Looking for Deadheads and interested Civilians

[GD Fan]

Bob, curious if you hung it up in 1995 or continued to see the various bands that the guys put together in the (many) years that have followed?

 

[August West]

Bob, curious if you hung it up in 1995 or continued to see the various bands that the guys put together in the (many) years that have followed?

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.

 

[Elitzur–Vaidman]

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.

Do you plan on uploading them to the internet archive when you're done?

 

[August West]

Do you plan on uploading them to the internet archive when you're done?

Short Answer: No. If you want a longer answer let me know.

 

[GD Fan]

Did anyone else bite on the 1973 box set this year? I finally got my download codes today (1.5 weeks after the official release...) and just fired up Des Moines 5.13.73. Really digging what I'm hearing from Billy and Keith in particular.

 

[HoweSound]

i guess I qualify as a (tie)dyed-in-the-wool deadhead. I first saw them in 1968 in Ann Arbour Michigan along with the New Riders of the Purple Sage. We were on a cross-country road trip from Alberta to Toronto in my TR3. Stayed with friends who took us to the concert. Next time was at the Festival Express show in Calgary. The July, 1970 long weekend, two days with the Band, Janis Joplin, the Dead and many others. All of them were at their best at that show - my most amazing and unforgettable musical event. Find the movie about that train ride across Canada if you can. Saw them again; I think it was 1974 in Seattle- a concert that never seemed to end...

 

[khensu]

Did anyone else bite on the 1973 box set this year? I finally got my download codes today (1.5 weeks after the official release...) and just fired up Des Moines 5.13.73. Really digging what I'm hearing from Billy and Keith in particular.

Of course. Kezar was one of the first tapes I got way back in the day. I’ve always loved ‘73. Billy was just a monster! I’ve listened to that show (which sounds very nice). Just started 5/13. I was disappointed with the sound at the beginning; it starts off pretty rough. I am looking forward to getting to 6/10, though. That has always been one of my favs.

 

[August West]

i guess I qualify as a (tie)dyed-in-the-wool deadhead. I first saw them in 1968 in Ann Arbour Michigan along with the New Riders of the Purple Sage. We were on a cross-country road trip from Alberta to Toronto in my TR3. Stayed with friends who took us to the concert. Next time was at the Festival Express show in Calgary. The July, 1970 long weekend, two days with the Band, Janis Joplin, the Dead and many others. All of them were at their best at that show - my most amazing and unforgettable musical event. Find the movie about that train ride across Canada if you can. Saw them again; I think it was 1974 in Seattle- a concert that never seemed to end...

Seattle 05-21-1974: The longest Playing In The Band. 46 minutes long. No songs or drum solo. It wasn't the best version but it was no slouch .

 

[mhardy6647]

Seattle 05-21-1974: The longest Playing In The Band. 46 minutes long. No songs or drum solo. It wasn't the best version but it was no slouch .

A 46 minute song with no songs? Was this like avant-garde jazz 'player' McClintick Sphere in Pynchon's "V"?

N.B. just kidding -- I presume you imply 'no other songs interpolated' in its 46 minutes(?).

 

[August West]

A 46 minute song with no songs? Was this like avant-garde jazz 'player' McClintick Sphere in Pynchon's "V"?

N.B. just kidding -- I presume you imply 'no other songs interpolated' in its 46 minutes(?).

Exactly. Just Playing In The Band. And it is available in all its glory on the Northwest box set.

 

[GD Fan]

Of course. Kezar was one of the first tapes I got way back in the day. I’ve always loved ‘73. Billy was just a monster! I’ve listened to that show (which sounds very nice). Just started 5/13. I was disappointed with the sound at the beginning; it starts off pretty rough. I am looking forward to getting to 6/10, though. That has always been one of my favs.

Agreed re the sound quality at the outset. They've been increasingly guilty of that sort of thing lately, it seems.

That said, I'm enjoying it and optimistic about the other four shows. But it has its work cut out for it to outdo the PNW 73/74 box. Man, that one has been a regular go-to ever since!

 

[August West]

Agreed re the sound quality at the outset. They've been increasingly guilty of that sort of thing lately, it seems.

That said, I'm enjoying it and optimistic about the other four shows. But it has its work cut out for it to outdo the PNW 73/74 box. Man, that one has been a regular go-to ever since!

The first song of the show is always a little rough. Its being mixed in real time. Fortunately, the mixes were improved very quickly.

 

[August West]

I'm listening to the GD show from Portland from June 12, 1980 It was the night Mt. St. Helen's blew up at the same time the band was playing Fire on the Mountain
There was weird energy around the 2nd set. I think the band knew it happened before they came out for the second set. My tape was recorded from about 10 rows back
from the stage. DFC as it known in taping circles. A killer recording.

 

[HoweSound]

I'm listening to the GD show from Portland from June 12, 1980 It was the night Mt. St. Helen's blew up at the same time the band was playing Fire on the Mountain
There was weird energy around the 2nd set. I think the band knew it happened before they came out for the second set. My tape was recorded from about 10 rows back
from the stage. DFC as it known in taping circles. A killer recording.

Mount St. Helen's exploded on Sunday, May 18th, 1980 at 8:32 AM. I was living in Victora BC and was awakened by the sound of the explosion. And I see there was an ash plume and much smaller explosion on June 12th. I did not know about that event. Thanks for the information!

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

It was always tough to listen to crappy audience recordings, but now that I have a setup that allows me to hear so much more than I used to, I find listening to live Dead (even decent quality soundboards) can still immediately trigger me to switch to something else. "Nope, that mix is terrible."

I like soundboards, they are fun! That said, there are better and worse ones. Here's my two general rules, and two ways I deal with poor ones. I am not saying these are ideal for everyone, or even correct, just how I deal with variable recording quality.

First, older soundboards are worse than newer ones, as a rule. Which makes sense.

Second, larger venues have soundboard recordings that sound better, and open air tends to be best. If we keep in mind that the sound OUT is not the sound in the room, some odd soundboard mixing choices start to make sense. They were relying on room reinforcement heavily in some shows, and the soundboards are bad taken straight.

So, when faced with a less than ideal soundboard, I might tow my speakers out to have more "room" kick in. More room, more distortion, more reinforcement, and that probably sounds closer to what the sound was like in the room than straight soundboard. Second, for more extreme cases, I have also found that running things through a 5.1 dolby pro logic music processor can make them sound better. More room reinforcement given surround speakers, and that setting seems to "smooth" out many a recording. Why? Dunno, but likely slower attack and decay settings is a part of it, that would be my "don't feel like tracking the details down" guess.

Mostly I avoid the worse soundboards, try to stick to the better ones.

---

In general, I used to be more of a late wall of sound fan, so 73. Over time I have changed to make Spring 77 east coast tour my go to time period. The 5/26/77 show is a particular favorite, which is on YouTube for a low res version. Good soundboard, good show.

And I want bears AND turtles on my Dead stuff, not just one or the other.

 

[khensu]

You're right about SBD quality to some extent, but how about those Fillmore East boards from April '71? Love Lesh's sound on those, plus they sound great.

 

[August West]

The Fillmore East 1971 boards were made clandestinely. A feed from the snake fed a mixing console in the basement. A real musician with credentials mixed them in real time.
The band of course had the truck outside the theater doing the recordings that ended up on skull and roses. I think they sound better than what ended up on Skull and Roses as well as Lady and Gentleman. Now check out my next post.

 

[August West]

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

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

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.

I am sure I have seen FOB and DFC before, on rare occasion, but I had no idea what they meant. Many thanks to you for the education!

 

[bogart]

I might be a just couple of years too young... I remembering hearing the name the Grateful Dead (maybe on the radio) and somehow I got the impression that they were hard rock or heavy metal... I'm not sure if it was the band name, or maybe I heard something about "acid rock" and I was thinking about the kind of acid that eats metal...

So I was super-surprised when I first heard their music, or maybe I'd heard some of the music but didn't know who's music it was.

Not my favorite band (I don't have a favorite anymore) but they were a good band and it's good music. I have a Greatest Hits CD and at least one more (which I can't remember off the top of my head).

I also have a CD by New Riders Of The Purple Sage (Jerry Garcia). I had the LP and I probably bought it without knowing there was any relation to The Grateful Dead.

@DVDdoug you aren't alone! For what it's worth, this was my *exact* experience as well. I was certain they were fairly hard rock/heavy metal. Even the imagery I saw around the band told me that I was right! I remember borrowing a CD from the library and being really confused by the song "Truckin" - the first track I ever heard of theirs.

Having read some retrospective articles about them, I'm interested to try them with older ears again. I've heard that the John Mayer tours they did were great and continued to evolve their interpretations of their catalog. The degree to which I enjoy bluegrass music now probably gives me a new set of ears to listen with too. Thanks for the excuse to look them up.