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Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
Lyceum Theatre, London, England - 5/26/72
by Doug Collette
The final night of any given tour can find the musicians excited at the prospects of jobs well-done throughout the prior road work or exhausted and lethargic from their previous labors. Fifty years ago, when the Grateful Dead's Europe '72 (Warner Bros., 1972) was released, the third LP of the set (conceived as such in part as fulfillment of their contract with the label), included material from the final show of the now mythic tour, clearly documenting how these psychedelic ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Volume 38: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 9/8/73
by Doug Collette
For all the most practical of reasons, the Grateful Dead were never better in live performance than in 1973-1974. Those pertinent virtues of this iconic rock and roll band on stage are fully on display over the course of this three-CD edition of Dave's Picks, a clear depiction of the sweet spot between structured and open-ended playing, based on splendid songs, within which the group comfortably resided during this period. First off, the iconic band had a wealth ...
Continue ReadingThe Music Never Stops: What Putting on 10,000 Shows Has Taught Me About Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Magic By Peter Shapiro
by Doug Collette
The Music Never Stops: What Putting on 10,000 Shows Has Taught Me About Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Magic Peter Shapiro 352 Pages ISBN: 978-0306845185 Hachette Book Group 2022 By the time readers finish poring through the three hundred fifty-two some pages of The Music Never Stops, they may be asking themselves if they've ever read an autobiography so self-congratulatory. To be fair, though, Peter Shapiro may deserve his kudos no ...
Continue ReadingCronies, A Burlesque: Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead
by Doug Collette
Cronies, A Burlesque: Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead Ken Babbs 518 Pages ISBN: #978-0989446297 Tsunami Books 2022 Readers of Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1968) will no doubt recognize the name 'Ken Babbs.' Something of an operations guru to the main idea man of the Merry Pranksters, novelist and cultural icon Ken Kesey, Babbs was in the thick of things ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO (12/10/71)
by Doug Collette
A cull from Listen to the River: St. Louis '71-'72-73 (Rhino, 2021), a twenty-disc box of Grateful Dead live recordings, Fox Theatre, St. Louis , MO 12/10/71 was prepared and configured like an exclusive standalone title. Headed by chief keeper of the vault, David Lemieux, the team of curators lavish a level of creativity and attention to detail upon this package that is a direct reflection of the musical skills these psychedelic warriors exhibit within this three-CD set.
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses)
by Doug Collette
Grateful Dead, the second album of concert recordings released by the iconic band for Warner Brothers Records, resides squarely in the sweet spot between the expansive likes of its corollary, Live Dead (Warner Bros., 1969) and the economical studio recordings this group issued in between, Workingman's Dead (Warner Bros., 1970) and American Beauty (Warner Bros., 1970). Likewise, this 50th Anniversary Edition not only expands upon the original title, appearing remastered by engineer David Glasser to great effect (more full and ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: American Beauty: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
by Doug Collette
If it's true the Grateful Dead epitomize the counter culture of the Sixties, it's also true the iconic group embraced the following decade on its very own terms, at least at the outset of the period. Workingman's Dead (Warner Bros., 1970) represents an authoritative and confident statement of artistic purpose, while its companion piece, American Beauty (Warner Bros., 1970), is an even more staunch and exquisite declaration of style, one based on folk and country roots almost diametrically opposed to ...
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