Deadheads Unite!

ListenUp will be hosting their annual Music Matters event on April 5^th and 6^th at their 685 So. Pearl location (right across from our old location). This is always a very cool event, where consumers can be exposed to the best new products for their home systems and hear from some of the best names in current audiophile thought. This year is extra special for Deadheads however, as famed Boulder-based audio Engineer David Glasser will be a special guest. Glasser has worked on countless Grateful Dead projects including the landmark Europe ’72 box set and, more recently, the epic Thirty Trips Around The Sun box set. He is a true authority on The Grateful Dead’s recordings and their efforts to bring them to the public. Around the time of The Complete Europe ’72 box I interviewed Dave about working on Grateful Dead projects. In honor of ListenUp’s upcoming event, we present it here again. Click here (http://www.listenup.com/music-matters-seminar-april-5-6/) to learn more about Music Matters and enjoy the interview (excerpted below, you can read the full interview HERE).

- Paul Epstein

The big archival news in the Grateful Dead world is the unprecedented Europe ’72 - The Complete Recordings box set. Containing all 22 shows of this greatest of all Dead tours, there’s not a dud show in the bunch; in fact there are very few dud songs. The band never played tighter or more inspired than on this tour. They also never toured behind such an abundance of great new material. They were playing many the songs from Weir’s then-new Ace album, Garcia’s first solo album plus about a dozen new Grateful Dead songs (“Ramble On Rose,” He’s Gone,” “Tennessee Jed,” Mr. Charlie,” Chinatown Shuffle,” etc.) and fresh covers (“Sing Me Back Home,” “You Win Again,”) and when combining them with some of their longer, jammier songs from the past (“Dark Star,” “The Other One,” “Truckin’,” “Lovelight”) they offered up an exciting marathon show every night of the tour. To add to the special nature of the tour was the fact that they were playing many beautiful, historic concert venues on a continent that was new to the band members and rich with historic and cultural significance to their hippie sensibilities. They were also dragging around a recording truck to every venue to insure their ability to pay for the whole trip. Remarkably, the recordings are outstanding, even by modern standards. There is a full, rich warmth to the sound that just reflects the warmth on stage. The huge, deluxe “steamer trunk” box set is sold out, but there is a superb new compilation called, appropriately enough,Europe ’72 Volume 2 that is out now on Rhino Records. It is packed with great moments from the tour including memorable takes on “Playin’ In The Band,” a huge Pigpen-led “Good Lovin’,” a great early version of “Sugaree” and a “Dark Star” that goes to outer space and back in 30 minutes. It is a wonderful keepsake, and we have it on sale for only $10.99. It’s the cheapest way you’re going to get into this tour. 

Because I was so blown away by the sound of these recordings, I thought it would be cool if we could ask Boulder resident David Glasser of Air Show Mastering some questions about the process of mastering this gigantic project. A Grammy Award winner, Glasser is one of the hidden gems of the Colorado music scene. Air Show has worked on countless albums you’ve heard of and continues to be one of the premier mastering facilities in the country. The Grateful Dead are legendary for their attention to detail when it comes to the sound and packaging of their releases, so their choice of Glasser is no accident. Glasser, as usual, was generous with his time and thoughtful in his answers.

Questions for David Glasser at Airshow Mastering regarding the Mastering of The Grateful Dead’s entire Europe ’72 tour.

Briefly explain the process of mastering.

• Mastering is simply the step - the last in the creative studio process - where the final adjustments and tweaks are made. It's akin to what a colorist does in the film world - making sure that the sound matches the vision of the producer and artist, and presenting the mixes in the best possible light. Usually that involves adjusting the song levels and overall level of the disc and using tools like EQ and compression to shape the sound (does it need to be brighter? punchier? less muddy? etc).

How is mastering an archival recording different than mastering a new, technically modern recording?

• Often archival recordings already exist in an aesthetic context that listeners are familiar with. This was certainly the case with the Europe 72 project. The 1972 LP is an iconic album - both the songs, and the sound. There are also several other official releases of E72 material, plus audience and soundboard tapes that have circulated for decades. So before starting I gathered together the original Europe 72,Steppin' Out, and Rockin' the Rhein, plus the first show that was mixed for this project. To my horror and dismay, they all sounded quite different! Jeffrey Norman and I discussed this at length and we agreed that the approach to this release was a "live-r," less "polished" presentation. We wanted to showcase the Dead as they sounded onstage at these shows. 

What is unique about mastering The Grateful Dead as opposed to other bands?

• Probably the fact that often they don't function as a typical rhythm section + soloists and singers like much popular music does. At any time, any one of the players could be driving the music, and it's constantly shifting. Phil's bass is another lead instrument along with the two guitarists. As a result, the music is often more dynamic. More like a jazz band - think Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. The goal is to mix and master so you can "see" into the music.

Describe your history with the recordings of The Grateful Dead. What was your first job mastering their recordings?

• My first Grateful Dead project was mastering the DVD release of The Grateful Dead Movie. Jeffrey Norman was looking for a place to master his surround mixes; "Dr." Don Pearson introduced us after visiting the studio with acoustician Sam Berkow. The Grateful Dead Movie was a huge project. I think there were 12 hours of music when you added up the stereo mix, the bonus material and the two surround versions. It took us two long weeks. After that Jeffrey returned with the Truckin' Up To Buffalo and the Rockin' The Cradle DVDs. There have been several others, for which I am forever grateful, pun intended. I've been listening to the Dead, and attending shows, since 1970.

Describe the process of working with The Grateful Dead organization. Who do you work with? How exacting are they? Does the record label (Rhino) get involved on your end at all?

• Working with the Grateful Dead's production team is an absolute pleasure. I wish all of my clients were this easy to work with. My contacts are Producer/Archivist David Lemieux and engineer Jeffrey Norman. Everyone has very high and exacting standards, but nobody is breathing down each other’s throat. The communication is very open. I think everyone really respects the creative process and everyone's contribution. Rhino is definitely involved in the tail end of my mastering work, as that's where we send the final masters.

Were there specific challenges involved with a project this large? 

• The challenges were chiefly organizational - how to keep track of so much material and insure quality and constancy from beginning to end.  We modified our in-house database for more efficient searching within the E72 project, and we designed a workflow that covered every aspect of our involvement with the project: from receiving Jeffrey's mixes, to naming files, to cross checking show-to-show, to sending references for approval, and creating the final masters for Rhino.

Did each show have a unique personality to you?

• Absolutely! The shows in the great concert halls like the Concertgebouw and Paris' Olympia Theater have a very open warm sound and I think the players were hearing the nice acoustics and hearing each other very well; it's reflected in the playing. The halls definitely influenced the playing. The Bickershaw show, which was an outdoor festival, sounds much different - the musicians are reacting to the cold weather and perhaps playing more deliberately. But the results are great - the “Dark Star/Other One” sequence was a standout, and is included in the Europe ‘72 Volume 2 release.

How about the individual personalities of the musicians in the band? 

• It's cool how the band can transform itself from song to song. When Pigpen steps out front, his blues and R & B attitude can change the whole vibe. And Bobby's country songs really inspire Garcia's Don Rich-style picking.

Did you gain a greater appreciation for, or did you have any revelations about the individual talents in the band?

• One of the cool things about listening to multiple versions of the same songs is that the personalities do come across. You can hear that Garcia is constantly exploring ways to express a solo, and his solos during this era are really well constructed, and they usually have a well-formed arc to them. As I worked on each show, I always referenced other versions of several songs to make sure the sound was consistent (or appropriately consistent). It's clear that the Dead were very well rehearsed, and the performances and even some of the solos of the first set type of songs were often identical over several nights. As the tour progressed, you can hear them refining arrangements. Bob Weir's playing is especially impressive. I think many people think his distinctive leads were played by Garcia - I know I used to!

Did you learn anything about what makes the Grateful Dead unique in the world of Rock from this project?

• I think we've all long appreciated that the Grateful Dead cut a wide swath through the landscape of American music. It sounds utterly natural to hear them go from a Marty Robbins cowboy song to a Bobby Blue Bland rave-up, to a jam Coltrane would admire, to a gorgeous Merle Haggard ballad, and end on Chuck Berry. What other band can do this?

Do you think the fact that the band was playing in small, largely opera-worthy venues on that tour made a difference in the way the band played and the way the recordings ultimately came out?

• I was fortunate to have seen the Dead in December 1971 in a concert hall setting, and in March 1972 in a mid-size theater (on my birthday!). I've always thought those kind of halls were the perfect size for this kind of music - large enough to get the energy flowing, and small enough for the band to play off the vibe of the hall and the crowd. I think that the Europe 72 recordings are a confirmation of this (though the larger gigs like Bickershaw really kick-ass).

Can you point to a couple of musical highlights of the tour? Where would you send a novice? Where would you send a hard-core fan?

• I think that David Lemieux did a great job in choosing the songs for the Europe ‘72 Volume 2 set. That and the original Europe ‘72 are a good starting point. Outside of those, I especially like “Dark Star” from the second Copenhagen show; “Two Souls in Communion” from Amsterdam, anything from the two Paris shows, and the first and last Lyceum shows. The Beat Club TV broadcast is also pretty cool, and the Aarhus concert, in a tiny 300 seat room has a nice intimate feel that you don't often hear.


-Paul Epstein

Fables of the Reconstruction: Best of 2011

The official selection process for my year’s best list began a week before Christmas when my wife Allie took off for a weekend trip with a friend and I had the whole house to myself. I took all my 2011 records off the shelf, leaned them against my stereo cabinet in two neat piles, and proceeded to pair them off in sudden-death match-ups, the volume cranked high. The competition began with a fury as I sipped my coffee on Saturday morning: White Fence’s Is Growing Faith vs. Peaking Lights’ 936. White Fence won easily and advanced past Spectre Folk’s The Blackest Medicine, Vol. II before falling in the third round to Ducktails’ III: Arcade Dynamics, whose victory was so decisive it left no doubt that this stony collection of ultra-echofied tunes by Real Estate’s lead guitarist would wind up in the top ten. By noon I had a bracket going and was tweeting all the action to my 23 loyal followers.

The tournament was more or less rigged. I knew going in what my final four would be, so I went through an entire legal pad trying to figure out a defensible way for these favorite records to make it to the semifinals. By sundown I was blissing out to a mismatch between Herbcraft’s Ashram to the Stars and Phish’s The White Tape when I began to see how absurd the whole venture was. I remembered what a famous guitarist once said as he was accepting a “best of the year” award, that music isn’t completion, and I felt a wave of guilt for imposing such capitalistic cutthroat-ness on egalitarian beauty. Plus so much of the music that came into my life this year is utterly incommensurable. Like that first match up. How can anyone honestly compare the highly distorted 60s pop revival of White Fence to the syncopated spaciness of Peaking Lights? It’s like turnips and pomegranates. It was fun to spend a day shuffling and sorting and celebrating all these wonderful new objects, trying to figure out how they defined this year in my life, but by bedtime I was fully repentant. I tweeted, “The brackets aren't a good idea. Tomorrow I'll swap ‘versus’ for ‘and’.”

The next day was one of creative coupling: Wet Hair’s über weird super synth freak out with Mississippi Records’ reissue of Fanfody, a collection of field recordings from Madagascar; the Record Store Day re-release of Country Joe and the Fish’s acid-rock masterpiece Electric Music for the Mind and Body with The Polyps’ Ants on the Golden Cone and its ambient clouds of feedback that billow and contort and dissipate to reveal the most lovely and quiet folk melodies; the savory international fusion flavor Julian Lynch’s Terra next to the widely acclaimed second LP by his good friends in Real Estate next to the no-nonsense pop rock of the Feelies, to whom Real Estate is often compared; Kurt Vile’s 7” next tohis 12” EP next to his LP.

By the time Allie returned I still had dozens of new releases to listen to, including two big contenders for Numero Uno that I wouldn’t for play for nearly two weeks because it was too painful to do so. A few days before my year’s best selection process began, our dog Maddie died after a long battle with cancer. Maddie had been the most consistent source of joy in our lives, and during the final stages of her illness we’d developed a daily ritual of “pack nights” where we’d dim the lights in our living room, cozy up and listen the best new psychedelic rock. Allie requested a moratorium on any sounds that called those evenings to mind, so we nursed our wounds with a binge of Delta blues and kept Woods’ Sun and Shade and Matt Valentine’s What I Became at bay because they were just too vivid of reminders of what we had just lost. Especially the Woods record. We’d listened to it over and over throughout the summer as tumors spread across Maddie’s body.

Then, on the last Friday of the year, my wife asked if we could hear the Grateful Dead’s Europe 72 Vol. 2, which she hadn’t been able to listen to since the night Maddie died, when we sat together and cried to its stunning version of “Sing Me Back Home.” It doesn’t get much more psychedelic than that, with its rare pairing of “Dark Star” and “The Other One” that sprawls across three sides of virgin 180 gram vinyl. And you don’t think music can ever get any better, but then Jerry Garcia slows it down and conjures all the beautiful sadness of life and death with an old Merle Haggard song, “Sing Me Back Home.” I looked over at Allie and she appeared to be contented, so I decided to push the envelope and put on Sun and Shade. At some point during side one, probably when Jeremy Earl sings, “Oh what falls apart and what won’t come back, lay it loose, let it love like that,” I realized that I had been listening to this album at the precise moment when I came to terms with the fact that Maddie would not only die but would die very soon. Allie had gone out with some friends so it was just me and the dogs. I petted Maddie during the first track, “Pushing Onlys,” and I found a half dozen new tumors and I just started bawling and I kept bawling and petting Maddie all the way through. With it playing again now, and with our pack down to three, I turned to Allie and I told her about this moment and the tears came again. I cried hard, so hard that my whole body tensed up and I had to gasp for breath, but when it was over I told Allie it felt good. And that was when I knew what was the best album of 2011.

My top ten:

10. Jovontaes Things Are Different Here

9. The Polyps Ants on the Golden Cone

8. Ryan Garbes Sweet Hassle

7. MV + EE Country Stash

6. TIE Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics | Real Estate Days

5. TIE Grateful Dead Europe 72 vol 2 | Conrad Schnitzler Live 1972

4. Wet Hair In Vogue Spirit

3. Kurt Vile Smoke Ring for My Halo

2. Matt Valentine What I Became

1. Woods Sun and Shade

Several Species of Small Furry Thoughts - Furthur, Europe ’72 and an interview with David Glasser

Lots of Dead activity this month! Furthur played three sold out shows at Red Rocks last weekend and once again proved that they are the band to see when you want a hit of Dead energy. All three shows were outstanding with their own personality and highlights. The first night was made memorable by a three-song segment featuring special guest Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, who really shone on the Pigpen obscurity “The Stranger.” The second night featured a monster second set that included most of the great late-60’s psych classics such as “Dark Star,” “St. Stephen,” “The Eleven,” “Morning Dew” and a great and timely cover of Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse.” The third night was surprisingly high energy with bone-shaking versions of “Shakedown Street,” “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot” and “Franklin’s Tower” that had the audience going nuts. It is really amazing that Phil Lesh and Bob Weir are still playing such long, satisfying shows at their ages. Things are played at a somewhat more leisurely pace, and even with John Kadlecik getting better and better, one is always aware of Jerry’s absence. His guitar and voice were so singular and his musical presence drove the band tempo-wise and spiritually. It is still a pleasure to see this band, and the things that always shine through are Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s completely unique and awe-inspiring playing style, and the time-defying greatness of their original material. There is no bass player like Phil Lesh - he just leaves everyone else in the dust - even at the age of 70! His tone, attack and note articulation sound more like a guitar player’s and his melodic sense moves the band forward.

The big archival news in the Grateful Dead world is the unprecedented Europe ’72 - The Complete Recordings box set. Containing all 22 shows of this greatest of all Dead tours, there’s not a dud show in the bunch; in fact there are very few dud songs. The band never played tighter or more inspired than on this tour. They also never toured behind such an abundance of great new material. They were playing many the songs from Weir’s then-new Ace album, Garcia’s first solo album plus about a dozen new Grateful Dead songs (“Ramble On Rose,” He’s Gone,” “Tennessee Jed,” Mr. Charlie,” Chinatown Shuffle,” etc.) and fresh covers (“Sing Me Back Home,” “You Win Again,”) and when combining them with some of their longer, jammier songs from the past (“Dark Star,” “The Other One,” “Truckin’,” “Lovelight”) they offered up an exciting marathon show every night of the tour. To add to the special nature of the tour was the fact that they were playing many beautiful, historic concert venues on a continent that was new to the band members and rich with historic and cultural significance to their hippie sensibilities. They were also dragging around a recording truck to every venue to insure their ability to pay for the whole trip. Remarkably, the recordings are outstanding, even by modern standards. There is a full, rich warmth to the sound that just reflects the warmth on stage. The huge, deluxe “steamer trunk” box set is sold out, but there is a superb new compilation called, appropriately enough, Europe ’72 Volume 2 that is out now on Rhino Records. It is packed with great moments from the tour including memorable takes on “Playin’ In The Band,” a huge Pigpen-led “Good Lovin’,” a great early version of “Sugaree” and a “Dark Star” that goes to outer space and back in 30 minutes. It is a wonderful keepsake, and we have it on sale for only $10.99. It’s the cheapest way you’re going to get into this tour. 

Because I was so blown away by the sound of these recordings, I thought it would be cool if we could ask Boulder resident David Glasser of Air Show Mastering some questions about the process of mastering this gigantic project. A Grammy Award winner, Glasser is one of the hidden gems of the Colorado music scene. Air Show has worked on countless albums you’ve heard of and continues to be one of the premier mastering facilities in the country. The Grateful Dead are legendary for their attention to detail when it comes to the sound and packaging of their releases, so their choice of Glasser is no accident. Glasser, as usual, was generous with his time and thoughtful in his answers.

Questions for David Glasser at Airshow Mastering regarding the Mastering of The Grateful Dead’s entire Europe ’72 tour.

Briefly explain the process of mastering.

• Mastering is simply the step - the last in the creative studio process - where the final adjustments and tweaks are made. It's akin to what a colorist does in the film world - making sure that the sound matches the vision of the producer and artist, and presenting the mixes in the best possible light. Usually that involves adjusting the song levels and overall level of the disc and using tools like EQ and compression to shape the sound (does it need to be brighter? punchier? less muddy? etc).

How is mastering an archival recording different than mastering a new, technically modern recording?

• Often archival recordings already exist in an aesthetic context that listeners are familiar with. This was certainly the case with the Europe 72 project. The 1972 LP is an iconic album - both the songs, and the sound. There are also several other official releases of E72 material, plus audience and soundboard tapes that have circulated for decades. So before starting I gathered together the original Europe 72, Steppin' Out, and Rockin' the Rhein, plus the first show that was mixed for this project. To my horror and dismay, they all sounded quite different! Jeffrey Norman and I discussed this at length and we agreed that the approach to this release was a "live-r," less "polished" presentation. We wanted to showcase the Dead as they sounded onstage at these shows. 

What is unique about mastering The Grateful Dead as opposed to other bands?

• Probably the fact that often they don't function as a typical rhythm section + soloists and singers like much popular music does. At any time, any one of the players could be driving the music, and it's constantly shifting. Phil's bass is another lead instrument along with the two guitarists. As a result, the music is often more dynamic. More like a jazz band - think Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. The goal is to mix and master so you can "see" into the music.

Describe your history with the recordings of The Grateful Dead. What was your first job mastering their recordings?

• My first Grateful Dead project was mastering the DVD release of The Grateful Dead Movie. Jeffrey Norman was looking for a place to master his surround mixes; "Dr." Don Pearson introduced us after visiting the studio with acoustician Sam Berkow. The Grateful Dead Movie was a huge project. I think there were 12 hours of music when you added up the stereo mix, the bonus material and the two surround versions. It took us two long weeks. After that Jeffrey returned with the Truckin' Up To Buffalo and the Rockin' The Cradle DVDs. There have been several others, for which I am forever grateful, pun intended. I've been listening to the Dead, and attending shows, since 1970.

Describe the process of working with The Grateful Dead organization. Who do you work with? How exacting are they? Does the record label (Rhino) get involved on your end at all?

• Working with the Grateful Dead's production team is an absolute pleasure. I wish all of my clients were this easy to work with. My contacts are Producer/Archivist David Lemieux and engineer Jeffrey Norman. Everyone has very high and exacting standards, but nobody is breathing down each other’s throat. The communication is very open. I think everyone really respects the creative process and everyone's contribution. Rhino is definitely involved in the tail end of my mastering work, as that's where we send the final masters.

Were there specific challenges involved with a project this large? 

• The challenges were chiefly organizational - how to keep track of so much material and insure quality and constancy from beginning to end.  We modified our in-house database for more efficient searching within the E72 project, and we designed a workflow that covered every aspect of our involvement with the project: from receiving Jeffrey's mixes, to naming files, to cross checking show-to-show, to sending references for approval, and creating the final masters for Rhino.

Did each show have a unique personality to you?

• Absolutely! The shows in the great concert halls like the Concertgebouw and Paris' Olympia Theater have a very open warm sound and I think the players were hearing the nice acoustics and hearing each other very well; it's reflected in the playing. The halls definitely influenced the playing. The Bickershaw show, which was an outdoor festival, sounds much different - the musicians are reacting to the cold weather and perhaps playing more deliberately. But the results are great - the “Dark Star/Other One” sequence was a standout, and is included in the Europe ‘72 Volume 2 release.

How about the individual personalities of the musicians in the band? 

• It's cool how the band can transform itself from song to song. When Pigpen steps out front, his blues and R & B attitude can change the whole vibe. And Bobby's country songs really inspire Garcia's Don Rich-style picking.

Did you gain a greater appreciation for, or did you have any revelations about the individual talents in the band?

• One of the cool things about listening to multiple versions of the same songs is that the personalities do come across. You can hear that Garcia is constantly exploring ways to express a solo, and his solos during this era are really well constructed, and they usually have a well-formed arc to them. As I worked on each show, I always referenced other versions of several songs to make sure the sound was consistent (or appropriately consistent). It's clear that the Dead were very well rehearsed, and the performances and even some of the solos of the first set type of songs were often identical over several nights. As the tour progressed, you can hear them refining arrangements. Bob Weir's playing is especially impressive. I think many people think his distinctive leads were played by Garcia - I know I used to!

Did you learn anything about what makes the Grateful Dead unique in the world of Rock from this project?

• I think we've all long appreciated that the Grateful Dead cut a wide swath through the landscape of American music. It sounds utterly natural to hear them go from a Marty Robbins cowboy song to a Bobby Blue Bland rave-up, to a jam Coltrane would admire, to a gorgeous Merle Haggard ballad, and end on Chuck Berry. What other band can do this?

Do you think the fact that the band was playing in small, largely opera-worthy venues on that tour made a difference in the way the band played and the way the recordings ultimately came out?

• I was fortunate to have seen the Dead in December 1971 in a concert hall setting, and in March 1972 in a mid-size theater (on my birthday!). I've always thought those kind of halls were the perfect size for this kind of music - large enough to get the energy flowing, and small enough for the band to play off the vibe of the hall and the crowd. I think that the Europe 72 recordings are a confirmation of this (though the larger gigs like Bickershaw really kick-ass).

Can you point to a couple of musical highlights of the tour? Where would you send a novice? Where would you send a hard-core fan?

• I think that David Lemieux did a great job in choosing the songs for the Europe ‘72 Volume 2 set. That and the original Europe ‘72 are a good starting point. Outside of those, I especially like “Dark Star” from the second Copenhagen show; “Two Souls in Communion” from Amsterdam, anything from the two Paris shows, and the first and last Lyceum shows. The Beat Club TV broadcast is also pretty cool, and the Aarhus concert, in a tiny 300 seat room has a nice intimate feel that you don't often hear.


-Paul Epstein

Several Species Of Small Furry Thoughts - New Releases

It occurred to me I haven’t reviewed any recent releases for awhile, so here are a bunch of things that have come out in the last few weeks.

Grateful Dead – Road Trips Vol.4 No.3 - Denver ’73

Finally, a Colorado show! In all the many CDs they have produced, there has never been the release of a full Colorado show. Why does this matter? Obviously, we live here so it would be nice to have a souvenir, but there is the larger point that the Dead had a long and wonderful history in Colorado. They started playing here in the very beginning of their career and continued playing landmark shows until the year before Jerry’s death. 20 shows at Red Rocks, The 15^th anniversary shows at Folsom Field, Telluride, McNichols Arena in 1990 (the last great Dead shows many of us saw), and of course these two amazing shows from 1973. 1973 was marked by marathon shows with tons of new songs, and tight, spacey jamming, and these shows from the shitty old Coliseum (when was the last time you saw a show there?) are prime examples of this era of Dead. The release is made up of all of the November 21^st show and the tastiest jam from the heart of the November 20^th show. There are no highlights, because it is all great! Really, the band is just on fire from the opening “Me and My Uncle” to the final sweet notes of “Uncle John’s Band.” The second set is made up of two gargantuan jams which include three separate visitations to “Playin’ In The Band,” an extremely memorable “Wharf Rat,” “Morning Dew,” and the rarely played “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” These are concerts that make you understand why The Grateful Dead had such a fanatical following in this state. These epic shows were life-changing for a lot of local fans. If you were there and grasped what you were seeing, it was a glimpse at the golden age of one of the great American rock bands. If you act quickly you can get this release with a very limited bonus disc which includes most of the second set from a very hard to find show; Cleveland, December 6, 1973. This gem includes great versions of “China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider,” a 44-minute version of  “Dark Star” that goes to many dark places and “Eyes Of The World.”

Hot Tuna - Steady As She Goes

I didn’t really expect a new Hot Tuna album, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be this enjoyable. Sounding much like they did in the early 80’s they are playing the warm, acoustic style of Tuna music that attracted the large audience they enjoyed in the decades following the Jefferson Airplane. True, they had the reputation for incredibly loud, long, electric concerts, but their albums showed Jorma Kaukonen to be an intelligent, thoughtful songwriter and a fantastic singer. His voice is remarkably unchanged, and the album is filled with the kind of blues/folk material that Jorma started with and still suits his talents better than anything else. Highlights for me are Jorma’s emotional remembrance of his childhood and family relationships called “Things That Might Have Been,” another emotional reflection called “Second Chances,” the funny, rocking “Mourning Interrupted,” a nice remake of the Tuna classic “Easy Now,” and a pair of songs by Jorma’s inspiration The Rev. Gary Davis. While this isn’t the guitar-driven, fire-breathing dragon of those early-70’s live Tuna shows, this is a dignified and well-played set of roots music.

The Feelies - Here Before

From the first note, you have slipped on your favorite t-shirt, licked an ice-cream cone on a summer day, watched a glorious sun set over the Rockies. Really?! Well, I was pretty happy. It’s The Feelies, and they sound just like they always did. With the classic line-up from their second album The Good Earth (1986) intact and playing with the same comforting precision it is really great to have this fantastic band back. It is the same basic formula; two drummers and every other member of the band adding percussion make each track a wonder of rhythmic intensity. Then Glen Mercer and Bill Million start the hypnotic drone of VU-style guitars that can march across the staffs like a military band or erupt into electronic squeals (as on “When You Know”) or roll over you with clouds of stacked up acoustic guitars like on the title track, while never leaving the strict tempo set up by Stanley Demeski and Dave Weckerman. Glen Mercer’s laconic, hipster vocals are as coolly reserved as always and his lyrics still can waver from desperate to joyous with just the slightest inflection. Impossibly, The Feelies still sound completely modern while being true to the psych/folk/drone ethos that originally drove them. There were times in the 80’s when I thought there would never be any more great bands and The Feelies were one of the real high spots of those years. When I listen to a track like “On and On” that drives crazily through a rainstorm of percussion and electric guitar, controlled yet on the verge of chaos, it is a distinctly comforting feeling to know this band is back and doing what it does best.

Derek And The Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs - Super Deluxe Version

This highly limited (already deleted) box set contains everything you need to scratch the Layla itch once and for all. One of the most fetish-worthy albums of the “classic-rock” era, I thought I had heard it all with this album. Wrong! This box set truly defines the fan experience. It comes with 4 CDs, 1 DVD, 2 LPs, 1 hardbound book, 2 unused tickets, 1 art print of the cover, 1 guitar face cling with the album artwork and a “Derek Is Eric” button. In addition the box it all comes in is itself a work of art, with the inside of the box top being a three-dimensional die–cut version of the album cover. The really important stuff however is the musical content, and it is awe-inspiring. In addition to a beautifully remastered version of the original album with one bonus track, there is an entire disc of extras; outtakes, early versions, the live TV session with Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins - lots of great stuff that adds context to the time surrounding the album. There is also an expanded version of the Derek and The Dominos Live At The Fillmore album. For some reason I always turned my nose up at this album - thinking the versions weren’t as good as the perfected album takes. I don’t know what I was thinking, because when I listen to it now, it seems to crackle with energy. Clapton’s soloing is funky and energetic and the Dominos prove they weren’t just a backup group for Clapton but actually a real, tight-knit band. Clapton was trying to get the feel of Southern American roots music as filtered through the hippie experience. He was enamored of The Band, Delaney and Bonnie, and The Allman Brothers, and in the Dominos he found a soulful unit that he could join rather than lead. Listening to this live album shows how close he actually came to hitting that elusive note.

For me, the real revelation of the set comes on the DVD-which is a 5.1 version of the original album. Played at full volume, it is incredible to walk around the room and really experience the beautiful mix that the band and legendary Atlantic Records engineer Tom Dowd created. As I said, I thought I knew all there was to know about this album. Not so. The clarity and separation of this surround mix brings out new details I had never heard. Clapton’s exquisite acoustic guitar strumming throughout the album is a huge element to the overall sound. The vocal mix between Clapton and organ player and co-writer of many of the songs Bobby Whitlock is breathtaking. These two guys were meant to sing together. Speaking of meant to be together: there is also Duane Allman. Going from speaker to speaker on the songs they duet on is a near orgasmic experience. It is so easy to give Eric short shrift these days, but this album is a guitar player’s dream. Clapton’s controlled bursts of note clusters and chunky riffing up against Duane’s out-of-control liquid mercury wailing. It’s hard to imagine a more potent combination. From the delicate balladry of “I am Yours” and “Thorn Tree In The Garden” to the raucous blues of  “Key To The Highway” and “Have You Ever Loved A Woman,” from the spectacular rock workouts on Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and “Anyday” to the anthemic performances on “Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad” and of course “Layla” Eric and Duane are a match made in heaven. It is possible to physically move around the mix and hear more Eric or more Duane to fully appreciate how unique each one was, but how smoothly they locked in to each other’s style. There are so many other details to appreciate as well. For instance, the first three songs on the album were recorded before Duane Allman joined the proceedings and they showcase what a powerhouse the Dominoes were even without Allman’s crucial contributions. One of Clapton’s best-ever songs, “Bell Bottom Blues” is a marvelous recording with subtle uses of percussion that add to the exotic feel of this track. “Keep on Growing” is another barn-burner of a track that grew out of a jam and includes an amazing Clapton vocal and a groove that will not leave your head. Throughout the entire album the contributions of Whitlock, drummer Jim Gordon and bassist Carl Radle show a muscular confidence that often borders on brilliance. They were a confident, powerful band able to bring Clapton’s musical desires to life.

I have listened to this surround disc three times already and each time I’ve heard something completely new. It is a statement about not only what an exciting mix this is, but it is a reflection of what an important and lasting statement Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is in the career of Eric Clapton. It is his most enduring work.

Several Species of Small Furry Thoughts - John Barleycorn Deluxe and an interesting Dead experience

While I like the self-titled Traffic album the best, John Barleycorn Must Die is a close second. With the loss of Dave Mason, the now three-piece was moving in a leaner, jazzier direction although they are still experimenting with world, folk and psych elements in their work. The maturity in the band’s music is reflected in the understated, memorable image on the cover. Kicking off with the F.M. classic “Glad” this chugging instrumental has no real antecedent in Traffic’s music. Suddenly they are a completely competent jazz/funk outfit with Winwood’s piano, organ and Chris Woods’ sax leading the way. “Glad” is immediately one of the most recognizable and enjoyable instrumentals in rock history. The following three songs – “Freedom Rider,” “Empty Pages,” and “Stranger To Himself” are much more familiar territory to fans of their previous album. Soulful, intelligent, hip and beautifully written and performed, they are classic Traffic. The title song, however, is another anomaly - and a wonderful one at that. With versions being traced back to 1465, this tale of demon drink and its uncanny hold over the human spirit is performed acoustically with Winwood playing acoustic guitar and singing and Chris Wood accompanying on flute. The result is absolutely magic and became an underground classic. The anti-drinking message (wink wink) really hit the right irony buttons with a 1970 audience. The final song on the original release, “Every Mother’s Son” is a fabulous seven-minute tribute to life on the road. 

For this great deluxe version the second disc contains three alternate versions of songs on the album and then a tremendous seven-song concert from the Fillmore West from 1971. The three alternates are uniquely different from the original versions with “Barleycorn” especially offering up a valuable piece of the puzzle. The live show finds the band, aided by Ric Grech on bass and occasional guitar, in rare form indeed. Considering the odd instrumentation and a leader who split his time between lead vocals, lead guitar, organ and piano the band is wonderfully tight and tear through numbers from their first three albums with precision and abandon. It is really exhilarating to hear them tackle complex songs like “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring” and “Every Mother’s Son” before really stretching out for 14 minutes on exciting versions of “Glad” and “Freedom Rider.”

This is a deluxe version in the best sense of the word. By carefully choosing the right material to illustrate and expand our understanding of a classic album, great gets even better.

Yesterday I got to live out a fantasy of sorts. I got to go to Airshow Mastering in Boulder and not only meet Grammy Award winning sound engineer David Glasser, but I also got to take an early listen to the upcoming Grateful Dead box set - Europe ’72 The Complete Recordings which David is mastering for disc. All I can say is…WOW. As if to read my mind, he chose “Dark Star” from the Tivoli-Copenhagen show. Oh man, it was magnificent. Hearing it played in a perfect stereo room on 8 foot towers of studio monitors… mmmmmmmmmmmmmmDead. It really sounded spectacular. The band was playing with such care during this period. The single-drummer line-up and the plethora of new material had afforded them a lot of rehearsal time and it shows. The fact that they were also playing in some of the great opera houses in Europe also adds to exquisite nature of the playing on this tour. The Dead’s engineer, Jeffrey Norman, and David Glasser have brought this already impressive performance to new levels of clarity and excitement. As the band reaches a spacey climax near the end of the song, Glasser said “I love the organ.” I’ve listened to this show probably 50 times and I’d never noticed that as the band climaxes Pigpen starts playing some slashing, aggressive lines on the organ which add a completely different texture to the performance. The point is that this box set is going to be a revelation to fans I think. The Europe ’72 tour represents one of the major performing zeniths of The Grateful Dead’s career and the 16-track tapes they have of the entire tour are beautifully preserved and are a wonderful keepsake of a grand tour. If you like The Grateful Dead it is hard to imagine that this box (already sold out) will not be a dream come true. I know it will be for me.

Several Species Of Small Furry Thoughts- The KGNU Dead Special

It kind of just crept up on me. I know I have been doing this for a long time, but when I got the poster for our bi-annual Dead special and realized it was 15 years since Jerry died, and that I had been doing the special for at least 10 years before that, it made me realize, to borrow a phrase, what a long strange trip it’s been! My first exposure to the KGNU Grateful Dead special was as a listener in the late 1970’s. I remember in the spring of 1981 DJ Carey Wolfson played the New Years Eve show I had been at the previous December. This was obviously way before the age of immediate downloads and complete accessibility to everything all the time. I remember what a thrill it was to relive the show, and how special it felt that it was my local public radio station playing it. There was a nice, circular, community feeling to it. A few years later I was blown away when then music director Paul Metters asked me if I wanted to work with a younger guy named Carter York to produce the Dead special. He knew I was a big collector, and we had done some radio together, so he trusted my ability to speak fluently on the radio. What a thrill those first couple of specials were for me! The Dead were at the peak of their popularity and the audience reaction was immense to what we were playing. People called in constantly, the studio was filled with happy Deadheads and we made a lot of money for the station. I kept doing it-twice a year for a few years with Carter, until he split to work at a radio station in Austin. He was a great guy and I hope to run into him again someday. Mike Massa then stepped in, bringing years of radio experience and a similar obsessive knowledge to my own. About a year or so later we were joined by our poster-designing friend Chris O’Riley, and that line-up has lasted the ensuing 15 years.

Aside from the well- known pleasures of playing music for an appreciative audience, the special has come to mean much more to me in recent years. The special we did two months after Jerry’s death remains the most emotional night of radio I have ever experienced. The feelings in the Dead community were so raw and freaked-out that it is hard to remember now how that felt. A lot of people listened that time, and we received a record number of pledges. I remember seeking out the most emotional performances I could find - long, slow versions of “Peggy-O,” “Comes A Time,” “Morning Dew,” “Stella Blue” and “So Many Roads.” The phrase from “Terrapin” kept running through my head; “soon you will not hear his voice,” over and over, as powerful versions of his greatest songs poured forth from the speakers, through the wires and out to a mourning community. It was a brilliant illustration of what radio (especially public radio) can and should be-a reflection and amplification of the community’s feelings and a provider of the emotional balm it needs. We live in such fractured times, so removed from any shared sense of well-being, that the ability for a media outlet to really be part of the emotional life of a community truly is a rare gift. And that gift has kept on giving.

It gives to me in a number of ways. I love the programming on KGNU. I love how it has remained a bastion of progressive thought and music, even in times when such an attitude has felt out of step with the prevailing political climate. I love that it is so casual and non-corporate in the station, and I love what doing this special twice a year for all these years has done to me as a collector. In a very real way, my collecting life revolves around this special. Every new addition to my collection gets listened to with an ear toward the special. What will people want to hear? What will surprise Mike Massa? Will I have a version of “ The Other One” that will make Chris O’Riley smile? This year, I can guarantee there will be some selections from the magnificent Furthur shows at Red Rocks, and there will be another bunch of those heart-filling Jerry ballads to mark the 15th anniversary of his passing. Join us on October 16th from 7pm until 1 am at 1390 am, or 88.5 or 93.7 fm or www.kgnu.org. You can pledge your support to the rare and wonderful gift of public radio, or you can just listen… and remember.

Several Species Of Small Furry Thoughts - Grateful Dead Time

Three new releases from the land of the Dead this week. First is the awesome box set called Formerly The Warlocks which is comprised of two stellar shows from Hampton, VA October 8^th and 9^th 1989. I’m usually luke-warmish about the release of shows from the last 10 years of the band’s career, but this is a really special run of shows. In an attempt to quell the madness that was starting to happen in the parking lot of Dead shows in the late 80’s, they played a few “stealth shows” with little pre-announcement, in an attempt to make them for locals only. Great idea - except they then rehearsed a bunch of rare and wonderful songs and played what are probably two of the best shows of their later careers, thus driving the Dead Heads into a frenzy of promises to never miss another one. So, it didn’t really quiet down the scene, but it does make for some unbelievable listening. Housed in a super-deluxe wooden box with all kinds of cool ephemera in it, this is the fourth of the band’s ongoing multi-track, complete run series of releases. Because it was multi-tracked the quality is stunning. You’ve never heard these shows crackle with such intensity before. Each night the band broke out some major songs that had not been played for years. The first night saw the reemergence of the “Help On The Way” “Slipknot!” “Franklin’s Tower” suite which just shakes the arena to its foundations. What a great, jazzy vehicle for them to wail on. It is followed by a version of “Eyes Of The World” that is truly wonderful. Surprisingly, it is not the guitar solos or soulful vocals that make this version, but a wall of percussion that Billy and Mickey set up that sounds like a huge thunder storm brewing in the distance. Their unique abilities are really illustrated well on this “Eyes.” The other big surprise this first night was the encore of “We Bid You Goodnight” which had not been played since the closing of Winterland show. All in all a great show, but the main event was going to be the second night. A very strong first set sets the stage for one of the great second sets of their later career. Kicking off with a strong “Playin’ In The Band” “Uncle John’s Band” “Playin’ In The Band” sandwich, they are clearly in a great mood and playing with energy and precision. From there they slide into the first “Dark Star” in about five years and the audience goes ape-shit. It is a lengthy and spacey version with Jerry going way out on midi effects. The post-“Drums” contains a gigantic “Dear Mr. Fantasy/Hey Jude” medley and then, for the first time in almost 20 years they easily sail into “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” with Jerry, Bob and Brent all taking a verse. It is a profound moment. But the surprises weren’t over. The encore that night was a lovely version of “Attics Of My Life” which had been played maybe 10 times ever and certainly not in the last 20 years. This is one of the great runs in Dead history and an essential listen. There were very few times in their last decade that they raged like this.

Next up is the next in the Road Trips Series (Vol. 3 No. 4) that contains big chunks of two strong shows from May of 1980. Both of these shows shine with studio polish as the band was playing the songs from “Go To Heaven” almost every night of the tour. “Althea,” “Lost Sailor/Saint Of Circumstance” and “Feel Like A Stranger” sound like brand new songs and it is a blast to hear them trying to mimic the record so closely. The “Feel Like A Stranger” is almost absurdly faithful to the album version, until the end when they slow down, space out and flow gently into a hypnotic “He’s Gone.” Disc three contains the second set from Cornell U. in upstate New York which is a legendary venue in Dead history, and they live up to the excitement on this particular night. The heart of the set is a gorgeous “Terrapin” before “Drums” which then gives way to another great version of “Saint Of Circumstance,” this time separated from “Lost Sailor.” This was a fun and energetic period for the band as they broke in Brent Mydland and reveled in tons of new material. Just a month later, they pulled into Boulder’s Folsom Field to celebrate their 15^th anniversary with Warren Zevon. I wish they would release those great shows.

Finally, something for the vinyl-minded. A new box set called The Warner Bros. Studio Albums. Somewhat self-explanatory, it contains new 180-gram versions of The Grateful Dead, Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty and the original mixes of Anthem Of The Sun and Aoxomoxoa which have not been available in decades. Those two albums in particular are quite different from the versions most people are familiar with, and Phil Lesh and many other Dead Scholars find this mix of Anthem to be the definitive version. The package is sumptuous and contains a beautiful 12x12 book with unpublished photos. The way these albums were meant to be heard.

-- Paul Epstein

Further - Columbus OH, 2010

Here is a guest review by author and friend of Twist and Shout, Joe Miller. Joe was a student of Paul's when he was in High School and has since gone on to become a recognized author. He wrote an excellent book about his experiences teaching an inner-city debate team called Cross-X. Check it out.

Stephen Stills once called the Grateful Dead "the world’s greatest garage band," and there were times during Furthur’s show in Columbus when I saw them that way, too. Phil Lesh in his jeans and black T-shirt and Bob Weir in Birks and billowy yoga pants and his crazy gray beard — they looked like a couple of crazy northern California millionaires who pulled together a few neighborhood kids to kick out the old tunes, which they kind of are. But the more I watched, the more I realized that they’re the Grad School of Rock, with Phil and Bob as tenured professors still doing cutting-edge research with a little crew of top-notch students. You can especially see teacherly ways in Phil, how he watches keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and guitarist John Kadlecik when they take the lead during improv passages, sometimes closing his eyes and waving his head back and forth as though enraptured and other times nodding in encouragement. There was one moment like this in particular that I’ll always remember from this concert. At the end of "Scarlet Begonias," which began the second set, Chimenti took off on a long solo that went all over the place, through jazz and classical constructions and strange blends in between, and Phil was cheering him on while Bob stood there staring down at the stage, listening. The solo just kept going and going and Bob started laughing and nodding along with Phil who was cracking up too because the solo was just so audacious and awesome you had to laugh.

I realize my analogy isn’t really fair to Chimenti, Kadlecik and Russo, who are hardly kids themselves. They’ve logged hours and hours on their instruments and have clearly mastered them. But still, Lesh and Weir are rock and roll gods. They’ve been at it for about a half a century and their experience and styles are without peer. And of course it’s impossible not to think about Jerry Garcia. I agree with everyone I’ve talked with about Furthur: Kadlecik brings the element that seems to have been missing from the most recent Dead tour. But the differences are noticeable. For one, Kadlecik isn’t a straight Jerry clone. In fact, I liked his licks best when he brought his own thing into them, a touch of that early eighties heavy metal screaming speed that, according to a recent interview I read, he learned to play guitar on. On the classic Garcia numbers, such as "Loser" and "Comes a Time," I’m reminded of a great scene in the movie Crumb, where R. Crumb is drawing with his son and they compare pictures, both of the same subject, and Crumb says, "You haven’t learned to cheat yet." The camera pans to their pictures and they’re nearly identical, but Crumb’s has a little something more to it, a couple of lines exaggerated ever so slightly such that his rendering seems more real, more alive. It’s the same thing with Garcia and Kadlecik solos, tiny moments of held notes and silences. And that thin margin of difference, I think, is the space between genius and pro. It’s my sense, though, that the more Kadlecik develops his own peculiarities the narrower that margin will become. He’s certainly got some great teachers to help him along the way.

The first set was all about the words. Braced on both ends with "After Midnight" and "Midnight Hour," Columbus Part I was a bookshelf full of literary rock — from campy potboiler ("Hell in a Bucket") to Americana tragedy ("Loser" and "Brown Eyed Women") to Ayn Rand meets the Hells Angels ("Liberty"). Up close you could really see how much these lyrics resonate with Phil and Bob, how they love to sing them. During "Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues," Phil acted out some of the lines with his facial expressions, as if he were a Shakespearian actor delivering a monologue, and he tweaked a few of the lines to make them more autobiographical ("My best friend my doctor won’t even tell me what it is I dropped" and "I started out on Heineken but soon hit the harder stuff"). And then there was "Comes a Time," and with it the main theme of the set: "Got an empty cup only love can fill." (And I have to digress here for a second to say, for an eighties Head like me, it was great to see Bob pull out the old pink Fender for "Hell," and to remember the days when he bound across the stage in his obscenely tight shorts. That dude is nothing if not hilarious.)

In the second set, the old psychedelic love monster came out to prey, especially during the ginormous jam of "Shakedown Street">"King Solomon’s Marbles">"Let it Grow." If you’ve been listening to the recordings of this year’s tours you know they’re playing all three of these songs often and very well, all beefed up and stretched out. I was especially amazed by "Marbles," which is no longer so tightly bound to its main roller-coaster structure. At times the band drifted away from the main melodies into spaces more akin to the off-script passages in "Playing in the Band" or "Bird Song."

A couple of amazing things happened during this stretch of tunes, one for me and one for the whole crowd. As for myself, I was up against the stage again, as I was at my Phish show in early June, and again someone tried to push and connive me out of my spot. This time it was two young, very trashed women, neither of whom were in fairytale costumes. Same drill. They tried to muscle their way in at first. When that didn’t work, they tried for the shoulder rub. When I pushed their hands away and yelled, "Don’t touch me!" they snatched off my cap and told me I need to lighten up. This carried on for all of "Shakedown" and half of "Marbles" until I bugged my eyes out in the craziest "I’m on acid and anti-depressants" expression I could muster and wheeled around and barked a sentence that was very short but nonetheless contained the phrase "my space" three times. I could tell by their freaked out expressions that they knew I wasn’t talking about the social networking site. I felt a nice cool breeze on my back for the rest of the night. I know all this comes with the territory, and it’s at once annoying and very funny and reaffirming of my love for my wife, but I have to admit that I’m hoping my experience at Red Rocks will be different, that I’ll be surrounded in the front rows of the reserved section with other fanatics who, like me, had their credit cards ready for the very second that tickets went on sale online, people who are there to trip out on the music and let those around them enjoy it in their own way without molestation.

On a more high note — or a better-high note — we fans were treated to a killer fireworks show, courtesy of the city of Columbus, that lasted the entire three-song trip. And to our amazement, the grand finale coincided perfectly with the ending of "Let it Grow," with the big flurry of explosions rising as the gentle final note of the song faded out, like a wash of light and cymbal splashes. I mean, come on! What is it about this band? For Dead Heads worldwide, it’s been almost fifty years of weird little miracles like that. Onward, Furthur! A vote for Barry is a vote fun! See you all at the Rocks!