Customer Reviews

The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, Volume 1: An In-Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape, 1959-1974

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Will the Dead's music continue to be sought and traded a hundred years from now? Perhaps, but regardless of that possibility, this book and its two proceeding volumes will continue to stand as unique testaments to the art of the band. Currently marketed as resources for tape traders, these volumes will evolve into something much more vital as the members of the band and their fans fade into time.

Never has music been more thoroughly documented and described in the context of it composers. Unprecidented! Imagine a biography about John Coltrane that included descriptions of each performance of his career!

If future generations are curious about The Grateful Dead, they will be interested in the band's art, not the personal flaws or outside experiences of its individual members. I believe these volumes will outlive all the many conventional biographies about the band. They cover the things we should be allowed to know about The Grateful Dead. The rest is "better left unsung."

I bought this book when I was just beginning to trade Grateful Dead tapes, and now I use it every time I set out to make a trade. This book gives me at least some idea about the show before I trade for it, allowing me to pick only shows I'm really interested in. In short, I highly recommend it to anyone who is at all interested in collecting Grateful Dead tapes.

the taper's compendium fills the empty spaces left by deadbase. the compendium lists all the shows that are in the trading domain, and gives you a very good idea of provenance, quality, and what is available for any grateful dead show - if they don't list it, then it ain't available, honey! these guys are thorough! i have updated several shows in my collection based on what the book told me was available! and, it turned out that i have a rare shows or two as well!!! so, guys, when are volumes two and three coming out - i can't wait!!!

Anybody who enjoys live recordings in general and especially those of the Grateful Dead should run, not walk to order this book. "Jam" packed with crucial information about specific shows as well as the history of making the tapes, this is truly without parallel in the history of publishing. Talk about your "hours of amusement"!

This book is enlightening for its documentation of the early taping scene and the interviews with Bear, Dick, and the early tapers. It also is flavored with the insights of many people's perspectives on the music from shows and on tapes. I particularly like to read the reviews while listening to the music of a show, what a treat! It has also sent me in search of shows I don't have or upgrades of shows that I know exist in better quality. It is a nice reference *in conjunction* with Deadbase, not in place of it. However, what strikes me most about the book is that it is exactly the type of work the Deadhead community can achieve as a collective. It is a beautiful work and it is worth buying just for the stunning pictures from people's personal collections! I am looking forward to volumes II & III!

Taping Compendium is another terrific addition to the Grateful Dead library and a must for the serious collector of Dead tapes. It features some wonderful never-before-seen photos from the early years including color photos of my first show in Des Moines, 6-16-74! I love the section on the history of taping Dead concerts both from the professional side and the Deadhead perspective. It helps me see how lucky I had it when I started taping shows myself in the late `70s. The reviews themselves are a goldmine of information. While I don't agree with all of them, they certainly have pointed me to some shows that are real gems, and that I didn't even realize existed on tape. And besides, the reviews are great fun to read!

Unlike other GD books, including old stalwarts like 'DeadBase' and 'Goin Down the Road..' as well as relative newcomers like 'Sweet Chaos' and 'Dead Reckonings', the 'Taping Compendium' is both an invaluable resource as well as great fun to read. It really does stand alone with one foot in the world of literary and historical musicology and the other in the world of beancounters and data crunchers. The data is solid since it's all based strictly on available audio tapes (and you can't get much better documentation than that!) whereas the descriptions of the shows are mostly thoughtful and interesting, providing a colorful backdrop for considering the intricate details of the bands early music. Oftentimes the reviews really do transport you back to a smokey dancehall or theater in the late 60s and damn if I didn't get patchouli oil stains on my copy! Other historical aspects of the early taping scene include interviews with some of the original taper-dudes and these are also enlightening and enjoyable to read. The real utility of the book, however, has to be the surprisingly complete (well nothing in the world is 100%!) section on tape reviews which describes all the live grateful dead concert music that circulates on tape. Even more, there are plenty of tips that allow anyone with an interest to begin their own collection of live grateful dead concert recordings. Although there is no way to avoid the occasional sideways glance from the experienced trader when one first starts out trying to build a collection, a careful read of Tiedrich's chapter on trading etiquette will at least allow you to get your foot in the door and pull it out before ALL the toes are chewed off. In the end, this book (and future books in the Taping Compendium series) will be regarded as required reading for anyone with a desire to explore fully the intriguing carnival that is grateful dead concert tapes.

For anyone interested in the fine performances the Dead created before the later years, this book is a must. Nearly every concert is throughly reviewed, and written in a style that is creative and colorful. Alas, DBase is no longer needed! The compendium is here to stay! One minor note though, not enough was mentioned of Keith in the 7.19.74 first set! Yow! But, the 72 Dark Stars receive an ample and satisfying amount of coverage. Lesh filling, Garcia great!

Okay, it doesn't have information on EVERY show like DeadBase (important shows like 6/27/69(Where Weir sings Dire Wolf while Jerry plays steel. WHOA!! Then theres... well you get the point), but it does contain a plethora of information on most of the shows from the 60's and Early 70's, as well as reviews and information on early pre-Dead material such as a show with Phil on trumpet in 1959!!! As necessary as DeadBase for any person truly SERIOUS about the music of the Grateful Dead. NOT for the casual or beginning DeadHead. This is HEAVY STUFF. If you are somewhere between SERIOUS and beginning, though, you'll love this book.

First, to the "Reader from Berkeley" who rated this 1 star - you're missing the point entirely. Your complaints seem to stem from the fact that some reviewers didn't have access to tapes of the same quality as yourself. Realize that better quality tapes continue to surface and it is impossible to publish a reference in printed form that will be up-to-the-minute accurate. Same goes for tapes not released yet. This book should be used a reference and guideline for enhancing the experience of Grateful Dead taping and tape trading - not as a Bible. No Bible will ever exist for all the shows the band played because some were unfortunately either never taped or the tapes were lost to time. We have to do our best with what we have and keep moving furthur ahead. If you have even one live Dead tape, you need this book. If you're curious about the whole scene, this book will enlighten you and give you some insight into the psyches of the amazing group of people known as Deadheads (or Tapeheads, for that matter). And even if you don't like the Dead, this book makes for an excellent roadmap to taping in general, which can be applied to whatever bands you might be interested in.