Dave's Picks Volume 1
Dave's Picks Volume 1 is officially SOLD OUT.
Have no fear, you can join the fun with our next release Volume 2, the complete Grateful Dead performance from the Wall of Sound tour, recorded live on 7/31/74 at Dillon Stadium in Hartford, CT. This was one of the final East Coast appearances by the Grateful Dead for almost two years, and is one of the longest, most exceptionally well-played shows of the entire year. The big jams stand out, of course, including "Weather Report Suite," "Eyes Of The World>China Doll" and "Truckin>several thematic jams," but the smaller songs, like a rare show-opening "Scarlet Begonias," "Mississippi Half-Step," "Big River," "Greatest Story Ever Told," "Uncle John's Band" and countless others are also excellent at this A+ show.
In addition to all the great music, you can look forward to another digipak with trays made of 100% recycled and PCW materials (and of course a booklet featuring a historical essay and photos). Due to popular demand, we'll be using a heavier paper stock for Volume 2 and all the great Dave's Picks releases to come.
Dave's Picks Volume 2 ships this May. Stay tuned for pre-order details.
Learn More About Volume 1 here...
Dave's Picks Archival Series Kicks Off With 5/25/77
Chances are if you’re a Dead Head you’re already well-versed in the glorious spring of 1977. Back a year since their mid-’70s performing hiatus, and fresh from recording their Terrapin Station album in L.A. with producer Keith Olsen, the Dead returned to the road invigorated and excited that spring. There were fantastic new songs (including the “Terrapin Station” suite, “Estimated Prophet” and “Fire on the Mountain”) and their older tunes seemed imbued with new vigor and vitality. Every stop of the tour, which stretched from the third week of April (beginning at the Spectrum in Philadelphia) through the first week in June (back at Winterland in San Francisco), presented some new wrinkle or interesting variation on the repertoire, as songs were moved around, unusual combinations were explored and the septet continue to solidify and mature. Which is a fancy way of saying the band was on fire—y’see, there’s a reason why this is the ninth show from that tour to be released!
The song list from 5/25/77 might not reveal much out of the ordinary (though it’s great selection of tunes), but the playing is definitely extraordinary. The first set contains outstanding versions of favorites such as “Mississippi Half-Step,” “Jack Straw,” “Cassidy” and “Lazy Lightning” > “Supplication.” And the second set is primo-grade ’77 from start to finish. The buoyant “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain” that kicks things off sets the tone, but then the rest of the set is a deftly played medley starting with “Estimated” and moving into “He’s Gone,” a primal drum workout from Mickey and Bill, a heart-pounding version of “The Other One” that’s split by “Wharf Rat” (the only time those songs were played in that sequence), a joyful “Wheel,” and then a double-dose of Chuck Berry to bring it all back to rock ’n’ roll basics. Talk about a thrill ride!
— Blair Jackson
Don't feed the trolls! Don't engage trolls, it just emboldens them.
Clearly, some people post here just to be annoying. Like my 1-year-old niece likes to say: get a life.
A good rule of thumb is to ignore trolls. Trolls get a kick out of stirring things up because they have no lives. Where I come from, we have a name for people like that: assholes.
Sorry for the harsh language. Anyway, I gotta run. I have to get back to my mother's basement (my bedroom) so I can count my albums.
Hi unkle sam: I would not worry overmuch about the negativity you are seeing. If you really look, it is one person, who as near as I can tell is simply being a Troll, deliberately trying to, as you say, make "easy sport" of folks. Perhaps an Anon or something. And then, yes, a lot of people getting riled up. This is the entire purpose, if one can call it that, of a Troll's life.
Anyway, I've tried to refrain from posting a message saying "Just ignore it" (because then I'm not ignoring it, ha), but I'll try anyway. Just ignore it.
And Cosmicbadger, as usual your humor (not to mention the badger bolt avatar) is much appreciated.
I must say it should not be too much of a surprise to find a lot of obsessive Grateful Dead fanatics on the Grateful Dead fan site. Whatever next? Isn't coming here to insult us rather easy sport? Why not pick a moving target? Head over to the Gaga site and have a crack at the Little Monsters...bound to get a much more satisfying response than from us dozy old deadheads.
Now how about a really good review of Dave's Picks from someone please. We have a couple of weeks to wait before it gets to Europe.
Thank you for the highly essential posting...feel free to pat yourself on the back...
if i was in high school when jerry was still alive how young can i be?
as for taste in music i own 1624 albums (yes. that is the exact number. i catalog them on another website). spanning 8 decades; almost all are considered highly essential for their genre. everything from woody guthrie's 'dustbowl ballads' (1940) to kanye west's 'my beautiful dark twisted fantasy' (2010). ironically, the only albums i bought that were released in 2011 were grateful dead albums, but in truth it wasn't that great of a year for music.
as for music recommendations i'll limit it to a small sample of albums released this millennium.
Radiohead - Kid A
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists....
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
Sigur Rós - ( )
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
The National - Boxer
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
J Dilla - Donuts
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
The Strokes - Is This It
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Beck - Sea Change
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
Reflection Eternal - Train of Thought
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
OutKast - Stankonia
Songs: Ohia - The Lioness
Cat Power - You Are Free
i'll close by saying; frank zappa & the mothers were a far better improvisational band, and richard thompson is a better guitar player than jerry garcia ever was.
now people please don't stoop to my level.
One other nasty comment I can't let pass is the libel that Dead Heads don't listen to, care about, or support other music, bands, eras. There is no other group of people I have ever met who enjoy so much music and cultures so wholeheartedly than Dead Heads. That is the central fact of dozens of decades-long friendships I have enjoyed with my Dead Head mates. We love and support the spectrum of music.
for a couple of weeks and come back to find altercations, name calling and down right negativity. What a shame.
Lets address foxy's message first, we are all lame, we love the dead so we are dinosauars, we should get a life and listen to different music from another decade or century, sure, would love to, got any? You are quick to call us all lame, but you state no alternative, what do suggest that we listen to? Can't wait to hear those suggestions. I got to agree with some, why come on the site if all you want to spew is negativity?
On the other hand, I got to agree with foxy, europe 72 was a big ripoff, promises were made and not kept, simple as that. Unfortunately, the way foxy comes off puts everyone else on the defensive and doesn't work very well here, you want other years, so do we all but until foxy gets the job of picking out these shows, we take what we get, if you don't like the 70's don' buy it, wait for someone to give it to you or you can rip it off, which sounds like what you do to get dead tunes, which is good for you, but in my opinion, it is lame to come on this site and state that.
As far as the rest of you, don't lower yourselves to foxy's level, youngsters like this won't last long here and will be gone soon.
"fare thee well"
for a couple of weeks and come back to find altercations, name calling and down right negativity. What a shame.
Lets address foxy's message first, we are all lame, we love the dead so we are dinosauars, we should get a life and listen to different music from another decade or century, sure, would love to, got any? You are quick to call us all lame, but you state no alternative, what do suggest that we listen to? Can't wait to hear those suggestions. I got to agree with some, why come on the site if all you want to spew is negativity?
On the other hand, I got to agree with foxy, europe 72 was a big ripoff, promises were made and not kept, simple as that. Unfortunately, the way foxy comes off puts everyone else on the defensive and doesn't work very well here, you want other years, so do we all but until foxy gets the job of picking out these shows, we take what we get, if you don't like the 70's don' buy it, wait for someone to give it to you or you can rip it off, which sounds like what you do to get dead tunes, which is good for you, but in my opinion, it is lame to come on this site and state that.
As far as the rest of you, don't lower yourselves to foxy's level, youngsters like this won't last long here and will be gone soon.
"fare thee well"
Heh, well, I'm very excited about this release and the next one too, though mildly alarmed at the date in the shipping notice -- note the date it was "shipped" (!)
"Your order from Dead.net was shipped via Standard shipping on Nov 10, 2011. Please allow up to 12 days for delivery."
I ordered my subscription on October 27, so that Nov 10 date is not even the date on which I put in my order. (As an aside, I'll be curious to see what the number on the set looks like compared to those who ordered it more recently...)
The main thing is, can't wait to listen to this. It's taken great willpower to refrain from listening to my nice sounding CDR of this show, which I had not listened to for a couple of years, because I want to hear it in it's Normanized Glory...
if you read all the posts you will see i simply gave my opinion of dave's picks, but someone didn't like my opinion, so they chose to respond to it directly rather than simply give their own opinion. if someone is going to pick a fight, i will engage them. if you want to label me a troll, because i think grateful dead fans, like most fanatics need to find their own identity, and quit following the heard, than so be it.
the saddest part of this ordeal; is that most of you really don't care to get something truly special. you'll take the same old crap, and thank rhino for releasing it. i have more grateful dead shows from the '70s than all other decades combined. 'jack straw' is one of my most favorite songs, but i don't need 50 different renditions of it. all i'm asking for is something worth releasing. there are so many amazing artists the grateful dead were fortunate enough to play with. how about an album or series that showcases these performances? what about a compilation album honoring the various grateful dead keyboardists?
when you say there is going to be a theme or structure to a series it shouldn't just be a marketing ploy. you should deliver. one of the reasons the american auto industry fell on hard times is the manufacturers never wanted to give the consumer the whole package. their business model was to offer slight improvements each year, so the buyer would want the latest product, and thus buy new cars more frequently. that is how i see rhino's marketing tactic. they take the safe route, offering a little bit at a time, so their customers will come back again hoping for something better, and let's face it, there are so many grateful dead concerts on tape they can keep this game up for a while.