Grateful Dead. . .

Hantra · « **on:** 9 Jul 2003, 02:24 pm »

All:

I was listening last night to some Grateful Dead, and I started wondering how many people here listen to the GD here. I know that JackStraw does, but I haven't read much from the rest of you guys on the Dead.

Anyhow, I was marvelling yesterday at how people automatically assume that you are a liberal dope smoker if you like the Dead. I am as conservative as anyone I know. So much so, that I will not be voting for a Bush EVER again. And I love the Dead. . . I wonder how many there are out there who are not crazed hippies, but actually like the music.

I think it's funny. . . Most of the people you see at shows who are all baked will say that they are there for the music. . .hahaha! I wonder how many really like the Dead for their music. I mean, you have one of the best song writers of all time, and some pretty talented musicians.

Anyhow, this is turning into a rant, and I just wanted to see how many fans we have here at the Circle.

If you aren't a fan, might I suggest listening to One From the Vault, or Without a Net. Those are a couple of their best discs, and I cut my teeth on the Vault album. It definitely had to grow on me, but I am really glad I started listening to the Dead.

The Without a Net album probably is my current favorite. Even all the bootlegs I have aren't quite as god as the Net discs. Last night, I was enveloped by the best Looks Like Rain I have heard, followed by a 16+ minute Eyes of the World complete with horns! Straight into Victim from there, and it's just a really great set. . . Very tight too. One of their tightest sets. . .

Anyhow, I caught the Willie Nelson bash on XM last weekend, and while they were actually pretty good, they weren't all that great. They certainly weren't really tight, and seemed a bit tired. . .

L8r,

B

cjr888 · « **Reply #1 on:** 9 Jul 2003, 06:05 pm »

You can count me in, whether you're talking about the Dead, side projects, Garcia Band, and most of the stuff in between. Used to have a much larger hobby (Read as: addiction) to trading live shows than my current CD buying issue... Now a days you can get hundreds about hundreds of .SHN format shows for the Dead and tons of other bands with currency being bandwidth rather than shipping and handling.. Helps speed up trading trees as well...

jqp · « **Reply #2 on:** 9 Jul 2003, 06:08 pm »

I agree - you don't have to have the 'Greatful Dead Fan Philosophy' to listen to a little Greatful Dead. Obviously they are not just a fad or one-hit wonder, and they incorporate a lot of American popular cuture from the last century into their music,

I have Workingman's Dead largely because of the acoustic styles on it. Garcia has some great skills on acoustic guitar ( and banjo ), and really has a way of putting Hunter's words well to music (as in 99 percent of the Dead's songs I have heard).

My research shows Garcia started out in old-time country/bluegrass bands in California (like Calarence White started with the Kentucky Colonels in California) before the drug culture took over the pop scene. His band won best new bluegrass band at, I believe the Monterey Pop festival for several years.

I found a quote by Hunter

Quote

..."Truckin'" announced, as early as 1970, what a long, strange trip it already seemed to have been. This didn't refer only to the GD, but to the ten years of bluegrass, old timey & jug band configurations leading up to the rock & roll departure.

Currently Workingman's Dead is my only GD CD. I have owned acouple of others on LP. I have some cuts of Garcia on David Grisman CDs.

Hantra · « **Reply #3 on:** 9 Jul 2003, 06:25 pm »

jq:

Go out ASAP and get Reckoning on vinyl! That is one that you will surely love. It features mostly acoustic stuff, and the LP is light years beyond the CD version. It doesn't even sound like the same show!!!

Also, I would encourage you to check out The Pizza Tapes. That is not only some of Garcia's finest acoustic work, but when you play with Tony Rice, it's kind of like a fan getting out on the floor, and playing with Michael Jordan! Sounds REALLY good too. . .

As a matter of fact, Clarence is Tony's idol, and Jerry gives Tony some pretty nice compliments regarding comparisons between Clarence, and Tony's playing. That disc is a blast!

B

mojoman · « **Reply #4 on:** 9 Jul 2003, 08:39 pm »

Quote from: Hantra

Anyhow, I was marvelling yesterday at how people automatically assume that you are a liberal dope smoker if you like the Dead. ...

And just what the hell is wrong with that.....

Hantra you mentioned the Pizza Tapes. I'd take it a step further and say check all those Garcia/Grisman projects that Acoustic Disc sells. Also the documentary Grateful Dawg is awesome.

I listen to the Dead a lot. Just spun Terrepin Station last night.

jqp · « **Reply #5 on:** 9 Jul 2003, 09:21 pm »

Quote from: Hantra

jq:

Go out ASAP and get Reckoning on vinyl! That is one that you will surely love. It features mostly acoustic stuff, and the LP is light years beyond the CD version. It doesn't even sound like the same show!!!

Also, I would encourage you to check out The Pizza Tapes. That is not only some of Garcia's finest acoustic work, but when you play with Tony Rice, it's kind of like a fan getting out on the floor, and playing with Michael Jordan! Sounds REALLY good too. . .

As a matter of ...

Added them to my mobile CD buy list

(don't have TT)

elektratig · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Jul 2003, 10:48 pm »

I listened regularly to the Dead in high school and college (late '60s and early 70's), abandoned them for decades (roughly after Europe '72), when I thought they grew stale or were moving in a direction I didn't like, and rediscovered them a few years ago. In the meantime I've grown from immature raving leftist to responsible conservative. I still have and listen to my old vinyl from the early years (luckily I was always very careful with my albums, making sure not to use them as coasters, Frisbees or chopping boards) as well as Dick's Picks on CD, which I'd heartily recommend.

OBF · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Jul 2003, 11:17 pm »

Yeah, the Dick's Picks series are where it's at IMO. Although some of the music is "smokin", I would recommend avoiding the late 60s and early 70s stuff if you are bothered by a lot of tape hiss and other sound issues.

cjr888 · « **Reply #8 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 12:39 am »

Hantra and others,

In addition to Dick's and other live albums, if you have a burner, there's hundreds of shows available in .SHN format all over the web -- some as straight downloads, and some in the trading format in the same way that DATs and analog shows are traded.. Great way to snag specific shows from your armchair whether you're looking for ancient shows, specific GDead shows, or a few hundred other bands that support or encourage tape trading.. Also if you're not looking for the absolute best quality, there's tons of sites streaming shows all over the web.. Here's a good amount to start with...

If you're not a dead fan, hop on over to archive.org (see links below) and grab a couple Martin Sexton or Bela Fleck shows (or something else that suits your fancy) that are well rated and where the mics and recording equipment used is top notch, whether its an AUD, Soundboard, or Matrix copy.. People always talk of how they hate that there recordings are compressed, messed around with, and go through rediculous amount of crappy studio equipment before its pressed to CD and gets to their home.. The beauty of the live music community and traders is that everyone rates their recordings, everyone lists exactly what and how the recording was made, and if they are mucked with, you know...unless you have a 47th generation copy and you don't know what's been done in between.

So nice to see something straight off a soundboard, or a listing showing that it was recording directly behind the soundboard with Neumann Mics -> some cable -> Nice A>D -> DAT or HD, and then whether the copy is straight from the DAT, or if the person then passed it through D>A or any other process...

Straight downloads of .SHNs for GDead, Jerry, Phil, Weird, Other Ones, and others..
http://www.gdlive.com/

THE Resouce for SHNs in circulation, trading trees, etc.
http://www.etree.org/

Excellent resource for live shows of many, many, many bands.. Grab some Sexton and Bela.
http://www.archive.org/audio/etree.php
http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php

Another trading community.
http://www.shinburn.com/

Mix of straight downloads and trees.
http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/tunetree/

Peer-to-Peer Network of Lives Shows based on eTree.
http://www.furthurnet.com/

Awesome site for streaming and downloads, with a lot moving to FurtherNet.
http://www.sugarmegs.org/

More good streaming.
http://www.deadshow.com/

Real Audio Streaming.
http://www.deadlegs.com/

SHN Trading Lists and Servers.
http://www.shns.net/

Links to GDLive Radio and Phil and Friends Radio.
http://www.gdlive.com/radio.asp

On-Demand Streaming..
http://www.jerryradio.com/

WinAmp Plugin for Setlists and Lyriucs Display for GDead and related bands for MP3, SHN, streaming, etc..
http://www.deadamp.com/

Manually look up any setlist.
http://setlist.com/

Another community spun off of eTree with better versions of seeds.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dankseeds/

SHN Trading and Announce List.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHN-Bin/

Speed up downloading huge files..
http://wiki.etree.org/index.php?page=BitTorrent

Another File Sharing Network..
http://www.deadshare.com/

You can also hit up alt.binaries.music.shn

randog · « **Reply #9 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 01:01 am »

Add me to the list...

One of the things I've never heard mentioned much is the GD lyrics. Most of their early stuff had really, really good lyrics that were both poetic and prophetic...

Like I said in another post recently, if you like bluegrass (and the GD for that matter), Old & In The Way is a must-have with Garcia on banjo and Grisman on mando.

cjr888 · « **Reply #10 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 06:47 am »

Huge Grisman fan.. Actually one of the best shows I've ever seen was Grisman at McArthur Theater in Princeton. That and the first time I saw Bela Fleck at Irving Plaza. The Old and in the Way stuff is wonderful... When you speak of lyrics, are you speaking of Robert Hunter stuff, or other?

Jumpin · « **Reply #11 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 01:04 pm »

Also a "head" along with appearing very conservative in my public life. I've seen countless shows, most recently a couple of the new Dead shows. Highly recommended. The quality of music and the song selection is great. As much as we all miss Jerry, they can do a variety of great songs now that Jerry would not touch - St. Steven, The Eleven, Mr. Charlie, Lady with a fan (Terrapin intro), Viola Lee, etc...)

Joan Osborne has joined the band on this tour and she is trancendant. I wish they could find a way to use her more. She sings Jerry's old ballads amon other things.

Only concern is that wilth Phil in control, they feel free to jam too much. If you can get past that, you will enjoy.

On recording, albums are grea, so are the previously mentioned Dicks Picks.

Come to think of it, the joy I have had at live shows is probably the single thing most driving my desire to put together a smokin home system - to recreate the joy of live music.

Jumpin

HarleyMYK · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 02:12 pm »

Quote

Come to think of it, the joy I have had at live shows is probably the single thing most driving my desire to put together a smokin home system

...and what would you be smokin

...just kidding of course. I am sure no one on this board does anything like that.

Loved Joan Osborne in "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". Great voice. Wonder if she belts it out even harder with the Dead.

randog · « **Reply #13 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 02:23 pm »

Quote from: Jumpin

Joan Osborne has joined the band on this tour and she is trancendant. I wish they could find a ...

REALLY??? Wow, that would be great. She's the real thing!

Know where the tour dates are posted?

Thump553 · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 Jul 2003, 08:07 pm »

I like the Dead but they are not my musical universe, like they are to so many of their fans. I've seen them live three times, the most recent time was last November when my wife and I brought our two teenage daughters (sons don't like the Dead)-my first Dead show since 1976. We were far from the only family at the show either. It was a nice show, but nothing special.

Personally, I think the Dead are in a bit of a slump now-they are polished and professional, but something is missing. Personally I am far more excited by other "jam" bands I heard-like Moe., Yonder Mountain String Band, Derek Trucks Band, etc.-than what the Dead is currently doing.

A good comparision would be to download the following shows from the recent Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee: The Allman Brothers, The Dead and Neil Young. All headliners, all old-school jammers. The Allman Brothers cooked and did a bunch of new music. Neil Young & Crazy Horse did a wild set of superlong jams of classic songs only (incidentally, this was a one show diversion from his current tour, where he is basically performing a completely new unreleased album-what other artist has the nerve to do that?). The Dead were the closing headliner of the festival. Their show was, at best, completely unmemorable but not unpleasant.

jqp · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Jul 2003, 06:35 am »

What is the status of the Dead? I thought they disbanded after Garcia's death, and became Phish or something like that?

jqp · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 Jul 2003, 03:50 am »

(* Crickets chirping *)

Hantra · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Jul 2003, 04:31 am »

Quote

What is the status of the Dead?

Okay, I'll take a shot at this. . .

The "Grateful Dead" has only been back together, and touring for the past couple of months. Basically, the guys never stopped touring. There was "Ratdog" (Bobby's band), then there were "The Other Ones", which was at one time everyone but Phil. Then there were "Phil and Friends/Phriends". They did a short 3 night run with Phish for the "Phriends" designation.

That collection of shows is for sure worth having! Actually, they were going to release these shows on a retail set with SBD copies produced by Phil. But guess who objected to that. . . Trey Anastasio! He was going to release them as a CHARITY thing to benefit the Unbroken Chain foundation. Trey said no. . . Amazing. . .

Nevertheless, there are two audience copies out there, and both are good. One is a little better than another. . . Get them if you can. . .

Anyhow, there were a couple more side projects here and there, but now they are touring as the Grateful Dead. Sitting in for Garcia is Robert Hunter. They were with Dylan this summer, and Willie Nelson for a spell. Some others too, but those are the big ones. . .

That's all I know. . .

B

jqp · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 Jul 2003, 04:53 am »

Quote from: Hantra

...Sitting in for Garcia is Robert Hunter. ...

Wow thats interesting. Did Hunter ever play with the Dead in the past?

Thanks for the info!

JackStraw · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Jul 2003, 09:37 am »

Quote from: randog

Add me to the list...

One of the things I've never heard mentioned much is the GD lyrics. Most of their early stuff had really, really good lyrics that were both poetic and prophetic...

Like I said in another post recently, if you like bluegrass (and the GD for that matter), Old & In The Way is a must-have with Garcia on banjo and Grisman on mando.

Right on about the lyrics -- and if you're into that I'd highly recommend getting "Might as Well... The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead". Soulful a capella readings of several classic tunes. And, this will help to demonstrate that the LATE stuff had really good lyrics as well (i.e., Lazy River Road and Black Muddy River).

Old & In the Way is great stuff too.