| Author | Message | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5555 Registered: 7-2004 |
I found this wonderful app for my iPad. It's called "Listen to the Dead" and the logo is a yellow square containing the initials "GD". It's free and appears to contain almost every show the boys ever played from 1965 to 1995. And did I say it was FREE!!!! Joe Bob says two big thumbs up! Bill, tgo | ||
| jalevinemd
Senior Member Username: jalevinemd Post Number: 882 Registered: 12-2003 |
I just downloaded the app. So for those of us who are sort of Dead-noobs, maybe some of you could recommend what you feel are the best shows. | ||
| sparechaynge
Intermediate Member Username: sparechaynge Post Number: 136 Registered: 6-2010 |
8/24, 10/12 and 10/20 1968 certainly qualify IMO | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 11196 Registered: 5-2002 |
Because I have the DVD, I really like 12/31/78. Inspired by Graeme's post in the gigs section, I was just now listing to/watching Ramble On Rose. Jerry looks like he's having fun; the band is tight, the dynamics are great. | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1595 Registered: 10-2006 |
2/11/70; the legendary Dark Star>Spanish Jam>Turn On Your Lovelight with D. Allman, G. Allman, B. Oakley, B. Trucks, P. Green, D. Kerwin, & A. Lee (that's Arthur, not Albert or Alvin) | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5557 Registered: 7-2004 |
12/31/82 has Etta James and the Tower of Power horn section joining the band for the third set at midnight. I haven't listened to the recording yet, but I loved it when I saw it live. Bill, tgo | ||
| sparechaynge
Intermediate Member Username: sparechaynge Post Number: 137 Registered: 6-2010 |
2/11/69 isn't bad either. First ever (?) full length "Hey Jude" by the early version of the band. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 3657 Registered: 6-2002 |
Downloading as we speak. Jazzyvee | ||
| mtjam
Member Username: mtjam Post Number: 85 Registered: 11-2011 |
Yeah, I downloaded this about 5 seconds after I read about the app. Thanks! | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 8032 Registered: 6-2000 |
The last Fillmore East shows are epic, especially 4/29/71 (gee, hope I'm remembering that right!). That was the tape that pasewark sent me that finally got me to understand the Dead. Mind you, he must have sent at least a dozen before then on his mission to convert me! | ||
| mtjam
Member Username: mtjam Post Number: 86 Registered: 11-2011 |
I am forever Grateful to the Dead for helping me understand Alembic when I first heard them many years ago! | ||
| jalevinemd
Senior Member Username: jalevinemd Post Number: 883 Registered: 12-2003 |
I've only really started listening to the Dead the past year or so. Morning Dew...my god what a beautiful song. Any suggestions on the GD App for a particularly tasty Dew? | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 11199 Registered: 5-2002 |
Jonathan; from archive.org The Best Morning Dews 1. 05-08-1977 2. 10-18-1974 3. 09-17-1982 4. 09-09-1993 5. 05-02-1970 6. 09-18-1987 7. 06-18-1983 8. 06-21-1989 9. 04-28-1971 10. 06-07-1977 | ||
| jalevinemd
Senior Member Username: jalevinemd Post Number: 884 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thanks Dave. I loved 9/9/93. Great guitar work. Also really love 5/20/95. Jerry sounds frail but soulful. Looking at the catalog, it looks like that might have been the last time they played it before Jerry's passing. (Message edited by Jalevinemd on October 10, 2013) | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1598 Registered: 10-2006 |
Gee, Mica, I'd have thought understanding the Dead would be in your DNA........ And don't say kids never like their parents' music; my parents listened to Longines Symphonette, so I had an excuse! Peter | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 3061 Registered: 5-2009 |
Peter , I remember a "Longines Symphonette" radio that my parents had in the corner of the kitchen nook. Back to the Dead , ____I like Fillmore East 2-11-69 Uncle Bobo plays the cowbell ! | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1599 Registered: 10-2006 |
The "system" was a Silvertone with the fold-out "speakers" and drop-down turntable; what they got from LS were mail-order easy listening boxed sets; they would occasionally go hard-core & pick up something like The Magic of Montovani or An Andy Williams Christmas (thank god for the college girl who rented a room & had things like Burl Ives & P,P&M!!!) Yes, Martin Mull pretty much name-checked my parents in "Normal". Peter | ||
| terrace
Junior Username: terrace Post Number: 49 Registered: 3-2008 |
" I'm tired of rock and rollin', let's get married honey let's go bowlin' " | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5561 Registered: 7-2004 |
Become once-a-weekers and get some lousy speakers! | ||
| jalevinemd
Senior Member Username: jalevinemd Post Number: 885 Registered: 12-2003 |
The app is great. I wish, though, that you could search by song title and not just the date. | ||
| flaxattack
Senior Member Username: flaxattack Post Number: 2487 Registered: 4-2004 |
6/10/73 was one of the most downloaded shows according to archive. | ||
| ed_too
New Username: ed_too Post Number: 7 Registered: 3-2011 |
Bill, I’ve been lovin’ this app – thanks. I also like “Taper’s Section” on Dead.net since it’s usually a good mix. This week’s from Paris 9/21/74 is what we used to call (when trading show tapes) a “Lesh/Garcia” mix. I’d think Phil must be playing one of his Alembics and Jerry might still be playing “Gator”. http://www.dead.net/features/tapers-section/december-30-2013-january-5-2014?intcmp=home%2Ffeatures3 Ed | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 2101 Registered: 9-2002 |
I certainly am loathe to admit it in this company, but I'm still trailing Mica: When it comes to the Dead, I still DON'T get it. I'm very impressed at however they arrived at their ethos of pressing the technical end of things forward, but musically it rarely moves me. J o e y | ||
| tbrannon
Senior Member Username: tbrannon Post Number: 1596 Registered: 11-2004 |
Never fear, Joey. I'm with you. I totally respect it and love that it moves some people to such lengths. It doesn't do all that much for me- but that IS the beauty of music. I may as well confess that very little of what Stanley Clarke does moves me either. An amazing player for sure, but there isn't much that resonates with me musically. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 3794 Registered: 6-2002 |
I can't ever see myself becoming a dead fan but listened a lot recently to the dead music on my iPad from Internet radio stations and I think if I'd been exposed to it when I was a teenager or in my early 20's I would have been more into it. A lot of the music I've listened to so far I have really enjoyed. Although I'm actually a huge Stanley Clarke fan, it pains me to admit that,I got a Stanley Clarke multi cd collection from his 1980's output recently to fill a hole in my collection of his music and compared to his stuff before and after that time and let's say I was very underwhelmed. It was the amazing Vertu album that restored my faith and got me interested in buying his music again in recent years. That said there is a lot of music from the 80's that I was hugely disappointed with. Oops I digressed, Jazzyvee (Message edited by Jazzyvee on January 05, 2014) (Message edited by Jazzyvee on January 05, 2014) | ||
| keith_h
Senior Member Username: keith_h Post Number: 1942 Registered: 2-2005 |
I never was into the Dead. I can appreciate the musicianship on some of their work and applaud their experimentalism but I just don't find a lot of their stuff accessible. I had friends in my teens and 20's that were big Dead Heads though that tried to convert me. I suspect my taste has more to do with working in a record store where the owner would pop every new jazz album he received onto the turntable. A number of those made their way into my collection and are still what I listen to the most. I like Stanley's recent stuff as he seems to have gotten back to writing new material instead of rehashing things he did previously. I think the change has a lot to do with being influenced by the younger folks he has been playing with like Hiromi and Ron Bruner. I think it pushed him to get his game back and brought new energy to his group dynamics. To further hijack the thread. If you ever have a chance to see Hiromi live do it. My wife who does not care for jazz even enjoyed the show due to Hiromi's energy. Keith | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1644 Registered: 10-2006 |
I'd think that would help, Keith, as Mickey Hart once (quite aptly, I think) described their music as "using a rock lexicon with a jazz syntax." I realize it's not for everyone - but I don't understand why  Then again, I've always thought Stanley was an amazing musician; I've never enjoyed listening to him. Peter | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 3187 Registered: 5-2009 |
Peter, YES ! Thanks ____ "Using a rock lexicon with a Jazz syntax" That make sense to me____ I like it , I like it alot !!!! ( a separate smile for each string , quadrophonic) Wolf | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5627 Registered: 7-2004 |
I suspect all of you guys who don't "get the Dead" never saw them live. The experience never really transferred to vinyl/tape/plastic/computer bits very well. It was the Dead that taught me to appreciate jazz. I've often described their music as a jazz approach using rock 'n roll tools. Oh yea, you probably never saw them while tripping either. A truly celestial experience! Bill, tgo | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5628 Registered: 7-2004 |
Peter and Wolf posted while I was composing the above. I never heard the Mickey Hart quote before. It's nice to read that Mickey Hart agrees with me! Bill, tgo | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 3188 Registered: 5-2009 |
I concur with Bill ___ And it has been said before and I will write it here again " there is nothing else like a live Grateful Dead Concert " The live experience was definitely where the magic was at . Some of the "lighting in a bottle" can be heard in live recordings , but not all of it got caught . I am glad that I felt the part that could not be bottled in person ! That part still lives in my mind and my heart. I have a very eclectic taste in music and I also respect anyones likes and dislikes , so it's OK in my opinion ___ "not to get it " I certainly am glad that I get the "Dead " and so many other genres of music as well . Wolf | ||
| keith_h
Senior Member Username: keith_h Post Number: 1943 Registered: 2-2005 |
No, I never saw them live. I don't discuss my youthful indiscretions on the internet but some were performed listening to Dead records at parties. Funny you mention jazz as the Dead always seemed to have more of a country and bluegrass feel to me. At least it does for the material that sticks in my memory. I don't have any issues with the Dead, it just doesn't talk to me. Keith | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 3189 Registered: 5-2009 |
keith, it's all cool___ The country & bluegrass are definitely there. The improvisational methods and the directions that the improvisations go to and the destinations of these improvisations arrive at is where the "Jazz " comes to life in my opinion . This is the live experience versus the studio experience. Like an amoeba constantly changing shape, never the same shape again. Endlessly______. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5629 Registered: 7-2004 |
The other "jazz" influence, IMHO, comes from Dixieland jazz in that each instrument became a lead instrument that played around the main theme, defining it by outlining it rather than playing it directly. Add to that substantial improvisation, and throwing in significant portions of blues, R&B, country, folk, good ol' rock 'n roll, and Americana, and they created a completely original musical recipe. This at a time when most other rock music consisted of a rhythm section with the lead guitar wailing. Bill, tgo | ||
| ed_too
New Username: ed_too Post Number: 8 Registered: 3-2011 |
Peter and Bill – I like your suggestions about jazz and Dixieland – I think it gets to what I always found in their shows. I’d seen them enough to seem to know where a riff was going and would have the next note sounding in my mind – but one of them would grab it first and twist/tweak/whack it and give back something just a little new – and make me say “whoa”. Or It might be more about what Jonathan (Jalevinemd) reminded me about hearing “Morning Dew” in the balcony of the Boston Music Hall in the mid-70’s – Phil would play the “pipe organ part” and the balcony would shake – so much your eyes couldn’t focus. Ed | ||
| dead_head
Junior Username: dead_head Post Number: 13 Registered: 12-2013 |
The Grateful Dead's strong suit has always been the live gig. Their studio efforts never achieved the mass appeal that the live performances did, as exemplified in the still very active trading of cassettes of vintage shows, internet archives, and scrupulous obsession with concert dates,song lists, etc. The band members themselves have admitted that theirs is an improvisational approach, and when it's on, it's inspirational, and when it's not, it's forgettable. But the wonderful thing about music is that there's always something for everyone, regardless of preference, and whether or not the Dead float your boat. Peace..... Rob | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1645 Registered: 10-2006 |
"The improvisational methods and the directions that the improvisations go to and the destinations of these improvisations arrive at is where the "Jazz " comes to life in my opinion . This is the live experience versus the studio experience. Like an amoeba constantly changing shape, never the same shape again. Endlessly" From a TV interview (don't remember with who, but sometime around '79-'80): Bob Weir: "We never play a song the same way twice" Bill Kreutzmann: "Hell, we barely play it the same way once!" | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 3190 Registered: 5-2009 |
Another aspect of the Grateful Dead improvisational formula would be the art of creating a morphed segue from tune to tune seamlessly making the transition . Like this ___ With extreme foresight ,ears wide open as well as eyes including the magical third eye tuned in ___ , sensitive musicians one in mind and many in body ;___the music floats from one one melody to the next, with harmonic content molding into shape with the delivery of a symphony descending from a cloud_______ | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1646 Registered: 10-2006 |
Thanks, Bill; a large part of my love of the boys has always been how "jamming" for them was everybody conversing with everybody else, instead of the typical rock "jam" of rhythm section providing a groove into which the lead player lays a masturbatory guitar solo (and don't get me wrong - I have nothing against musical onanism, enjoying a good wank as much as the next guy, but GD's way is better), but somehow I had missed the Dixieland connection! That makes perfect sense. The seques were, indeed, magic, Wolf; they'd launch from a song, take us to distant planets (briefly visiting other songs on the way) and, with nothing up their sleeves, end up at a new song - frequently in a new time signature(s). Seamlessly! There is nothing to compare with listening to their instrumental debates on which way to go. Peter | ||
| jhamby
New Username: jhamby Post Number: 2 Registered: 9-2011 |
Things I love/loved about the Dead: -- Every instrument an independent voice in an interdependent whole. -- Transitions to unknown destinations. -- Discovering new paths to known destinations: Scarlet->Fire or China Cat->Rider. -- Moments of sublime grace and power. -- The psychedelic material: Dark Star, Other One, Morning Dew, China Cat, Estimated Prophet, Eyes of the World. -- The emphasis ballad slot: Black Peter, Wharf Rat, China Doll, Stella Blue, Dew. -- Dynamics and clarity of the sound system. -- Getting to do the only dance I know (The Spaz). Things I could do without: -- Marginal singing. -- Cowboy songs. -- Patterned pseudo-improvisations, which became more prevalent over time. -- Garcia's drug-induced decline. -- Botched lyrics and blown changes. It was what it was, and the best of what it was was magic. John | ||
| hieronymous
Senior Member Username: hieronymous Post Number: 1335 Registered: 1-2005 |
Nice list John! Trying to nail down a musical genre for the Dead's entire output is like trying to do it for Miles Davis or Frank Zappa - there is a LOT going on over a 20 year career. For me, I think I first keyed into the often overlooked progressive rock elements - intricate musical passages, odd times, long solos, etc. As far as studio stuff, "Blues for Allah" and "Terrapin Station" were my favorites early on, though I came to prefer the live stuff from a few years earlier. I only saw them a few times near the end - didn't quite get it, preferred Phish at the time but came to love the Dead and the deep well of music and inspiration that they drew from. And actually, there might be something to the Zappa/Dead parallel - there are a couple of CD compilations of original recordings that influenced both artists/bands. Excellent collections of music, and illuminating of the output of both. The Roots of the Grateful Dead The Roots of Frank Zappa | ||
| peoplechipper
Advanced Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 384 Registered: 2-2009 |
I've never really gotten the Dead. I used to work with a guy who was a fan and one time while 'enhanced' he played some album(can't remember which one...) and when he pointed out the transitions from song to song they were cool; the thing that sorta twists my head about them is how a band of that size can sound so SMALL...I understand holding back, but I guess I'm more impressed when a small band sounds bigger than when a big band sounds small...I'll admit I haven't listened to them in quite some time so I'll try them again and see if I get it; I suspect it'll be like my adult attempt at Bananas though; I still hate them...Tony | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5630 Registered: 7-2004 |
"I used to work with a guy who was a fan and one time while 'enhanced' he played some album(can't remember which one...) and when he pointed out the transitions from song to song they were cool; the thing that sorta twists my head about them is how a band of that size can sound so SMALL" Tony, did you and your friend obtain your "enhancement" from Steve Martin???? Seriously, though, I really don't understand what you mean. I've heard many descriptions of the Dead over the years, both positive and negative, but I've never before heard "small"! Bill, tgo | ||
| peoplechipper
Advanced Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 385 Registered: 2-2009 |
Very good Bill! Forgot about that...the enhancement came in the form of little teeny stamps...what I meant was that some bands sound bigger than three people for example; Frank Zappa used a large band but sounded like it, some of the Dead I've heard just doesn't sound at all like that many people onstage...anyway, I'll admit I haven't heard that much of them and not for some time...Tony | ||
| jx2638
Member Username: jx2638 Post Number: 89 Registered: 2-2008 |
I couldn't find this in the app store and when I seemed to find it via google search it wouldn't download. Anyone know the status? Has it been shut down?? | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5637 Registered: 7-2004 |
It's still working on my iPad. Bill, tgo | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 978 Registered: 4-2004 |
I can understand how Tony's first impression came to be… I think a lot of it has to do w/ the visual image of the band which has become ingrained in our heads (two drummers, Wall of Sound, gigantic venues, etc, etc….) But once you dissect the chronology of the band, you realize that the mickey was out of the band for the whole WOS duration, and the band sounded HUGE when they were in small venues like the Fox, Boston Music Hall or the Fillmore. Contrast that with the studio recordings where the focus was on fidelity, soon to be destroyed by early digital transfer, and the ambience of the concert hall was void. I never liked Garcia's vocals on studio versions, especially when compared to shows from the same era. Even live recordings like "Steal Your Face" sound thin due to what they say was incompetent engineering… nothing is perfect, but there are plenty of diamonds in that mine… Im having a blast going thru YouTube uploads right now!…. | ||
| ed_too
Junior Username: ed_too Post Number: 13 Registered: 3-2011 |
It's working on my iPhone right now (Roosevelt Stadium, 7/18/72 - the first show I attended) but I don't see it in the app store anymore(?). " Dead Head Music, Pictures, Videos+" is still available. So are "Archive Player" and "Etree Mobile". These two go to Archive dot org to get the music files - the same as the GD app. Good luck and good listening. Ed |
