It is of The Wild Tchoupitoulas featuring The Neville Brothers - New Orleans '77. RtBE was so happy to receive this installment from the Tipitina's Record Club. The vinyl itself is super cool and has a "king cake" paint splatter that is unique and great. Perfect for Mardi Gras day.
As stated in the review, a historic and funky show.
Standard disclaimer: When reviewing the Dave's Picks series, and really any Grateful Dead release at this point, it needs to be noted that a lot of the truly great shows from the band have already been professionally released. (If new to the band, check out RtBE's Beginners Guide to The Grateful Dead Part's one and two.) With their vast back catalog on archive.org and all of their previous releases, the band's selections are running thin when it comes to must own, professionally released shows.
That said, this series still exists for a reason, obsessive fans (like RtBE) will always listen to anything from The Grateful Dead as Dave and his team continue to unearth rare gems.
The most recent entry to the series, Dave's Picks 45 drives that train back in time to October 1st and 2nd 1977 for back to back shows at the Paramount Theater in Portland, OR. 1977 is a beloved year in Grateful Dead history with many official live releases, however most releases focus on earlier in the year (excluding the excellent Road Trips Vol 1 #2). These October shows give hints as to where the band was going in 1978, namely, more revved up songs.
May 1977 is the most famous month in Grateful Dead history. One of the bands most beloved shows happened then, box sets have been released from this month, multiple special releases have been spotlighted, along with multipleDick's Picks, including the first Dave's Picks which was the show the night before this current release. Archivist David Lemieux stated that this show was almost his pick for the first release in his series, and feels it holds up to any shows from this historic month.
While it comes close and is well played, overall it ends up slightly lesser than most of those nights from that glorious time. One of the things about May '77 is that the band (Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals Bob Weir – guitar, vocals Phil Lesh – bass Keith Godchaux – keyboards Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals Mickey Hart – drums Bill Kreutzmann – drums) is in peak, tight form, but things are not that experimental and do not shift that much from night to night. Sure the band is super in sync and playing strongly but is every night worth owning? Maybe.
Dave's Pick 41 first set is almost an inverse of a lot of '77 first sets with "The Music Never Stopped" opening the show, instead of closing the set and "Bertha" wrapping things up instead of kicking things off. The start is strong with Godchaux's piano and Garcia's guitar leading the charge before a mellow, drawn out "Sugaree".
"Mama Tried" has pristine vocals from both Weir (and Garcia supporting) while the flow is a bit off with mid-set "Deal" feeling out of place. Things improve with Lesh's sliding bass on the punchy "Passenger" and the rhythmic pumping "Brown-Eyed Women". "Looks Like Rain" finds Weir and Donna Jean trading vocals expertly and while Donna could be off some shows, this show proves when she was clicking with the band it could be glorious vocally.
"Sunrise" along with all of her backing vocals make this show one of the best performances Donna was ever a part of live with the Grateful Dead. An upbeat and slightly groovy "Jack-a-Roe" has more energy than usual while "New Minglewood Blues" might just have the best solo work from Garcia in the whole first set.
All of Dave's Picks have excellent production/sound and 41 is no exception, the opening notes of set two find "Samson and Delilah" ringing out gloriously as Lesh and Garcia have a musical conversation over the pounds of the Rhythm Devils. One of the highlights of this whole show arrives with a beautiful version of "High Time" accented with great piano work from Godchaux, but things go off the rails with a disco beat version of "Big River". Archivist Lemieux also supplemented this show with the missing "US Blues" encore from Dave's Picks 40, breaking up the flow.
The original show continues with a quicker than normal "Terrapin Station" and a syrupy "Estimated Prophet" which again finds Donna vocally on point. The most exploratory song of the whole evening arrives after some drum work with "Not Fade Away", this version is unique and wanders, but can be a bit aimless at points during the seventeen minute run time. Donna again sounds fantastic supporting the band during the set ending "Around and Around" while a sweet encore of "Uncle Johns Band" is always well received.
Taken in a vacuum, Dave's Picks 41 is a fine example of the bands playing during one of the best months in their long and storied career. Positioned against other releases from that month, it is somewhere towards the back of the pack of May 77. That is not to say it is not worth hearing for fans and newcomers alike as anything from that glorious month is top notch stuff from the good old Grateful Dead.
The greatest punk band of all-times sophomore album Leave Home was released on this date in 1977.
The Ramones are one ofRtBE Personal Favorites and Leave Home is a big reason why. Their debut and Rocket to Russia seem to get all the love when the bands records are discussed with Road to Ruin also getting exalted but it is Leave Home which RtBE's spins the most.
It is like the middle child of Ramones efforts, overlooked but kick ass through and through.
Joey remembers the band being in great shape for this album and it shows. An extension of the original with pop, punk and a smirking sense of play flowing throughout. Right from the drop of opener "Glad To See You Go" the band is locked in their classic four on the floor style, leading to the pogo'ing of "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", a pure blast of punk power. "I Remember You" is a gorgeous slice of singing by Joey and widens the bands scope to include a hard edge ballad of sorts while "Oh Oh I Love Her So" is our favorite track on the record.
"Oh Oh I Love Her So" is pure Joey throwing it back to the 50's doo-wop era and modernizing it just a touch with Burger King getting named dropped backing vocals and sweet guitar riffs. This would have been a killer song in Freddie Cannon's catalog and a number one hit if Chuck Berry got his hands on it a few decades earlier; one of the most underrated songs in the entire Ramones catalog.
The strong songs just keep flowing out with the originally banned "Carbona Not Glue" getting huffed and high while "Suzy Is A Headbanger" and "Pinhead" are classic Ramone songs that the band played throughout their long career with "Pinhead" resulting an outsider anthem for all of the freaks to enjoy.
The band gets melodic and pretty for "Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy" and Swallow My Pride" and "What's Your Game" with Joey really shining, perhaps that is why RtBE connects with Leave Home so much, it seems to be the most Joey-centric Ramones album as the punk/hippie/rock and roller got to meld all of his loves into a strong offering.
Leave Home ends with a wicked run of rockers as the smoking cover of "California Sun" kicks off the progression. DeeDee and Johnny get heavy with "Commando" and closer "You Should Have Never Opened That Door" while Joey sticks one more doo-wop influenced number "You Are Gonna Kill That Girl" in-between.
The record sounds great, has fantastic short tunes and continues the winning streak of their debut. In reality the first four records from the punk gods could be considered one long offering, but as it stands, Leave Home should get a bit more love, especially on the 45th anniversary of the albums release.
There is a lot of music out there and some artists have massive catalogs which can paralyze new listeners with overwhelming choices. This Beginners Guide series will attempt to give those new listeners entry points to some of these artists. Today we will look at: The Grateful Dead.
This post became very long so we are breaking it into two parts. This first offering will discuss the five places RtBE feels are the best entry points to the band. The follow up post will dive into the different eras of the Dead and pull out some well known and underappreciated shows for further listening.
In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic here in NYC the soothing sounds of The Grateful Dead helped ease my mind during a tumultuous sense of loss and uncertainty. Shortly after lock down, a co-worker reached out and mentioned they wanted more information on the band as they were just discovering them.
That request led to this series, so it makes sense that the good ol' Grateful Dead should be the first group we discuss when it comes to Beginners Guides. RtBE will take an extensive look into their career with a focus on new listeners and will provide links to youtube when possible, but feel free to buy all of the albums from the band themselves. We also wrote about the band in our Masters series previously ranking our favorite studio albums, official live releases and more.
Almost everything you could want is on the archive and usually with multiple recordings from the groups insanely dedicated fan base. The truth is the band could hit amazing highs any night they played and while they have the reputation of drugged out hippies, the quality of their musical output remained incredibly consistent and excellent for the majority of their careers.
We will dissect the bands shifting sound in part two of this post, for now let's start with the basics. Click the read more button:
Dave's Picks Vol 33: 10/29/77 Evans Field House Dekalb, IL
**** out of *****
1977 is one of the best years in Grateful Dead history. Some of their strongest shows were played during these 12 months as the band released Terrapin Station and solidified their set lists before the disco and eighties settled in. There are a ton of great shows from this year and Dave/Dick's Picks have already highlighted seven others (one famous show recently) from this year alone not including other releases and box sets). Dekalb now makes eight from Dave/Dick and it is yet another solid example of the band clicking at their peak.
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
For June The Masters focuses on the great The Grateful Dead.
Live music is the best thing out there. Being caught in the moment is religion. Palpable vibes of healing and energy are transmitted and shit...gets...real. For this month's focus, The Grateful Dead may be more tied to the live show than any other rock band in history. They developed a literal touring mini economy and because of the bands massive structure, had to be on the road almost constantly.
The group had many phases and multiple lineup shifts, but the stage is where they truly succeeded as a collective, playing in the moment and without net. The group soared more than non-fans give them credit for and that thrilling collective experience is what kept fans touring the country with their musical heroes.
For other entries in The Masters, when it comes to live albums there were some limits, with the Dead it is just the opposite, there have been so many live releases it is hard to limit this list to "official" releases as prolific taping, the Internet Archive and tons of other sites have made obtaining a certain night in the bands history incredibly easy.
However, since we have been using official releases for other entries of The Masters, we will stick with that for this post and move to personal "Go-To" shows at a later date. We know that times have changed and while One From the Vault and Hundred Year Hall were instrumental to our love of the Dead, these days people do not need official releases to get soundboard quality and are much more likely to just stream a solid show then purchase an "official release".
With Dicks/Dave's Picks, the criminally underrated Road Trips series and various completest Box Sets being offered up seemingly every month (their whole history will be officially released soon) it is hard to keep track of which shows are officially out there and which are still in the hands of tapers, so for this list we are skipping all of those and just going with live albums released officially by the band. Going to be tough, but we will give this a shot, below are our top five live albums from the Grateful Dead.
As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
For August The Masters focuses on The Grateful Dead.
While the other months of The Masters series has allowed RtBE to focus on artists we love but haven't had the opportunity to highlight, this month is a bit different. Before the Monday Dylan Cover Series began, we used to focus on Grateful Dead shows every Monday for the first year or so of the site. Here is one example from the past as we have written a good deal about them for the site, but really wanted to include them in this new series.
It is no coincidence we are focusing on the Dead during July, they are this sites vote as America's best band and they were the ultimate summer attraction with their touring hoards of Dothrak...err Dead Heads. While in the past we have spent time on individual shows (which may come up when we get to the live album post) today we are going to tackle studio albums which according to every fan of the bands (except the sites friend Lindsay) agree is not their strongest work.
The truth is, even from their earliest days the Grateful Dead always over did things in the studio, whether from the producers idea (#5 on our list) or by their own choice (#4 and #3 on our list) the band just couldn't control themselves. Some would argue they couldn't control themselves out of the studio either, but that is a different post.
That said, the band had a long and winding career with many musical phases and it was fun to go back and listen to their studio albums to put this list together. So let's start "Truckin'"....As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...KISS!!!
With Halloween coming soon, what better way to celebrate with a KISS Full Show Friday. This one comes from 1977 with a tight group of players who are on. Enjoy The Catman, Starman, The Demon and Starchild, the setlist is below:
Setlist:
I stole your love King of the night time world Ladies room Firehouse Love gun Let me go, rock 'n roll Makin' love Christine sixteen Shock me Ace's solo I want you Calling Dr. Love Shout it out loud Gene's solo God of thunder Peter's solo Rock and roll all nite Detroit rock city Beth Black diamond
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's.
These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so
enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every
which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still
playing)...This week...TheDead Boys!
We have a special theme this month as we focus on full live shows from the historic NYC shithole CBGB's.
We
saw many a filthy show there, and while the bathroom was the worst in
history, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Our only regret is that we never had a chance to play it. This month we focus on some of the great bands who did, tackling one show from each decade the venue was in operation.
Ah TheDead Boys from Ohio who made CBGB's their NYC home in the late 70's. If you don't get shivers at the start of "Sonic Reducer" you are dead and reading this from the beyond. Not the best quality but this is glammy punk rock from the 70's we are talking about it, quality? Last thing on Stiv and crews mind. A fun quick set, how can you not like a song titled "Flame Thrower Love" and a closing cover of The Stooges? full set-list below:
Enjoy:
01 | 00:46 | Sonic Reducer
02 | 03:37 | All This and More
03 | 06:23 | Not Anymore
04 | 09:44 | I Won't Look Back
05 | 12:24 | Flame Thrower Love
06 | 14:58 | I Need Lunch
07 | 18:33 | Ain't Nothin' to Do
08 | 21:14 | What Love Is
09 | 23:17 | High Tension Wire
10 | 25:21 | Search & Destroy
Hey all, we got our latest post up over @NYPL. You can read it right c'here! It is our newest installment in the Great Albums You May Have Missed series with a focus on Miles Davis live diskDark Magus.
This disk has been with us for a long time, and it is great to be able to write about it for the day job and have it finish up our Jazzy January series. We still remember grabbing a copy from the second floor of the old Tower Records on Broadway back when it was first released. It enchanted from the get go and was a perfect mix of rock/funk/jazz/punk/whatever in our brains. It was a pleasure to write about it for NYPL and again you can read the full long post here.
Also you should check out Robert Christgau's review of the disk. We will probably write more about the Dean at some point, but it is shocking how many times we will go back to see what he said about an album, after our opinion is already formed, and see him feel the same.
In this case the phrase that stuck with us that Christgau wrote was, "single palpitating organism" that sums it up. This music is as alive now as it was in '97 when the CD came as it was in '77 when they released it in Japan, as it was in '74 when the players played it in Carnegie Hall, just a short walk from the library itself. I can't imagine it won't sound fresh and amazing in 2077 and yet one more reason it was dumb of Ken Burns to not talk about fuison, electric jazz, etc in his documentary.
...of 1977. Wanted to post these studio outtakes from the Terrapin Station Sessions for peeps this week.
Always dug this cover art.
Here is the Link to the Archive set from 2-20-1977 ahhh...almost exactly 33 years ago today, and of course you can listen right here:
What should you listen for? Well enjoy the relaxed feel of the tunes, and the clarity of the playing. Phils bass sounds in dynamite form, and the experimentations that would be a vital part of the band for years to come are in full bloom on this day. "Fire on the Mountain" contains some cool stream of consciousness lyrics..."Put it down heavy/Sweep it down clean/lay it down dirty/play it now clean" or something along those lines.
Also the rare treat of Lesh's "Equinox" is cool as hell and could have been a classic, for Bob Weir's take on this track and why it was eventually left off the album click here. I always thought it was called "Mercy of a Fool", but I am glad the Archive and people can clear that up, though to be honest I forgot all about it until today. Fun tune with hippy lyrics.
Then there is the meat and potatoes of the proceedings...the epic Terrapin Station. This story is from Robert Hunters Box of Rain regarding the tune and is one of my favorite concerning any GD Song, so I wanted to share it:
I wrote Terrapin, Part One, at a single sitting in an unfurnished house with a picture window overlooking San Francisco Bay during a flamboyant lightning storm. I typed the first thing that came into my mind at the top of the page, the title Terrapin Station.
Not knowing what it was to be about, I began my writing with an invocation to the muse and kept typing as the story began to unfold.
On the same day, driving into the city, Garcia was struck by a singular inspiration. He turned his car around and hurried home to set down some music that popped into his head, demanding immediate attention.
When we met the next day, I showed him the words and he said "I've got the music." They dovetailed perfectly and Terrapin edged into this dimension.
Thanks for the Lyrics Robert
About ten minutes in this version starts doing some weird things, and it just goes to show how much was behind this tune. Terrapin seems to be one that fans of the "jam" dislike because of it's consistent live presentation, this version shows just where it could have gone...and it seems like this darkness would have freaked the flower children who were tripping balls PROPER! It has always been one of my favorites because from the first time you listen to it, it just feels special. I also thoroughly enjoy this versions creepy vibe. Enjoy the songs....
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