Grateful Dead - Three from the Vault
Grateful Dead - Boston Music Hall 6/9/76 (matrix)
Grateful Dead - Live at the Cow Palace, New York’s Eve, 1976
Grateful Dead - Cotterell Gym, Reid Athletic Center, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 11/4/77 (matrix)
Yeah, been hitting the vaults of late. If there’s one good thing about being a head, for me, is that they act like medicine and lately I’ve actually been ending evenings with these shows and really digging it, perfect for these summer days that end so late.
Three from the Vault’s the newest Dead archive and one that’s apparently been hanging back for a long time, a show from 2/19/71 from multi-track tapes. I have to say, though, the bonus lure from dead.net was not really worth the $7 postage fee these people charge these days; the “Dick’s Dex,” what is basically a glorified CD booklet listing all 36 Picks and then an index in the back. A lot of it reminds me of another insert in one of the earlier Dick’s Picks and the whole thing feels like a waste of time. I actually haven’t even researched why the series seems to have stopped since 36. Anyway, Three from the Vault is a really nice show, and 1971 is generally not my favorite year for the band. It’s surprising, because a lot of songs are quite new, songs like Playing in the Band and Bird Song, in fact for me 71 almost always feels embyronic to 72 in some ways. But the playing generally feels quite heartfelt, and there’s a few surprises like Dark Hollow, Greatest Story Ever Told and Easy Wind. Overall, worth the wait. But I’m feeling opposite from the way I felt when I realized I had held one of the last Fillmore West boxes.
I’ve been spinning the Boston Hall show over the last year but for some reason it really hit me between the eyes this last listen. As soon as Jerry plays his outro on the Music Never Stopped I realized there’s really a lot of passion in this show, probably muffled a bit as this is a matrix under the sound quality you generally find on a Dead show. I wonder if it’s in the Vaults? There’s a killer Looks Like Rain here, one of Donna’s best for sure, and a very passionate Ship of Fools, but side 2 fires up instantly with a Saint Stephen>Eyes of the World> Jam> Let It Grow> Drums> Let It Grow suite. The rest is rather blissful, not quite at their best but worthy.
Already talked a lot about the Cow Palace show, but as a comparison, between an early and late 76 show, you can see them running less on that initial enthusiasm and turning into the finely oiled machine that would record Terrapin Station and go onto one of their best years. For my ears I like the rough edges in June a little better. But they’re at least as good here.
The 10/4/77 is another matrix and about the same quality as the first I mentioned, and the fact that I listened to this the day I wrote and remember less about it than the previous three shows, probably demonstrates that it’s something par for the course for the most part. The gigantic Playin’ sandwich that ends the second set actually looks a lot more impressive than it is, although there’s a spike during Estimated Prophet that got my attention. Nice and like 6/9/76 maybe a better recording will change my mind.