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

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

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

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

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

Thanks!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UM, Clem, whats a DUD DP?

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

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

Bertrand.

See the sun sparkle in the reeds,
Silver beach fastened to the sea


I stand corrected on that second line.

gdogus,

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

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

Thanks,

Bertrand.

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

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

Weather Report Suite (Part I)

Winter rain, now tell me why, Summers fade, and roses die.
The answer came; the wind and rain.
Golden hills, now veiled in grey, Summer leaves have blown away
Now what remains? The wind and rain.

And like a desert spring, my lover comes and spreads her wings, Knowing,
Like a song that's born to soar the sky, Flowing,
Flowing 'til the waters all are dry, Growing, the loving in her eyes.

Circle songs and sands of time, and seasons will end in tumbled rhyme,
and little change, the wind and rain.

And like a desert spring, my lover comes and spreads her wings,
Knowing, Like a song that's born to soar the sky,
Flowing, Flowing 'til the rivers all are dry, Growing, the loving in her eyes.

Winter grey and falling rain, we'll see summer come again,
Darkness falls and seasons change (gonna happen every time).
Same old friends the wind and rain, Summers fade and roses die,
You'll see summer come again, Like a song that's born to soar the sky.


Part II - Let It Grow

Morning comes, she follows the path to the river shore,
Lightly sung, her song is the latch on the morning's door.
See the sun sparkle in the reeds,
Silver beads, pass into the sea.

She comes from a town where they call her the woodcutter's daughter,
She's brown as the bank where she kneals down to gather her water, and
She bears it away with a love that the river has taught her.

Let it flow,
greatly grow,
wide and clear.

Round and round, the cut of the plough in the furrowed field,
Seasons round, the bushels of corn and the barley meal,
Broken ground, open and beckoning to the spring,
Black dirt live again!
The plowman is broad as the back of the land he is sowing,
As he dances the circular track of the plough ever knowing
that the work of his days measures more than the planting and growing

Let it grow,
Let it grow,
Greatly yield.

What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?
As well to count the angels dancing on a pin.
Water bright as the sky from which it came,
And the name is on the earth that takes it in.
We will not speak but stand inside the rain,
And listen to the thunder shouting "I am!"
"I am! I am! I am."

So it goes, we make what we made since the world began.
Nothing more, love of the women, work of man.
Seasons round, creatures great and small, up and down
as we rise and fall.

What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?
As well to count the angels dancing on a pin.
Water bright as the sky from which it came,
and the name is on the earth that takes it in.
We will not speak but stand inside the rain,
And listen to the thunder shouting "I am!"

Re: Weather Report/Dead

Never happened.

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


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

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

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

Now Playing:
1977/05/07 Boston Garden

gdogus,

Is that the one with Shorter and Zawinul

chalupa,

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

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

Bertrand.

Clem, dope?
Bertrand, no thats the one with Miles and Wayne

Clem - for me and my friends the topic of Garcia's self-destruction was kind of a buzz kill stretching all the way back to 1980 when it was blow, and it was the whole band or so the scene said. Jerry was a sharp player as far as I know before he became an addict. Rumors of addiction started in 1978, as I think back. I think we assumed this great musical man was just bored with the "structures" that the Dead had taken on (e.g. serial annual schedules of a spring tour, a fall tour, two sets a short one and a longer one, stretching out only in the second set, Weir's weird/bad songs, a big payroll, no recent breakthrough songs written by him and Hunter except maybe Terrapin and Shakedown). One thing I do remember from my first few years out seeing shows (1977, 78,79) was that the "old timers" who had seen the band with Pigpen were just appalled at how the scene had evolved to almost all arena and stadium events, no time for the band to hang out, stretch out musically, and they actually loved the 10-20 minutes between songs when the band would re-tune their gear! More time to smoke up I'm sure.
I also got to wondering whether Garcia, who loved great songs, anybody's great songs, would have liked to done things like Russian Lullaby with the Dead. The JGB was like a private passion for an expanded repertoire, even though the limitations of roughly three nights of material in the early 80s was stressing out Jerry's love for the Dead (I think). So the Dead as day job seems to capture the essence of his career trouble, for me. I know much has been written about his personal life, but I don't think that was what took him down the drugs-of-death route that he took.
I have not read much of anything written about Jerry or the band, I guess I will read the books by Rock Scully (mgr), Parish (roadie), and McNally (biographer ??) eventually. I think Garcia just loved music, all kinds of music, and he got off most of all on traditional and Grateful Dead music and living on the road. Tonight, I am going to listen to music from a great weekend twenty five years ago, when 3 friends and I drove 12 hours from DC to the Cape Cod Coliseum, with only tickets, gas money, and about a hundred bucks between us. We slept in the car. Roaring hot music, a sweaty dripping tripping face dance party for two nights, finally after about 15 shows a giant weekend payoff came. Every solo rings the bell, the band is firing everybody up -- Dancing In the Streets, Half Step, China Cat Rider, Franklin's Tower, and The Other One with an outsized skull splitting bass intro. After the first night, it was clear there was no place to go up there on the Cape, and we weren't alone. Several thousand of us just stayed in the arena pounding on the bleachers singing screaming Not Fade Away. All you need to know about Jerry is that he probably would have liked to have been out there playing songs, any kind of great song, to the crowd between those two shows. But times had changed. It was not 1970 and we could not just roll out onto the avenue, and turn around and pay and come back in again, until the next night.

Nice post Amir.
I have only read the Parrish book and it disturbed me so much that I began questioning my first love, which is why we have had this exchange of opinions.Thanks for your memories of Cape Cod, reminds of the first Wembly show in 72, Just like Sebastion wrote in his song Do you believe in magic, back then I really did. I caught several shows on that tour. But next time was Alexander Palace, we were there for all 3 nights and they were just so damned lethagic, they never caught fire,and suddenly all the excuses we had made for the deteriorating quality of the various studio albums and off shoot projects ,all the hopes for next time... I guess the end of innocence! It was THAT painful!
I have never heard JG Band live, I look forward to an appropriate recomendation from you when they get round to releasing a definitive concert.

I've never really paid much attention to the Dead, but recently started giving some of their live shows a shot. I've been more impressed than I expected. Moreso by the Cornell 1977 show than the show from 1983.

I didn't so a search through all 13 pages of this thread, so I don't know if this has already been posted or not, but over 2,000 Dead shows are available for download for free from here

No P2P software required. If anyone wants to know how to decode / listen to shn or flac let me know.

I've read that Garcia's heroin use began during the hiatus while he was editing the Grateful Dead movie.

This seems to explain the really laid back vibe that settled over the band upon its' 1976 return to touring. I do enjoy late '70's Dead, especially '76 and '77. My guess is the heroin honeymoon lasted for a few years. Garcia was able to handle it, but by the 80's it took over and his playing suffered.

To me, Garcia was a MONSTER player before the hiatus in '74.

Well. . . the Deadsters have a really effective, for me, marketing approach: those bonus cds that they only offer from the website with an order. I found I just had to have the one that was with the Jerry Garcia box set, and glad that I did order from them, because I LOVE that version of Saint Augustine. And so something happened in my cabeza and I went and ordered the new box set through them so that I could get the bonus cd which looks really good. . . and also the second in the Pure Jerry series which comes with a bonus cd from them.

My finances are very shaky indeed. . . Anyone want to buy 25 Duke cds?

Yes, tightrope walker, that's me! Essentially, Xmas dollars that I'll get as gifts will cover this or some other reckless cd purchase!

Well, I have the box set in da house now. Must say: remastered sound is excellent, very very good, so much better than the earlier cds. And there is almost exactly half as much bonus material I think, which is well chosen.

So far the biggest rush for me is hearing the acoustic demo of "Weather Report Suite" done by Weir and his 12 string (?) alone. Man oh man. That suite is my favorite music of the Dead, period, (I don't think this has anything at all to do with Wayne or the WR band, and is all the better for it) and to hear this seminal recording is a thrill!

Saw this on another board....

I got "Beyond Description" through dead.net today...excellent sound and packaging.

Unfortunately my copy of Shakedown Street has an error during "New Minlewood Blues."

At about the 3:46 mark there is a skip, the lyrics "stealin women from their men" get cut. That part is intact on the original CD issue of Shakedown, I compared them.
Then there is another short skip after that.


Also, I hear that the next DP(DP33) is going to be a combo of 10/9-10/76.

I haven't gotten to that disc yet. . . hopefully mine won't skip. (Skips are often player dependent!)

I'd rather hear the The Who from 10/8-9/76 than the Dead sets, but I'll take it.

Anyone else think the extra material on Terrapin Station and Shakedown St is better than the original release? I think the live tunes from Egypt on Shakedown are so much more interesting than the album-I know, it's typical for the Dead to be better than live, but this is like comparing two different bands. I shuddered when I heard Terrapin Station and Shakedown St (I thought-woops!! what the hell did buy??) but the bonus material makes up for it. Also, it's nice to have the first 3 albums in nice remastered sound (especially Blues for Allah! Distorto!! ) with all the nice packaging. What do people here think of the bonus disc?

Now Listening To...(From the Internet Live Music Archive)

February 26, 1977 - Swing Auditorium - San Bernardino, CA

Set I:
Terrapin Station (First Time Played!), New Minglewood Blues, They Love Each Other, Estimated Prophet (First Time Played!), Sugaree, Mama Tried, Deal, Playin' In The Band > The Wheel > Playin' In The Band

Set II:
Sampson And Delilah, Tennessee Jed, The Music Never Stopped, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower, The Promised Land, Eyes Of The World > Dancin' In The Street > Around And Around
Encore:
U.S. Blues

So, how does the 13 th bonus disk sound like? is it worth going the expensive import rout to obtain it? ( Not that I am interested in buying either of course! )

even Built to Last is more listenable now with the extra live tunes on it. But man I still cant understand why they had to let Brent Mydland write so many songs. He sounds like Richard Marx! The live Foolish Heart is better than anything on the studio record though (as usual)

Well, it's not too hard to understand. In the Dark had been a very unexpected hit, and they felt some pressure to get another studio album out. Garcia and Weir weren't writing all that much new stuff, so they let Mydland have a larger-than-usual share of the writing space on the follow up.

That said, I agree that Built to Last is pretty poor stuff. It's by far my least favorite Dead studio effort - in fact, I can't even listen to it.

I like the bonus disk, especially the first half, which is a live Weather Report Suite and about 30 minutes of live Blues for Allah. . . .

what Dicks Picks volume do people recommend for any of the Blues for Allah material?

Well apparently the title piece/suite was only played live three times, and none seem to appear in the Dick's Picks series. . . there's the one on the box set, and the one on One from the Vault, and another from August 1975 I think that I haven't located yet. . . .

By coincidence I am playing One From The Vault as I type.

Alright! Then there is one other one that I haven't yet found! Anyone know if it is out?

I think they only did Blues For Allah 3 times 3/23/75, 6/17/75, & 8/13/75(OFTV).