Dick’s Picks Vol. 36 - The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA 9/21/72

I can never say I dislike any Grateful Dead song thus far because I may not be into a song or fully get it and then I hear the song for the fourth of fifth time played live and I get a eureka moment. Such as it was with The Promised Land, Black Peter and Black Throated Wind with this show. There’s also a really good long Bird Song here. The run of Big River, Ramble on Rose, Cumberland Blues, and Playing in the Band was fantastic. He’s Gone coming out of the break was beautiful and went into one of the best Truckin’ versions so far. I keep failing to mention this song because my love for it comes from way before this journey but I have always loved Mexicali Blues. It just makes me a happy person every time I hear it. This version of Morning Dew was my favorite so far. Mississippi Half-Step... was great and the first time I recall experiencing that one. Sugar Magnolia was again its epic self - they really effin’ nailed this song in 1972.

Collectively, this was yet another great show from such an amazing live band. Yes there are moments and choices in the set list that make these shows run together a bit, but I am continually surprised that though I expect it to get old, it doesn’t.

Set 1: Promised Land, Bird Song, El Paso, China Cat Sunflower, I Know You Rider, Black-Throated Wind, Big Railroad Blues, Jack Straw, Loser, Big River, Ramble on Rose, Cumberland Blues, Playing in the Band

Set 2: He’s Gone, Truckin’, Black Peter, Mexicali Blues, Dark Star, Morning Dew, Beat It On Down the Line, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo, Sugar Magnolia, Friend of the Devil, Not Fade Away>Going’ down the Road feeling Bad>Not Fade Away

Encore: One More Saturday Night

Bonus: Folsom Field, Boulder, CO 9/2/72 - He’s Gone, The Other One, Wharf Rat

Good God that Dark Star is wild! Those last few minutes are blissful.

Jerry singing Big River

Dick’s Picks Vol. 11 - Live at Stanley Theater, Jersey City, NJ 9/27/72

This was a great final run through the 1972 shows. I spent a long time here and there were some real excellent shows to experience this week focusing on this one year. The set lists might have had some repetitiveness but the shows were all remarkably different.

This one was particularly great at various points. This opening Morning Dew was fantastic. The run from Tennessee Jed, Mexicali Blues, Bird Song, and Big River was awesome and had me singing along while running. A great example of this band blowing the doors out once again on first set closer Playing in the Band. He’s Gone just keeps getting more epic and stunning every time they played it on this run and this might have been the best one yet. The song I finally got live from this show was a the Greatest Story Ever Told. This Dark Star I thought was real strong, though not as much as the Sunshine Daydream show where Phil Lesh did some real mind blowing stuff. The close out of the second set was just insane with Uncle Johns Band being the best version yet, Casey Jones great, and then the encore Around and Around amazing. Yet another great ‘72 show. It’s time to move on to 1973 but this run wins maybe all the journeys I have done so far. Simply incredible.

Set 1: Morning Dew, Beat It on Down the Line, Friend of the Devil, Black-Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Mexicali Blues, Bird Song, Big River, Brokedown Palace, El Paso, China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Playing in the Band

Set 2: He’s Gone, Me and My Uncle, Deal, Greatest Story Ever Told, Ramble on Rose, Dark Star, Cumberland Blues, Attics of My Life, Promised Land, Uncle John’s Band, Case Jones

Encore: Around and Around

...on to 1973!

Wake of the Flood - I can’t lie, it feels good to discuss a studio album again after all those live shows. And this is one helluva record to discuss. After a three year absence from the studio, this album really sound much different than the sounds they were going for on American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead. Those albums felt like more universal and timeless Americana. Here, they’ve sort of branches out again, perhaps in part after the loss of Pigpen. The classics are demonstrative of this, as Eyes of the World takes on a poppier sound but still manages to have the Dead center to it. Row Jimmy is a work of pure genius, a seemingly mellow tune with tons of layers hidden in plain sight. Stella Blue is a stunning ballad. Elsewhere the opening songs both jump out (horns!). Here Comes Sunshine was the perfect antidote to Stella Blue’s slow tempo. But for me, it all built to the closing salvo Weather Report which was incredible. I could almost feel the weather the song emoted with shifts in weather coming as the movements of the song transitioned. Incredible work of writing on the music end of things on that one. I had always had the impression that American Beauty was the last of their forays into serious work in the studio but clearly that impression was wrong.

Wake of the Flood is a great collection of songs, and is a perfectly good record on its own merits. Some of the songs like "Mississippi Half-Step" and "Stella Blue" had been adequately road tested through 1972, so the studio recordings feel natural and elastic (it doesn't hurt that this album was made on their own label under their own supervision so there really wasn't any pressure on them to do anything other than sound like themselves). But others, like "Eyes of the World," "Here Comes Sunshine," and "Weather Report Suite," immediately turned into such powerhouses live that the studio takes have come to feel kind of staid and unexciting to me -- they feel tentative, and probably because it is such a natural-sounding record, they don't offer much that the live recordings don't. This isn't a strike against the album itself, necessarily, just a natural result of having so much access to so much of what they did onstage. 1973 is arguably my favorite Dead live year, primarily because the Wake of the Flood material steers them towards a slightly jazzier palate, so I hope you hit as many shows as you did in 1972. A couple of recommendations to supplement this record, which I expect you'll hit anyway but just to make sure you have the added encouragement:

Dick's Picks Volume 1: The version of "Here Comes Sunshine" that opens this (partial) show is, for my money, a top five Dead performance -- an incredibly mellow but laser-focused improvisation, that nevertheless goes to places you wouldn't predict based on the DNA of the song. I'll admit "Here Comes Sunshine" as a song alone doesn't really do much for me, but the contrast between the sunny, hippy-dippy songwriting and the dark, minor key caverns the attached improvisations journey through has turned it into one of my favorite Dead pieces. The rest of this volume is solid 1973 live stuff, but Dick Latvala (as I understand) picked this show as the first volume in the series based on the strength of that "Here Comes Sunshine," so the fact that it was the world's most famous Deadhead's justification for selecting it as more or less the first Dead archival release ever (I think at this point there were only two others that had been released by their label, starting in 1991), should tell you all you need to know.

Dick's Picks Volume 14: The "Eyes of the World" on CD2 here is, likewise, one of my favorite Dead performances, and my favorite version of this song that was frequently amazing in concert through many eras. An added bonus of these fall 1973 shows is that Donna didn't make the tour (maternity leave, I think), so if you're like me and many others and find yourself less than enthused by her contributions to these shows, they're a rare glimpse at this era of Dead without that added voice.

Dick's Picks Volume 28: This is arguably the best-sounding volume in the entire Dick's Picks series, with outstanding versions of pretty much everything it covers. I don't know that my favorite version of any one song appears on this release, but it contains my 2nd and 3rd favorite versions of pretty much every song.

I think I've learned that, while I like the spacey improv vehicles like "Dark Star" and "Playing in the Band" (there really is nothing like a good "Dark Star"), my absolute favorite Dead mode is extended improvisation over steady rhythm, and I think songs like "Here Comes Sunshine," "Eyes of the World," and "Let it Grow" (the portion of "Weather Report Suite" that was retained throughout their career -- the opening portion of the suite was dropped from the set after 1974) are some of the absolute best vehicles for that. I hope you hit up some of these shows!

Thanks! Duly added. 1973 live releases will be:

Dick’s Picks Vol. 28 (this will be split since it is over 5 hours)
Dick’s Picks Vol. 19
Download Series Vol. 8
Dick’s Picks Vol. 14
Dick’s Picks Vol. 1

Dick’s Picks Vol. 28 (Part 1) - Lincoln, NE 2/26/73

This show, and the show that follows, predate the release of Wake of the Flood, but already incorporated some of those songs. This isn’t the full show, apparently, though I did not research what was missing. It does play like the full show through. As was recommended, it is a very strong overall show with many of the usual highlights and a few extras thrown in. Don’t Ease Me In, Looks Like Rain, Big Railroad Blues, and another scorching Playing in the Band highlight this first set (which seemed short so maybe the part of the show was missing from here?). The second set was great here, though the vocals seemed maybe a little off on sound. That long time of playing through Dark Star>Eyes of the World was epic and they went to a lot of unexpected places there. The end of this listening experience was Not Fade Away>Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad>Not Fade Away, which was also top notch. The band here has a fantastic groove going into this year, though I agree that the only thing bringing it down is the backup vocals.

Set 1: Promised Land, Loser, Jack Straw, Don’t Ease Me In, Looks Like Rain, Loose Lucy, Beer Barrel Polka, Big Railroad Blues, Playing in the Band

Set 2: They Love Each Other, Big River, Tennessee Jed, Greatest Story Ever Told, Dark Star>Eyes of the World (this took like 45 mins!), Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo, Me and My Uncle, Not Fade Away>Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad>Not Fade Away

After I finish the second show in this series I am going to backtrack to Bob Weir’s solo album Aces that I overlooked.

Dick’s Picks Vol. 28 (Part 2) - Salt Lake City, UT 2/28/73

In the second part of the series comes two nights later. Another stellar version of He’s Gone, and it was nice to hear Box of Rain for the first time (for me) in a while. The end run was phenomenal on the last portion of this starting with Row Jimmy, then Truckin’, The Other One, Eyes of the World, Morning Dew, and Sugar Magnolia. Each of those latter songs was extended perfectly, and took you on separate journeys none of which dragged at all, so I was very impressed with this full volume of Dick’s Picks that I would have never picked up but for your suggestions.

Set featured: Cold Rain and Snow, Beat It On Down the Line, They Love Each Other, Mexicali Blues, Sugaree, Box of Rain, El Paso, He’s Gone, Jack Straw, China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Big River, Row Jimmy, Truckin’, The Other One, Eyes of the World, Morning Dew, Sugar Magnolia, We Bid You Goodnight

Bob Weir - Ace

I sort of lost track of this studio album among the live releases I have been covering. It plays like a studio greatest hits of the set lists from their ‘72 and ‘73 shows thus far, with Greatest Story Ever Told, Black-Throated Wind, Playing in the Band, Mexicali Blues, and One More Saturday Night all included. I honestly had no idea a studio version of One More Saturday Night even existed. I really enjoy each of these core songs so this is a pleasant little side jump. Cassidy was also pretty strong though seemingly a bit lighter. Looks Like Rain is a nice ballad as well. I am glad I backtracked for this release - though I really have no idea why it isn’t a Grateful Dead album.

I didn't either for the longest time.. same with greatest story

I had this album downloaded too n never got around to it

Yeah, I blame it on Skeletons From the Closet, the greatest hits album that has a live version of One More Saturday Night, so I always assumed a studio version did not exist. I also figured Mexicali Blues would show up on a Grateful Dead studio album for the same reason.

Aw man, "Cassidy" might be my favorite Weir tune -- it's definitely in the running. The acoustic version on Reckoning from 1980 is my favorite, I'm honestly not sure I've ever heard the studio version.

Can't wait for you to get into Dick's 19.

Mind Left Body, maaan.

Oh and for 73, I'm a big fan of DP 14. But for some odd reason I go to the AUD tape, maybe because that’s how Latvala originally heard it.


“One of the finest shows ever!” So wrote Dick
Dick is right to highlight that Wharf Rat-> Mississippi Half Step-> Playin’ In The Band-> Mind Left Body Jam-> He’s Gone-> Truckin’-> Stella Blue sequence, it is something very special.

Today is DP19. Tomorrow is DP14.

Dick’s Picks Vol. 19 - Fairgrounds Arena, Oklahoma City, OK 10/19/73

What a show! The band is 100% on fire in this show, particularly in the second set. To start things, a relatively predictable yet spirited run through Promised Land, Sugaree, Mexicali Blues, and Tennessee Jed was very solid. Don’t Ease Me In was great and the best version I heard so far. They Love Each Other gets its aha moment in this show. El Paso, Row Jimmy, Playing in the Band all amazing to close out set 1. It was clear even at this point that this was going to be a great Phil show. He was on the mark and his jamming just spot on and inventive. He was feeling it here.

Set 2 featured a start of China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider - easily the best yet and that middle jam was just amazing interplay between Phil and Jerry Garcia. Me and My Uncle and then Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodleloo was awesome. The two most striking moments of this show had to be Dark Star>Mind Left Body Jam >Morning Dew which was very much insane. Eyes of the World was the best version yet by a good margin - so much groove going on here. Basically, other than the Rochester ‘70 show, this is the best yet for me. Real killer show.

Set 1: Promised Land, Sugaree, Mexicali Blues, Tennessee Jed, Looks Like Rain, Don’t Ease Me In, Jack Straw, They Love Each Other, El Paso, Row Jimmy, Playing in the Band

Set 2: China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Me and My Uncle, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo, Big River, Dark Star>Mind Left Body Jam >Morning Dew, Sugar Magnolia

Encore 1: Eyes of the World, Stella Blue

Encore 2: Johnny B. Goode

I forgot DP19, that's a great one too! 1973 is such a good year. Dave's Picks 21 and the Denver Road Trips are also stellar -- I don't think they had bad nights this year...

Dick’s Picks Vol. 14 (Part 1) - Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA 11/30/73

This covers a partial set from the first of two Boston shows. While this selection from the first show is not as profoundly exciting as the OKCity show I just reviewed yesterday, it is still very strong with some excellent highlights. It’s good to see Dire Wolf again on the set, and this version was quite rearranged from their usual performance but still very good. Morning Dew was also a really strong version. Phil Lesh again shines on this show, particularly in the second set from Weather Report Suite through Eyes of the World - he seems to be the catalyst that lifts these shows up to them sounding like a jazz band that playing rock songs. My favorite Big River yet was here as well. Here Comes Sunshine was also good and for some reason keeps me thinking Beatles while they play through it, especially in the verses. Not exactly sure why. Strong set represented here but I am looking more forward to the selections from night 2 based on what’s been posted here.

Set 1: Morning Dew, Mexicali Blues, Dire Wolf, Black-Throated Wind, Don’t Ease Me In, Big River, They Love Each Other, Playing in the Band

Set 2: Here Comes Sunshine, Weather Report Suite>Dark Star Jam>Eyes of the World, Sugar Magnolia