Dick’s Picks 31 is a feast.
After compiling a fantasy mini-set CD out of pieces of 8/4 and 8/5 in Philadelphia, Latvala gave each of those shows another disc of highlights and did the same for 8/6 Jersey City. Spanning almost 5 hours, it is packed for maximum enjoyment.
Your Basic Fantasy Playing / Scarlet Opener
Any doubt that Dick placed function over form this time around is swiftly dispelled by the 25-minute Playing In The Band that closed the 8/4 first set and opens(!) this release. The guys cruise through the song proper, continuing headlong into a jazzy jam marked by full engagement across the board. Keith’s Fender Rhodes punctuations give the jam’s sound a rounder, deeper depth than many others.
Around halfway in, a feint toward more of a freakout dissipates and they keep hurtling through the same territory. This is one of many Herculean moments for Kreutzmann this tour, driving the action solo and with no letup in energy or creativity.
As the 19-minute mark nears, Garcia flashes a riff to suggest reentry, but it takes the band another minute to agree and reorient. Even then, they don’t give in quite yet, poking and prodding at a last few ideas despite Bill’s snare rim hits.
Finally, the two guitars unwind the main riff together and you can hear the crowd’s approval for what is happening and what has just happened through the vocal mics.
Some PITBs seek out and tour a number of sonic neighborhoods. This one picked a familiar gear and just rode it with peak talent for all it was worth until a suitably triumphant ending.
Godchaux stays on the Rhodes but falls back slightly to join the rhythmic stew as Garcia steps up. Weir technically keeps the lowest profile here, but he is filling Weir-shaped spaces with Weir-shaped chords.
Going for a first-round TKO, Dick jumps to the next night to pull in Scarlet Begonias, which has nearly doubled to around 12 minutes over the course of the spring and summer.
The hard pluck of Garcia’s strings and the rich sound of the electric piano again stand out in the bridge, as the others anchor the sound with a rock solid sway. Jerry’s vocals are on point as well, down to his way of occsionally over-articulating that gives us the “heart of gold ban-D.”
For the second jam, Godchaux stays on the Rhodes but falls back slightly to join the rhythmic stew as Garcia steps up. Weir technically keeps the lowest profile here, but he is filling Weir-shaped spaces with Weir-shaped chords, contributing to both the performance’s creativity and its stability.
Now it’s Garcia who retreats a little as the 10-minute mark approaches. Godchaux joins him for some of that two-lead attack from opposite sides of the stage. Where the previous track’s reentry did take just a little effort, the Dead swing around and into the outro here at full steam without the slightest hesitation and stick the landing.
The audience member who can be heard surprisingly well before the song yelling, “Shake it, Jerry, shake it!” must have felt pretty pleased.
Peggy and Bobby: Nice Couple
The rest of the first CD serves up some first-set tunes from the Philadelphia shows, starting with an energetic Jack Straw and lovely Peggy-O from 8/4. Listen to Garcia’s solo work light up the Jack Straw up to and through the last verse. A nice benefit of having Phil more than ably handle the other vocal with Bob.
Peggy-O didn’t get out much in 1974. This is the fourth of only 8 performances, but it is undoubtedly a low-key highlight, drawing exceptional expression out of both Garcia’s vocal and Godchaux’s work back on the acoustic piano.
Nice sequencing follows with Bobby McGee. Of course, you’re going to notice Garcia’s guitar, but the sleeper here is Jerry’s backup vox. He was in the moment.
The light prance of the China Cat intro again elicits a big welcome from the Philly crowd. The layered groove between the verses is just stupid good, and that’s before they move into a solid 7 minutes of transition jam. The transition has the same spirit as the Playing jam that opened the disc – full-on tempo, fully engaged, fully in the moment.
This “fantasy Dead” sort of mini-set concludes with Around & Around, but only after Bob and Phil deliver one of the better and community-minded “one step back” interludes.
Phil nods toward the Feelin’ Groovy jam to no avail, but a minute later, Garcia starts to unfurl those lines that go over it and the band falls in.
You can actually hear a vocal cue from onstage to turn the band from the transition into I Know You Rider. Not elegant, but it works. Likewise, you could say they should’ve backed off just a little for the headlight verse to create a more dynamic effect, if you’re willing to be that nitpicky.
Another triumphant ending topped with a quick bonus riff from Jerry.
This “fantasy Dead” sort of mini-set concludes with Around & Around, but only after Bob and Phil deliver one of the better and community-minded “one step back” interludes.
A Very 1974 Suite
Seventy-two minutes from Philadelphia N1 opens with a good Ship Of Fools, Garcia at the helm but Godchaux putting an unusual amount of wind in its sails. Kreutzmann puts the snap in Loose Lucy; throw in Godchaux back on the Fender Rhodes and I don’t mind that Jerry mumbles a couple of lines.
Dick skipped Me & My Uncle and It Must Have Been The Roses so he could fit in the rest of the 8/4 show, starting with Weather Report Suite. Bill hits hard enough and Keith triplets his way through much of Part 1 to keep it from dragging at all.
This is a good moment to say that despite the caveat emptor, the 2-track tapes and mix sound quite nice to my ears.
It’s a solid version. Garcia’s solo makes it a little better than that, and then Phil gets more aggressive starting around 11 minutes and makes it a little better than that.
Bill somehow gets about twice as busy as before on the hi-hat and snare. I’d pay ten bucks to watch that footage once.
They bring it back down so gently you could believe it was the end of the song, but of course it’s not. They take one more lap and forego serious pyrotechnics in favor of a good rolling boil. Which serves them well, given the choice to skip the ending and roll straight into a 10-minute jam.
The jam keeps the same vibe, but Jerry turns up the effects to change pace and Keith moves to a complementary drippy low to mid-register on the Rhodes. Bill somehow gets about twice as busy as before on the hi-hat and snare; I’d pay ten bucks to watch that footage once.
But even Bill has his limits and lowers things down into space, just Jerry and Keith jettisoning long lead lines out into the galaxy for a minute or so before the insects take over.
Keith and Billy start hauling ass toward whatever’s next, and Phil and Bob make it clear enough they prefer a Spanish Jam. Garcia uses a couple of hard strums to veto that with authority in favor of Wharf Rat. (That strum has an oddly hypnotic effect on into the performance as far as the bridge.)
Phil raises his profile about halfway through, which is right about when I notice that maybe it’s the heat but Keith’s piano is not entirely in tune. More like an upright. Which actually works in his favor on a song like Wharf Rat, and he seems to realize that, too.
The late jam is a little too tough to qualify as a “beautiful jam” but it’s good throughout before resetting for one more (slightly clumsy) transition, this time into U.S. Blues.
Uncle Sam is apparently wearing “shoe suede shoes” this time around. All bounces along enthusiastically.
“What’s the use? We’re all confused. You can call this song the United States Blues” sticks out in Jerry’s vocal. Maybe being four days away from, finally, President Nixon’s resignation had something to do with it. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the amount of applause afterward.
Brief Mix Migration
Everyone catches their breath before Sugar Magnolia completes the double set closer. The song was built for moments like this, and you have to hand it to whoever came up with the pause (in this case, leisurely pause) before Sunshine Daydream and the energy it harnesses in the crowd.
If only Bob and Donna didn’t spend the last couple of minutes sounding like they’re strangling each other while singing.
The encore’s Casey Jones hauls plenty of swagger behind it, and Jerry delivers both the vocal and solo with particular gusto, given all the music that has come before it.
The third disc represents all but a couple of songs from the second set on August 5.
Sugar Magnolia was built for moments like this, and you have to hand it to whoever came up with the pause before Sunshine Daydream and the energy it harnesses in the crowd.
Hard to put my finger on it, but I feel like there’s a slight step down in audio quality as we get through the opening Half-Step. Well, here’s one odd thing: the mix is a little different from the first two discs. Jerry’s guitar is placed in the middle of the stereo field along with usual occupant Bill and Bob. Phil, usually also in the middle, has been moved leftward.
It’s not an improvement, both putting more other stuff right around Garcia’s playing and throwing off the hard left / hard right balance that frequently suits Jerry and Keith’s contributions.
That said, it’s a decent version, finished with an unexpected slide right into It Must Have Been The Roses. It’s rough around one or two edges, but Jerry puts in a solid vocal.
The Philly night two crowd was treated to a “take a step back” duet from Bob and Phil – met with a noticeably tepid response – before Bill cranks up the snare and we’re off for an adequate journey down the Big River.
Well, look at that, while Keith was comping his way through a verse, Kidd Candelario moves Jerry squarely back over into the left ear as the gods intended (and in time to fire off a fairly hot solo). The sound is more sound, just in time for the set’s main event.
Solid Hunk O’ Tuneage
That He’s Gone chorus reinforces the fact that Donna sounded very nice when she could hear herself. On the other hand, I was just about to say they really get locked in for Garcia’s chorus, but Keith managed to get a measure ahead of everyone and plows through most of the turnaround a little early by himself. The others remain unperturbed.
Not many live moments are as sweet as a good He’s Gone outro, and enough of the audience clapping along comes through to give listeners a nice snapshot of the environment as the band does their (nearly) a capella thing. Jerry, then Bob, then even Keith serve up one of those long, liquid lines as the coda washes over the room.
Garcia pulls out the slide for the last couple of minutes, and then we shift gears and are into Truckin’. After traversing all those lyrics with just one Truckin’!/Busted! Lyric collision between Bob and Phil, the guys get into a good few minutes in that zone, eventually dialing it back down only to ramp back up with an unusual dueling-triplets simultaneous escalation from Garcia and Godchaux.
He’s Gone outro: Jerry, then Bob, then even Keith serves up one of those long, liquid lines as the coda washes over the room.
This serves as a great springboard into the next several instrumental minutes. Surprisingly, things melt down after a couple, lose the shuffle, and instantly reform in more of a driving, funkier vein. It’s good, and I’m not saying that just because Keith moves over to electric piano to bubble along with the rhythm section and behind Jerry. Weir’s playing is a notch above from the start of Truckin’ through this sequence.
After 18 minutes of Truckin’ > Jam, why not a brief detour through some Other One territory? They couldn’t think of a reason not to, either.
That simmers down and bass and drums drop away completely as we enter Space. Over 10 minutes long, it starts with lonely between-galaxy noodling, moves on to some furious scrubbing, and then dives into semi-atonal free funk of one flavor or another, as one does.
Which is to say, Space sets up a contrast with Stella Blue nicely. The opening line earns the audience’s approval. It’s not a hall of fame version but it’s plenty good. A little better, even, because they stick the landing and Weir doesn’t totally step on it.
Instead, a little tuning precedes a straightforward One More Saturday Night to close the main set and the disc.
Sublime, Then Tragic
And now, for the disc that grabbed attention, at least for me, when this set was announced. What’s a good sign that the band was feeling good? Rolling out at 19-minute* Eyes … in the middle of the first set. Then changing gears with a Deal (not included here) before closing the set by plunging into a Playing>Scarlet>Playing sandwich. And opening the second set with Uncle John’s Band.
I don’t know what to tell you about Garcia’s first Eyes solo other than to say, for what may be the first time in this project, I rewound to listen to it again. It was Tuesday night, but this sounds all sunny Sunday afternoon on the lawn.
Bob and especially Phil sound better in the recording than they did on some of the previous disc, and we’re back to general sonic bliss. Second solo as good as the first. Listen and be reminded of Bob’s key little riffs between vocal lines in the chorus.
I don’t know what to tell you about Garcia’s first Eyes solo other than to say, for what may be the first time in this project, I rewound to listen to it again. It was Tuesday night, but this sounds all sunny Sunday afternoon on the lawn.
By this point, 8 minutes in, Phil’s ready to step out. Keith, who has stayed pretty low key thus far, moves over to electric piano to change the backdrop behind Phil.
Likewise, when the band hits the next section of alternating key changes, Bill shifts to more work on the toms for a while to keep things fresh.
Reaching the next “signature” jam for 1974, Garcia does at one point return from the riff one beat early, but within two measures, the organism has adjusted. I’m still not sure whether Jerry caught it or the band adjusted to him, but it’s impressive.
After the ’74 jam, Garcia travels a little further afield with his playing and Godchaux adopts more of his common rhythm/lead counterpoint. Everyone is hitting on all cylinders, and there’s no telling where it might lead.
And in fact, we’ll never know, because one of the prime performances of one of the classic Grateful Dead jams in its prime year is cut off because the band had to stop and address a bunch of morons climbing a security fence and/or fighting amongst themselves. Ah, youth.
21 Years, 1 Playing>Scarlet>Playing
This semi-vicious interlude did not entirely spoil the mood on stage, because after the aforementioned Deal, the 37-minute Playing sandwich commences. The band departs the song proper right on time at not quite three minutes in.
Garcia switches tones and drips syrupy runs of notes across the sound. Kreutzmann does Kreutzmann things with snare and ride cymbal. Keith has actually dropped out altogether for some reason, but Bob and Phil cover all the bases.
Garcia steps back after 3 minutes or so, and now Phil drops out as Keith takes the lead on Fender Rhodes for a couple of minutes. He may be better playing off Jerry than handling his own solo at this point, and Jerry returns before long.
Hints at some deconstruction start to creep in from various sources. They continue with the same jam but with more tension for a couple more rounds, which works very well.
Around 11:30 into the Playing, Bill is back to the toms but equally frenetic. The guys do an unusual series of landing on whole-note chords together as Phil changes the bass note, but from there they resist getting any closer to chaos and return to the original jam.
A beautiful ensemble moment about halfway in, where Jerry, Bob, and Keith spend more time than usual all playing the main riff and then two of them branch off into other thoughts at the same time.
Just under 16 minutes, Bill does pull the juggernaut off to the side of the road. Phil plays some authoritative chords before they’re off in five different directions briefly (with an ear open, of course). Nineteen minutes in, they steer around total chaos and fall in line as Bill lays down his funk strut.
Over the course of a minute or so, the minor-key exploration evaporates and things start to sound a little more like, well, 1974 in the riffs and melodic choices. It is not easy to see how they get to Scarlet Begonias in the next 45 seconds.
It’s more of a quick pivot than a segue, and Bill deploys enough fills to provide some transitional cover. Not a lot of crowd noise makes it into this recording, but you can hear Jerry get a rise out of them as he sings the first line.
There’s a beautiful ensemble moment about halfway in, where Jerry, Bob, and Keith spend more time than usual all playing the main riff and then two of them branch off into other thoughts at the same time.
Out of the “bright” jams in the Dead’s repertoire – Scarlet, Bird Song, Cassidy, to name three – they top it off with another three minutes or so of prime energy.
A semblance of the outro surfaces before they dive back out of Scarlet and into the Playing waters smoother than they came in. Jerry announces the start of reentry and Phil picks that steady high note that almost sounds like a harmonic; the crowd cheers at another dramatic development.
Unlike much of the last sequence, it’s not a sprint to the finish line but more like a confident gallop, flag waving high as the Dead cross the finish line on the only Playing > Scarlet > Playing in the 21 years that both songs existed. (You’ve been to Grateful Seconds before, right?)
Take A Bow
This disc is edited to make Uncle John’s Band sound like it came right after just a few seconds of prep, and not following a set break. A little misleading, but it works.
The pleasant, melodious first break has never sounded more pleasant or melodious. Listen to Bill give it just a little more depth with the steady cymbal ride on the off beat. The way Bob plays his little line along with the others singing the “silver mine” line is another gem.
The pleasant, melodious first break has never sounded more pleasant or melodious. Listen to Bill give it just a little more depth with the steady cymbal ride on the off beat.
No real vocal flubs and we are safely into the 7/4 jam with a good five minutes left. Garcia takes a breath in his solo, the light falls naturally on Weir’s rhythm space, then back to Garcia, and back once more to Weir, who introduces the riff for the jam’s last three-chord section.
No more solo fireworks, the band kind of cruises in this energy for another couple of minutes before tackling the vocal chorus one more time. For the first time on this disc and maybe on this set, they do sound just a little weary as they close without the usual aplomb. That show had a long way left to go, too; maybe this was a wise place to stop.
It’s hard to imagine any three-show run putting up a better five hours for posterity. For those who require physical copies, I can’t tell you that DP 31 is worth the $130 that someone is currently charging for a “new” copy on eBay, but I’m further from being able to tell you that it isn’t.
Grateful Dead
8/4,5,6/74 @ Philadelphia and Jersey City, NJ
Dick’s Picks 31
CD1: playing in the band / scarlet begonias / jack straw / peggy-o / me & bobby mcgee / china cat sunflower > I know you rider / around & around
CD2: ship of fools / loose lucy / weather report suite > jam > wharf rat / u.s. blues / sugar magnolia / casey jones
CD3: Mississippi half-step uptown toodle-oo / it must have been the roses / big river / he’s gone > truckin’ > jam > other one jam > space > stella blue > one more Saturday night
CD4: eyes of the world / playing in the band / scarlet begonias > playing in the band / uncle john’s band
Swing back by the Grateful Dead 1974 Project main page.
