Customer Reviews

Dick's Picks, Vol. 15: Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ, 9/3/77

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a great all around show! I bought this back when it first came out, back then I was buying up the Dick's Picks as fast as they came. Now that I've entered the ipod era, it's nice to dig through the archives, pick out an old dick's pick at random and listen to it begining to end over the course of a couple of days of commuting and errands.

Can't go wrong with this one. First off, 1977, a great year for the Dead. Then you have a great show, all around high energy. I agree with other reviewers about the overall high quality of Jerry solos on this night, this is a show you can play with pride in front of fellow heads or critics.

The first set culminates with the best Peggy-O I've heard, then a nice Minglewood Blues, Friend of the Devil, and a high quality Music Never Stopped. The second set is great all-around, but particularly a great Eyes of the World. It silly to rank the different versions of these songs, but I'll go on the record as saying this Eyes of the World will be in anyone's top five.

Then comes the encore: Terrapin. Beautiful. Melty. Bewitching. Prodigious. Terrapin is a special song for me, with magical memories, well-cocooned in another times forgotten space, out-of-reach but I know they're good. I only saw the Grateful Dead live 15 times or so, but I got three shows with Terrapin, including my first and my last. No matter what mood I'm in, those relaxed opening cords instantly snap me out of it.

...if you get confused just listen to the music play...

I am quit confused by the reviews posted about this record. It's one of the best live grateful dead recordings to ever be released. I own pretty much everything the dead have put out and this is in the top three of anything recorded and released to the public. This is in the same catagory as dick's volumes 4 and 8 as being the holy grails of live recordings. They have very rarley reached the olympic heights of this caliber of live performances. This is something special which should be cherished. I would recommend this to old salty dead fans and any one who is testing the waters as far as purchasing dead recordings. This is the tightest playing I think I have ever heard from the dead. This is a MUST!!! get album. If I had to own only five dead albums this album would be my first choice, followed by Dick's picks vol. four and eight, American Beauty, Working Mans Dead, and Live/Dead. That's it, thats all you need. If you get these you are good to go. Ok throw in Europe 72 for good measure. And maybe the box set So Many Roads. This will give you a taste of peak performances.

For me, the key to enjoying Dick's Picks is to discover those
tracks which you consider the "definitive" version of songs...
and #15 is nicely loaded with soaring beauty. Everybody knows
(or should) that Jerry was/is an angel...when he plays, an
angel is playing. Anyway, I've now learned to separate Dick's
Picks selections into two categories: JAMS (where Jerry solos
with staggering beauty (no vocals) and SONGS (with vocals). So...
Dick's Picks #15 falls mainly under the Songs category. The first
CD is the best because of 4 tracks: They Love Eachother; Half Step
Mississippi Uptown; Peggy-O; and The Music Never Stopped....all
definitive versions. One bit of advice regarding The Music Never
Stopped: if you're a bit turned off by the vocal, you know, Bob
Weir singing, "Come on children clap your hands, etc." don't let
that cause you to skip the song. Once you get through
Weir's vocals...JERRY's SOLO IS GRRRRRREAT!!!!! Peggy-O is
perhaps the most beautiful ballad ever recorded.....Half Step
Mississippi Updown is nothing short of miraculous. And They Love Eachother is a great place to begin.
On CD 2: LOSER contains a relatively short guitar solo that is
absolutely staggering in its beauty. CD 3 has a very very very
good extended Not Fade Away. Ohhhh by the way, if you're wondering which Dick's Picks has the best extended pure non-vocal JAMS.........check out #12!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pure DEAD delight. Every track is dynamite. A stellar show. Eyes of the world, especially...Thank you, Dick!!!!

I've got little to add to what's already been written _ in my opinion, this is the best of the 31 Dick's Picks issued so far (and I have about 25 of them).

But I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the Disk 2 version of "Loser,'' one of a half-dozen songs in this concert that are the best live versions I've heard from the dead _ Half-Step, Music Never Stopped, Peggy O, He's Gone among others.

I was at the home of friend who has always disparaged the Dead and slipped the disk onto his very expensive sound system. When he heard the guitar solo on "Loser,'' he flipped. "Is that Garcia?'' he asked. "Yup,'' I replied. "That's the best guitar I've ever heard.''

Me too. I've heard a lot of other versions of the song, including a real bad one on the new Jerry Box Set. I've never heard anything to equal that. In fact, like my friend, I've never heard ANY 45-second guitar solo to equal it.

What a great concert! I was there but I wouldn't remember much without this set. Loving it!
Greatest Eyes of the World ever. Trust me. Take a listen. Jerry does stuff on there I've never heard before. Unique Eyes. OMG! Take a listen to the whole intro, before the singing begins. Awesome Jerry!
I will miss you, Jerry, until the day I die.

A watershed event in the lives of the millions who attended or just helped pick up the garbage. The Half-Step may be their best ever, so too the Peggy-O. OK - two tunes, best ever versions. What else? A GREAT '77 Eyes of the World (as distinct from a GREAT '74 Eyes) and a long, strong never-ending finish. The best reason to get this set is its high consistency, and the memories it evokes. Even if you weren't there, you'll surely remember all of the schmoes who were, and wouldn't stop talking about it for years....

Dick's Picks Volume 15

People reviewing this Pick have said again and again, and I totally agree: most of these songs are simply brimming with energy, and it really makes the concert shine. I can't say if this is the "best" of the Dick's Picks series, but it's definitely an excellent choice if you want to hear the Dead in their much-lauded '77 form. There are some real gems here.

CD One opens with a band introduction, and the sound of people in the audience going nuts. There were over 100,000 people at this concert. All of the songs on this disc are strong, my favorites being: They Love Each Other, Mississippi Helf-Step, New Minglewood Blues, The Music Never Stopped - all awesome, and of course the prettiest song ever, and my favorite song on this Pick, Peggy-O. The version of Friend of the Devil is different than what I'm used to, but still very enjoyable.

CD Two opens with Bertha and flows into a slightly tame version of Good Lovin'. I love the direction Pigpen used to take this song in concert, and his guidance is obviously missing here. Loser is very good, and Jerry gets a great effect with the use of harmonics in the solo. Then there's Estimated Prophet, Eyes of the World, and Samson & Delilah, which make this cd for me. All three are awesome. The energy Bob lets out in his singing (even with a few mess-ups) in Samson & Delilah, and the solos, make it my favorite of the disc.

The fist half of CD Three is kind of disappointing for me. He's Gone and Not Fade Away are two of my all-time favorites, and they are two of my least-favorite songs on this recording. Many will probably not agree with me on this. For all the energy this concert has, it just seems to lack here. I really just like the older versions much better. Rockin' the Rhein is my benchmark right now for both songs, and these versions don't even come close to those. Fortunately, Truckin' comes along and redeems the cd (you can hear the crowd going INSANE), and an excellent Terrapin Station closes the show as an encore.

I do have a few gripes. First, Donna's singing. I never liked it that much. She does some weird things with her voice sometimes, and other times she can be the perfect compliment for a song. I dunno.
Second, like I mentioned before, are the renditions of some of their staple songs, two of which are favorites of mine. Two work, and two are boring.
Third is the mix. I realize that this is a live recording and it's not going to be perfect, but when they remastered the recording I think they could've brought out the drums a little more and brought out the top end or something - the sound just seems a little dull. Not bad, just a little dull.

The case design and liner notes are good. I like the graphics on this series of Picks. The liner notes contain a picture of the band playing at the concert, a view of the entire crowd at the show (100,000+ people), and a reprint of an article that ran in the Asbury Park Press on 9/6/77 by a college student who attended the concert. Very nice touch.

That's pretty much it. Dick's Picks 15 is a very good choice if you're into the Dead's '77 era sound, or even if you're not. '77 is not my favorite era - I prefer '72 and earlier, but don't let that turn you away from this recording. I listen to it all the time. The musicianship here is excellent, and you can hear the energy flowing from both the band and the audience.

A solid pick. Highly recommended - 4 stars.

This set is available new from Grateful Dead Merchandising for $21.

This is a great CD! Until I listened to this I would have argued forever that the best years for the Grateful Dead were 1972-1974 and that by 1977 they were good but not great- WRONG! They were awesome in 1977 and this CD is proof positive! For one thing, I like almost every song on here where with earlier sets I have listened to I will love a few songs but not care too much about many others. The first CD is solidly mixed with great tunes (rare to me) with PEGGY-O probably being my favorite because it is such a lovely but sad song. CD 2 is livley throughout with EYES OF THE WORLD dominating. Even though there are longer EYES out there, this version sores and leaves me feeling quite satisfied! CD 3 is a real mindlower! NOT FADE AWAY is draining but worth the effort with a spectacular rocking-out performance. Whoever said these guys can't jam will feel foolish after listening to this twenty minutes of great rock! TRUCKIN' is played with much gusto and then, the final song TERAPIN STATION
appropriately ends the surprisingly (to me) excellent set. If I had been in the audience I think I would have felt like an ocean wave had crept up on me and rushed over my head. Okay, that makes no sense, but I want to emphasize that this is a fun CD and worth listening to.