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Originally posted by WulebgrI saw the Dead playing a few towns across America, so my choice is absolutely slanted to the performances rather than the studio recording.
"Playing in the Band"
"Me and My Uncle"
"Dark Star"
Is it possible to pick a favorite?
Given that my favorite tune of theirs is Terrapin Station. That would be my favorite album as well.
Originally posted by badmoonNever saw them. Loved them from mass market CDs.
I saw the Dead playing a few towns across America, so my choice is absolutely slanted to the performances rather than the studio recording.
Given that my favorite tune of theirs is Terrapin Station. That would be my favorite album as well.
Originally posted by ChronicLeakyI love the Dead's playing from 68-78 really...I have a ton of their concerts from that era on tape. With the dead it's really about what mood they were in that night rather than what songs they played...if they were on that's all that mattered!
Some good ones that spring to mind are the "Dark Star" on "Live/Dead", "Dire Wolf", "Ripple" (this song makes me cry if I'm drunk and unprepared), "Eyes of the World" and a really excellent live version of "Mexicali Blues" with some sort of accordion. I'm not sure where the latter is from.
EDIT I know it's a stretch to call him a "good singer", but ...[text shortened]... one else find Jerry's voice really captivating?
EDIT I guess ATY agrees 🙂.
It's not a stretch to call Jerry a good singer! He's one of my favourite. I think it's a stretch to say he had the best vocal range, but I can barely think of a singer with more personality (Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Dylan come to mind)...
Jerry took on the characters of the song better then anyone. Listen to him play acoustic old folk tunes and compare it with Dead and you'll get an idea of what I mean. Even after years of singing and doing everything imaginable to ruin his body, listen to him sing "standing on the moon" in the 80s and 90s and it's still beautiful.
P.S. I was at Grateful Fest in Ohio about a week ago and someone traded me some beers for an old CD of Jerry playing with the Uptown Jug Champions from 1963 and it's awesome!! WAY better than that American beer!!
Originally posted by The Dude 84Exactly the sort of thing I enjoyed watching on Grateful Dawg.
Jerry took on the characters of the song better then anyone. Listen to him play acoustic old folk tunes and compare it with Dead and you'll get an idea of what I mean. Even after years of singing and doing everything imaginable to ruin his body, listen to him sing "standing on the moon" in the 80s and 90s and it's still beautiful.
Originally posted by WulebgrIt may have been Grateful Dawg that got me thinking about it in the first place! I recall they discuss " to go to sea once more" and there's a performance of it...Jerry sounds like a wandering sea man!
Exactly the sort of thing I enjoyed watching on Grateful Dawg.
There's been a lot of talk about CDs or songs that people like...let's start getting into live performances since that is what the Dead are all about. On the top of my head I'll name some essentials first, then name a couple common ones but are less common than the first group:
group one:
2.13.70, 2.14.70, 5.2.70, 8.27.72, 11.8.69. , 5.8.77
group two:
11.11/14/73, 5.19/25.74, 11.8.69, 2.14.68, 12.30.78 (the day before the closing of the Winterland I like more then the following, highly publicised concert) there's tons more I can name, if people show interest in the thread I'll drop more dates...
Its impossible to understand the Dead by only listening to them in the studio...it's like watching a lion in the zoo instead of the wilderness!