I listen to the Grateful Dead every night for over an hour while I am on the treadmill. During January I was listening to Fillmore and Winterland concerts from 1970 (the era of Workingman’s Dead). The Dead were experimenting with a warm intimate sound during 1970. Many shows featured a mix of acoustical sets (the NRPS were often in attendance). This was the year I first saw the Dead live. Clearly, however, there were issues. The sound worked best in small halls, like the two Fillmores and just as clearly Bear’s abilities as a sound man had just about reached his (and the band’s) limit. Although the funk of Dancing In The Streets and Turn on Your Love light still worked, you can hear both Bob and Jerry breaking out on some songs (China Cat) to a stronger more pure ROCK approach. Johnny B. Goode and Not Fade Away both make tentative appearances during the year.
In 1971 the Band moved into a new and improved model, a new sound crew and new sound system were developed and the ability of the band to effectively play larger halls was perfected. This is the year which moved towards the Skulls and Roses release (recorded in March and April). The guitar sound is crisper (and louder). In addition to Johnny B. Goode (which would find it truest form in 1972), often moves into the closing spot, replacing TOYLL). Jerry is adding new songs (Wharf Rat, Loser, Bertha). Both Bob and Pig are adding stronger, more focused, vocals. This year’s version of the band snaps with energy.
This is a year which has been heavily documented with the live recording series from Dead.Net and include:
The Internet Archive has always been a great source for free concerts recordings of the Grateful Dead. The year 1971 is no exception. Probably no single individual has done more quality sound processing of concert tapes posted to the Internet Net then a the great Charlie Miller and 1971 is not exception. In this year alone, Charlie contributed 26 soundboard recording which he processed. No single contributor has better sound processing skills or better musical taste than Charlie. And we thank him for his contribution. You can find my blogs on the Grateful Dead recordings on the Internet Archive here, here, here and here.
The February run at the Capital Theater is outstanding. The performance is great and the sound system (and sound processing are terrific). Among these dates the February 18th date is freely available and features some breakout performances, including Bertha, Loser, It Hurts Me Too and Truckin’. Pride of place is the great sequence:
Mama Tried
Hard to Handle
Dark Star
Wharf Rat
Dark Star
Me And My Uncle
This is a nice long two set concert. The first set begins with Bertha and Truckin and ends with Casey Jones. The second set, not as strong as the first set, opens with a early short version of Playin’ In the Band and an eraly version of Sugar Magnolia (with Wah Wah). The second set concludes with a nice sequence of:
Not Fade Away
Goin’ Down The Road, Feeling Bad
Not Fade Away
Uncle John’s Band
Wow. Nice. Here is a link list into the set. Click on the date to jump to the Internet Archive’s player to hear the whole concert. Individual songs can be heard in modern browsers by clicking on the track title (free a track with a right click).
I have written several blog about individual Grateful Dead show in the 1970. They can be found here. A hyperlist list of all 1970 concerts can be found here. All of my Grateful Dead blogs can be found here. I have never been attracted to the approach of locating the ‘best’ concert or the ‘best’ version of a particular Dead song. We all have our favorites. I often find myself playing a particular set of 1970 Grateful Dead concerts when I am the mode for Grateful Dead 1.0 (the Pigpen era). The Dead released two commercial albums during 1970 and Dead.Net has released at least six concert from this year alone. This is a very rich year for The Dead. The drums are kicking, Pig Pen’s organ is grinding, Bobby has finally learned how to play the guitar… There are a boat load of excellent concerts to listen to free on the Internet Archive even after those which are no longer available because they have been commercially released by Dead.Net. The concerts selected here are limited small San Francisco area venues (the exceptions are the Fillmore East & The Winterland). The listings here are of all Sound Board records. The best of these, IMHO, are the Fillmore shows (East and West) and the Winterland shows. For completeness I have included shows at the Matrix, The Euphoria Ballroom and at the Family Dog. There are several audience recording patches of individual songs and parts of song among several of the shows.
The Winterland In the 1970’s (Grateful Dead 2.0 on stage).
Why 1970 (and not 1969 or 1971)?
This is a great year for Dead version 1.0, they are capable of playing as a tight ensemble with a funk and bluesy feel. The psychedelic excesses of 1968 are (mostly) in the past and the power stadium rock band (Dead version 2.0 with the Godchaux’s ) is still in the future. The band presents a warm mix of (what was to become) folk-rock and funk based blues (The versions of Turn on Your Love Light played here could last over 25 minutes where often used as a second set closer). The jams feature great interactions between Jerry, Bobby and PigPen with a driven rhythm section of base and drums. And frankly these shows are what I have been listening to over the last few weeks.
Why Small California Halls?
The band often played their most intimate sets in small halls which were close to home. Indeed the Fillmore West was a second home, The Matrix was a small club attached to the Fillmore West, The Euphoria was right around the corner from their practice space in San Rafael, The Winterland, although much larger, was also a San Francisco club and also a Phil Graham venue. The Family Dog (on the Great Highway) was at one point owned by the Grateful Dead. The Fillmore East is obviously not a San Francisco club but the Dead have been playing there since 196X and it was also a Phil Graham venue. “There’s not place like home, Auntie ‘Em”. By listening to small venues over the year one can build up a better appreciation of how the Dead developed thematically during this crucial year.
Aren’t There Some Bad nights and poor sound board records in this Listing?
Yes, indeed. But not among the Fillmore and Winterland shows. But the great shows didn’t just happen. Think of the Euphoria and the Matrix sets as live rehersals in battle conditions and The Family Dog is, well, the Family Dog.
Click On The Date Column To jump to the Internet Archive For The Concert.
Click On the Track Column To Jump directly to the Song (To unlock and save the track locally: RIGHT CLICK the track.)
(Note the studio recording listed as 1970-01-01 manifestly did not take place on that date but it is the date placeholder used in the Internet Archive for this recording).
Type Column: S = Soundboard, Studio=Studio Recording, SC = Soundboard recording remixed by Charlie Miller.
Crimson flames tied through my ears Rollin’ high and mighty traps Pounced with fire on flaming roads Using ideas as my maps “We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I Proud ’neath heated brow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now
My Back Pages by Bob Dylan
I first heard the Grateful Dead live in Albuquerque in 1971. Like many, this was a seminal experience for me, changing my understanding of the meaning of performance and of Rock and Roll. That over weight, black clad, Prankster with a halo of unmanageable black hair playing guitar was clearly the center of the band and the performance. I was young and was unaware that this was Captain Trips. Captain America was more like it. Nor was I aware of the mythical aura that was even then growing around the band and Jerry and their fans. Like many, my first experience of the Dead was prepared only by my youth and The Bear’s purple haze of the night. In the intervening years I was more attracted to Frank Zappa who produced a consistent recording experience that the Dead never would achieve. After the (limited) success of the Grateful Dead Movie in capturing what the Dead were, the world moved on. But the band played on. Perhaps it is better that way. The early taping of Dead shows from the sound boards (thank you Owsley) and later by dedicated deadhead tapers left us with a rich vein of music and magic in the over 3000 individual live performances available in one form or another. Beginning in the last decade of the last century, the Dead organization began to issue live sound board recordings from this corpus.
Dick’s Picks and Me
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth “Rip down all hate,” I screamed Lies that life is black and white Spoke from my skull. I dreamed Romantic facts of musketeers Foundationed deep, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now
While a great resource for those of us not conversant in bit torrent, these releases where frequently expensive and (to my ears) over produced which subtracted from the raw energy of the original sound board tapes. I am lucky to have access to a great music store with plentiful numbers of used Grateful Dead CD. If you are in Maine visit a local Bull Moose Music store. I was luck to be able to pick up many Live Dead concert CDs at a reasonable price. Thank you Bull Moose. Although the official Dead releases enhanced my life, there are some problems:
I) The list prices are quite high (try to get used copies)
II) Selections for the Dick’s Pick Series seem to be primarily based on best complete shows (The Dead were often hit and miss in the same night and limiting yourself to the best complete show skips a lot of great music. This problem has been reduced by the newer Road Trips Series and specialty releases like Ladies and Gentlemen… the Grateful Dead which cooks down the best of a four night stand at the Fillmore, 1971).
III) The processing of the raw tapes, IMHO, sometimes cook the life out of some the releases.
IV) Some of the specialty releases seem to be picked more for the historical importance than the quality of the performance (Closing the Winterland, for example).
Having said all that, if you can get the official releases used, some of them are great.
A Short Divergence in Our Story
Girls’ faces formed the forward path From phony jealousy To memorizing politics Of ancient history Flung down by corpse evangelists Unthought of, though, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now
I started to cooked down my copies of the official live releases into playlist CDs (favorites of 1974, Dark Star releases, etc.). Then I had open heart surgery, caught a post operative wound infection and almost died. Stephen Gould wrote someplace that the greatest species in evolution are Bactria. They are everywhere. There are more Bactria in your body than body cells. And I was in the three month war between the bugs and myself ( to be honest I had massive antibiotic infusions on my side). My day was composed of pain medicine, James Joyce’s Ulysses, The Bible, and my CDs of live Dark Star performances. Let’s just say that Dark Star and the Gospel of Mark were more significant than Tramadol in my recovery. Rehab consisted of countless hours of treadmill work. That, and an MP3 player packed with Scarlet Begonia and Fire on the Mountain.
BTW: Tom Constanten said somewhere that they didn’t play Dark Star, it was always going on, they just joined in. Although T.C. recommends ‘any East Coast Dark Star’ my favorites are early West Coast versions.
The Internet Archive Connection
In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand At the mongrel dogs who teach Fearing not that I’d become my enemy In the instant that I preach My pathway led by confusion boats Mutiny from stern to bow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now
The Internet Archive, in early 2000 began collecting, digitalizing and making available for re-distribution the large body of Grateful Dead concerts made by independent tapers and sound board recordings (SB) which were in circulation. By policy SB recordings are available for playing on the web site and non-SB recordings are available for downloading. There are multiple recordings available for most shows and these vary in quality from commercially releasable to barely audible. There are over 8,000 individual recording of about 1,900 shows. About 1,000 of these are SB. While vast the Internet Archive is not the most accessible site. Like most people I started with the feature of the Grateful Dead collection called:
(If you have never been there – try the link right now).
For 08-30 (today while I am writing this) the Internet Archive will display 30 recordings (for shows of this date in 1985, 1983, 1981, 1980, 1970 and 1969). There are limited sort options of these results. Selecting a given recording brings one to a new web page containing an online player and (if the show is not an SB) download options. I was hooked on the musical possibilities but trapped by the limited user interface of the Internet Archive. I wanted more. Much more…
Hacking The Internet Archive
A self-ordained professor’s tongue Too serious to fool Spouted out that liberty Is just equality in school “Equality,” I spoke the word As if a wedding vow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now
My goal was to have the ability to listen to ALL of the Dead’s concerts but using only the best recordings and to be able to move through the collection using a better user interface which would allow me to decide where and when to go to any individual date. My goal was to spend a year and at least sample all 1,900 concerts and listen completely to all SB concert recordings. I decided to complete this project in 12 months. To do this I would first need to wrestle the Internet Archive (IA) to its knees. Little did I know that this would take me on a programming journey involving three programing languages (Ruby, Javascript and C#), two data specifications (XML and JSON), two database engines (couchdb and SQL Server) as well as understanding the (somewhat loosely documented) search engine of IA, and more…. Readers interested in the technical details should see my series of postings on Ruby on Rails and CouchDB. Please see Part 5 has the details of how to hack the Internet Archive to get at the data for the Grateful Dead recordings on IA. Thus armed with the complete dataset from the Internet Archive of Grateful Dead recordings and a new front end I was ready to begin my listening project. There are over 8,000 recordings of over 2,000 concerts on the Internet Archive. My first cut on the recordings in to use an algorithm to select ONE recording for each recording date for review. This is a very simple selection based on the first of:
Was processed by Charlie Miller (IMHO the BEST processor of Grateful Dead Tapes)
Is a Sound Board Recording
Is a Matrix Recording
Is the most recently posted tape for a given date.
Does this process miss some gems? Undoubtedly but it did give me 2,000 tapes to review rather than 8,000. With this criteria in place, my local copy of the IA database and my own UI for IA I started listening in July, 2011. I did not attempt to listen to all 2,000 recordings completely. If a recording was of poor quality or the band was out of tune or Jerry was ‘uninspired’ I abandoned the tape have brief samples of my favorite tunes. In the end I reviewed about 1,000 concerts by in thirteen months (I finished during the ‘days between’ period;[August 1 and August 9]). I ended up with about 475 concerts on my personal playlist of ‘greatest concerts’. Along the way I wrote several reviews on this blog of concerts which I thought were particularly of note. and compiled hyperlinked list of shows by year (the series starts here) and hyperlinks to Dark Star concerts and Scarlet Begonia –> Fire on the Mountain concerts. All of these blogs contain links to jump right into the concert within the Internet Archive (but you still need to use the IA music player however). Do I have a favorite sequence of songs, a favorite concert, a favorite era. Yes. Am I going to tell you? No. Dig in visit the Internet Archive and start listening. It could save your life.
Days Between Grateful Dead
and there were days and there were days I know when all we ever wanted was to learn and love and grow Once we grew into our shoes we told them where to go walked halfway around the world on promise of the glow stood upon a mountain top
David Crosby: Cause I’m Missing Jerry Tonight (2012)
Cause I’m missing him tonight
If I had to pick one of us to speak for us all
He would have done the job well
Coming from some crazy angle
He’d have known which story to tell
he’d tell the truth about real music
he knew the truth long before he fell
His fingers would touch his guitar neck
My axe would be pressed to my chest
A chord and a melody would walk in the door
Closely followed by all of the rest
Magic and tragic and triumph and storm
and all the things we had sought on our quest
You get your ego out of the way of your hearts
The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts
A sort of field pops into existence
Everything lifts off the ground
You know that you’re doing what you were born to do
That you’re using the gift that you’ve found
To create some lift and break all the chains
with which all our people are bound
he did it for all the right reasons
and made all of our mistakes
a more human man you could not find
an accelerator without the brakes
but he had the brains and the heart and the spirit
Garcia really had what it takes
The Internet Archive has a gigantic collection of Grateful Dead. You can find out more about these tapes here and here.
Here are two representative concerts from the last tour. While Jerry can clearly see the end of his struggles there are some songs (if not full concerts) during the last few months. The I Want to Tell You / Estimated Prophet run on 1995-05-24 is sweet, Jerry even asks for requests at the end of (a very nice)Terrapin Station, “…and we we play the one which freaks us out the most.” This is probably the best Estimated Prophet in the 1995 season. Please note the 1995-05-24 track list (from several sources differs from the tracks on the concert recording presented here (see this link for an alternative track listing). The 1995-05-21 concert is longer and the band is very together and the sound board recording is processed by the master of the tapes: Charlie Miller. There are several high points in this show of which one reviewer wrote:
I knew if I look long enough in the ’95 section if the archive I’d finally find a show that wasn’t either a moribund death march, a Jerry free zone, a sloppy mess or a combination of all three. (In this concert)…everybody is present. I can listen to it without the caveat “it’s really good for ’95″
Among the high lights are West L.A. Fadaway, Eyes Of the World and a beautiful run from Spanish Jam –> The Other One –> Days Between –> Sugar Manolia and then the closer: Liberty. All in all a nice way to go.
It was a great, Jerry and thank you. I will miss you.
This is the first of three blog posts on the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West, 1969, 1970 and 1971.
The Internet Archive is the home of the Grateful Dead Tape Collection. The 1969 represents in many ways the high point in the first phase of the Grateful Dead (the era of the Dark Star, Jamming, Pig Pen and LSD) and also a transition to the more single song orientation of Aoxomoxoa . The Dead did a four night run at the Fillmore West on June 05, 06, 07 and 08. The Fillmore West is more or less the home court for the Dead during this era and June is, mostly, the best month, for most years, that quality performances were caught on sound board recordings. This run survives on three sound board recordings (June 05, 07 and 08) and a fragment of the June 06 set with an audience recording of three songs (including what may be the longest LoveLight at 46 minutes plus). These shows show the extreme breath of the Dead’s song list even at this early date when enthusiasm often exceeds technique and also point clearly to the future dead where Dark Star all but disappears from the set list (Jerry said it morphed into the Mise-en-scène of the band).
The June 05 show is the type of Dead set which the early Dead are remembered for most today. The run of Cryptically Envelopment/Drums/The Other One/ Cryptically Envelopment pretty well sets the crowd on fire and this is followed by a classic Dark Star/ St. Stephen / The Eleven in the second set. Jerry’s petal steel guitar version of He Was A Friend of Mine is unique to this show.
The June 07 show is very different. Pig Pen is absent and TC on the keyboards through out until Pig Pen returns for the closing Lovelight. This is a very Jerry set as the opening shows: Dire Wolf –> Dupree’s Diamond Blues –> Mountains Of the Moon –> Dark Star –> St. Stephen –> The Eleven.
The show of June 08 turns the wheel again. This is a dance riot set and the bass and drumming are way up front. The set starts with Dancin’ in the Street and a monumental early Dead classic New Potato Caboose. The second set opens with a unique 37 minute deluxe version of Turn On Your Love Light (with With Elvin Bishop & Wayne Ceballos). Phil and the drummers are just on fire. Jerry is more or less absent. If less typically psychedelic in sound, our old friend is clearly in the minds of the band. Phil Lesh wrote of the June 08 show:
” I looked over at Jerry and saw a bridge of light like a rainbow of a thousand colors streaming between us; and flowing back and forth across that bridge: three-dimensional musical notes – some swirling like the planet Jupiter rotating at 100 times normal speed, some like fuzzy little tennis balls with dozens of legs and feet(each foot wearing a different sock!), some striped like zebras, some like pool balls, some even rectangular or hexagonal, all brilliantly colored and evolving as they flowed, not only the notes that were being played, but all the possible notes that could have been played. That moment may well have been the peak of psychedelic music for me – the combination of absolute inevitability and ecstatic freedom has never been equaled.”
You could pay out big bucks to Dead.Net and get the “Dead at the Fillmore West” with its much restricted set list or you can listen to these recordings for free. After you have absorbed these 3 and one half hours of music, you might want to stay in your seat at the Fillmore but jump ahead to June 1970.
Jerry Garcia once said that he didn’t care what venue he played at but that what he liked was to play the same venue on successive days. These three nights in June, 1990 are nice sound board recordings of Jerry and the Grateful Dead on what was, for many, the last great tour. Throughout the Dead’s career, the keyboard player was integral to the Dead’s sound. Amazingly the three great Dead key board players brought remarkably different talents to the band and indeed, the band (and Jerry) sounds very different depending if its Pig Pen or Godchaux or Mydland. These shows of course are part of the Mydland era (his last show would be 23 July 1990 and he died on the 26th) . The recordings on these three nights are available in full on the Internet Archive, are very good. These are NOT modern, cold, digital recordings. The crowd can often be heard in the background. Bob’s supporting guitar work is excellent and easy to hear on these tapes. Jerry and Brent are pretty subdued, and soulful. Of the three shows 06/08 is my favorite the run from Bird Song through Foolish Heart are particularly sweet. The second night, for me, suffers from a set list not to my tastes(although Lucy Loose and All Along the Watchtower are unforgettable.). The last night has some great runs including Playin’ in the Band –> Crazy Fingers -> Playing In The Band Jam as well as the closing of Standing On the Moon through ‘Last Time. All of Jerry’s ‘first set classics’ like Jack-A-Roe, Jack Straw and Row Jimmy are great examples of the types of sweet solos Jerry developed late in his career. If you are looking for the classic, happy hippy ‘Keep On Truckin’ Grateful Dead, you will not find them here. This is the mature Jerry Garcia (he was 48 and in poor health) with thirty years and thousands of shows on the road. Death did stalk the halls on these nights and Jerry plays against the devil. And the music plays the band.
It starts out as a not great recording of a not great night of the post Brent Grateful Dead. Then, as it some times does, during the second set the magic hits Jerry during Crazy Fingers. The vocals have a timeless blues feel and the solo is out of this world (with parts of ‘Spanish Jam’ showing up). You can hear the band pick up Jerry’s vibe. Vince’s keyboards start to rock and we are off and running seamlessly into great versions of Playin’ in the Band and Uncle John’s Band. After the Drums and Space thingy a rocking I Need a Miracle and and Jerry is outstanding on Standing On the Moon. Not two hours of bliss but these five songs show how the post 1990 could cook even without Bruce. When Jerry is there, he is there.
Here are some cuts from the Internet Archive Grateful Dead Collection which you might miss because the dates are non-sense and there for hard to search for. I have included selected reviewer comments from the original postings.
Reviewer’s Comment: Possibly 2/12/66 Longshoreman’s Hall 1st Nigh Longshoreman’s Hall 3rd Night Pauley Ballroom #2 (no date). I can’t believe I am hearing this for the first time today. It is incredible. The quality for the time period is just unreal. Talk about hearing these guys in the raw, primal form. This is it.
1967-00-00 – Studio Sessions for Anthem of the Sun Listen
Reviewer’s Comment: The Taping Compendium Volume One lists the tape as “11/19/67, Unknown Studio
Location Rehearsal”. Deadlists calls it “11/1?/67, Rehearsal Studio Session”.
The Deaddisc discography page lists the following Anthem studio sessions:
- Sept 1967, RCA Studio A, Hollywood;
- Oct 1967, American Studios, North Hollywood;
- Dec 1967, Century Sound, New York; Olmstead Studios, New York.
To add to the confusion, db.etree lists the following studio tape dates:
“10-20-67, American Studios”, “11-19-67 Unknown location”, and “12-02-67,
Studio“. Obviously, this material fits somewhere within this time period.
Reviewer’s Comment: This is definitely sweet music to my ears, Pig slowing the show done at will, working the crowd, and leading the band through the song. Pig’s groove didn’t always work, sometimes it failed miserably, but when it did work, Pig was that little bit extra that put this band on another level they were never able to reach again after his retirement/death.
Reviewer’s Comments: Where or whenever this was, it’s a perfect little slice of mid-’68 Dead. Pigpen’s organ really stands out here given the sound an added dimension not always heard. Stunning New Potato and an adrenaline-rush of a Caution.
Lemieux explained that this music came off a vault reel marked “early-1968 Carousel” and it certainly is not a studio session. Seeing as the first St. Stephen was performed sometime in May ’68, it makes sense that this could be from the May 30 – June 1 stand.
Still, it sounds fantastic and you have to dig Pig’s ska organ. (97 pts)
Reviewer’s Comments: this is great. have only heard the first few so far but seems to be jerry playing around on an acoustic working on the arrangements for the tunes to be on workingmans. the sound is great for what it is, feels like he’s sitting on a stool right there next to my desk.
Reviewer’s Comments: As far as who is actually present playing, it’s hard to tell. Delaney and Bonnie are audible singing in the background of GDTRFB. Delaney is singing the lead vocal on track 2, a blues that I’m sure someone out there must know the name of. Jerry comes in playing a standard electric guitar at the end of Jam 4 and plays a brief little solo at 14:16. Delaney is probably playing the guitar throughout as well. Leslie West is audible playing on Sugar Mag/Cotton Jam.
Reviewer’s Comment: Mickey and Jerry make a public apology for having to cancel the December 18, 1970 show that was to take place in Port Chester. This however is no ordinary “I’m sorry” statement
Reviewer’s Comments: This is from a “liberated” Italian bootleg CD. From the Taping Compendium, I would guess these are culled from various studio sessions for the Blues For Allah LP and that they are from the March, 1975 time period. All tracks are of outstanding sonic quality (except for Music which suffers from a horrible cut at the end).
1979-00-00 – Go to Heaven Sessions – Betty Cantor’s Rough Mixes Listen
Reviewer’s Comment: This track is really good. Better than the released version, in my opinion. Who said the Dead could not be a studio band? Lost Sailor is quite good. Part of the KPFA Marathon broadcast on 2/22/2003
Reviewer’s Comments: Los Angeles and San Francisco. Interview with Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia
Part 1 Discussion of the Grateful Dead’s Acoustic Music. Part 2 Discussion of the Grateful Dead’s Electric Music. Cool to hear that 15 year prospective on how Bob and Jerr feel about their music and all that comes with.
Reviewer’s Comments: I watched the Twilight Zone looking for the music credits and never found them, so even tho I knew the GD recorded music for the newer 80′s version of the teevee show I don’t know if I ever actually heard the music.
The Internet Archive’s Grateful Dead is a great collection of concert tapes. There are over 2,000 unique concerts. There are multiple recordings of most concerts. This series attempts to provide a simple interface to this collection by selecting one recording for each concert on a given date. Preference is given to tapes processed by the great Charlie Miller and sound board tapes. Not all shows are well recorded but the there are great moments here. Dig in and enjoy! You didn’t have to be there. Good Luck.
The Grateful Dead Valentines of Flesh and Blood (1990 –1995)
After a very successful spring/summer 1990 tour Brent Mydland, the Dead’s long time keyboard player Brent Mydland died of a drug overdose. His last show with The Grateful Dead was on 23 July 1990. Vince Welnick (formerly of The Tubes) joined on key boards. From time to time between September 1990 and March 1992, Bruce Hornsby also played with the band on his grand piano. There are some great shows after July 1990, especially when Bruce was present. Jerry’s continued health problems (and drug addiction) crippled his singing and sometimes the Drums –> Space portion of the concerts could last for up to an hour. Jerry did deliver some of his finest (blues oriented) solos during this period (listen to such songs as Days Betweenand Standing On the Moon). Robert Greenfields excellent Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia provides important contributions to understanding what was happening to Jerry (and the band) during these ‘final days’. Jerry Garcia died August 9, 1995. RIP
After a Brent’s Death in 1990 and a some what confused fall tour (aka The Tour From Hell) the shows of March and April 1991 were often terrific. This April 04 concert is phenomenal. Phil is in great form and Vince and Jerry are jellying well. In the first set Jerry pulls out an interesting midi “trumpet” solo. The second set is very smooth and innovative:
Help On The Way –> Slipnot! –> Franklin’s Tower –> Estimated Prophet –> He’s Gone
wOw! Then a closer of Standing on the Moon –> Good Lovin’ and U.S. Blues as the ‘encore’. A great group effort where everything moves smoothly and in great synchrony. Help On The Way & Slipnot sound almost Zappa’ish in form and the great disciple.
care what venue he played at but that what he liked was to play the same venue on successive days. These three nights in June, 1990 are nice sound board recordings of Jerry and the Grateful Dead on what was, for many, the last great tour. Throughout the Dead’s career, the keyboard player was integral to the Dead’s sound. Amazingly the three great Dead key board players brought remarkably different talents to the band and indeed, the band (and Jerry) sounds very different depending if its Pig Pen or Godchaux or Mydland. These shows of course are
part of the Mydland era (his last show would be 23 July 1990 and he died on the 26th) . The recordings on these three nights are available in full on the 
on these tapes. Jerry and Brent are pretty subdued, and soulful. Of the three shows 06/08 is my favorite the run from Bird Song through Foolish Heart are particularly sweet. The second night, for me, suffers from a set list not to my tastes(although Lucy Loose and All Along the Watchtower are unforgettable.). The last night has some great runs including Playin’ in the Band –> Crazy Fingers -> Playing In The Band Jam as well as the closing of Standing On the Moon through ‘Last Time. All of Jerry’s ‘first set classics’ like Jack-A-Roe, Jack Straw and Row Jimmy are great examples of the types of sweet solos Jerry developed late in his career. If you are looking for the classic, happy hippy ‘Keep On Truckin’ Grateful Dead, you will not find them here. This is the mature Jerry Garcia (he was 48 and in poor health) with thirty years and thousands of shows on the road. Death did stalk the halls on these nights and Jerry plays against the devil. And the music plays the band.
