Grateful Dead Insight?

[trebor]

What a great way to meander down memory lane.  I had to mention at least once I have heard Jerry singing through some effects.....Whats become of the baby on LiveDead HAD to be through some effects.
 
robert fab

[trebor]

My meandering took a detour there on that post of mine, sorry it wasn't LiveDead that had whats become of the baby.  Of course it was Aoxomoxoa, its early here on the left coast.....sorry
 
robert fab

[pace]

They may not be the best at what they do, but they are the only ones who do what they do -Bill Grahm  
 
 
Susan,  
 
      A little off topic, but a couple of months back you mentioned doing a Series guitar for Neil Young. Do you recall the build details for this?  Also Rick Danko mentioned once that he had a couple of Alembics (as a naive teen I thought he said 'Olympic').....  I havent been able to get close enough to Crosby's electric 12-string, but did you guys have anything to do with that one?!?  
 
Thanks,
-Mike
 

[s_wood]

Each to their own, I suppose.  
 
I've never been much of a Dead fan because their music doesn't really move me. However, I totally repect their relentless dedication (no pun intended) to their own muse, which is a quality sadly lacking in music today.  They are one of the few bands that made a career out of doing exactly what they wanted - and who among us wouldn't wish for the same thing?
 
Their live vocals are brutal sometimes, for sure, and the improvs don't always work, but I would rather listen to the Dead for their honesty and integrity than some Pro Tools fabrication. Pro Tools (when used to fix mistakes) is to music as Cheese Whiz is to food. Safe, but no flavor.  I've just finished a gig with a band leader who insisted that we rehearse while listening to a click track.  It made our time more prefect, for sure, but for me it also sucked the life right out of our groove. Music is the most perfect form of human communication, and anything that sucks the humanity out of it is a bad thing.  
 
Humans make mistakes, you know - it's o.k.  For me, perfection in music is a means, not an end. If it feels good, if it grooves, if it speaks to the soul - it's music...even if it isn't perfect.  
 
Man, am I in a bad mood.  Time to go hit my open A string over and over and let it ring until I find peace.

[811952]

Steve,
I gig a lot with a drummer who has a thingy on his snare drum which shows him the tempo he's playing, rather than simply dictating a tempo to him.  It's pretty cool, and allows for things to ebb and flow as needed without getting off click.  It is extremely useful for rehearsals.  He doesn't use it for gigs, but more as a diagnostic tool for tempos.
John

[echo008]

Hi,
Speaking of Insight into the Grateful Dead
I wanted to recommend a book I am currently reading Home Before Daylight By Steve Parish.
Great, Great, Book if you are a fan of the Band and Jerry.
He even mentions hanging out at Alembic back in the Day...
 - Tom

[hollis]

Thanks for the tip.

[the_mule]

The Grateful Dead moves me on different levels. You get 'it' or you don't, you connect or it just fades away. Love or hate, yin or yang, for me it's something spiritual I don't have with many bands or artists.
 
Well, back on earth: I've got some great live recordings which I consider to be amongst the best music in my collection, but I'm also very fond of Aoxomoxoa & American Beauty, IMHO their best studio albums. The Dead were able to do a VERY good job vocally every now and then. Just check out the entire American Beauty album and St. Stephen from the classic Live/Dead album (especially that magical middle section not found on the studio version)
 
Wilfred

[hollis]

Wilfred,
 
I heartily agree.  There?s no way to fully explain the depth of my feelings for their music.
 
As for their vocals, I feel they?re always first rate on the studio recordings.  And live, it?s the entire experience, vocals included, that moves me.
 
Also, much the same as their playing, none of the vocals are anywhere near easy.  I've always admired their out on the edge ability.
 
Bent my ear to hear the tune
 And closed my eyes to see

[tom_z]

Wilfred, Hollis, you're on to something with the concept that there is something indescribable about the Grateful Dead. For me, the live experience of a Dead show somehow resonates with something very basic inside of me.
 
I listen to many kinds of music and really enjoy very tight and polished performances as well as soulful and raw playing, but I can't think of a live show that I'd rather experience than an evening with the Grateful Dead when they're firing on all cylinders.  
 
Jerry - Rest in peace.

[mica]

I never liked the Dead's music when I was a kid - who likes what their parents like? Plus, I slept through countless shows as a baby, so the music used to put me to sleep. I always liked Truckin' from Europe '72 though.  
 
As a teenager, I still didn't get it as Wilfred put it. But friends kept encouraging me that I hadn't heard the right recording yet. I kept an open mind.  
 
Then one day my friend Don sent me the right tape - the last Filmore East show. That one made me get it in a big way. Plus, the setting was right. I was driving home through San Francisco on a nice balmy July day. I just kept turning it up louder and louder and louder.  
 
My friend John described the Dead as a band that was willing to have a hundred bad shows to find the greatest show ever.

[bigredbass]

Mica, driving thru SanFran on the right day with the right tunes in the car is QUITE the experience:
 
I visited SanFran every summer in the late 60s/early 70s.  One afternoon my aunt took us up to Mill Valley and The James Gang's Walk Away was playing on KSFO as we came off the Golden Gate and went up the hill into the tunnels with the rainbows painted on the openings . . . I can NEVER hear that tune without that mental video replaying itself.
 
J o e y

[kmh364]

You always got an honest performance: If they felt like sh*t or were all-highed up or were feeling great, you knew it because that's how they played and sang. Nobody will ever accuse Jerry of having a great singing voice. His playing, while much more consistent than his vocals, reached for a few clunkers now and again as well. Who cares! The music is great, and despite all the flaws, they always somehow pulled it off. That music moves me more than any other, period.
 
Personally, while Jerry has had his share of off-key moments...actually I think he has more voice cracking and/or out-of-breath moments, possibly due to his (lack-of) physical conditioning and/or substance abuse....I think Donna Jean was the main culprit most of the time. Don't get me wrong, her voice is decent enough, but she had more than a few wailing, shrieking out-of-tune moments. When you have a few people singing at once, one bad note wrecks the whole deal.
 
I agree with Russs in that I also think Jerry was more consistent with the JGB than with the Dead. Maybe it was because there were less cooks to spoil the broth (Jerry either sang alone or had pro female backup singers). Maybe it was a case of higher motivation...he always did his side projects during his most creative periods, and they were all his calls. Who knows? You certainly can't ask him now, LOL! J/K.
 

[flaxattack]

i agree with susan. Jerry did not only sing a song as much as he became the song. So his nuances are most important. Thats the difference between the good ones and the better ones(singers). I might have a better voice than jerry, but i have not reached that feel that he or a dylan or even a sinatra have
oh yeah i forgot- its called soul! i knocked my bands socks off last week with the best so many roads i have hever done.
besides, who ever went to a dead show for the vocals anyway?

[kmh364]

BTW, for all you Dead Heads out there (or for those at least curious about a GD SHOW), try this link:
 
http://www.archive.org/audio
 
It's the Live Music Archive, and it's got just about EVERY Dead show (including some shows BEFORE there was a Dead)...all for free to download and decent sound quality to boot.
 
I've been re-living my childhood by revisiting shows I was at back in the day and am exploring shows I missed but friends were at and shows I used to have on tape. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!