Welcome back to the Tapers' Section, where this week we'll be checking out music spanning virtually the full breadth of the 1970s, from early 1970 to late 1979, specifically 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1979.

Our first stop this week is not exactly date-appropriate, meaning will step out of mid-November mode to plunk down in early 1970, at the great little show on 2/23/70 in Austin, Texas. From this show, we have some acoustic Grateful Dead followed by some meaty electric material, featuring Me and My Uncle, Black Peter, Season>Uncle John's Band, Not Fade Away>Mason's Children. The version of Me and My Uncle is very unique as it is Bobby playing solo while Jerry fixes a string on his guitar. Jerry does chime in toward the end of the song, but it's pretty cool to hear Bobby play a solo tune. The rest of this sequence is mighty fine as well.

Next up, from a year and half later on 11/14/71 in Fort Worth, Texas, we have the great second set jam, featuring a classic sequence from the era: Truckin'>Drums>The Other One>Me and My Uncle>The Other One. This might be the first time we've ever played two versions on Me and My Uncle in one week here at the Tapers' Section. Up next week: two versions of Keep Your Day Job…

We'll now stop into one of the most impressive jams from 1973, and that's saying a lot due to the great quality of the jamming in 1973. From 11/14/73 in San Diego, we have Truckin'>The Other One>Big River>Other One>Eyes of the World>Other One>Wharf Rat. I always had a bit of a theory of why they played The Other One so prominently in this set: with the three previous shows being November 9-11, 1973 at Winterland, and featuring no Other One on any of those three shows (which was unheard of in 1973 when The Other One would normally be heard at every second show), they made up for the lack of Other One at Winterland by playing it with a vengeance at San Diego. Likely not, but it's a good story, no?

Finally this week, we'll stop into Ann Arbor, Michigan to the show on 11/10/79, where we'll check out some great second set material, featuring Samson and Delilah, Terrapin Station>Playing In The Band. This was a mighty fine tour, with some of the best material heard on Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 1.

Be sure to check back in next week for music exclusively from 1972 and 1973.

David Lemieux
vault@dead.net