The August '85 Electric Shows

LN jg1985-08-04.jgb.all.aud-connor.11041.shn2flac

LN jg1985-08-05.jgb.all.aud-connor.11121.shn2flac
LN jg1985-08-09.jgb.all.aud-connor.11131.shn2flac
LN jg1985-08-10.jgb.all.aud-connor.11145.shn2flac



Waaayyyy back when, in the early lossless era, when shn ruled the roost and files could best be had by FTP (though some grabbed binaries from usenet groups), Charlie Connor's August 1985 Jerry Band tapes were pretty special. They still are, in the sense that they sound nice (patched out of Corley's "Silly Hat" setup, after all), that there just weren't that many '85 JGB shows, that they give more insight into the Rock Bottom period for Our Hero and, nowadays especially, they make for some good coherent listening across the Days Between, including a relatively rare August 9th show. I wish the last night of this cluster of shows, 8/11/85, would show up - one suspects it was taped, but one finds no evidence of it.

Here's some 'base for your face, to see what I am referring to:

https://jerrybase.com/events/19850804-01
https://jerrybase.com/events/19850805-01
https://jerrybase.com/events/19850809-01
https://jerrybase.com/events/19850810-01

I have already written up the August 9, 1985 show, noting the characteristic brevity of these sets, both clocking in below the 45-minute Minelli Line. (I should call it the Judy Garland line, as Jerry did in discussing "Cabaret Economics", but this formulation alliterates it to the Mendoza Line in baseball, the "rock bottom," barely acceptable, .200 batting average named for very light hitting, ca. 1970s-1980s Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Mario. Grant me a little license, please and thank you.)

I have just revisited all four shows and, yeah, they're all short. Now, true, these tapes are tightly edited, and tuning breaks could take up a good bit of time wherever Garcia was found. On the first night of this set of shows, 8/4/85, set II clocks in at 31:04. This is currently the second-shortest electric set I have found, after 9/16/84 I  and just ahead of (i.e., below) 3/2/85 I  and 3/22/84 I. (Note, though, that there's probably a minute or more missing from Cats, the addition of which would land this squarely in the normal range for a show from this era.) Of course, I doubt any electric set will ever underperform the acoustic 5/23/85 set I in Denver - at 25 minutes, one can only hope --really, really, hope-- that the tape is incomplete.

Here are the timings for the August '85 electric shows:

DATE      s1      s2           TT      
8/4/85    46:03   31:04      77:07
8/5/85    49:31   48:37      88:08
8/9/85    42:26   38:32      80:58
8/10/85  37:08   34:14      81:22

So much for quantity, how about quality? Overall, I guess I'd say totally characteristic. Some really good guitar work, some lyrical fumbles, vocals getting rougher by the minute.

Night one: Jerry sounds pretty punchy right out of the gate, overcomes some lyrical fumbles in show opening ITAM to rage pretty hard on Sugaree. Killer guitar tone, fantastic playing, much to the appreciation of the hometown Stone crowd, which mostly seemed to prefer boogeying to judging. Kemper is SIMPLY WONDERFUL on Cats, and then Jerry struggles lyrically a little bit in Gomorrah and a lot in Reuben And Cherise, the latter of which is nothing short of tragic, becaues it's my favorite Garcia Band tune, bar none. I do think I hear some Melvin synth in there, which is cool. Midnight Moonlight gallops hard into the barn.

Night two almost fills up a whole XLII90, the longest show of the set by almost 10%. Again, frisky out of the chute, though I don't note anything from the first set until the long Tangled Up: "Not a single thing wrong with the range of ideas he expresses, the fluency and power with which he expresses them, etc. Even some interesting extended stuff 12. Very good. Kemper marching 12:30 for Jerry to wail around." This feels spacious and killer. I suspect that ol' Jer wasn't drinking tea with honey and lemon during the setbreak, because he comes back scratchier in the throat than before. Audience member astutely calls for Don't Let Go, but he'd have to wait two and a half more years for it to reappear, after landing on the shelf at the end of '84. Not a lot to report, but Kemper is absolutely flying to keep up with Midnight Moonlight, and boy must his arms be tired. *rimshot*

August 9th. I have already written it up. I don't remember what I said three years ago. If you want to check how reliable my notes are, please feel free to compare them. Good energy upfront, rough vocals, brief.

Night four, 8/10/85 - thirty-six years ago to the day as I type this. Elmer Fudd has arrived to sing, more than over the previous week's shows, to my ears. Very last "Rhapsody In Red", which gives me a sad, because it was a rocker. It wouldn't have worked post-coma until maybe late 1990 and into 1991, IMO - before then he's just too clean to grunge it up, and after he's just not powerful enough. But it coulda been good in that window. This Reuben he remembers the words, more or less all of them I think, and I do love those words. But the voice is pretty weak at this point and maybe it's best that he just raced through Midnight Moonlight -- four consecutive shows as a show-ender and sought refuge back at Hepburn Heights.

Listening notes below the jump.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
August 4, 1985 (Sunday)
Connor MAC shnid-11041 shn2flac

--set I (4 tracks, 46:03)--
s1t01. I'll Take A Melody [12:41] [0:05] %
s1t02. /Sugaree [#11:32] [0:05] % [0:04]
s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:32] ->
s1t04. Deal [9:00] (1) [0:05]

--set II (5 tracks, 31:04)--
s2t05. //Cats Under The Stars [#8:39] ->
s2t06. Gomorrah [5:43] [0:05] % [0:02]
s2t07. Reuben And Cherise [9:34] ->
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight [6:57] [0:04]

! ACT1: JGB #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [x:xx] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! JB: https://jerrybase.com/events/19850804-01

! db: this fileset

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/Vr6EBXU6KvA2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/stone-mothers-412-broadway-san.html

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, July 28, 1985, p. 13

! R: field recordist: Charlie Connor

! R: field recording gear: John Corley's 2x disassembled Nak 700s clipped to brim of hat for stealth > Sony TCD5M [3rd deck patch]

! R: field recording location: 20' from stage, first row of tables, dead center

! R: transfer: Nak DR-10 (Playback) > Midiman Flying Cow 24bit/48kHz A/D > RME Digi96/8 > Steinberg's Wavelab 3.0 (bit resolution & resampling to CDR redbook 16/44.1 > CDWav beta1.6 (tracking only) > SHNv3 (MKW ACT). Analog and Digital Mastering by Charlie Connor

! R: circulation: Shn'ed, Vined (via Cdead) and seeded to fungus and abgd August 1, 2002

! R: Flaws: Intermittent left channel static (most likely dueto a loose patchcord) on d1t01 and d1t04 repaired as best as possible but still noticeable in spots.

! R: seeder comments: Happy B-day Jer, Missing You. Requires an 80 minute disc.

! R: very nice recording. Thank you, tapers!

! P: Punchy right out of the gate. Jerry sounds pretty good. Thank you, Nora!

! P: s1t01 ITAM quite lost on lyrics first verse after the very start. Plenty of lyrical challenges.

! R: s1t01 ITAM levels step down a little @ ca. 5:57.

! R: s1t02 Sugaree clips in

! P: s1t02 Sugaree is raging hard, and the crowd is digging it, in the 2-minute mark! I love these Stone crowds. They knew how to party, by all appearances. KILLER tone at 8:10ish. Fantastic playing here.

! P: s1t03 STOF JK feature 6:55-9:30.

! s1t04 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while, be back in a little bit."

! P: s2t01 CUTS very good. Kemper is absolutely killin' it this night. Maybe a few too many times around, but not bad.

! P: s2t02 Gom who gave you your orders mmmm mmmm.

! P: s2t03 RAC nooooooooo!!!!!! He fucks up the lyrics right out of the gate. Late 6 Melvin working in some synth, horn sound. Kemper bashing. Jerry wailing.

! P: s2t04 Mid Moon galloping fast

! P: overall - some very energetic playing, over certain lyrical challenges. That second set clocking in at 31:04 is pretty rough. There might be a minute missing at the start of Cats, and I'd have to look at setlists to see if we think there might be another song there. If not, 31 and change is waaaayyyy below the Minelli Line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
August 5, 1985 (Monday)
Connor MAC shnid-11121 shn2flac

--set I (5 tracks, 49:31)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:20] [0:24] %
s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:56] [0:06]
s1t03. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [12:34] ->
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:17] %
s1t05. //Tangled Up In Blue [#14:08]

--set II (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 48:37)--
s2t01. ambience [0:27]
s2t02. Mission In The Rain [9:30] [0:36]
s2t03. Love In The Afternoon [9:37] [0:03]
s2t04. Russian Lullaby [11:46] (2) [0:20]
s2t05. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:40] %
s2t06. //Midnight Moonlight [#7:34] (3) [0:04]

! JB: https://jerrybase.com/events/19850805-01

! R: circulation: Shn'ed, Vined (via Cdead) and seeded to fungus and abgd August 6, 2002

! R: very nice recording. Thank you, tapers!

! P: Punchy right out of the gate. Jerry sounds pretty good. Thank you, Nora!

! R: s1t05 TUIB cuts in, probable tape flip. Not much missing.

! P: s1t05 TUIB excellent guitar work 10. Not a single thing wrong with the range of ideas he expresses, the fluency and power with which he expresses them, etc. Even some interesting extended stuff 12. Very good. Kemper marching 12:30 for Jerry to wail around.

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We'll be back in a little while."

! P: s2t02 MITR his throat sounds worse here than it had in set I. It's possible he wasn't drinking tea with honey and lemon during the setbreak.

! P: s2t04 Russ Lull bass feature 6:10ff

! s2t04 (2) crowd guy yelling "Don't Let Go", and not for the first time. It hadn't been played since December '84, and it would not be again until 2/5/88. Good call, but no joy.

! R: s2t06 Mid Moon cuts in, not much missing, probable tape flip

! P: s2t06 Mid Moon is going a mile a minute. Kemper is flying in from LA, and boy are his arms tired.

! s2t06 (3) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
August 9, 1985 (Friday)
Connor MAC shnid-11131 shn2flac

--set I (5 tracks, 42:26)--
s1t01. /Cats Under The Stars [#9:02] [0:19]
s1t02. Catfish John [8:33] [0:08]
s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [10:46] ->
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:13] ->
s1t05. Deal [8:18] [0:07] (1) %

--set II (5 tracks, 38:32)
s2t01. /I'll Take A Melody [#11:29] [0:03] %
s2t02. /When I Paint My Masterpiece [#6:28] ->
s2t03. Gomorrah [6:24] ->
s2t04. Reuben And Cérise [7:01] [0:05] % [0:02]
s2t05. Midnight Moonlight [6:54] (2)

! JB: https://jerrybase.com/events/19850809-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-08-09

! circulation: Shn'ed, vined and seeded to fungus and abgd August 6, 2002. shn2flac by jgmf 1/1/2018.

! R: nice punchy tape.

! R: s1t01 CUTS clips in

! P: s1t01 CUTS band comes out with energy. Garcia's voice sounds pretty rough, but it's mercifully low in the mix.

! s1t03-s1t04 these guzintas are sortaguzintas, of the kind that were common in this period of short sets.

! s1t05 (1) no set break announcement

! R: s2t01 ITAM clips in

! R: s2t02 Masterpiece clips in

! P: s2t05 Mid Moon: nothing says "horse racing back to the barn" better than a Rock Bottom era Midnight Moonlight..

! s2t05 (2) JG: "Thank you. See ya later."

! P: It's not bad. It's just really short. Both sets under the Minelli Line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 S. California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
August 10, 1985 (Saturday)
Connor MAC shnid-11145 shn2flac

--set I (5 tracks, 37:08)--
s1t01. Get Out Of My Life Woman [7:14] [0:07]
s1t02. Like A Road Leading Home [7:45] ->
s1t03. It Ain't No Use [7:51] [0:04] % [0:02]
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:12] ->
s1t05. Deal [8:41] (1) [0:12]

--set II (4 tracks, 34:14)--
s2t06. //Rhapsody In Red [#6:37] [0:11]
s2t07. Dear Prudence [12:04] [0:08]
s2t08. Reuben And Cherise [8:19] [0:08]
s2t09. Midnight Moonlight [6:43] (2) [0:05]

! JB: https://jerrybase.com/events/19850810-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-08-10

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/6U9QR2V8UV4YwBDh9

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html

! circulation:  Shn'ed, vined and seeded to fungus and abgd August 7, 2002. shn2flac by jgmf 8/6/2021.

! P: s1t02 LARLH John steps up around 2:35 or so and rumbles some, still playing well to 3:10 etc.

! P: s1t03 IANU more Elmer Fuddish that the shows from the previous week, to my ears.

! s1t05 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll see you in a little while."

! R: s2t06 RIR cuts in, a good chunk missing

! P: s2t06 RIR final performance :(

! P: s2t08 RAC he remembers the words, but his voice sounds terrible.

! P: s2t09 (2) JG: "See ya later."