Customer Reviews

Dick's Picks 31 8/4-5-6/74 Philadelphia Civic Center and Roosevelt Stadium

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This is a fantastic set, the best 1974 Wall of Sound recording that I've heard. Disc One opens with a massive "PITB", followed by "Scarlet Begonias," and later a nice "China Cat>Rider." Disc Four is powerful stuff, a great "Eyes" followed by "PITB>Scarlet Begonias>PITB," and closing with "Uncle John's Band." The other two discs are not as intense, but they have lots of good first set material, and Disc Three includes a sequence that includes "Truckin',"Other One Jam," and "Stella Blue" that is quite fine. I've never really cared for Bobby's "Weather Report Suite" or the Garcia/Hunter number "He's Gone," but there are some of my favorites on Discs Two and Three too, including "Ship of Fools" and "It Must Have Been the Roses" that don't turn up too often.

I had seen the Dead in Des Moines in June of '74, and so this recording brings back memories for me. Part of that June 16th concert has now been released as WALL OF SOUND: Road Trips Vol. 2, No. 3 in the series of official Dead bootlegs that picks up where Dick's Picks left off, and while good, it is not as good as these August shows.

Little did we know at the time that the Dead would leave the road for an extended Vacation at the end of '74, not returning to touring until late 1976. I attended several more shows between '76 and '81, but I didn't think they ever regained the energy and form they had from 1972 to 1974.

Thank goodness so much of their music was recorded!

(verified purchase direct from the band)

This is easily one my favorite GD releases. The sound is a little less than perfect, with the vocals mixed a tad high. Get past this however, and you've got one of the finest releases from pre-hiatus days. Year of listening to fusion-era miles davis have prepared me to love the jams spread throughout this release. Playin'In The Band opens up with 25 minutes of this fast, jazzy, at times rough on the ears jamming. Billy's drumming is fantastic throughout; he really reached his peak in 1974. From the first two discs, only Ship of Fools and Me and Bobby McGee have me pushing the next button, everything else sounds good to my ears. China Cat> Rider is always great by 74'when the MLB jam was placed in the transition. Disc 4 is obviously the crown jewel of this release, and I won't say anything to refute that. Its a fantastic sequence with a funk(!!!) jam at the end of Playin' that fits in so nicely with the fusion-y jamming.

Recording dates for this release are:

Sunday and Monday 8-4,5-74 Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia, PA (first three discs)
Tuesday 8-6-74 Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ (disc four)

The Roosevelt Stadium show was originally set for 8-2 but had to be rescheduled for 8-6 due to weather. The last 45 minutes of 8-6-74 are currently missing in the vault although there is a good audience tape in circulation.

The first disc is a "best of" the first sets from the Philly shows and starts off with a nicely jammed out Playing In The Band. Next up, a nice Scarlet Begonias that's beginning to stretch it's wings while both Jack Straw and Peggy-O stand among the best from this era. Me And Bobby McGee turns up in one of it's last performances and is a keeper.China Cat Sunflower->I Know You Rider is long and well played with that nice jam that disappeared after '73-'74. The first disc ends with a nice Around And Around.

Disc two is the highlights of the Sunday show second set starting with a cool Ship Of Fools followed by a boogie filled Loose Lucy. The second set jam is made up of blissful versions of Weather Report Suite->Jam->Wharf Rat->U.S. Blues followed by the crowd pleasing Sugar Magnolia. The encore is a hot Casey Jones.

Disc three is the highlights of the Monday show second set and begins with an upbeat Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo->It Must Have Been The Roses followed a good Big River. He's Gone->Truckin'->Jam->The Other One Jam->Space->Stella Blue is nothing short of fantastic. Truckin' and it's following jams are nearly 45 minutes of deep space exploration. The encore of One More Saturday Night is fantastic and brings the show to a rockin' conclusion.

Disc four is from the Tuesday show and runs only a little over an hour. It includes a great stand alone Eyes Of The World. A nice Playing In The Band->Scarlet Begonias->Playing In The Band jam despite a reel flip. I do wish that they had used the audience to patch this. The disc ends with the second set opening Uncle John's Band. Given the fact that this show was very long and even with the missing reel, I can't help but think that they could've stretched it out a bit more.

Ok, this amazing concert and the Grateful dead Movie Soundtrack are the best Live Dead I've been able to purchase on cd. I have about two dozen releases, from the late 60's to the mid 90's and while they all have something commendable I've settled on the "Wall of Sound," 1973-74 dead as my favorite. Something about the snakey, sinewy, laidback playing and clear-as-a-bell sound can't be beat.

I have DP 19, Oklahoma City, and while I love that recording, it's almost too laid back. Dark Star fails to get off the ground, but this recording has just a tad more telepathic punch to my ears. Everyone is in fine form (minus the occasional Donna Wail) and It's a pleasure to hear more of the piano coming through, and the piano getting a chance to be up front in some of the Jams. The opener, Playing in the Jam, is an excellent example of this. Keith's demon's hadn't shut him down and it's lovely to hear him playing so confidently in some very Jazzy modalities. A big reason why I prefer this era over the other big era '77 is Billy's drumming: tight, snarling, delicate, able to speed up in any eye blink. After the other drummer re-joined, there was a tendency to fall into that familiar lock-step beat. Not so with Billy K at the helm single handedly revving up (or down) the rhythm section.

Peggy-O is a sweet as ever.

Four disc's of a band in top form--it be happening. You won't regret it. The altar awaits....

this china rider is insane. sounds like none other its just different .all these discs are sweet