmudgeonly, or does it feel a little like this Stephen>NFA sandwich was an obligatory one?  It's not as fresh sounding as 7/13's return celebration, but it's still a pretty slinky NFA jam, and the transition back to Stephen almost falls apart for whatever reason.  Garcia throws another curveball with the Wheel with some nice slide on the outro, then Phil abruptly rolls it back into the Other One for a quick return to the second verse for symmetry's sake, then the final kiss goodnight.  This right here is exactly what we want in a Stella Blue, that ideal moment of silent purity, those pinpoint stars that Jerry dots the sky with at the end.  He's most definitely painting the skyline tonight.  Gorgeous, gorgeous.  One of my very favorites, actually.

Everyone gets one final group-hug footstomp through Sugar Mags and one last shoo out the door with JBG.  And so ends a week with the hometown heroes, returned from exile.

Upon reflection, this was a most impressive jam, not least because of it's length (nearly 80 minutes).  Given the setlist, it's almost strange that the most magical parts of it are centered around the Wharf Rat and, while none of it feels like an afterthought, it does feel somewhat tossed together towards the end.  Bonus points for finishing that Other One, though, and for spinning out such a long jam for the radio broadcast.  I'm sure everyone taping at home must have been scratching their heads (and no doubt gnashing their teeth about where to flip!).  Compared with most of the rest of the year, it's a top drawer set.  I'd say that for the run, it definitely takes 7/16's equally eye-popping jam.

7/17, though… man.  7/17…

Playing in the LMA

There are several active GD discussion forums online, and while I lurk at a couple, I'm really only active on just one.  A regular lurk spot is the GD forum at archive.org, which has been going for nearly ten years now (!?) and it's only the weirdly linear formatting that prevents me from actively participating.  But it's still an incredible wealth of information, even if that information tends to get buried almost immediately.  I was just revisiting this wonderful post on noteworthy Playing in the Bands from 1976-1995 by bkidwell (who has posted some really fantastic analyses there), which covers a lot of non-obvious selections.  This is most definitely worth a look if you've never come across it.

https://archive.org/post/376567/playin-the-post-retirement-years-long

Some serious #TIANILB happening in there, btw.  As with any great GD analysis, this is equal parts "how could he have left out xyz!?" (really, no 4/19/86?) and "seriously? I've never heard a thing about abc before..." before pointing the way to fertile ground for even more analytical plowing to be done (do you think there will ever be a quasi-comprehensive review of the post-GD oeuvre?).

As for now, my own homework: reacquainting myself with 9/19/87 and 12/27/89.  Then maybe 6/6/93? or 9/28/93?  Do I dare disturb my universe?