Looking for Deadheads and interested Civilians

[AudioSceptic]

They are not hard rock nor heavy metal. They are an amalgamation of American music. Rock is essentially correct, but...
played with a jazz sensibility. They could take a theme, blast off into improvisation land and return to the theme. Think John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" as their model.

Just spotted this thread. I go out for a walk every day and usually listen to a podcast, and when I run out I choose some music. This week I happened to play Live/Dead. Wow! It took me back to when I first heard it over 50 years ago. It still blows me away. Nobody else has ever done what they did. Someone said at the time it was rock played as if it was jazz, and that still seems right. The sequence of St. Stephen > The Eleven > Turn On My Lovelight is still one of the best things I've ever heard.

 

[Anton D]

Dead fan here, just signing on.

Are we celebrating or defending anything in particular today?

 

[AudioSceptic]

I made audience tapes for years. And here is the scoop. Imagine you are in the 15th row dead center on the floor at a big arena. Madison Square Garden would be a good example. You have a pair of Nakamichi microphones and a Sony D5M (and you use the dolby B feature. You know how to set levels and your tape is udistorted. What does that tape sound like on playback? It sounds like what you heard if you were sitting next to the taper. Tapes like this are labeled FOB by tapers. Front of Board. If you see DFC listed that means dead f**ing center. The band made their name on their live performances. The tapes we made sound just like what was heard from that spot. I made plenty of them myself as well as acquiring many many more like that. I now find more pleasure in the audience tapes because that was the sound I heard at the venue and that I came to love. I have more tapes than I can ever get around to, but in my old age, I have started to finally listen to all the work I put in starting in 1971. Just so you know: my collection is 1600 7" reels, 3000 cassettes, 1200 DAT's, 600 beta tapes with audio only on them as well as 600 8mm tapes with digital audio. And I'll save the number of hard drives with music on them for another day.

Cheers
Bob

There's a huge amount on archive.org. Can you recommend any particular ones?

 

[AudioSceptic]

I hung it up. There was no point. I saw 276 Grateful Dead shows. I never kept count of Jerry shows I saw, but it was a lot. And I got the tapes to prove it. I'm spending my days transferring my master cassettes and I'm working on reel to reel tapes now. I got 1800 of em.

Gulp!

 

[5-pot-fan]

Hi,
I saw them at Bickershaw (UK) in 1972 and sometime later at Alexandra Palace (I think) where my hazy memory recalls a very large sound system. A great dance night...
I bought a few albums over the years and have more recently collected what live shows I can get hold of, including some of the Dick's Picks items. I am often astounded at the recording quality for the period.
At present my favourite period is around '77 and the Latin beat versions of 'Good Lovin', but random choice is often just as good.
I will follow this thread with some interest , and perhaps a little jealousy for some of your (audio) experiences of old!

 

[Anton D]

I have a buddy who is the 'best' Deadhead I have ever met. Does anybody here know John Ammons?

He actually designed his Hi FI system based on recreating the actual volume and dynamics of being at a Dead Show.

Love that guy.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I have a buddy who is the 'best' Deadhead I have ever met. Does anybody here know John Ammons?

He actually designed his Hi FI system based on recreating the actual volume and dynamics of being at a Dead Show.

Love that guy.

He must have a big room.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Hi,
I saw them at Bickershaw (UK) in 1972 and sometime later at Alexandra Palace (I think) where my hazy memory recalls a very large sound system. A great dance night...
I bought a few albums over the years and have more recently collected what live shows I can get hold of, including some of the Dick's Picks items. I am often astounded at the recording quality for the period.
At present my favourite period is around '77 and the Latin beat versions of 'Good Lovin', but random choice is often just as good.
I will follow this thread with some interest , and perhaps a little jealousy for some of your (audio) experiences of old!

I saw them twice, Ally Pally, 9 Sep 74, and The Rainbow, 23 Mar 81. They had the Wall of Sound in 74 and it was like a giant hi-fi system. It was loud but didn't seem it because it was so clean. Best ever PA? McIntosh amps! <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)>

The system in 81 was much more modest but still one of the best I've ever heard.

The music was great both times but they had moved on from my favourite era, 68-70.

Edit: another must-read <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_MC-2300>

 

[MoreWatts]

Do you folks know about the official McIntosh - Grateful Dead audio and commemorative gear?

Limited Edition Grateful Dead RS150 and RS250 Wireless Speakers priced at $1500 and $3500 respectively.

Commemorative t-shirts and sweatshirts:

• Grateful Dead “Wall of Sound” T-shirt – $40.00
• Grateful Dead “Wall of Sound” Sweatshirt – $70.00

McIntosh has also just released the Dancing With The Dead: A McIntosh Poster.
$195.00 exclusively at shop.mcIntoshlabs.com

NOTE: Only 250 are available (limit one per customer).

 

[mhardy6647]

Well, crass commercialism notwithstanding -- the symbiosis of the Dead and McIntosh does go way, way back.

Of course, I am sorry they stopped using Altec Voice of the Theaters ca. 1966... but I do tend to hold a grudge.

 

[Zgrado1970]

Well, crass commercialism notwithstanding -- the symbiosis of the Dead and McIntosh does go way, way back.

Of course, I am sorry they stopped using Altec Voice of the Theaters ca. 1966... but I do tend to hold a grudge.

The Dead have always been about crass commercialism. They stopped using the Wall of Sound because it was too expensive.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Do you folks know about the official McIntosh - Grateful Dead audio and commemorative gear?

Limited Edition Grateful Dead RS150 and RS250 Wireless Speakers priced at $1500 and $3500 respectively.

View attachment 331669

View attachment 331670

Commemorative t-shirts and sweatshirts:

• Grateful Dead “Wall of Sound” T-shirt – $40.00
• Grateful Dead “Wall of Sound” Sweatshirt – $70.00

View attachment 331671

McIntosh has also just released the Dancing With The Dead: A McIntosh Poster.
$195.00 exclusively at shop.mcIntoshlabs.com

NOTE: Only 250 are available (limit one per customer).

View attachment 331672

They could do more with this legacy IMO.

 

[mhardy6647]

The Dead have always been about crass commercialism. They stopped using the Wall of Sound because it was too expensive.

An interesting perspective.

The Wall of Sound was pretty logistically unfeasible for touring -- which is why it was too expensive.
On the other hand, I guess it did transiently benefit both JBL and EV's bottom line.

 

[AudioSceptic]

An interesting perspective.

The Wall of Sound was pretty logistically unfeasible for touring -- which is why it was too expensive.
On the other hand, I guess it did transiently benefit both JBL and EV's bottom line.

And McIntosh's.

 

[Timcognito]

Saw them twice at the Avalon Ballroom and Winterland in SF. Not a huge fan and certainly not a hater, but liked Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe and the Fish and Steve Miller Band seeing them more often with Ripple and other "stuff". KMPX FM used to play full lp sides back in '67-68.
https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?t...ck_Radio:_A_brief_history_of_KMPX_and_KSAN-FM