"Basketball and music have always been alike for me, the celebration of life and all other good things. These two art forms represent the best of teamwork, constant motion, creativity, leadership, communication, focus, execution, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, hope, opportunity, purpose, sacrifice, discipline, honor, and fun. Fun to play. Fun to practice. UCLA and the Grateful Dead embody the highest levels of this celebratory joy. At UCLA, it was endless fun, every day, in every way. We couldn’t wait to get there, to get going — though it was never as much fun as when the Grateful Dead came to play with and for us." - Bill Walton
Is there anyone who knows the acoustics of Pauley Pavilion better than Bill "Grateful Red" Walton? We think not, so we signed him on as a liner note scribe for DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 48, the complete previously unreleased show from UCLA's Pauley Pavilion 11/20/71. He was there, after all, "driftin' and dreamin'" as the Dead shape-shifted through a first set of Americana classics from WORKINGMAN'S DEAD and AMERICAN BEAUTY into their second one featuring truly primal psychedelic jams (a 23+ minute "The Other One"). They peppered in hot takes on tracks from the recently released SKULL & ROSES ("Bertha," "Me And My Uncle," "Not Fade>GDTRFB") and road-tested tunes like "Ramble On Rose" and "Tennessee Jed" that would make the cut on the following year's EUROPE '72. It's all delivered with such precision that we've had to come up with some overtime for disc three. There you'll find 75+ minutes of music from the Kiel Opera House, St. Louis, MO, 10/24/70, with the rest of the show due sometime in the near future.
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 48: PAULEY PAVILION 11/20/71 was recorded by Rex Jackson and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.
Selling Fast
Pretty sure in the Feb. GD Bulletin email yesterday they said there were only 700 DaP 49 left so I'll go with that selling out before the others. Getting hard to predict what year/era will sell quickest nowadays.
Cheers
Edit: Correction, only less than 700 left of both DaP 48 and 49.
Which to choose
Too many variables. Only you can decide which to get. If you like both eras then how much of each do you have? If I had to choose I’d probably go for 49, but that’s because I’ve got much more of 71 than 85. Luckily I don’t have to pick one because I subscribe so I get them all (as long as the delivery system works)
Concur
You can’t really compare different eras except according to preference.
BUT! I will say I thought 48 was a good, but not RJ pick, while 49 is one of the better shows from that year.
Personally, there’s no comparison, I’d take 49. It’s one of my fav picks while 48 was a disappointment. Not because of the era fall 71 through 74 is magnificent, just felt there were better shows.
But hey I dig em all and thank Dave and company for all the love and hard work they put in so we can complain LOL
Artificial scarcity....
There are several "picks" which are sold out that I'd like to have. Shows I was at. Dekalb, Upton and Deer creek. Deer creek was fun. Could not remember where we parked and sat in the grass until the lot was mostly empty. The roads were empty of the fuzz by then too.