I love the GD and have a lot of Dick's, Road Trips, Dave's, and individual live/studio albums. At this juncture though, I see no point in buying yet another version of "Me and My Uncle," "Morning Dew," or even "Dark Star." It's really enough, at least for me.
Grateful Dead Dave's Pick's Volume 48 ......time to put a fork in this !
I am a collector of this band's material and have been since the 70's. Fast forward about 20 years and bought all of Dick's Picks volumes and really enjoyed them all. Rhino pushed out '' Road Trips '' series which was when the Grateful Dead had Rhino distribute their live shows which were made up of partial shows and were okay at beat. I have all of those as well. Then picked up all of the box sets and there are a lot of those and some were mixed and recorded by Dan Healy which all of them sound like they were recorded under water or by a 12 year old. A lot of them were terrible sounding and he should have been sent to Siberia.
Then David Lemiux picked up the series after Dick Latvala passed and has put out 48 volumes of complete shows and most of them aren't too bad if they were recorded by Kid Candelero or especially by Better Cantor Jackson ........you can tell her stuff right off the bat or even Owsley Bear's stuff.
But the last one and a bunch before volume 48 are just bad.....it seems like they may have got to the bottom of the barrel and are just pushing these put now. I did although reluctantly sign up for the 2024 subscription but just can't help but feel that the quality in sound or the show itself was just not in the same league as others when this journey for them began doing this.
The mid year big box sets have been pretty good for the most part and maybe they should concentrate on just doing those for now. Also, the Dead and Rhino could skip all of the elaborate and sometimes just silly art work on those box sets and bring the price down on them. Some of that stuff is just unnecessary.
So would like to hear from other's on what their thoughts are on if the Grateful Dead Dave Pick's Series has run its course .......thanks and stay well.
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I do agree about PITB. I enjoy her harmony vocals circa ’76, ’77. My first Dead Show was in ’73 at San Diego Sports Area. Wake of the Flood tour. Joints were being passed around and unfortunately, one of my friends took a hit off one laced with angel dust. Donna was pregnant and some yahoo in the crowd decided climbing up onto the stage in front of her was a cool idea. Weir immediately stepped in front of her, brandishing his ES 345 as a club. Needless to say, the guy backed down! I think we paid $6 for that show. Looking back, that seems like a whole other lifetime... |
@stuartk - ah yes, Donna; she could be very good, like on 'Sunrise', but I've always got my finger on the volume button when a version of 'Playing In The Band' starts up that she's on; before she joined, I never thought, 'what that song needs is some tuneless caterwauling'.... I know why I never thought that. If ya can't hear yourself in the monitors, ya shouldn't join in with the singing, 'cause the audience CAN hear you! @zlone - I was at one of those Winterland '73 shows; first Dead shows I went to after moving to San Francisco. I was dosing and was very alarmed when Jerry came out minus his beard - it was really bumming me out. 🤣 Got some good photos, though... |
Each to his/her own, there’s no right/wrong. There are other factors in it for me as well. There’s something about the sound of the strat and ES 345 guitar combo, together the big ’ol grand piano, that I just love. I find the ’72 sound uniquely satisfying. It fit the more Americana-type material so well, just as Keith’s electric piano made sense with the jazzy sound of the Blues for Allah material. |
I like the '72 sound as well, the redone Europe '72 mixes are well done and really convey the energy of the band. I understand your thoughts on too much space around the players, but I guess I sort of groove on that a bit. Probably the most disappointing box set I bought was the Winterland '73 discs. They are just lifeless unless you turn them up really loud, and my ears won't take that anymore. Not sure what happened between 72 and 74 with their sound system. Donna always said she could never hear herself on the monitors, guessing they improved that for her, a bit, after the hiatus. |
I guess I'm in a small minority -- I much prefer the band's sound-system in say, '72, to the Wall of Sound. To my ear, the WoS creates way too much space around each player. There are some excellent performances on the Movie sound-track, no doubt, although "Donna Skreetch" does spoil a few. I don't know what changed (better monitors?) but when they came back from "retirement", her singing was much, much better. She was no longer over-singing and her pitch was hugely improved. I know some people hate her but when she sang in tune I enjoyed what she brought to the band. |
Yes -- I have the Cornell Show, thanks. Having listened to it on cassette for many years before its official CD release, it’s simply not as fresh as it once was, to my ears. I actually prefer the Dave’s #1 and Dick’s # 3 shows from that tour. I regret not having picked up the Richmond show when it was first released. Now that it’s out of print, it’s way too expensive. I do have it on CDR, though. Maybe, once the Dick’s have been reissued, they’ll reissue the Dave’s as well.
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@mahler123 - The reason why people who like the Grateful Dead have multiple versions of so much is that like jazz, there is a great deal of improvisation; some of it is entirely improvisation. Some are very similar, though ever identical, from night to night, and some versions go in entirely different directions, so I'd expect that multiple versions of the same classical work would be for different reasons? |
Okay, I will bite and answer the question. My opinion, based on sheer numbers of shows, there is more to mine. The question is whether they have good quality tapes for the shows that are worth publishing. I don’t get the subscription because I am not interested in many of the shows they pick. You can always try before you buy by listening to the show on archive.org. |
From Wikipedia: Dick's Picks Volume 3 is the third live album in the Dick's Picks series by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on May 22, 1977, at the Sportatorium in Pembroke Pines, Florida. It was released in November 1995 on Grateful Dead Records.[1] Dick's Picks Volume 3 was again released, by Grateful Dead Productions, in November 2005 as a digital download.[5] The track "Sugaree" was also used on the promotional sampler A Glimpse of the Vault, released in 1996.[5 |
Maybe go to taper's section on Dead website and ask whether there are still great shows that have yet to be released? I sure wish they'd released the entire May 77 show that's on Dick's Picks 3, instead of a chopped-up, truncated version. Figures that such a tight performance was given short shrift, given the "ragged but right" ethos that dominates Dead culture. OK. Sorry for the rant. |
......there is no doubt some really good recorded performances of this band and as I I had noted ; those recordings were usually done by Owsley Bear, "'Kid '' Candelero or Betty Cantor Jackson. However, my original question which has not really been addressed is; has the Dave's Pick's run its course as there has been some real duds lately and just come out with some specific box sets ( sans the big boxes and art work and etc. ) and have some really good shows or good runs on them ? |
Who has favorites? Mine in no particular order-Dick's Picks #8 5/2/70, #14 11/20 and 12/2/73 Dave's Picks-#2 7/31/74, #34-6/23/74 Also, while not part of the series- Cornell, 5/8/77 Ladies and Gentlemen Fillmore East from April, 1971 From the Vault 1 and 2 Europe 72 Releases- 100 Year Hall 5/26/72 Lyceum View from the Vault 1 and 2 |
I have every one of the annual GD box sets, and they all sound great as far as I'm concerned. Not all the performances were great (the St Louis box set was kind of a waste as far as that's concerned), But the sound quality has been fine, except for a few occasions where the problem was the PA in the venue, and they generally got these fixed after a few songs. I also have all the Dicks Picks on CD, but none of the Dave's Picks - I can only go for so much.... but I've lately been buying the live vinyl LP boxes... |
I have surfed a bunch of Dick’s Picks but to my ear Go to Nassau (2002 release of May 15/16 1980 concert) is a cut above, sonically. Maybe this is why (via Wikipedia): "The shows were recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour and selections were originally broadcast on FM radio stations, on June 22, 1980. " |
I was a collector of Dick's Picks, Road Trips and Dave's Picks. I lost enthusiasm for the same reasons the OP and StuartK stated. I recently brought a boxful of CDs to a reseller, and he gave me full price on my DP, RT and DavP sets. Clearly, the GD live releases are still very popular, both as GD official releases, which sell-out, and the resale market, which sell for $$$. Just wondering out loud when the GD archives will run out of shows? |
Because I only enjoy the Dead when they are not playing sloppily or singing off pitch, the yearly subscription model is a no-go. I hope the Dave’s Picks series will, like Dick’s Picks, be eventually re-released as single shows. There are a few I’d buy should this come to pass, such as May 77 Richmond. I've always found them maddeningly inconsistent. I don’t understand their marketing decisions. For example, why the 2 disc version of Skull and Rose’s duplicates so many tunes, instead of choosing other, equally excellent performances of different tunes from that time period. There is no other musical aggregation that both delights and disappoints me to the same extent.
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I only selectively buy these and have not purchased one for a while, so can’t comment on any change. I have been disappointed by some in the past, especially the ‘77 stuff, that doesn’t seem to clean up well IMO. Europe 72 is spectacular, especially considering its age and the available technology at the time. I will be interested to see what others have to say. |