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R1/W26: The Grateful Dead: 04-21-1971 Rhode Island Auditorium, Providence, RI

Started by susep, May 25, 2007, 09:56:26 PM

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susep

 :syf:
04/21/71 (Wed) Rhode Island Auditorium - Providence, RI

Set 1: Casey Jones, Mama Tried, Big Boss Man, Loser, Truckin' > Drums > The Other One > Wharf Rat, Hard To Handle, Cumberland Blues, Bird Song, Me And Bobby McGee*

First set only but what a smoker, as good as the FE shows down the road.



http://www.sendspace.com/file/bi2q15

1:18:15  zip>mp3

* missing Me and Bobby McGee set closer.

sophist

Can we talk about the Dead?  I'd love to talk about the fucking Grateful Dead, for once, can we please discuss the Grateful FUCKING Dead!?!?!?!

susep

Quote from: phan003 on May 25, 2007, 10:06:04 PM
sweet pick

agreed, a show that mystified me at first listen, esp. the Rat>HTH>Cumberland.  A sweet sequence.
Also the opening Casey, Mama, Big Boss Man shows nice variety in lead vocals and musical styles.

nab


sls.stormyrider

"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

susep

Set I only

Casey Jones> great far from home opener, Weir throwing in some fills.  Like a few songs in this set, this version is a favorite.
Phil stomping out.
Mama Tried> nice version, solid.  As good as the Skull and Roses cut from the FE.  Not really a big country fan per se but this is psychadelic country;)
Big Boss Man> Pig's turn as front man, nice placement in set, city.  Nice soloing by Pig followed by Garcia before Pig takes over again, 3 cycles of soloing. 
Loser> after a sweet 3 tune opener the Dead downshift into a mellow Loser.  Again not a real big fan of this tune but I dig the slight delta arrangement/cues. 
Truckin - Drums> Back into highgear, complimenting the opening Jones.  Garcia is active/firing off leads during verses, Pig's organ discernible but a little low in the mix.  Phil's playing from this era is great.  Everyone sounds inspired vocally, maybe slightly dosed?  Linear jam follows by high energy, Phil and Jer hinting at The Other One.  More delta riffage, outro chorus>
Drums> Kruetzman alone, playing well.  Mickey's departure was a blessing ultimately, I'm wondering how they would have progressed through 76-78 w/ out him?  Crowd loving Billy.  Back on the snare, jazzying things up a bit.  Nice pre-TOO jamming.
The Other One> Garcia leads out brimmingly, nice psychadelic tone.  Phil very active, slight variations in the mix but no complaints.  Jer hitting some nice notes, almost whale cries.  Great interplay by Garcia/Lesh, Jer really trying hard to mix it up.  This version reminds me of 6Aug.71, purposeful improvisation.  Spanish Lady, back into surreal improv.  Garcia applying some blugrass finger picking styles before dropping into a Spanish Jam/Feelin' Groovey space.  More inventive playing continues, high energy beautiful jam.  Garcia howling, Lesh brings everyone around.  Lily fields> slamming into>
Wharf Rat>  prolly my absolute favorite version.  Kind of a downshift but the intensity is present.  Dockside imagery,
"Good Lord willin'"  John Williams?  nice transition, around 6:50 the jam begins to ascend> nice psychadelic playing by Jer, unique leads for this tune.  His playing sounds very horizontal here, trilling.  Great tone. 
Hard To Handle> now heated up, Pig takes the reins.  Prolly the best era for HTH, sick, sick jams, this being arguably the best ever.  Phil funking nicely, "play on..."  Weir leads first, nice tone in the mix.  Preety consistent solo by Bob.  Brief rythymic exchange before Jer leads in, up to this point in the show his playing has gradually ascended, continuing here. 
Solid back-up, near 7:00 jam morphs slightly.  More intensity, Garcia howling.  Phil raging, Garcia sounds as though he is biting his strings.  At 8:00 the jam literally peaks w/ lightning finger picking as heard in TOO back into HTH.  Excellent peak.
Cumberland> excellent placement after bombastic improv., this version delights.  Garcia exhibiting some hot bluegrass soloing.  More psychadelic country, a zenith tune/version. 
Bird Song> these early '71 versions are interesting before the songs literal explosion in '72.  Nice placement, G to D.
Lesh/Garcia hitting some nice leads, decent version

*missing Me and Bobby McGee set closer*

This has long been a favorite set of mine from the GD.  Beginning w/ Drums > through Cumberland the band hits some nice peaks.  Nice high energy improv. for a first set.

A-/A

sls.stormyrider

it's hard to believe this was a 1st set - then again they opened 4/29 with Truckin'

all well played
Casey Jones-good, standard
Mama Tried - what I like about the cowboy tunes are the vocal harmonies, good in this one, and most of all Jerry's work underneath Bobby's lead vocals. In this one Jerry is going real nice underneath. nice one
Big Boss Man - I always thought this song defines Pig. solid.
Loser-routine (good) version
Truckin'- ah-the show begins. Nice jamming. Great work by Billy K on the drums. I like him better w/o Mickey.
TOO-typical great version. 3 way conversation between Jerry, Phil, and BK. Bobby has yet to mature; I miss TC or Keith (or Brent) on keys here, but still, great jamming. Nice climax before the 2nd verse
Wharf Rat-great tune this era. Phil rules
HTH- another great 4/71 version. Which one is the best-we can argue forever but it has to be from 4/71
Cumberland Blues-nice work
Bird Song-reeeaally liked this version. nice and spare, especially compared to the later ones. again nice 3 way convo between Jerry, Phil, and BK. Bobby doing some nice rhythm here too.

Great 1st set. In the grand scheme of GD, I would rate A-.
thanks, susep
"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

khalpin

Let me preface this by saying, I would never be considered a fan of the Dead, but figured, what the hell, I'll play.  I'm somewhat acquainted with them via friends, but looking at the setlist, I think I've only ever heard 2 of the songs, so it's very much unfamiliar territory.

Casey Jones: Hey, I know this song!   :lol:  Well, that didn't really sound like much of a jam vehicle.  Probably rather standard.

Mama Tried: Some nice playing by Jerry.  Vocal harmonies aren't too bad either.  Enjoyable tune.

Big Boss Man: Can't say I'm a huge fan of blues songs, unless it's something incredible, like Stevie Ray Vaughn.  This is no different.  That harmonica playing is a little rough to take.

Loser: Wow, this song is slow.  Sounds like a bathroom break to me.  Not that it's a bad song, just one I wouldn't want to sit through live.

Truckin': Sounds like there's an organist somewhere in the background trying to solo, but is next to invisible in the mix....a couple minutes later...ah, there's Jerry...I think it's Jerry anyway.  That was a rather short solo....then....DRUM SOLO!!!!!  So is it a rotating kit, a la Tommy Lee.   :lol:

Other One: I don't know how much of this is composed and how much is improv, but there's some great bass going on in the beginning here.  Actually, after a couple minutes, it's really some great playing all around.  I'm really liking this tune....then the vocals start....meh...then it slows down.  Still good, though.  The jam kind of meanders around for a couple minutes before finding itself again...and then eventually makes it back to the original theme.  My favorite tune so far.

Wharf Rat: Starting to sound like another bathroom break.  But I don't have to go yet.  Can't say I like this one.

Hard to Handle: Wow, I had no idea this was a Dead tune.  How about that.  This is MUCH better than the Black Crowes version.  Nice playing by Jerry and the other guy (Bobby?), well Jerry in particular.  Great version.

Cumberland Blues: Hmmm, Phil seems to be upstaging Jerry on this one.  Nice bass playing.

Bird Song: Kind of sounds like a cross between The Doors' "The End" and Hendrix's "1983..."  Too mellow for my taste.  Would've hated sitting through this live.

Kind of hard to give this set a rating, since I don't have much to compare it to.  I guess, at least I found a couple new tunes by the Dead that I like.  So that's saying something.  I think I might give some more a try.

Hicks

Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

Caravan2001

Pretty solid selection......first time I've heard it.  Very typical (read: great) spring '71 show.....Nothing that really reaches the heights of say the 4/29 Alligator jam, but then again, nothing much does.  Still, it holds up to most of the Fillmore run...it's all classic really, those were the days...I'd like to hear the rest of the show...all in all, a nice listen, thanks for the up....who's next in posting?  Can I put up a GD show pick, or is there someone up next?  :syf:

Hicks

I believe I'm next, we've been on a two week rotation lately so I was going to try and get it together early next week. 

Looks like there's a few people after me too, although I don't know if they are all paying attention. . .

http://week4paug.net/index.php/topic,3131.0.html
Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

sophist

Can we talk about the Dead?  I'd love to talk about the fucking Grateful Dead, for once, can we please discuss the Grateful FUCKING Dead!?!?!?!

Caravan2001

Quote from: Hicks on June 05, 2007, 11:57:22 PM
I believe I'm next, we've been on a two week rotation lately so I was going to try and get it together early next week. 

Looks like there's a few people after me too, although I don't know if they are all paying attention. . .

http://week4paug.net/index.php/topic,3131.0.html

OK...I'm up to date....so hook it up Hicks...post some of that freaked out indie electronic shit nobody's heard of   :-D

rowjimmy


Hicks

Alright, so a bit of caveat: I'm not a deadhead at all, but I do enjoy their music, more and more so recently as well.  I'm definitely not as familiar with their stuff as most of you are.

"Here's the Grateful Dead." The whole introduction thing always cracks me up, at what point did it become not cool to have an announcer let you know what band was taking the stage?

Casey Jones: Nice, standard version.

Mama Tried: ugh, not much of a Bobby fan and definitely not a country fan.  Actually this is the type of tune that kept me away from the Dead for so long.

Big Boss Man: definitely more into Pig's R&B contributions (see below) to the band than the bluesy stuff as the blues kinda bores me. 

Loser: aahhhh, a Jerry tune, what a relief.   :wink:  Personally I think Jerry consistently outshined the other members of the band, so lots of times when I listen to the GD I find myself waiting for the tunes where he takes the spotlight.  The amount of soul he brought to the table is truly phenomenal and sometimes it could get a bit lost in the shuffle of the stew that was the Dead.  Honestly, many times I prefer JGB just for this reason.  This tune proved a great showcase for that uncomparable Jerry vibe.  The few times that Pig's organ peaked through the mix made me wish I could hear it the whole time.

Truckin'>Drums: Not my favorite, an overplayed tune (on the radio) IMO and an example of Bobby cheese.  BUT I really enjoyed the little jam between the verses, that started off raging before settling back into a nice relaxing groove.  I agree Phil shined here hitting some great ringing high notes.  Nice little Other One tease before drums.  Drums was drums.

The Other One:  OK, I take it back Bobby, you can stay!   :wink:  A true epic and a great tune that affords the band their first real opportunity to stretch out a bit.  One thing I would say about the Dead is that they were masters of using peaks and valleys in their jams and this is a great example of that.  I like the way the jam nearly disintegrated at the 7:00 minute mark and then was built back up in one fluid motion.  Smooth segue into. . .

Wharf Rat: Again the amount of soul Jerry pours into tunes like this is simply incredible. Very moving.  More soaring bass lines from Phil in the outro, emotional stuff here.

Hard to Handle: Here's where Pigs contribution to the band is truly felt.  Where Jerry was the emotional core, Pig was the one who pushed the band to GROOVE.  Actually this may be the highlight of the set for me.  The perfect balance between rocking out and old school R&B.  Jerry really tears it up toward the end.  Check out www.allmusic.com if you want to find out who really did this first.   :evil:

Cumberland Blues:   :beers:

Bird Song:  I haven't heard too many versions of this song, but it is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.  Definitely a bit embryonic when compared to the 9/27/72 version I have on DP 11. Some nice noodling by Jerry here though.

Overall I give it a B+, it started off a bit shakey but TOO>Hard to Handle was gold.  I still have to say that '77-'78 is my favorite era, because of the funk factor and the introduction of my favorite tunes like Terrapin in addition to the frequency of which they were playing my absolute favorite Dead tune, Eyes.  Flame away!  But this was still a great listen and I'm sure it will stay on my ipod for quite some time.  Thanks for broadening the horizons of the show club Susep! 

Now brace yourself fools, and get ready for some crazy shit next week!   :-D
Quote from: Trey Anastasio
But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.