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Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks Volume 3
by Doug Collette
Grateful DeadGrateful Dead: Dave's Picks Volume 3 Grateful Dead/Rhino2012Previous entries in Grateful Dead archive series have documented the quietly courageous, not to mention authoritative, fashion, by which keyboardist Keith Godchaux made a place of himself in the iconic band's lineup late in 1971, having been enlisted when charter member Ron “Pigpen" McKernan became too ill to tour regularly. But neitherDick's Picks #35 Grateful Dead/Rhino, 2005) nor Road Trips Volume 1 ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Dave's Picks Vol. 1
by Doug Collette
Though it's graphic design and packaging is markedly different than its immediate predecessor of Grateful Dead archive releases, the initial release in Dave's Picks follows proudly in the tradition of the recently concluded Road Trips (as well as the original series to which this one's title refers, Dick's Picks). Overseen by David Lemieux, chief archivist and co-producer of the previous line, as well as the most recent one-off Grateful Dead titles such as Europe '72 Vol. 2 (Warner Bros., 2011), ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 5: Boston Music Hall 6/9/76
by Doug Collette
Set to be supplanted in 2012 by a new sequence of concert recordings dubbed Dave's Picks (overseen by chief archivist David Lemieux), The Grateful Dead's Road Trips archive series ends in stellar fashion with a complete show (plus), capturing the iconic band at one of the highest performing plateaus of its career in one of its favorite cities. Volume 4 Number 5 is a beautifully played and precisely recorded triple-disc set from The Boston Music Hall. The third ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Road Trips, Vol. 4 No. 4: Spectrum 4-6-82
by Doug Collette
Throughout the entirety of the Grateful Dead's archival series, Road Trips, the graphics have accurately mirrored the music enclosed and Vol.4 No. 4 is no exception. Lacking the plethora of detail in the cover art as well as the usual array of action photos, the plainness of the packaging reflects what's inside. Five years removed from its hiatus, and having already recognized its fifteenth anniversary two years prior with acoustic/electric runs in its San Francisco birthplace and its adopted hometown ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 2: April Fools' '88
by Doug Collette
Adorned with some of the most colorful packaging in the Grateful Dead's Road Trips archive series, Vol. 4 No. 2: April Fools' '88Jerry Garcia's survival of a near fatal coma in 1986 and the Dead's penetration into mainstream culture in 1987 following its hit, “Touch of Grey." This was also a year after the group collaborated with Bob Dylan, so it's not surprising four covers of his songs appear on these three discs. The convoluted lyrics of “Ballad ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 1
by Doug Collette
Recorded in May, 1969 at a Seminole Reservation in Florida, Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 1 hearkens back to the first golden age of the Grateful Dead. The previous twelve months found the group solidify its personnel lineup with the addition of drummer Mickey Hart, nurture a prolific songwriting relationship with lyricist Robert Hunter and hone a collective and individual improvisational sense, the chemistry of which allowed for what was to be the comparatively short-lived, but nonetheless significant inclusion of ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 4: Penn State-Cornell 1980
by Doug Collette
Taken from two college stops on the Grateful Dead's spring tour of 1980, the latest edition of Road Trips is a three-disc set that, like the very first entry in the series, features the band's lineup with Brent Mydland. At this point a year into his decade-long tenure with the iconic group, the keyboardist's presence helped in various ways to consolidate a new chemistry within the Dead. Neither scintillating nor celebratory, Vol. 3 Number 4 is nonetheless worth ...
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