2. music
  3. 187397-2364

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.  

     

garebear
zlone
412 posts
 

@stuartk 

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. 

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.

stuartk
2,372 posts
 

@zlone

I understand your thoughts on too much space around the players, but I guess I sort of groove on that a bit.

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.

larsman's avatar
larsman
1,752 posts
 

@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...

stuartk
2,372 posts
 

@larsman

I do agree about PITB. I enjoy her harmony vocals circa ’76, ’77.

@zlone

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...

zlone
412 posts
 

Good stories @larsman ​​​and ​@stuartk, I would have loved to see them in the 70's. Alas, my first show was '81 in St. Paul. Eye opening for sure! And very confusing to a new Deadhead with a post-space UJB->Playin->China Doll->UJB->Playin, what the hell is going on here?

More to discover