Showing posts with label listening notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label listening notes. Show all posts

Sunday, November 19, 2023

What I think is Might Be (?) a January 1976 keyboardists' tryout tape

The great Charlie Miller has gathered and shared many thousands of tapes. One that he got hands on somewhere along the line and then forgot about has just come into the light.

ca. 1975-1976 JGB rehearsals, outs: https://etreedb.org/shn/166364.

I hypothesize that this tape captures material from trying out / playing around with various keyboardists in January 1976. I think the need to summarize the ca. January 1976 keyboardist/repertoire options is what begat this tape --an artifact, emerging out of a distinct set of historical processes-- in the first place. It's a work tape.

I could be completely wrong about that. If you disagree, let me hear it! Tape is available to torrent from Lossless Legs (maybe be sub required).

Insofar as that's what's represented, then 

1) cool;

2) I was considerably wrong in my "Jerry's January 1976" post when I implied he was a slacker who settled for the most ready-to-hand keyboard player, Keith Godchaux;

3) I have additional material informing this idea of these as tryouts, which you'll be able to read about in Fate Music.

In the meantime, here are my very detailed listening notes, tracked differently (more baroquely) than Charlie's fileset.

Jerry Garcia Band
Probably His Master's Wheels
60 Brady Street
ca. 1976
85 minute 2 channel mono

--(20 tracks, 85:52)--
--fragment 1
t01. noisy noodle (1) [0:20] %
[MISSING: Tore Up Over You]

--fragment 2 (2 tracks,
t02. //untitled-197611xx-01-jam (2) [#21:12] %
t03. Magnificent Sanctuary Band Jam// [2:53#] %

--fragment 3 (2 tracks, 1 tune,
t04. //tape fragment// [#0:03#]
t05. //Tore Up Over You (3) [2:13] [0:06] %

--fragment 4 (3 tracks,
t06. //Freight Train [#2:47] %
t07. //Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie 1 [#5:56] (4) [0:03] %
t08. //Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie 2 [#4:30] [0:02] %

--fragment 5 (3 tracks,
t09. //Mystery Train// 1 [#7:04#] %
t10. (5) Mystery Train 2 [3:26] [0:16]
t11. Mystery Train 3 [7:09] (6) [0:09] %

--fragment 6 (5 tracks,
t12. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) [9:36] (7) [0:14]
t13. It's Too Late [0:30]
t14. (I'm A) Road Runner 1 flirt [0:47]
t15. (I'm A) Road Runner 2 fragment [0:14] (8) [0:18]
t16. (I'm A) Road Runner 3 [4:15] (9) [0:21] %

--fragment 7 (4 tracks,
t17. Hey Bo Diddley [7:13] ->
t18. Hideaway [3:02] (10) [0:14]
t19. (11) Maybellene [0:42] ->
t20. Thirty Days flirt (12) [0:24]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band Z
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - electric guitar;
! lineup: John Kahn - electric bass;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums;
! lineup: unnamed-19761xxx-01 - keyboards (tracks,
! lineup: unnamed-19761xxx-02 - keyboards (tracks,

JGMF:

! t01 JG cites Tore Up Over You before tape cut

! P: I have no idea what this is - but it's a B3 player who can play!

! t01 (1) the noisy noodle has a vaguely Halloweenish feel

! R: t02 jam is munching tape at the start, super warbly, eventually gets up to speed. Jerry higher up in the mix 1:30ff.  Bass more audible late in 1. Garcia's guitar distorted, probably everything distorted.

! P: t02 jam Very New Orleans feel, bright B3. Is that really KG on organ? It does not sound like him. The organ is much more Brother Jack McDuff-sounding than I ever recall Keith being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_McDuff. JG Nice lick 1:45. Organ feature 3:05ff, Garcia comping, John walking, drummer swinging. Right at 4 again very avian big bright organ - Jimmy Smith Brother Jack McDuff. John is walking it just like James Jamerson all up in here. 4:50 Jerry takes another lead turn. 13 more walking bass line. @13:32 you can hear Jerry's fingers on the strings - he's letting it make itself heard, as an accent. Sounds amazing - super slow late 13 as gentle as fresh a wildflower! B3 is mellifluous 14ff. Gentle, sweet tunes. Still a B3 "feauture", but it is buried in the mix and sounds a little rudimentary to my ear. Still walking along for a while, easy as you please. Nice melody Jerry lands on in 15 - something almost recognizable at 15:51. Fuzz makes it sound a little saxophonish around 16:40. Even more at 17:35 - superfuzz for Jerry, Link Wray tone for a bit. JG takes some rounds 18:19 and the organist steps forward (recording, too, I think) - things are hotting up 18:45, B3 in the classic sound - hits high right at 19, again avian. Swinging on an R&B groove around 19:15 and a N'awlins descent at 19:30. Jerry starts winding it down like 20:30, but it's hard to pin a real ending, so I just time the whole track.

! t02 (2) Jerry hits "Tore Up Over You" just before the tape cuts out.

! P: t03 Magnificent Sanctuary Band Keith (I think) is leading this, the drum is very foot-pedal heavy, and this is just Keith and a drummer, with Garcia and Kahn sitting this one out. Both of the pianist's hands sound great. Probably just KG and RT.

! R: t03 MSB drop right before the end, real time

! P: t05 TUOY starts with organist back a little bit, Jerry up front. The, delightfully @ 0:29 JG starts comping, and at 0:36 the B3 comes in like a bird - exactly the same style as the earlier jam had been, same personnel. Around 1:15 or so Jerry starts singing the lyric, but without a vocal mic. The organist doing a straightforward accent on "tore up" - sounds like Jerry gets in front of a mic for the last lyric.

! t05 (3) JG: "aw fuck - I keep forgetting that thing"

! P: t06 Freight Train Jerry sounds almost acoustic. Drums just snare. Electric keyboard comes in @0:52. Jerry singing so high in the register, almost falsetto, can't quite reach the notes. Very peppy tempo. Lyrically, he sort of gets the first verse, does a couple of choruses. Beautiful swirly keys 1:25, like a carnival. 1:42 he sings the "when I die o bury me deep / down at the end of old Chestnut Street / so I can hear ol number 9 as she goes running by". Another chorus - he calls a note at 2:27 not sure "[D E G] again". Nice plucky tone against the swirly organ.

! R: t07 OBIANL ff recording has more high end, I think. Hissier for sure.

! P: t07 OBIANL beautiful just Jerry and John falsetto - out of his range I think. Drums enter at 2:00, now electric keys @ 2:08. This aggregation and keys in around 2:05 -5:55. Pretty keyboard in 5:30 range - he puts a Baby Blue riff on around 5:46.

! t07 (4) JG: "I don't know what ... I don't really know//". This sort of tails onto t08.

! P: t08 OBIANL take 2 - lovely gentle stuff. Drums enter around 0:40. Snare-led.

! R: t09 MT1 sounds better than the chunk with the Elizabeth Cotten material. More dynamic range, less hiss. drums and guitar L, synth keys R, voice center, bass L. Tune cuts in and cuts out on what was probably the last "took away my baby"

! P: t09 Mystery Train take 1 keys are synth right now - fascinating! Different player, too? Just not sure. 2:29ff electric keys/synth takes first feature. Jerry comping fantastically behind, like check out 2:49. Sounds like there's an organ on one hand, electric piano on the other hand? Jerry in a little feature ca. 3. Organ lead 3:39ff. Drummer hard in the pocket - high hat driven, super steady. More electric keys lead 4:25. JG lead 4:52

! t10 (5) song is ending, an English guy *not Nicky* says "too much". Then they roll into MT2. I normally might have tacked a second or so from the front here onto the previous track, but it's all good. Electric keys - Rhodes plus the three members Jerry, John and Tutt.

! P: t10 MT2 right around 2 there's some conversation while the beat rolls on. Can't make it out. Jerry steps up for a verse 2:30. Keys sound really nice, nice little flourish over the end of that verse. This sounds tight as hell.

! P: t11 Mystery Train take 3 is faster and drives harder.  This drives like a motherfucker. Drums ease in at 0:17, Garcia has a nice country twang going just before 30 seconds in, the synth is upfront. What is the technique he uses at 0:43 called? He plucks a single note that's not offkey, but it certainly offsets the straight vocal, punctuating. It's awesome. Sweet country sound - I wonder if he's playing a tele, almost? I highly doubt it, but it definitely has that feel. Bend at 2:04 that is definitely Bakersfield. Here in 4 the keys sound familiar. At first I thought Jimmy Warren, but maybe now it sounds like Ozzie Ahlers. I am not saying it is either of these guys - I don't think it's either one of them. But I am trying to pin some comps down. Now at 5:20 two keyboard sounds, I think it's one player with two hands going - left is like an electric piano and right is the synth. Truly glorious string scratches from Garcia right at the end, a little scrubby-dubby from 7:02-7:05. Gaaahhh.

! t11 (6) Tutt: "Ahhh, shit. [inaudible] to try another one like that." JG: "[inaudible] like that?" Somebody else (Kahn?): "It's got layers." As I will narrate in Fate Music in a heading titled "Cats in the Studio," in July 1977 Tutt and Garcia held a very similar exchange after a jam, with Ronnie saying stuff like "that'll work - we can take that wherever we want to", and Jerry concurring. Who cares? I do! Kahn gets all the credit as Garcia's band director, and he was. But Tutt was in a "musical director" space -- validated by Garcia -- in those July '77 jams, and here he is the prior year playing the same role. Very important little fragment right there.

! song: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" (t12): Yes, the Four Tops Tune tune, Holland-Dozier-Holland on Motown! Singleton. 

! P: t12 Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - oh my God this is stunning. Drums, organ, electric guitar, Garcia playing in a style like I have never ever heard before. 1:46 is he playing a Strat? Wow, fuzzy 2:16 what is the name of that effect? Not sure I have heard bass in this. Just keys guitar drums. God, Tutt starts some hi-hatting at 3:12 that is IMPOSSIBLE it's so good. Organ player takes a lead 3:20ff or thereabouts. @ 3:42 Garcia singing unamplified, way high in his vocal range, but amazing. This is cooking so sweet and hot and it bounces incredibly well. Band playing really well together. No idea who this organist is - DEF not Keith. This is a B3 aficionado, someone tearing it up. Any chance this is Larry Knechtel? By 6 Jerry is in more recognizable sound, still not sure which guitar he's playing. But my God is this AMAZING. Slow it wayy down at 8:48, half time, quarter time, decay to gentle @ 9:07, there's John Kahn, Jerry noodling some stuff to wind it down.

! t12 (7) @ 9:41, good hearty Jerry laugh. Tutt: "What time is it?" JG: "Too late." Someone else, affirming: "too late". Naturally enough, this leads Jerry to strum the beautiful xxx notes xxx chord of "It's Too Late".

! P: t13 ITL falsetto!

! t15 (8) JK is quoting an Abbey Road sounding piece - maybe Come Together? Powerful, McCartney sounding. Jerry hits the Lennon twang. Not sure which tune, but a Beatles riff I think.

! P: IARR 3 he doesn't lead with the first verse, I don't think? This is the quartet playing. Jerry, John, Ronnie, and organ player. Tempo slows 2:48, now sounding more like '76 JGB (heh heh).

! t16 (9) @ 3:45 IARR sort of unraveled gradually. Tutt called out a '1' to take it from the top, but Jerry starts moaning "1", becoming "whaaaa??" It's "1" a second moan, he is joined in by John I think, also moaning "1????????" They pick it up pretty continuously until 4:15, when he drops it again, Tutt calls out '1' again, and they all riff on the same goof from 30 seconds before, moaning and cawing. @ 4:10 someone yells out "Christ!", and it sounds like an English voice to me. Again, NB re: Tutt leading musically. He's the drumer and he's just counting down the beat in this case, but it's still fun to see him focused and the rest of these weirdos being weird.

! song: "Hey Bo Diddley" (t17): https://jerrybase.com/songs/326.

! P: t17 Hey Bo Diddley starts off with cool John Kahn liquid weirdness, some big bottom of the sea low amplitude forms, first 30 seconds of the track. Organ arrives 0:54. Neat interplay JG and organ player 1:38, he scrubs for the three beats, real basic, and the organist puts some color on it. Right after 3 Jerry steps back to play his guitar, and it's hot and great. Killer fuzztone 4:35 - like fuzzier than you will ever hear him. Shreddy, weaving through, around, over, the organ's melody lines. Big fuzzy R&R guitar 5:18ff. Grungy. Late 5 he finds a defined melody of something that might be identifiable. Jerry audibly unpedals the fuzz @ 6:20 with a killer rock chord, and it's back cleanly into the Bo Diddley beat, Jerry with some chunky ... all through this there is a drum that sounds like a hand drum, e.g., 6:45 for awhile, but it perfectly accompanies the drum, so I think ...?

! P: t17-t18 Jerry lets it decay and the organist hits "Hideaway", but Jerry takes a bit to really embrace it. At 0:39 Garcia is playing "Hideaway" with a guitar that sounds really unfamiliar. Wow! Groovy as fuck at 1:32 when everyone is walking it for awhile, organist splashes other tones. 2:27ish Jerry tries to end it, but not one takes him up on it, trying again 10 and Tutt catches the cue perfectly!

! R: t18 Hideaway track some static for sure

! t18 (10) Jerry playing some blues lines, Tutt drums fast to them.

! t19 (11) I track Maybellene to where Tutt starts drumming the beat. Over the start of it, he says "That's that other [?another?] Freddie King tune". I think he's referring to the melody he just hinted at - see note 10. I don't recognize it. Maybellene, of course, was written by Chuck Barry, so maybe he was just having a stoner moment with it?

! P: t19 Maybellene Jerry does some of the rough and ready vamp singing he's been having fun with all night to start, but pretty quickly he gets a verse together, like ten seconds into the noodle. John walking *incredibly* late 0:16 range. This is a boogeying little thing they are doing,

! song: "Thirty Days" (t20): Chuck Berry. Like "Maybellene", a rock 'n' roll standard.

! t20 (12) there are a couple of "fuck it"s at the very end.

Monday, October 30, 2023

Thursday, May 25, 2023

JGB Spring '93 SoCal

Preface: JGB in SoCal

Little springtime SoCal jaunts became a regular thing for JGB starting in 1983. (OK, that was very late winter, but March is generally pretty springy down there.) Some were one- or two-offs, others were a little more elaborate. Here's a sketch.

1983: 3/11a and 3/11b in Santa Barbara; 3/12a and 3/12b, 3/13 in Beverly Hills
1984: 5/17 Beverly Hills, 5/18 Irvine, 5/19 Santa Barbara, 5/20 Reseda
1985: Garcia-Kahn 5/31a and 5/31b in Beverly Hills
1986: 5/23 in San Diego, 5/24 in LA
1987: 3/13 and 3/14 in LA
1988: no SoCal
1989: 5/19 Irvine, 5/20 San Diego, 5/22 LA
1990: LA in November
1991: no SoCal
1992: summer dates
1993: 4/16 and 4/17 at UCLA, 4/18 in San Diego
1994: 5/13 San Bernardino, 5/14 Ventura, 5/15 Irvine, 5/17 and 5/18 San Diego + 5/19 Phoenix

So much to say, but so little time. Let me just foreshadow some of what might get some write up in Fate Music.

'83: Hell's Angel George Christie, Jr., a rather remarkable dude, promoting in Santa Barbara (again in '84). I have some super-sweet material here about how much better it was for Jerry working for an outlaw than it was for some of the "straight" promoters in the area.

'84: not sure yet, but definitely mention the killer music and DeeDee Dickerson's swan song.

'85: "Bullshit! Bullshit!" and all that

'86: Wolfgang trying to product-differentiate the "Band Electric" 10 months before the birth of the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. And one of the great sardonic review headlines of all time: "Band Electric Plays at Pace Languid".

'93: maybe some stuff based on this post

'94: "Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!!"

Among the themes that will pop up are NorCal vs. SoCal, maybe some nods toward playing on John Kahn's home turf, and definitely the evolution of the SoCal jaunt as a commercial proposition: 1) from local promoters (with John Scher's help) to conceding Bill Graham the west coast monopoly he so badly wanted. (He wanted it all, but John Scher was simply too great to work with to give him up.) And 2) obvs., the switch from clubs and theaters to amphitheaters and basketball arenas. Of course, too, some great music.

JGB SoCal Spring 1993

So much for the long windup. I really just wanted to plop down some notes around a listen a month or two ago to the April 16-17, 1993 gigs in Pauley Pavilion and the 18th in the San Diego Sports Arena. I have listening-noted the Warfield 4/23/93 show on these pages, and found it somewhat low energy, though I abso-fucking-lutely love its version of "Señor" (released on Garcia Plays Dylan) and "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" (released on Shining Star). It seems like I haven't listened to the 4/24 or 4/25 Warfield shows, which I guess I will need to do at some point.

These three SoCal shows from the week before strike me as overall better than 4/23, generally strong, rarely really bad and occasionally fantastic. If forced to rank these three, I'd say 4/18 > 4/17 > 4/16. I note that The Powers That Were released 1 tune each from the 18th and 17th, but none from the 16th. That seems about right to me, and I have to say that they made fantastic choices. Despite its execrable cover art and (not unrelated) the fact that it was released under the reign of She Who Shall Not Be Named (whom I nevertheless name below), the Shining Star release contains some outstanding music, and the selections from this run of shows are top-shelf.

From the 17th, they selected "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", which the Stones had covered soon after Solomon Burke's original 1964 version on Atlantic, and which was most successfully covered by Wilson Pickett. This Garcia Band version is absolutely killer, a truly fine late era performance ranging across some stanky pedal effects to some very spare sections, sung together and tenderly by Jerry and the ladies, but also across some growly exclamatory "I need it! I need it!" from ol 'Jer. More detailed notes, probably not all that illuminating, below.

From the 18th, they selected Dylan's "Positively 4th Street". (Happy belated 82nd birthday to Mr. Dylan, BTW!) What can I say about Garcia and 4th Street? Of all the Dylans he did, I think this one was the most special. It was almost never not amazing. It is one of those tunes that I still haven't found quite the right word for, which appeared across the decades, but typically in short spurts, which I think have a particular quality of Jerry loving them but finding them either challenging to do or too special to wear out. This is speculation, of course, but it's what my gut says. And none of these tunes --also including "Tough Mama", "Like A Road", a few others-- better captures that profile for me than "4th Street".

The great David Gans and Blair Jackson asked Garcia about the tune in a 1981 interview.
Q: Do you have any trouble singing a song as bitter as "Positively 4th Street"?

Garcia: Not at all. It's easy for me to cop that asshole space. I was that guy, too. For me, it occupies the same space as 'Ballad of a Thin Man'. It tells that person who's lame that they're lame, and why they're lame, which is a very satisfying thing to do. 'Positively 4th Street' has this way of doing it where it's beautiful, too. And 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' is basically a put-down, too. It's one of those things like, 'You're losing bad - dig yourself.' It was the beautiful sound of 'Positively 4th Street' that got to me, more than the bitterness of the lyric. The combination of the beauty and the bitterness, to me, is wonderful. ... That's something that only Dylan has been able to pull off in terms of modern songwriting, I think (Jackson and Gans 19810911, 29).
Jerry played it somewhat regularly with the Garcia-Saunders aggregation in 1973 (as represented, e.g., on the original Saunders-Garcia-Kahn-Vitt Live at Keystone, and re-released by Fantasy endlessly since then). He picked it back up for a month in 1975 in the first JGB with Nicky, then dropped it again until Ozzie Ahlers came on board in 1979 (check out the 12/21/79 version, one of the greatest single-song performances of Garcia's playing career). He dropped it again in the middle of the February 1980 tour for more than ten years, bringing it out staccato in the 90s. Here are the all of the post-1980 versions. Because I think the song held special meaning for Jerry, I offer up some conjecture as to what I think might have motivated the revival.

3/1/91, which I have called "Certainly One of the Best and Most Interesting Shows of the 90s" (which may be damning it with faint praise): I note that 4th Street is "just about perfect - I think he gets all of the lyrics, and he does it with the right degree of bitterness." What might have led Garcia to dust this gem off after 11 years, obviously rehearse it with the band, play it for this "just for this one moment", and drop it for two years again? Well, first we know that he was using again, and not just chipping but to the point that the GD would stage another intervention four months later, whereupon Jerry went onto a methadone program. (It didn't stick.) Second, we know from his September '91 interviews that he was wildly burned out on the Dead, and he explicitly said that it was during the spring that he was asking the band about chilling out for six months, only to be told that the show had to go on. *cough* Phillesh *cough* So, in this case, I blame the Grateful Dead. Does any of this have anything to do with why he played 4th Street? Neither you nor I has any idea. But, while it may  not have been carefully planned out, I think something definitely caused its appearance. What do you think?

4/18/93 (this version) and 4/23/93 (on Shining Star): Here, I primarily blame woman troubles (Jerry's, not necessarily the women's). Humiliatingly, San Francisco institution Herb Caen led a January 1993 column asking "would the beloved Jerry Garcia dump his longtime ladyfriend, Manasha (the mother of his 3-yr-old daughter), and take off for Hawaii with a new inamorata?" (Caen 19930112). I can't recall where this occured, but when People wrote about his personal life in 1976 Garcia lost his shit, and I can't imagine the isolated and private 1993 version of himself would have been happy about having his love-life laundry aired in public. The new inamorata in January was the sweet and lovely Brigid Meier, but he had already left her in March after a) running back into Deborah Koons (also involved the 1976 complications) in Mill Valley and b) Brigid finding out he was using and asking him to get clean (McNally 2002, 603). Her recollections of that encounter supply some of the darkest images we have of the man in the grip of his addiction. Maybe he had her in mind when singing about "what a drag it is to see you" and all that. After a little fling with one Shannon Jeske (ibid), it seems like by April he would have been back with Deborah. Indeed, having heard some of the inside skinny about how She worked, the fact that She and Jerry were back together right around this time may have motivated the selection of material from these very shows.

There were other things going on in this window, of course. The last time he had played the Warfield, in late February, there was a "mini riot" outside the venue, involving 20 cops, rock-and-bottle throwing, and a dozen arrests ("12 arrests at Garcia concert," Argus-Courier [Petaluma, CA], March 2, 1993, p. "Deadheads blame riot on S.F. Police," San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1993, p. A-13). So, to whom, or about whom or what, would he be venting his spleen in April 1993, by again dusting off, rehearsing, performing, and again dropping 4th Street? I have no idea. But I will say that, as on 3/1/91, on 4/18/93 he dusted the tune off and played it nearly perfectly, as close to perfectly as he ever did any song. I think he nailed every single lyric. And, heart? What heart! My only note about the song is this: "this is stunningly good".

There is lots of other really nice stuff in these shows, as my notes below narrate. The "Don't Let Go"s are too brief for my taste. But even tunes I don't generally love --I am looking at you, "Dixie Down"-- have a little extra something, again more on the 18th than the 17th and more on either of those than the first night. The Garcia Band at this point was running like a pretty well-oiled machine, putting plenty of bread in the breadbox --around $225,000 for these three nights!-- punching in solid 60-minute sets, and delivering good stuff to the faithful. They hold up well after 30 years, and I can recommend them to you --especially the 18th-- if you are searching for something to spin.

Oh yeah, what about the 1995 versions of 4th Street? On 1/13/95, he botches the words ("Jerry can't sing 4th Street if he can't remember the lyrics", I snipped). But I also note that he manages to remember more of them than I would, and as far as I know I am not on death's door. On 3/4/95 he says "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes" no fewer than four times - so he does the "I could be you" and "what a drag it is to see you" responses twice. Not lyrically correct, I don't think (?), but could be (over-) interpreted as really feeling true to the man in that moment. By 4/15/95 he is running on fumes, though the version certainly makes up in feeling what it lacks in power. If my whole reasoning about the song's appearance reflecting a particularly embittered mindset is right, it certainly makes sense that it was around for these three months. He had crashed his car in January, canceled shows in February, and, not least, he was dying. So 4th Street certainly fit the Zeitgeist.

Listening Notes for April 16-18, 1993 below the fold.

Tuesday, August 09, 2022

Dating the September 1971 Lion's Share Gigs

Consider this a throwback post, in that it does what the blog started out doing, and that's just trying to correct and fill out metadata around Garciavents. Here, I argue that the material we know from circulating tapes as 9/24/71 is actually from the next night, 9/25/71, also at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo. The post also serves to pin down a third set of music from the four played this weekend, from newly digitized (and, as of today, circulated) tape of what, I argue, should be seen as the 9/24/71 late show.

Tom Fogerty left Creedence Clearwater Revival on February 1, 1971 (Boucher 1972), seeking to escape the domineering shadow of his little brother John and carve out his own musical identity. Around May 26, 1971, he first sat in with Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders and their unnamed group, at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco. He gigged on and off with them for a year-and-a-half, while also doing all kinds of studio work at The House That Creedence Built (Fantasy in Berkeley). He continued collaborating on Merl's Fire Up into late spring '73 before exiting the Garciaverse. Some of his correspondence with Merl lives in the GD Archives, and from what we can glean he was a sweet and generous guy who was very fond of his labelmate. He continued to play and record through ongoing back problems, fell on some hard personal times, and apparently contracted HIV/AIDS from an unscreened blood transfusion connected with a back surgery in the early 80s. This led to his untimely demise from a tuberculosis infection at the age of 49 on September 6, 1990.

I have yet to come to a clear understanding of my own of the mix of music and commerce (especially, the role of Fantasy Records) in the "Tom Fogerty Era" of the Garcia-Saunders group, partly because, outside studio recordings, so few tapes of them playing live are available to hear. The first pop up almost four months after his arrival, in September 1971, with two widely-circulated sets from the Lion's Share which I will focus on here. After that, the next tape comes June 30, 1972 at the Korner, and then December 28, 1972, again in San Anselmo. That's it - though tape exists of September 20, 1971 at the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati, and December 5, 1972 at the Boarding House in the city, it does not circulate. And, while he figured in some billings early in 1973, it seems highly unlikely that he ever gigged with these guys after 1972. 

We currently list 48 Tom Fogerty events at Jerrybase, we have a few setlists from newspaper reviews and attendee recollections, and now pieces of five shows. Tragically, all of our JB listings are for public events. Fantasy has remained completely opaque in terms of session dates, which I estimate might number in the few dozens from 1970 or 1971 through 1974 or 1975.

As a result of all of this, the little tape that we have is precious. I have spent considerable time with it trying to glean some insight into the Fogerty Era. It's risky to extrapolate much from the little we can hear, of course. But it seems clear that he and Jerry shared a love for 50s R&B numbers such as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters' "Annie Had A Baby" (1954), The Four Deuces' "W-P-L-J" (1956), and Jimmy Reed's straighter blues "Baby What You Want Me To Do?" (1959), the latter of which the Dead played a few times but none of which is known to have appeared in any other GOTS configuration. They also played Jesse Winchester's super-sweet "Biloxi" from his 1970 debut, and a bunch of tunes that otherwise seem part of the Garcia-Saunders repertoire of the period, insofar as we can know it.

The Lion's Share gigs on September 24-25, 1971 were well advertised and, in a refreshing change of pace, Fogerty's name preceded Garcia's. Yayyy, Jerry! (We celebrate this because the guy just wanted to play, he didn't need or necessarily want top-billing). Maybe it was just done alphabetically. Anyway, only the Berkeley Tribe specifies early (9 PM) and late (11:30 PM) shows. The ads all identify Jerry Corbitt, Billy Cox, and Charlie Daniels (yes, the one you've heard of) opening, though for some reason Jerrybase currently shows Loading Zone and Congress of Wonders the first night instead of them. Gideon and Power were also on the bill the second night, per the Lion's Share calendar.

My partner David Minches and I have just had the pleasure of working with 1971-1972 Lion's Share soundman Lou Judson to arrange a fresh transfer of these old tapes. The three from this September 1971 weekend present, first, a Sony PR-150 labeled "Friday 24 Sept 71 last 1/2 hr)".


The labeling is confirmed by the end of the recording, where the emcee says "Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders, Tom Fogerty and Bill Kreutzmann. They'll be back tomorrow night, for another two shows, along with Jerry Corbitt and Charlie Daniels. Come back and bring your friends. Thank you for comin', and good night." So this is clearly 9/24/71b. As you will hear when the seed hits the ether, this is distinct music that has never circulated among collectors.

It seems that there probably was a first reel from this night, but, alas, it remains MIA.

But wait, you say - don't circulating filesets already purport to include 9/24/71b? Indeed, they do. But these tapes clearly establish that they are mis-dated, and derive from the second night. Lou's other two reels from the weekend are Sony SLH-180 stock, and clearly labeled "September 25 Saturday '71 first set" and "September 25, 1971 second set".

The material on these tapes corresponds to the material that has long circulated as 9/24/71. But it is actually 9/25/71.

Last thing to do is pin down what we can from the partial setlist for 9/24/71b, and post listening notes from all three sets of material. That stuff follows.

~~~~~

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Lion's Share
60 Red Hill Avenue
San Anselmo, CA 94960
September 24, 1971 (Friday) - Late Show / reel #2
Judson MSR > HD 2022

--end of late show (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 30:28)--
19710924-l-t01. [0:46] Annie Had A Baby [3:21] ->
19710924-l-t02. W-P-L-J [3:48] [1:07]
19710924-l-t03. Baby, What Do You Want Me To Do? [5:16] [1:08]
19710924-l-t04. I Was Made To Love Her [7:51] [1:05]
19710924-l-t05. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [5:31]
19710924-l-t06. outro (2) [0:36]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - electric guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Tom Fogerty - electric guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19710924

! db: none in circulation from this date. The following are mistakenly dated 9/24/71, but are actually 9/25/71: https://etreedb.org/shn/4497 (early and late, via Shriver shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/137584 (Reel Master 10inch Master Reel@7.5ips 1/2trk > DAT, via Eaton-Scotton-Miller-SirMick); https://etreedb.org/shn/138213 (raw version of shnid-137584)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/FCaYZGNhk21VzhvF6

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html

! personnel: NB no bass.

! R: field recordist: Lou Judson

! R: field recording gear: PA line out > Viking 88

! R: field recording media: Sony PR-150 1/4" x 7" @7.5ips stereo (tape "GS6")

! R: lineage: MSR Sony 854-4 playback > Sound Devices 744T (24 bit / 96kHz wav) > editing and mastering by David Minches, July 2022.

! t02 (1) @ 4:27 JG: "No dancing in the Lion's Share. At least - nobody's dancing in the Lion's Share. [inaudible] dancing right around here [inaudible] I don't know [inaudible]

! R: t05 some kind of noise in TNTDODD, not sure if it's tape or equipment

! t06 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot folks. See y'all later." Emcee: "Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders, Tom Fogerty and Bill Kreutzmann. They'll be back tomorrow night, for another two shows, along with Jerry Corbitt and Charlie Daniels. Come back and bring your friends. Thank you for comin', and good night."

~~~~~

Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders
Lion's Share
60 Red Hill Avenue
San Anselmo, CA 94960
September 25, 1971 (Saturday)
Judson MSR > HD 2022

--early show (7 tracks, 6 tunes, 51:56)--
e-t01. Introduction (1) [1:09]
e-t02. Save Mother Earth [11:38] ->
e-t03. Imagine [5:19] (2) [2:28]
e-t04. One Kind Favor [8:45] [1:25]
e-t05. I Was Made To Love Her [9:53] [0:32]
e-t06. Baby, What Do You Want Me To Do? [3:47] [0:04] %
e-t07. Biloxi [6:51] [0:06]

--late show (7 tracks, 51:55)--
l-t01. [0:15] Hi-Heel Sneakers [8:36] [1:10]
l-t02. Man-Child [10:21] ->
l-t03. Summertime [10:07] [1:14]
l-t04. That's A Touch I Like [5:47] (3) [1:52]
l-t05. Annie Had A Baby [2:55] ->
l-t06. W-P-L-J [3:17] [0:13] %
l-t07. [0:19] The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [5:40] (4) [0:09]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - electric guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Tom Fogerty - electric guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: John Kahn - electric bass;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19710925

! db, mistakenly dated 9/24/71: https://etreedb.org/shn/4497 ("MSR>1C>D etc.", via Ryan Shriver and Danny Metz); https://etreedb.org/shn/137584 ("MSR>DAT etc.", via Paul Scotton and SIRMick); https://etreedb.org/shn/138213 (raw transfer of Scotton DAT). Prior to 8/9/2022, no sources have circulated dated 9/25/71, which is the correct date for this material.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/FCaYZGNhk21VzhvF6

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html

! R: field recordist: Lou Judson

! R: field recording gear: PA line out > Viking 88

! R: field recording media: 2x Sony SLH-180 1/4" x 7" @7.5ips 1/4 trk stereo (tapes "GS7" and "GS8")

! R: lineage: MSR Sony 854-4 playback > Sound Devices 744T (24 bit / 96kHz wav) > editing and mastering by David Minches, July 2022.

! e-t01 (1) JG: "Hey - whoever it is that controls the lights, could ya turn 'em down, these ones here? Ahh, yes. Keep it going ... thanks, great. You can turn 'em down even farther ... that's good. [To band] Can you guys see well enough?" Tom: "Oh yeah, for sure." Emcee: Let's have a warm welcome for Jerry Garcia, Tom Fogerty, Merl Saunders, and ... friends." JG: "That's, uh, John Kahn and Bill Kreutzmann, are the 'friends'." Emcee: "Thank you." JG: "Don't mention it."

! P: e-t02 SME very slowly paced. @ 7:30 JG pedals in a little wah or whatever that is. Things getting melty in 9.

! e-t03 (2) Tom: "Can we get some beer and apple juice, please?" JG: "And a little bit of light - just the tiniest little bit" [some chuckles].

! R: e-t07 Biloxi patched in from shnid-137584. How it could be complete there and not here is a mystery ...

! P: l-t01 HHS Tom's buzzsaw tone fatigues my ears

! P: l-t02 Man-Child John starts rumbling fantastically in 6

! l-t04 (3) Tom: "Can we please have some beers and, uhh, two apple juices?"

! R: l-t07 TNTDODD in mono

! l-t07 (4) JG: "Thanks a lot. Good night."

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Odd Pair at the Old Waldorf: JGB, Monday, January 11, 1982 and Wednesday, January 13, 1982

LN jg1982-01-11.jgb.all.sbd-gmb.84012.flac1644 | LNjg1982-01-13.jgb.all.aud-GEMS.98706.flac1644


What a weird little pair of shows - an early year Monday-Wednesday pairing at the Old Waldorf. Also an interesting pair of tapes. The 11th is represented by one of the uber-clean early 80s soundboard cassette tapes, which the old rumor had it marched out of "official" possession powered by a Peruvian blizzard. The 13th is represented by an otherwise unlineaged 1st gen aud cassette from the Jeff Knudsen collection which sounds absolutely stunning.

The shows are uneven. I definitely feel like the 13th is stronger overall. Maybe the fact that Phil Elwood was in the house --improbably enough, at this juncture-- supplied a little extra motivation. Elwood saw Blakey and Garcia in the same time frame and wrote a review praising both old timers for still bringing the musical goods. 

Anyway, the 11th has a lot more lyrical flubs and whatnot, though there are a few highlights probably made possible by the super clean tape. The 13th has a little more juice. I *really* like this "Roadrunner" - it's executed almost flawlessly, and just sounds good. The "Don't Let Go" is good, starting off with Billy double-time syncopating on the rim, but it's quite brief. I have never met a bad DLG, though the super long ones from the 70s can drag for me. This one is probably average, which is to say it's a delight.

~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry Garcia Band
Old Waldorf
444 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
January 11, 1982 (Monday)
MSC > DAT shnid-84012 retrack

--set I (6 tracks, 57:13)--
s1t01. //How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [#1:19] [0:13]
s1t02. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [13:22] [0:13]
s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:49] [0:08] %
s1t04. //Simple Twist Of Fate [#14:21] % [0:02]
s1t05. I Second That Emotion [9:40] ->
s1t06. Deal// [7:07#]

--set II (7 tracks, 59:25)--
s2t01. [0:31] The Way You Do The Things You Do [8:06] %
s2t02. I'll Take A Melody [12:50] %
s2t03. Valerie [6:45] %
s2t04. Harder They Come -18:39
s2t05. //Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [# ->
s2t06. Dear Prudence [12:27] ->
s2t07. Tangled Up In Blue// [2:13#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14a/c
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - keyboards;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums;
! lineup: Essra Mohawk - backing vocals;
! lineup: Liz Stires - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.


! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/20687 (same source tape, shnf, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/84012 (this fileset)



! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, December 27, 1981, p. 19

! historical: Odd little pair of gigs on Monday (1/11) and Wednesday (1/13) at the Old Waldorf at the start of 1982, in the sense that they'd usually play consecutive nights.

! R: Source: MSC > DAT

! R: Transfer: Panasonic SV-3700 > M-Audio Audiophile 2496 to Wavelab 5.0, mastering with iZotope Ozone 3 > CDWAV1.9 > FLAC (level 8). Transferred, Remastered and Seeded by Green Mountain Bros. April 2007.

! R: seeder comments: Very clean SBD with several pauses between tunes - crossfades were applied to cover. 

! R: s1t01 HSII cuts in, most of tune is missing

! P: s1t02 KOHD Jimmy feature 7:25ff. Basic, but I think it sounds nice.

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD Very punchy. Kahn is rumbling around really nicely, though how much of that is the recording, I dunno. But a few times he rumbles and it makes me happy. Melvin's feature in 7:20ff also sounds great. Yeah, big fella!

! R: s1t04 STOF clips in

! P: s1t04 STOF Jerry delivers the lyrics slowly and with care (though not without error). Bass "feature" late 6ff. He is flubbing lyrics hard late 11.

! P: s2t03 flubby lyrics

! R: s2t03 the fileset had Valerie and HTC tracked together. I have fixed this.

! R: s2t05 TNTDODD cuts in, missing first two verses

! P: s2t06 DP BK is having tempo problems, as he had been during HTC as well.

! R: s2t07 Tangled Up In Blue is painfully cut.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia Band
Old Waldorf
444 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
January 13, 1982 (Wednesday)
1st gen aud gems shnid-98706

--set I (5 tracks, 50:26)--
s1t01. Sugaree [11:13] %
s1t02. /They Love Each Other [#7:38] %
s1t03. Sitting In Limbo [12:09] %
s1t04. Let It Rock [8:26] %
s1t05. Tangled Up In Blue [11:01] %

--set II (6 tracks, 62:18)--
s2t01. [0:13] (I'm A) Road Runner [7:02] %
s2t02. Don't Let Go [13:25] %
s2t03. /Harder They Come [#11:19] %
s2t04. [0:06] Russian Lullaby [11:30] %
s2t05. Dear Prudence [12:08] ->
s2t06. Midnight Moonlight [6:32] (1) 

JGMF:



! review: [positive] Elwood 1982. Club was "jammed to overflowing". Amazing that Elwood bothered to see Jerry this late in the game. This was sort of a throwback review, discovering that Jerry and Art Blakey can still bring it.

! R: source: Jeff Knudsen's 1st gen aud cassette: "I taped this but this version is better than mine so I don't have my original anymore. I don't remember who taped this. I knew them but I can't remember their names. The reason I sent this to Matt was the one on LL was missing (I think) the last three or so songs and my copy is complete."

! R: Transfer: MAC(1) > Apogee Mini ME (24/96) > Apogee Mini DAC > Wavelab 5.0 (dithered via 'UV22HR' to 16/44) > CD by Matt Smith. Edits and Mastering: Jamie Waddell (shnflac@gmail.com) on the GEMS Edit Station. Weiss Saracon for POWR-3 Dither. Meta-data with Tag&ReName. 

! seeder notes: "Thanks to Jeff and Matt for the honor to share these". A *GEMS* Production, www.shnflac.net, April 2009.

! R: do not be put off by the generic lineage - this is a really, relaly good aud tape. Update sometime later: really, really, really good!

! P: s1t04 LIR Jerry is doing some truly unique stustained reverby train pulls in late 5. Very intentional stuff!

! P: s2t01 IARR sounds really nice

! P: s2t02 DLG man, is that Billy syncopating on the rim right out of the gate? Sounds cool. Doubling 4:10ff. Melvin pulls a little thing 4:04, 4:15 that just sounds so sweet. 4:23 some putting some sustain on it. I am loving the sound of this band right now - great palette of sound. Nice jam, doesn't get too far out, JG starts nudging back to tune 11:22.

! R: s2t03 HTC clips in

! P: s2t03 HTC peppy. Jimmy feature 5:50ff. Lyrical flub 10:05.

! P: s2t04 Russ Lull John forward 5:44ff. WTF is he doing? I dunno.

! s2t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Killer Sugaree and final DDD: JGB at Country Club, Reseda, May 20, 1984

LN jg1984-05-20.jgb.all.aud-nak300s.79553.flac1644


This Sugaree is in the running for hottest ever, especially in the 6-10 minute range. It opened shows a lot in the 75-77 period, a little less frequently by this time, and it would leave the JGB fold in '86 to become GD only. But, for my money, the Jerry Band ones from this ca. '84 period were the very best. I am told that 8/13/84 is another smoker. I plan to revisit it soon.

I don't think Jim Rismiller still had the Country Club at this point, though I am not 100% sure. I am calling it The Country Club, though the tag still has Rissmiller's name to keep them together with other posts from earlier dates.

Last night out for DeeDee Dickerson. Thank you, DDD!

Jerry Garcia Band
Country Club
18415 Sherman Way
Reseda, CA 91335
May 20, 1984 (Sunday)
Nak 300s shnid-79553 retrack

--set I (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 53:59)--
s1t01. ambience [0:19] 
s1t02. Sugaree [15:32] [0:03] % [0:28]
s1t03. Love In The Afternoon [10:06] [0:02] % [0:02]
s1t04. Rhapsody In Red [11:42] % [0:03]
s1t05. Run For The Roses
s1t06. Deal [10:20] (1) [0:07]

--set II (5 tracks, 4 tunes, 40:31)--
s2t01. ambience [0:18] 
s2t02. Mission In The Rain [12:07] [0:03] % [0:02]
s2t03. [0:10] Harder They Come [14:21] % [0:03]
s2t04. /Gomorrah  [#5:48] ->
s2t05. Midnight Moonlight [7:30] (2) [0:07]

! ACT1: JERRY GARCIA BAND #21a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vocals;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.



! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/79553 (this fileset)

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. DDD's last gig, and so last night out for JGB #21a. The classic 21b lineup with Gloria would debut ca. 7/10/84.


! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/rissmillers-country-club-reseda-theatre.html. 1,000 seat room which opened 3/28/80 with Merle Haggard (Jackson 1980).

! listing: Orange County Register, May 20, 1984, p. L7.


! seealso: JGMF, "There is World Class Guitar Playing Here," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/02/ln-jg1984-05-19jgballaud-rossi.html.

! R: field recordist: unknown

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi CM-300 w/ CP-1 caps (no shotguns) > Sony D5

! R: lineage: MAC > ?? > DAT > HHB 830 CD Recorder (Stand Alone) > ?? > flac1644.

! R: Nice tape, brightness suggestive of improper Dolby decode.

! P: overall I like it less than the night before. Kemper sounds great on this tape. The Sugaree is pretty off the chain, otherwise not much that strikes me as special. The second set clocks in below the Minelli Line.

! historical: Garcia often undertook these compact SoCal tours in the early 80s. This one comprised four nights of earning: Beverly Theatre on Thursday 17th, Irvine Meadows (a very big space for the JGB of the time) on Friday the 18th, Arlington in Santa Barbara on Saturday the 19th, and this show to round things out. A logistics person might have wanted to run it north - south (SB, Reseda, Beverly Hills, Irvine) or the other way around, but I suspect Irvine had to be on the Friday or Saturday, so all bets were off. Robert Hunter opened the last three nights, as far as I am aware.

! P: s1t02 Sugaree in the 9 and 10 this thing is just going nuts. Returning some years or months later: yeah, yeah. Sugaree comes hot out of the gate, and never lets up. Some serious attack variation arises 6:19, goodness still a minute later. Each note has its own little existence, but he constructs half-phrases, half-paragraphs, up and down the fret board, fast-slow, loud and really loud, God damn, Jerry! Jeesus fucking christ, now Kemper 8:35 just CRUSHING to keep up with Jerry and Jerry is running circles like a fucking demon. Crowd is seems to be going crazy 9:10, but Jerry is playing so fucking loud and crazy that it's hard to know. Pure energy happening here. Mamma mia! Now starts some fanning 9:45, and it sounds like he has four hands, because he seems to be fanning chords and picking notes at the same time. Boy. Softens to set up a verse first half of ten, verse comes 10:30. After that verse 11:30 he comps for Melvin, and Kemper @ 12:20, I just love you, man. 

! P: s1t04 I hold my RIRs to very high standards, and this one is not above average.

! P: s1t06 Deal Kemper is a beast here.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thanks. We're gonna take a break for a few minutes. We'll be back in a little while."

! P: s2t03 HTC going a mile a minute. Right out of the gate, Kemper sounds awesome, John hits a huge note and a little slide!

! R: s2t04 Gommorah clips in

! P: s2t05 Mid Moon goes a mile a freaking minute, and tempo seems to pick up as the song plays. Kemper needs another leg and a couple of arms to keep up.

! s2t05 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Did You Ever Notice the 9/18/81 JGB Rehearsal Has Jerry Playing Acoustic?

The spine of Betty's 9/18/81 JGB rehearsal tape box

A beautiful piece of tape: Betty's reel from the 9/18/81 JGB rehearsal

I just revisited this little 20+ minute rehearsal fragment. Thank you Betty! This is the latest piece of Betty Board of interest to me: some of the abortive Brent solo album material came from later in '81 and into '82, but this is the last scrap of tape with ol' Jer on it.

 A few things to note.

First, Jerry is playing acoustic throughout, and doing so tastily.

Second, this is Ron Tutt drumming. Right before "Dear Prudence", as the reel winds up, Jerry comes in with a "hello?" while beautifully strumming Prudence on his acoustic. Tutt asks "Is that the right tempo, or should that be a little slower than the other'n?" Jerry replies "it should be a little slower than the other one."

Third, Melvin Seals sounds simply wonderful here. 

That's all I've got.

Jerry Garcia Band - Studio Rehearsal
Club Front
20 Front Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
September 18, 1981 (Friday)
MSR -> P -> D shnid-13881 shn2flac

--partial rehearsal (3 tracks, 21:38)--
t01. Tangled Up In Blue [7:36]
t02. Dear Prudence (1) [6:28] (2) [0:49] %
t03. //Tangled Up In Blue// [#6:45#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – acoustic guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn – electric bass;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren – electric piano;
! lineup: Melvin Seals – organ;
! lineup: Ron Tutt – drums.

Sunday, February 27, 2022

All By Myself: Legion of Mary, April 5, 1975 late show at the Cap, Passaic, NJ

LN jg1975-04-05.lom.late.aud-SC.147761.flac1644

Ticket stub for Legion of Mary, April 5, 1975, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 11:30 PM late show
NB misspelling of "Capital". Image courtesy of gdsets.com

Very listenable audience tape with everything present. Nice show - I like everything here, even "Sitting In Limbo", which I don't always love. "Wicked Messenger" - my goodness, what a great cover. Great energy throughout, including for the public debut of Fats Domino's "All By Myself", which might think would require the boogie-woogie piano, but does just fine here with the organ.

LEGION OF MARY
Capitol Theatre
326 Monroe Street
Passaic, NJ 07055
April 5, 1975 (Saturday) - Late Show
aud shnid-147761

--late show (8 tracks, 93:49)--
t01. /Let It Rock [12:30] [0:09] %
t02. /You Can Leave Your Hat On [14:56] [0:03] %
t03. /All By Myself [6:50] [0:12] %
t04. /Last Train From Poor Valley [8:20] [0:07] %
t05. Boogie On Reggae Woman [15:50] [0:08] %
t06. /Sitting In Limbo [15:12] [0:14]
t07. /Wicked Messenger [7:12] [0:07]
t08. Talkin' 'Bout You [11:44] [0:16]

! ACT1: Legion Of Mary:
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.


! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/147646 (same source, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/147761 (this fileset)


! historic: For the two shows, LOM gets $10,000 guarantee, plus 60% over $25,000. This show 3,201 sellout for gross of $19,125.75. For the night the band earned $16,708.

! ad: Village Voice, March 31, 1975, p. 110

! ad: Village Voice, April 7, 1975, p. 104


! R: Source: Unknown AUD > 7" Reel @ 3 3/4 ips.

! R: Original Transfer: Teac A-2300S playback > Tascam DA-3000 (96k/24bit) > Samplitude Pro X3 > Flac24 (@ 96k) > ID-147646.

! R: Remaster: ID-147646 > TLH > WAV 2496 > Wavelab > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH FLAC 1644.

! R: seeder notes: The following changes have been made to the original files from ID-147646: - Tape speed adjustments - Aligned channels & merged to mono - Small edits around crowd noise, song transitions, & tape pauses - SRC to 16bit/44.1kHz. Most songs cut-in slightly. Thanks to everyone at LL for making this available!

! P: t01 LIR in the 6 range Garcia's guitar work is fantastic. Some years later, listening again, I still hear it. Yeah!!!! Check out the peak at 6:29. Again, ca. 6:55.

! P: t03 ABM great energy

! song: All By Myself (t03): This is understood to be the debut of this song in the Garciaverse, and it pops! It seems like such a piano song, but the organ does just fine.

! P: t05 BORW also raging. Great energy!

! R: t05 BORW cut at 10:46

! P: t06 SIL played at a langorous pace, Tutt singing harmonies. Gorgeous run early 5 gets a cheer. This is beautiful stuff.

! P: t07 Wicked Messenger my goodness do I love this. The tone and glassine picking late 4 over 5 just about kill me - daggers.

! P: t08 TBY hear Jerry come in 6:35 with great energy!

Old old old notes: JGB at the Leroy Theatre, Pawtucket, RI, March 11, 1978

LN jg1978-03-11.jgb.all.aud-friend.97682.flac1644

I listened to this years ago, was just doing some housecleaning and thought I'd post.


Bullets:

Really nice tape. Piano sounds especially great .Thank you, Tim Friend! I note that it runs faster than the set II soundboard tape. I also noted that AF's ITAM patch from shnid-14931 (Tom Dalti aud) sounds pitched differently. Not sure which, if any, of these might be on A=440.

Third gig in three nights (whole tour was 11 11 eastern time zone shows in 11 days, March 9-19), poor ol' Jer's voice is already shot. It's not that surprising - the Dead's "laryngitis shows," with all Weir lead vocals, were only two months past, and he wasn't smoking fewer cigarettes nor, by all accounts, doing less blow or inhaling less burnt aluminum foil. He sometimes uses his rough edges to good effect, as when he growls in "Harder They Come" (HTC) about getting his share of what's his. But, this massively percussive band --Keith very loud, Kahn still a monster-- really calls for lots of vocal power, and Jerry just can't deliver the goods.

We do find the big, bad, cokey-Wolfy guitar chords throughout, plenty of power and burning tone. We find plenty of evidence in support of the "compensation hypothesis" --partly induced from the aforementioned laryngitis GD shows-- whereby vocals (and other) challenges drive good and aggressive guitar playing. In "I'll Take A Melody" here, for example, the whole band finds itself tripping over vocal timing, and I hear Garcia rip off an angry, aggressive-embarassed flurry, like he had to peel off that nervous extra skin he grew while the band was out of sync. Similarly, Jerry scrambles back from the brink of a near-unraveling in "Mystery Train" (MT) by picking some special  notes.

I love the ladies' harmonizing --I don't always-- on "Catfish John" here, and Jerry sings along with them, and it really reminds you of the beauty, that Donna has especially noted, that could happen when these people who love each other blend their voices. I need to find the quote of Donna talking about that -- feel free to point me to it! Buzzy sounds great on "That's What Love Will Make You Do", and I hear Kahn "dropping big artillery" in HTC and "rumbling like a motherfucker" in MT. I regularly criticize The Mule's playing after 1980, but in the 1970s the man played world-class electric bass.

"Rhapsody In Red" is one of my favorite Garciaverse tunes, and when it's great it absolutely slays me with some of the loudest and shreddiest rock'n'roll guitar Garcia would ever play. This version does deliver some screaming crazed fanning and other shreddy goodness, and Jerry puts feeling into the question of where playing the blues has led him, but overall I find this version a little ponderous, more in well than in top-shelf territory. So it goes. Crazy that I don't even mention "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home". So it goes.

Oh yeah, for real good fun, check out Dave Davis's writeup of this show and the prior night's Bob Weir Band gig in Provy at Grateful Seconds, Italian exchange student Gianni Rosati's endearing review in Relix, and the best-in-class Garcia Band interview by Andy Gefen from earlier on March 11th, which brings some interesting conversation but, especially, some great laughs. And who can't use more of those?

Jerry Garcia Band
Leroy Theatre
66 Broad Street
Pawtucket, RI 02860
March 11, 1978 (Saturday) - 7 PM
Tim Friend 145 minute audience recording

--set I (8 tracks, 79:02)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:35]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [7:17] [1:05]
s1t03. Catfish John [9:55] [1:22]
s1t04. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:11] [1:38]
s1t05. I'll Take A Melody [15:15] [1:00]
s1t06. Harder They Come [12:45] [1:11]
s1t07. Gomorrah [6:10] [0:34]
s1t08. % Mystery Train [9:45] (1) [0:21]

--set II (7 tracks, 66:26)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [1:02]
s2t02. Love In The Afternoon [11:30] [0:28] % [0:11]
s2t03. Rhapsody In Red [8:16] [1:58]
s2t04. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [12:39] [0:22]
s2t05. Tore Up Over You [8:11] [1:05]
s2t06. I'll Be With Thee [4:46] ->
s2t07. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [14:42] (2) [1:17]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #4a
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! Lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano;
! Lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals;
! Lineup: Maria Muldaur - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19780311-05

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/14931 (Tom Dalti aud); http://etreedb.org/shn/97682 (goodbear various auds); http://etreedb.org/shn/97682 (Tim Friend aud, this source); http://etreedb.org/shn/135199 (s2 sbd AJL). NB the board tap runs a fair bit slower than this aud. I don't know which might be correct.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/BspT8D8hQXT2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/leroy-theater-66-broad-street-pawtucket.html

! venue: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/5639. "Pawtucket’s “Million Dollar Theater” opened May 1, 1923 to a packed house, with numerous celebrities in attendence. Designed by local architect John F. O'Malley, the theater featured a mirrored lobby, an electric chandelier with 4,700 bulbs, and the largest Wurlitzer organ in New England. ... After 55 continuous years as a movie and concert showplace, the Leroy was forced to close in 1978 due to fire code violations". So, the place closed within the year of Jerry playing there.

! band: JGB #4a (JGB #4 + Maria) (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! historical / Sue: Promoter: John Scher. Co-promoter: Gemini Concerts (Provy). Sound check 4:30 p.m. $4,000 flat guarantee on gross potential of $17,424. Sell out. Garcia and crew were interviewed by Andy Gefen earlier in the day at WBRU-FM in Provy. It is a classic - check it out!

! review: [positive] Rosati 1978. Rosati was an Italian exchange student at Providence College in Spring 1978. He notes "no opening act for the Mystery Cats, who played twice as much music as the Weir Band [the night before, in Provy] over a span of more than four hours, which included a one-hour break in the middle of the set."

! see also: GratefulSeconds, "A Weekend in Rhode Island with Bobby's Band and Jerry's Band, March 10-11, 1978"

! R: field recordist: Tim Friend

! R: field recording location: Fifth row orchestra, left center section

! R: field recording equipment: 1x AKG D200E (mono) > Sony TC-153SD (Maxell UD-XLII 90's, no Dolby).

! R: Transfer: MAC > Nakamichi DR-8 (with no Dolby) > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 by Andrew F. 02/2009.

! R: JGMF rename to sets (replace 'd' with 's' in filename), plus tagging in foobar2000.

! R: This tape is nice. The piano is especially well-mic'd, but the bass, drums and vocals are all very nice. I bet the acoustics in this place were very good. Thank you, Tim Friend! The taper did a tremendous job of capturing the between-song tunings. I have tried to note the flips where I heard them, but this is a great job of taping. Listening in ITAM, and I'll reiterate: thje piano is beautifully recorded. Wow! That said, from Mystery Train forward I find Garcia's vocals to be a little buried, and for reasons unclear to me things muddy up a little in my ears.

! P: At the start, I was loving this performance. I find a lot to like, but I guess I don't stand up and say WOW! anywhere. The vocals detract.

! P: s1t02 HSII Jerry's voice sounds really, really rough. Ouch.

! P: s1t03 CJ if you want to hear the Donna/Maria vocals working, listen to the opening chorus of Catfish John. Jerry's vocals are nice and careful here. JG is even trying to harmonize more with the ladies in the 2:15ish chorus. Nice! Like a freaking church hymn, I tell ya. JG just running around the fretboard beautifully in the late 6-minute mark, Keith steps up for some really pretty piano playing, light and airy, while Jerry traipses about the melody.

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD you can really here what a hot drummer Buzz Buchanan is. He's really good. Keith hits a little rough patch in the late 6-minute mark, but he stays with it and drops some nice bob and weave. Late 7-minute mark and forward for awhile, Jerry Garcia is playing his rock and roll guitar, bending notes around 8:20, pretty big and powerful chords for him to be pulling at this stage of the proceedings, until 8:45, when they hit the '1' very convincingly, and Jerry is doing his coke yelling.

! R: s1t05 seeder note: The end of Melody was cut by a tape-flip. ShnID-14931 provided a patch from 14:51 > 15:01. The patch material was EQ'ed and mixed down to mono to more closely resemble Tim's recording. JGMF note: The patch has a noticeable pitch difference, but I appreciate Andrew F.'s work in putting it together.

! P: s1t05 ITAM Garcia's voice is so scratchy, mournful, weary. The song is a little bit of a mess. For example, around the 13 minute mark they spend a minute or two just trying to get back on the same page, and it had been a struggle getting there in the first place. Jerry and Donna's vocals are just not sync'd up. Then @ 14:30 Keith does a sharp key slide at the same time that Jerry was going to --and indeed does-- rip off an angry, aggressive-embarassed flurry. Like he had to peel off that nervous extra skin he grew around the syncing issues.

! P: s1t06 HTC ouchy ouchy ouchy that voice sounds like it hurts. But Jerry is giving it some blowback, growling about getting his share of what's his. Keith does some nice little piano soloing in the 6-minute mark, Garcia enters 6:43 with some round-and-round chords, Kahn drops some big artillery right around 7-min mark and forward. Mmm-mm-m. Again at 8:16 forward, John Kahn thumping the woofers, higher up around 9-minute mark, but pulling very nicely. They finish with enthusiasm, some extra vocalization from the ladies.

! P: s1t08 MT Kahn is rumbling like a motherfucker as they start. Something pops, they almost false start, but they pick up the pieces. As so often happens, we get some special notes on the scramble back from the brink. Unfortunately, Jerry's vocal mic seems to be having some problems, and worse still his voice is just not up to the challenge. It just sounds a little weak relative to all that percussion, including very upfront piano.

! s1t08 (1) JG: "Thank you. We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back in a little bit."

! s2t03 RIR is played too ponderously. Garcia is peeling off some wicked pissah guitar licks late in the 2-minute mark, lots of edge, but the tempo just holds things back a little bit. Now, toward the 4-minute mark, the ladies assert themselves, and Jerry makes it clear that he sings the blues, and he wants to know where it has led. Some serious rock star fanning licks in the 5-minute mark, but then it kind of thuds into Keith, who seems to want to shut it down. Garcia does some screaming crazed fanning mid-6 mark forward. Listen @ 6:58. Overall, though, I don't find this version of RIR to be the equal of, say, the mid-1983 barn-burners.

! s2t04 KOHD has a nice bouncy tempo that would really serve it well in the Garcia Band.

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. Bye bye."

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Tasty Fucking Tape: JGB at Paramount Northwest Theatre, Seattle, October 28, 1978 (Severson MAC)

LN jg1978-10-28.jgb.early-late.aud-severson.148540.flac2496


These last few shows of the Keith and Donna JGB are generally strong. And the recordings often sound really nice, not least because the bass, and I'd say generally the whole band, was dialed-in in the rooms. I don't know who was doing room sound, but they did a great job.

Mark Severson pulled the "tasty fucking tape(s)" of the title. That guy never missed, it seems.

Not a lot of notes, but that's kind of been characteristic of what I have been posting lately.

I really like the Reuben and Cherise here. It's not quite flawless, but it's strong. LAALWFH clocks in under 14 minutes, last time played until 7/26/81

For those who say that Keith Godchaux was worthless and nodding off in 1978. SHOW ME. I have never seen or heard evidence of this. Of course, maybe he was more engaged in the JGB than in the toxic cesspool of that other band. But, again, don't just repeat the narrative. Show, don't tell. (LIA supplies a bunch of the relevant canonical quotes in comment at LLD.)

Oh yeah, BTW, I also just upped some additional notes to my already-existing 10/27/78 post.

Jerry Garcia Band
Paramount Northwest Theatre
901 Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98101
October 28, 1978 (Saturday)
Severson MAC flac2496 shnid-148540

--early show, main set + encore (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 71:57)--
--early show main set (7 tracks, 6 tunes, 65:41)--
e-t01. ambience [1:14]
e-t02. Harder They Come [11:09] (1) [0:21] % [0:34]
e-t03. Mission In The Rain [9:16] [0:20] % [0:06]
e-t04. They Love Each Other [7:22] [1:11]
e-t05. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [13:01] [0:08] % (2) [1:54]
e-t06. It Ain't No Use [7:56] [1:36]
e-t07. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:58] (3) [0:16] % [0:10] %
--early show encore (1 track, 6:16)--
e-t08. Reuben And Cherise [6:06] (4) [0:10] %

--late show (9 tracks, 8 tunes, 74:40)--
l-t01. ambience [1:03]
l-t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:14] [2:39]
l-t03. Catfish John [9:40] [0:15] % [0:33]
l-t04. I Second That Emotion [9:19] [0:25] % [0:15]
l-t05. Love In The Afternoon [8:14]
l-t06. Mystery Train
l-t07. Gomorrah [6:18] [0:15]
l-t08. I'll Be With Thee [5:15] ->
l-t09. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [13:32] [0:28]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #4
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals;
! lineup: Maria Muldaur - vocals;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums.

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.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19781028-03 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19781028-04 (late)

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/12679 (McCaw MAC, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/89135 (Severson master, via minches); https://etreedb.org/shn/148539 (this fileset, flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/148540 (this fileset).

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/paramount-northwest-paramount-theatre.html

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! Sue: For the two shows, $5k guarantee plus percentages on high gross and cost savings, on gross potential of $47,616-$53,568. Monarch got $3,000 for production, looks like co-pro was the John Bauer Concert Company.

! review: [negative] MacDonald 1978: "typically, the shows went on interminably. The first, which began at 7 pm, didn't end until almost 11 p.m. The second show, which was supposed to have started at 10:30 p.m., didn't get under way until past midnight. It was still going strong when I left about 3 a.m." Further, "I felt the second show audience, which was made to wait outside in the cold for hours and got a tired show, were ripped off."

! R: field recordist: Mark Severson

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sony ECM 270 mics > Sony TC-158

! R: Transfer Info: Master Cassette (Nakamichi CR-7A) > Tascam DA-3000 (DSF 1-bit/5.6 MHz)> dBpoweramp (24/96) > Adobe Audition CC 2019 > TLH flac2496

! R: seeder Notes: Thanks to Mark Severson for the master cassette recording. Thanks to Charlie Miller for the transfer and coordinating this effort. Thanks to Joe B. Jones for verifying the pitch. Mastered by Scott Clugston, December 2019.

! R: tasty fucking tape

! P: t02 HTC Garcia's first guitar turn is just so damn lyrical and melodic! Keith's first turn also nice.

! e-t02 (1) JG: "Thank you."

! P: e-t05 KOHD is beautiful! The notes Garcia plays in late 5 just slay me. Keith steps up for a feature 6:20ff.

! e-t05 (2) a guy in the crowd yells out something about "one show tonight, instead of two", and gets a good cheer from the crowd.

! e-t07 (3) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll see ya later."

! P: e-t08 RAC Buzzy just kills some splashes around 3:25 - sounds great! I love how compact this version is. Great energy!

! e-t08 (4) JG: "So long."

! P: l-t09 LAALWFH it is pretty out there, but it never really did anything that interesting.

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Peppy: JGB at the Stone, May 31, 1981 (and contemporary data missingess)

LN jg1981-05-31.jgb.s1s2p.aud.137952.flac1644


More spare listening notes, more JGB #12b. I actually like TLEO here (rare), find characteristically strong-for-the-period versions of Sugaree and Tangled Up, enjoy a melodious Simple Twist, pick up some rock-n-roll goodness in Let It Rock, and totally dig the litling beauty of an early Melvin-era Knockin'. Early 80s Knockin's are the best, IMO. Oh yeah, an extremely brisk TWYDTTYD, "about as uptempo as it was ever done", I imagine.

So that's every tune on this truncated recording getting a mention, except for Prudence. In sum, a nice little gig, a random Sunday at the Stone.

Weird how little JGB circulates from this window:

Date

Venue

Notes

1981-05-23 [Sat]

Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

complete setlist, no circulation

1981-05-24 [Sun]

Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

complete setlist, no circulation

1981-05-27 [Wed]

Keystone Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA

complete setlist, no circulation

1981-05-28 [Thu]

Keystone Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA

complete setlist, s2 circulates

1981-05-30 [Sat]

Phoenix Theatre, Petaluma, CA

complete setlist from aud

1981-05-31 [Sun]

Stone, San Francisco, CA

s1s2p setlist from aud [jgmf]

1981-06-01 [Mon]

Stone, San Francisco, CA

no setlist, no circ


So, ask your old analog friends if they have tapes of the missing material. The presence of setlists certainly does not guarantee that tapes were made, but it is suggestive. Please and thank you.

update: AF has supplied images of complete cassettes copies of 5/27-28/81 which went up for sale on Ebay but were won by unknown buyers. Here are analog tapes that have never made the jump to 0s and 1s. Let's get tapes like these digitized and circulating!



Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
May 31, 1981 (Sunday)
s1s2p aud via AF flac1644 shnid-137952

--set I (5 tracks, 57:29)--
s1t01. //Sugaree [#11:22] [0:03] %
s1t02. /They Love Each Other [#8:08] [0:10] %
s1t03. [0:14] That's What Love Will Make You Do :15-10:38 -10:41 %
s1t04. /Simple Twist Of Fate [#16:25] [0:02] %
s1t05. Tangled Up In Blue [10:37] %

--set II (3 tracks, incomplete, 38:04)--
s2t01. /Knockin' On Heaven's Door [#16:41] [0:03] %
s2t02. /Let It Rock [#9:30] [0:03]
s2t03. [0:15] Dear Prudence [11:30] [0:02] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #12b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - el-piano;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Daoud Shaw - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.



! db: etreedb.org/shn/137952 (this fileset).




! R: source: AUD (1st Gen) kindly provided from the collection of DL.

! R: transfer: Maxell XLII > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 03/2017

! R: seeder Note: "Lo-Fi mono recording of a really hot show. Taper and equipment are unknown, a note on the label says: "First show I taped, well it sure was fun." A big chunk is missing from start of Sugaree, maybe three minutes? Several other songs clip in/out abruptly as the deck was turned off & on. It's likely that one or two songs are missing from end of the Second Set." I'd add that vocals are super back, organ buried, as well.

! R: s1t01 Sugaree clips in

! P: s1t01 Sugaree has great energy.

! R: s1t02 clips in.

! P: s1t02 TLEO I am not usually a big fan of this one, but it's working for me. The twin keyboards sound good, e.g., 4-minute range.

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD is about as uptempo as it was ever done. Speedy. Jerry's guitar work is outstanding. Melvin's feature work in 6 is also really strong. 

! R: s1t04 STOF clips in

! P: s1t04 STOF some very melodious picking 12:15.

! P: s1t05 TUIB typically hot '81 version, espec. ca. late 9 to early 10.

! R: s2t01 KOHD clips in

! P: s2t01 KOHD I love the pluck Garcia gives it in the 3 minute mark - it's like the perfect slice of JGB's KOHD, with the reggae lilt.

! R: s2t02 LIR clips in

! P: s2t02 LIR not moving me. Melvin's solo 4 min mark is hard to hear, nothing particularly interesting that I could identify. That said, the shit Garcia does all through the 7 minute mark is some absolutely incredible big chord work.

! R: s2t03 DP ca. 2:30 lots of tape drag and warble. Sounds like batteries are struggling?