Road Trips: Volume 1 Number 2

Baton Rouge, LA - 10/16/77Ah yes, the glorious year of 1977, a favorite of discerning Dead Heads for three decades now! For the second volume in our new Road Trips series, we’ve chosen another tour that was not tapped previously through Dick’s Picks—a blazing swing through the Southwest, Colorado and down to Louisiana during the first weeks of October 1977.

This was a great time for the band: Both the years-in-the-making Grateful Dead Movie and the new Terrapin Station album had come out a few months earlier and the group was riding high on momentum from both of those projects. There was exciting new material that had debuted at the beginning of the year, including “Estimated Prophet,” “Terrapin” and “Fire on the Mountain,” and steady touring through the spring allowed the band to really explore the nuances of the new repertoire, while they also continued to hone the material that had come in following the band’s return to the stage in mid-1976 after their hiatus. What you’ll find on these great-sounding discs is a mixture of old favorites played with that fabled ’77 energy, and more recent material that was hitting new peaks nightly. There’s a “Let It Grow” that will knock your tie-dyed socks off, one of the great versions of “Sugaree” of that or any year, the famous “Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower” from Norman, Oklahoma, epic workouts on “Playing in the Band” and “The Other One” and a jammed-out “Black Peter” for the ages. Hot stuff!

As always with Road Trips, if you order NOW (as they say on late-night TV), we will also include a 12-piece set of steak knives…no, wait a second, that’s not right. We’ll also include a special limited edition Bonus Disc with a dazzling plethora of other tunes from the same tour, including a wicked “Scarlet> Fire” (from Baton Rouge) and the group’s second-ever version of “Iko-Iko” (from “Al-be-ker-kay,” as Bugs Bunny called it).

One again, the discs have been lovingly compiled and painstakingly mastered (in HDCD) from the original master tapes (in this case reels) by Jeffrey Norman. The booklet that accompanies the CDs boasts scads of great photos from the era and a very cool historical essay by the ever-hip and erudite scribe Steve Silberman.

TRACK LIST
DISC 1:
1. Let It Grow (10:17) (10/11/77)
2. Sugaree (17:41) (10/16/77)
3. The Music Never Stopped (8:59) (10/16/77)
4. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo (11:53) (10/14/77)
5. El Paso (4:52) (10/14/77)
6. Help On the Way (5:48) (10/11/77)
7. Slipknot! (4:02) (10/11/77)
8. Franklin's Tower (14:59) (10/11/77)

DISC 2:
1. Playing In the Band (17:12) (10/14/77)
2. Drums (3:09) (10/16/77)
3. The Other One (8:24) (10/16/77)
4. Good Lovin' (5:53) (10/16/77)
5. Terrapin Station (11;29) (10/16/77)
6. Black Peter (13:17) (10/16/77)
7. Around and Around (9:08) (10/16/77)
8. Brokedown Palace (5:51) (10/14/77)
9. Playing In the Band reprise (5:23) (10/14/77)

BONUS DISC:
1. Scarlet Begonias (10:02) (10/16/77)
2. Fire On the Mountain (9:31) (10/16/77)
3. Estimated Prophet (12:04) (10/16/77)
4. Loser (7:55) (10/14/77)
5. Sunrise (3:56) (10/11/77)
6. Iko Iko (7:05) (10/7/77)
7. The Wheel (5:30 (10/7/77)
8. Wharf Rat (13:31) (10/7/77)
9. Sugar Magnolia (9:48) (10/7/77)

http://www.dead.net/road-trips/road-tri ... 1-number-2

I have to say that the powers that be are f'in' this up. I don't mind compilation albums but they should reflect the flow of a show of the period and try to give us the feel. This is just random music slapped together.

Of course I'll buy it.

I'm with you Federico...I'll get it, but it could have been handled a little better...I am surprised how quick this is coming out...I guess they will try and keep to the DP clip of releases...

Hi Guys,
I just put in my order too. I'm betting anything that the Road Trips series will be hodge-podges of shows from cities that are not the the major ones (more or less secondary markets and not the usual L.A., New York, London types of cities). The full shows will likely come from the more popular big metropolitan areas and ones very strongly connected in Deadlore. At least, that's the impression I'm getting at the moment.

I finally put in my order - I was surprised that they shipped it already. I just assumed this was a pre-order stage. So I am psyched - between this - the obnoxious amount of cds from bmg due to the codes provided (and having two accounts) - and some new purchases - Kravitz & moe. & Drive-By-Truckers & a King Crimson box - I will be in heaven shortly.

Wow! That was fast! I went with the cheapest shipping and it arrived this morning!
Only two tracks in, yet excellent Let It Grow and Sugaree. Great energy.

I'm listening to the Sugaree on the KPFA/GD Marathon right now. Pretty hot version.

Again, I paid for more expensive shipping (for some reason cheap shipping was not available when I ordered, I really looked hard this time) and still no arrival.

Despite my carping I'm still looking forward to this one.

Mine arrived today. The bonus disc was there too. So, I'm a happy camper. Federico, when I ordered mine, I was able to go the $4.50 shipping route. I ordered mine in the evening because I had been busy most of the day it went up and I hadn't been at my computer all day.

Ordered mine with regular shipping on Monday. Arrived on Thursday. This has been typical for dead.net. Have listened to first two (of three) CDs. Very good. Not the best fidelity for Dead remasters, but definitely worth the price of admission.

Well, at least it arrived today. But I have to go out to a rehearsal so I won't have a chance to take it for a test drive.

I've been listening to this the last few days. In my opinion, this is as good as #1 was bad.
Really nice performances with very little slop.

Ever since the Dead started emptying the vaults I find myself going back & forth. I'll hear a couple mediocre shows (such as Road Trip's V1 N1) that should never have been released & feel a bit burnt out on them, & then find a gem like this one.

One of these days I need to re-listen to all of my live Dead (this will take weeks) & make notes on each as to whether I like a given cd or not!

I agree that V2 has more interesting performances than V1 (which is just ok). My big problem, as I've said on another thread is not that they are compilations but that they are comps that are not programmed the way that I listen to shows. The best Dead live comps immitate the structure of a show. Go to Nassau is a great example (for the most part - Alabama in the middle of the jam?). The Road Trips so far does not seem to take into account the way the band arranged the sets in the eras the releases represent. Even if they wanted to skip the shorter first-set songs they could give us two discs of second-set music. It bothers me enough that even though the individual tracks are good I won't play the discs very often because the over-all experience is not so much fun.



Wait, are you trying to say that there are some GD releases that are not just exactly perfect?

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what the "Grateful Dead Press Conference" will be about this Thursday 4/24?

I'd guess another one-off performamce for Obama.

I play the Dead pretty regularly, but when the weather changes and Spring is in the air, I typically start going through the whole lot...you're right...that's a whole lot of listening!

Dead question: Can anyone provide any info on a CD release consisting of edited/segued versions of Dark Star from different eras. What's the story? Worth getting? My newbie Dead status is moving along since I got into them a few months back. I've focused on the late 1972-1974 period and now have quite a few live recordings from this period. I've found that I'm not a Pigpen fan, nor a fan of the two drummers group (that may change, who knows). I just bought the Dead movie on dvd from this period and am looking forward to checking that out.

Grayfolded: Grateful Dead/John Oswald

Its a two disc set - two separate experiments. I enjoy it, particularly the first disc. Obviously you have to like Dark Star , but it is more than just an interesting experiment. There is some very interesting bits, like a chorus of Jerrys taken from various versions, and it doesn't jar.

Actually I'd like to see them do one on The Other Ones (my favorite jam song of there's).

May not be the first disc I'd recommend, but if you like Dark Star, this is quite the accomplishment.

I like it too. The first disc better than the second mostly because the bulk of the second disc is one performance, 2.13.70 which kind of defeats the purpose of the experiment.

Oswald called the technique "plunderphonics" and apparently did a similar thing with a Michael Jackson song or songs but that was completely unauthorized and was probably pushed underground.

This was posted at DNC:
The Grateful Dead has publicly commented on tomorrow’s press conference. The Dead will be hosting an online press conference this Thursday, April 24 at 11 AM PT via iclips.net. After announcing the rare press conference, rumors of a possible Dead reunion began to circulate throughout the internet. The organization now says, “contrary to rumor, this has nothing to do with any sort of Dead reunion or tour.” Instead, the conference will focus on a new partnership between the Grateful Dead and UC Santa Cruz. The entire press conference will be streamed at dead.net courtesy of iclips.net.