The 1974 half of the voluminous and often luminous Pacific Northwest ’73-’74 box finds the lady and gentlemen in British Columbia, midway through a month of dates.
What hasn’t quite been found as the lights go down is the mix for this recording. The Promised Land listening experience starts terrible and drops out completely once or twice. Fortunately, Kidd Candelario just starts over, setting the hi-hat and then adding one elem ent at a time. By the time we reach Los Angeles, the mix is sounding sounding swell and somewhat Phil-forward.
They celebrate with a Deal that isn’t too fast and doesn’t go on too long, followed by The Race Is On with everyone on point. Listen to Phil join Donna for the chorus’ backup vocals.
Most of the still-unreleased songs get treated well this month, and now I have a favorite live Loose Lucy.
The evening’s Ramble On Rose also pairs well with a mix that features Phil and Bob’s guitars dead center as they make some fine accompaniment choices.
A good Jack Straw and kinda sluggish Dire Wolf are followed by a BIODTL (six beats) where Jerry and Keith trade swap some well done solos.
If it weren’t for the Deal, the biggest surprise of the night for me would be the Loose Lucy. Most of the still-unreleased songs get treated well this month, and now I have a favorite live Loose Lucy.
No big highlights or lowlights between there and Playing In The Band. “Only” 18 minutes the month before at Winterland, Playing is approaching 23 minutes now (or is that just the conversion to Canadian?).
The First Jam Is The Sweetest
After the 3-minute body, Kreutzmann does not stop and does not drop off to a spacey passage, proceeding directly to the good stuff and taking the band with him at a good clip. They deliver at that pace for the next 9 minutes or so before finally shifting gears.
By 16 minutes, Weir has found a neat new figure to propel things along. It doesn’t last long, but Keith picks up the vibe and goes on a caffeinated run. Intense low-frequency sounds ripple through the song for a couple of minutes before Phil drops out, leaving Billy pounding on the toms while the others contemplate re-entry to the song proper.
Those molecules rearrange themselves beautifully. While the performance’s first rolling jam is probably the highlight, they finish with spirit and take a break.
Pretty Ship, Ugly Money
The second set opens with Canada’s introduction to U.S. Blues. It has acquired some extra swagger and Keith is feeling saucy, sticking the landing on the 7th to end the song.
Tonight’s note about Me & My Uncle: It takes some guts, really, to sing a song while Jerry Garcia is playing one long lead guitar part for its entire duration.
Speaking of Bob, he has developed some nice bits for the Ship Of Fools verses, and I love that super-tined Wurlitzer sound Keith goes to here.
Speaking of Bob, he has developed some nice bits for the Ship Of Fools verses, and I love that super-tined Wurlitzer sound Keith goes to here.
On the other hand, we have Money Money. There is just no reason this misogynistic half-retread needed to be written, recorded, or performed live. Nodding to the riff from the Barrett Strong song only highlights the song’s redundancy. What did this bump out of contention for From The Mars Hotel? I need to go read up. Maybe they were desperate for one more track.
“Money Money” is the only song from the album to not receive an entry in the Annotated Lyrics, and it is one of only very few original Dead compositions to have that distinction. In fact, let’s forget it ever happened and get back to that Loose Lucy for a minute.
China>Rider Rebound
I’ll hand it to “Money Money” for doing one thing, though: the China Cat intro has never sounded so good. There may not be a better example in the Dead live catalog of going from the ridiculous to the sublime.
The first post-verse instrumental stretch surfaces so cleanly, up out of the water, hitting the surface and taking off again just perfectly. Garcia adds the “I’ve been workin’ on the railroad” riff in the MLB jam and the transition is solid. The Rider vocals are a little hushed, almost – careful in spots, but fine. Like several others in ’74, it’s a great China > Rider.
Greatest Story Ever Told yields to a compact and enjoyable Sugaree, and the band collects itself for Truckin’. Unfortunately, the band was collected but Bob’s microphone must’ve fallen apart. The vocals are almost nonexistent through two verses and the chorus, taking this version out of any highlights consideration.
However, everything is just exactly perfect in time for Bob to observe the most of the cats you meet on the street speak of true love. From there, the band does its best to make up ground. The rest of Truckin’ and the Nobody’s jam sound very good.
Eyes Of The World. Perfect tempo, and Bob again contributes especially distinguished work in some of the verses. This would work just fine as your default Eyes.
After about 5 minutes of the latter, they spiral downward but are stopped just short of impact thanks to …
Eyes Of The World. Perfect tempo, and Bob again contributes especially distinguished work in some of the verses. This would work just fine as your default Eyes.
The same can’t be said for China Doll, which grinds some gears right at the start as it slows to something workable for Jerry. The second half of the song features playing and a pivot that are just as delicate as the object in the title.
Sugar Magnolia is Sugar Magnolia, and with only a couple of exceptions across 3+ hours of music, the Canadian crowd enjoyed a night of very consistent performances.
Grateful Dead
5/17/74 Vancouver, BC (Pacific Northwest box)
Set 1: promised land / deal / the race is on / ramble on rose / jack straw / dire wolf / BIODTL / loose lucy / big river / it must have been the roses / Mexicali blues / row jimmy / playing in the band
Set 2: u.s. blues / me & my uncle / ship of fools / money money / china cat sunflower > I know you rider / greatest story ever told / sugaree / truckin’ > nobody’s fault but mine > eyes of the world > china doll / sugar magnolia
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