Business stuff:
This month we're taking a look at 1974 with the GOGD. It's an era so rich with natural resources that we will return to it again in a few months, so please send in any and all live tape/CDR reviews. Next month, however, it'll be "Phish in Foreign Lands" month around this page. I'd love to see some reviews of the Japan tour as those discs start to circulate, but send reviews of whatever you're listening to. I'll save them for a month when they fit in, or do a readers choice month. Continue to send me any comments or suggestions- feed back is always welcome.

Also, I want to encourage anyone who has stumbled onto this page to take the time to read the monthly regional reviews. Each month you can find some of the best that jambands.com has to offer tucked away in those pages. (And I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm a contributor. I'm saying it as a reader.)

Music:
2-24-74, Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA (3 Discs) Set I: US Blues, Mexicali, BE Women, BIODTL, Candy Man, Jack Straw, China Cat > Rider, El Paso, Loser, Playin'
Set II: Cumberland, Roses, Big River, Bertha, WRS Prelude > WRS Part I > Let IT Grow > Row Jimmy, Ship of Fools, Promised, Dark Star > Morning Dew, Sugar Magnolia > NFA > GDTRFB > NFA
E: Baby Blue

Mired deep in an era of intense exploration and explosive performances is one of the most blissful musical odysseys ever undertaken by those crazed and dignified jesters of psychedelia. On the twenty-fourth day of the second month of the year one thousand, nine hundred seventy four Heads from around the Bay Area crowded into an inter-dimensional portal known as Winterland Arena for "a peaceful evening with the Grateful Dead." The last of three performances, it falls smack in the middle of the very best that the Dead had to offer in terms of a band that paired incredible musicianship with a calmly confident belief that it is in between the songs that the musical was really happening- perhaps even in between the notes. From September of 73 until the last show, coincidentally also at Winterland, in October of 74, the Dead made a nightly ritual of establishing a new and unique mythos, only to tear it down and start anew the next night. This is the land of brain melts, Mind Left Body Jams, the Wall of Sound and Weather Report Suite- the true golden age. There are so many individual solar system that make up the cosmos of that year-and-a-bit that it is easy to fall under the spell of just a few, and overlook the rest. But make effort. Peel away your ears from 7-31-74, or 9-7-73 or 10-20-74. Collect that gibbering mass that was once your brain and take the trip to 2-24-74. It's a hell of a ride.

Opening with visions of Americana, it is clear that the band is veritably bursting with energy and excitement. A US Blues you can't help but enjoy has Jerry moving the verses around, but singing clearly straight through. Mexicali and Candyman offer up that most American of stories, drunken men with guns. These tunes, like Parchment Farm or Little Sadie, are tales that prick at some recessed node in the American subconscious, and are best when tragically rendered by the likes of Hot Tuna, and of course the Grateful Dead.

Jack Straw travels to the same destination but along a different route. It hits hard and fast and is the perfect precursor to a wonderful China > Rider. The China is crisp and light with Jerry's guitar snapping out accents. Phil and Keith link up at the end of China Cat and lead out into the prairies where Jerry rides over the hills of Bobby's rhythm. It's too hot to touch but Garcia gives it a shot with a solo in Rider that overwhelms your synapses, if only for a brief moment.

Moving back to the tragic renderings of Western struggles, but maintaining the bristling energy, Loser is a monster. Phil rattles the scene and an uncharacteristically dark Keith crashes right from the start. The only thing to do with the collected charge of such tight playing in organized compositions is to unleash completely. Playin' is the diving board from which the Grateful Dead take the plunge in an ocean of protoplasmic goo. The jam is immediately squirming in the stuff, wriggling in a kind of murky drift until something more solid comes along. An up tempo jamlet surfaces at about seven minutes. Keith's electric piano propels the music but Billy's drumming, with its excessive high hat, keeps it wispy and loose. Bob and Jerry start a conversation, mulling over the ideas of the day, but taking different sides. Keith joins in on Bob’s side and the whole discussion starts to groove. Phil falls in with a short series of bombs and the music dissipates into a mass of swirling green gasses. As ideas begin to mesh, a topic agreeable to all is uncovered and the sound becomes intense, with Billy pushing everything through his rolling drum kit. The coda returns with Jerry squawking along the riff to bring the set to a close.

Set II returns to earlier themes without any of the preset banter that was so common during this time. Cumberland is solid, slightly long, and Roses maintains the positive vibe despite its melancholy airs. WRS picks up on that slow, contemplative feel, Garcia bending his sparse notes throughout the Prelude and into Part I, where everyone sings in wonderful harmony with Keith's electric piano. That piano bridges the gap to the fertile fields of Let It Grow. There is an amazing contrast between the quiet playing that decorates Bob's singing and the cacophonous eruptions that swell up at the end of each verse. The jam, however, is somewhat truncated and discombobulated, rotating between thunderous Phil and cool twanging from Bob and Jerry. Once again Billy wins out with the high hat, and manages to harness the forces into a relaxed Row Jimmy. As the music seeps in around your frame, gets between your toes, it takes hold and somehow becomes intense in its beauty, rocking you to and fro, not too fast and not too slow.

Those ethereal opening notes to Dark Star herald the real meat of the set, Billy washing in with the cymbals and nimble, spidery fingers immediately casting the music deep into the cosmos. Darker shadows melt into rising scales and distant showers of light, pushing and pulling every so slightly at the soft amniotic flux. The landscapes of a starlit deserts and ocean-sides blend together with little regard for there distance, the calmness and rhythm working in a dull dynamic opposition that rolls toward the first verse after some 17 minutes. The following music plunges to unknown depths, losing all cohesiveness in a free fall that bottoms out with Phil declaring that it's time to climb back out of the hole. The Spanish theme surfaces for only a few seconds and gives way to an excruciatingly beautiful bit of spontaneous composition that could stop a war. But instead it leads into the nuclear cataclysm of Morning Dew. It is appropriately awe inspiring, exploding skulls with growling lyrics and bass that only be called LOUD, long before the solos hit. The entire adventure is over 42 minutes long and is nothing short of devastating.

But it's not over yet. To close the set the band tears into another 25 minute colossal jam session. A high energy Sugar Magnolia leads into NFA with a directness that contrasts nicely with the contorted musical paths that preceded it. The Chuck Berry classic is equally focused, Jerry picking a route and sticking to it, before quickly segueing into a blazing GDTRFB. By the time the NFA bookend finishes with all the bells and whistles you'll find yourself breathless and pleasantly exhausted, even if you just spend the last three hour hours doing nothing but sitting in front of the stereo. A truly amazing performance that must be heard to be properly appreciated.

5/19/74 Portland, OR (Sbd, Gen ?)
From Set II: Truckin' > Mind Left Body Jam > NFA > GDTRFB

A nice Truckin' starts this great jam. There is a group of pauses toward the end that are Philled with explosive vibrations. A solid back-beat supports the ensuing groove, Garcia darting along while Bob noodles with quick wavering notes. One of the best things about shows from 74 is that Bob and Jerry are distinct and utterly complimentary, and this is a prime example. Each is forcing the other to continue stretching for a true tunnel jam. As it pilfers out, Jerry screeches into Mind Left Body jam, his notes slipping in and wrapping themselves around your nervous system, and yanking it out. This is one of the best MLB jams ever, although it is admittedly short. The end of the jam is discordant, everyone spiraling off in his own direction, but reforming into a funky NFA. The tune falls back into the regions that were first covered in Truckin', moving with much the same sound and speed. A slight start/stop section begins, with Keith traversing the gaps, but as it becomes more solid Jerry takes over, tearing out more screeching leads. The song quickly slips into a rollicking GDTRFB that has the crowd cheering so loud you can hear through the band's microphones.

If you are looking for similarly spectacular performances and you just can't wait to trade, check out the following Dick's Picks at your local independent music merchant or Grateful Dead Merchandising:

DP 1- He's Gone > Truckin' > Nobody's Fault > Other One > Stella Blue

DP 7- Truckin' > Jam > Wharf Rat, Dark Star > Morning Dew

DP 12- Truckin' > Other One Jam > Spanish Jam > Wharf Rat > Sugar Magnolia, WRS > Mind Left Body Jam

DP 14- WRS > Dark Star Jam > Eyes > Sugar Magnolia, Wharf Rat > Half Step > Playin > Mind Left Body Jam > He's Gone > Truckin' > Stella Blue