Grateful Dead - Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 2/6/70
Grateful Dead - Broome County Arena, Binghamton, NY 11/6/77
Two very different eras of Grateful Dead music represented by these two shows, but in a way both are what I’d say are at the end of those eras, the band’s 1969 style evolving into something a lot more rootsy later in 1970, and the Godchaux version of the Dead coming down from the peak represented by the Terrapin Station tour in the first half of 1977.
Early 1970 gigs still strike me as 1969, the band’s still combining a bit of muscular energy with the psychedelic phase of the music and besides the fact that not all these shows are in expected quality, they’re very good listens. While 20m+ versions of Lovelight can test my patience, at least in this case it follows up on a rather neat Good Lovin’ suite that moves through the Other One before an almost 10 minute version of Black Peter, not a particularly common event. In fact this suite is really the gem of the whole set, as quite a bit of the show is Pigpen heavy and his songs aren’t really exceptional on this set.
My first impression of the Binghamton 1977 show was muted due to quiet mastering, but I was rather impressed with it and I’m often not for shows that come out of the late 77 tour, in comparison to the previous tour it feels like they’d lost a bit of energy. But here we open with a lengthy Half Step, an almost 9 minute of Friend of the Devil (and at this point they hadn’t slowed it down yet) and a wonderful two-suite plus second set with highlights Saint Stephen and Wharf Rat. For the next year or so the Dead’s sound would move to an almost crystalline or fragile delicacy and this is a good example of when that worked.
Carré Manchot - Mab ar Miliner
Carré Manchot - Noz!
Carré Manchot is a Breton folk group who utilize the bombarde as a main instrument, a sound I’ve never been able to truly appreciate as it sounds like a combination of oboe and kazoo (and in fact is a sort of cross between a reed instrument like an oboe and pipes). Without it, I may have enjoyed this quite a bit more than I did, although being a very straight Breton folk group (and there are really a surprising number of ensembles like this), the music may not be as much to my taste. Most of this music I explored on the tail end of discovering Malicorne and Gwendal, few folk groups of which I’ve enjoyed more.
Of the two albums here, their first and third, the latter, Noz!, is the most assured and there are some neat song structures, which I find to be the elements that create crossover interest from rock music. The music on both is spirited and I can imagine if you like folk and the bombarde doesn’t make you think of trapped geese that these could be enjoyable listens. I try to appreciate what’s being played rather than what it’s being played on, but I’ve yet to crack the bombarde. Here it’s so omnipresent I find the music hard to enjoy, while appreciating the skill of the unit nonetheless.