The Grateful Dead spent the 4th week in July 1974 on an odd cross-country, three-show dash: Hollywood to Chicago, then Chicago to Roanoke, VA. From there, the band and Wall of Sound rolled down 64 and up 95, just around Washington, on to Landover and the beloved Capitol Centre.
The Dave’s Picks bonus disc in 2012 comprised a selection of highlights, accompanying the full-show proper Pick of the next appearance in Hartford.
Above-Average Weather
The Cap Center disc sports a low-key start, with a Sugaree that is well played but “only” 7 minutes compared to what it would become. The band moves through the WRS prelude and Part 1 equally smoothly to set up the Let It Grow, which ran over 13 minutes on its own.
Everyone’s in good shape through the opening verses and the mix is very nice, but Keith stands out a little more thanks to the pluck in his playing. We hit the first solo and Garcia takes off right out of the gate. Keith stays in rhythm mode but ups his profile as well. It seems like Jerry doesn’t quite know where he wants to land that first solo more often than I’d expect.
Jerry and Phil get a little crossed up on one chord change (somebody lost count of the measures) but it’s subtle. Nobody breaks stride and Garcia keeps ripping. Again his exit is a little clumsy, and again it doesn’t really matter.
Weir is laying down some tough rhythm-and-riff work right in the middle of the stereo field behind Bill. With so much going on here, Lesh makes the wise (if slightly unusual) decision to hang back just a little.
Godchaux heads to the upper register on the next break and assumes more of a half-solo/half-support role across from Garcia. It’s easy to get caught up in their work, but Weir is laying down some tough rhythm-and-riff work right in the middle of the stereo field behind Bill. With so much going on here, Lesh makes the wise (if slightly unusual) decision to hang back just a little.
Ultimately, it’s Jerry’s solo, and after a fairly rare night off for WRS back in the Star City, he brought the energy for the Cap Centre crowd. Likely one of the better live versions.
Be Here For He’s Gone
After the band took a break and everybody else hung loose – and after Seastones – the Dead did not pass go, did not collect $200, and went straight to the night’s 50ish-minute sequence to begin the set for a change.
Who doesn’t like He’s Gone? It only came out 8 times that year and as you might expect, only once as a set opener.
This is a great version. It’s clean in all the ways some can be messy. It gets to the coda with a good 5 minutes remaining. Keith throws some ragtime-esque comping into the mix, and Lesh gets right up on the mic to contribute some inspired background vox. He was feeling it, and you can’t help but feel Phil feeling it.
Keith throws some ragtime-esque comping into the mix, and Lesh gets right up on the mic to contribute some inspired background vox. He was feeling it, and you can’t help but feel Phil feeling it.
That’s not considering Garcia with the usual waterfalls of notes in the outro and Godchaux moving over to electric piano for some soulful support.
Seriously, I remembered the Let It Grow as the high point of the disc, but the He’s Gone will be hard to dislodge as the revised highlight.
It’s capped off with an easy transition into Truckin’. I’ve said this before, but when a song seems just a little slower than usual, most of the time it’s a positive. (No, this paragraph was not sponsored by Dead & Co. …)
Best Of Tour Version?
The cards aren’t worth a dime
If you don’t lay ’em down …
Lesh again enhances the experience by being a little further up in the vocal mix, and the harmonies in general are above-average. Garcia had plenty to say in his outro solo, too. Listen to that nice jazzy chord Keith works on through the last minute of the song.
On the tail end of Truckin’, the Nobody’s (with vocal) runs a good 4 minutes. Garcia lets it hang out a little further on the solo and then suddenly everyone is on the same page for a triplet-heavy two-chord vamp that is only going to end one place.
The jam shifts to more Other One than not, still no Phil bomb declaration or any other big pivot. After only two or three minutes, the band detours into a separate jam and then breaks it down altogether.
Garcia heads for points interstellar on the strength of an unending run of notes before everyone settles into a groovy jam followed by a stretch of medium-hot freakout, both fairly brief.
From Pearly’s been true, Keith adds some beautiful fills and octave thoughts. Garcia in turn plays a lovely uncommon figure a couple of times in the outro, too, as they wind things down.
Jerry actually circles back to the Other One theme, and we spend some time in the plasma between Spanish Jam and Other One before committing to the former.
I can’t say there’s anything outstanding about the Spanish Jam. It’s fine, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Garcia works in one more Other One feint, there’s about five seconds that sound like they might lead to an MLB jam, but then Weir’s guitar makes a gentle, curling call for Wharf Rat, and that carries the moment.
From Pearly’s been true, Keith adds some beautiful fills and octave thoughts. Garcia in turn plays a lovely uncommon figure a couple of times in the outro, too, as they wind things down.
I was going to say this is a very good Wharf Rat but not quite up to one from Portland in May. But then they bring it in for a proper complete landing that is perfect, and now maybe it’s a tie.
Grateful Dead
7/29/74 Landover, MD
Dave’s Picks 2012 bonus
Sugaree / weather report suite / he’s gone > truckin’ > nobody’s fault but mine jam > the other one > Spanish jam > wharf rat
Check out the Grateful Dead 1974 Project main page.
