agrees on peak cozy

didn't realize Cosmic Slop was the P-Funk lineup at their most pared down Hazel wasnt even there so all those wicked leads were Garry Shider aka Diaper Man. title track is some peak funk.

basically a midpoint of the refined 1972 and deep jazzy exploration of 1974 In recent years I think i'm taking this maybe as my 3rd or 4th favorite Dead year. They stretched out a lot of the jams more, it was increasingly common to have massive 2nd set sequences or sandwiches of like 3-5 different songs, switching between folk/country/jazz/r&b/blues/psych vibes without even stopping for a breath in between. I feel like 1973 also continued to mark the difference between 1st and 2nd sets even more, with the 1st sets being lighter and more covers/shorter songs and 2nd set being where the real meat was. (format which marked a key part of every jam band following after them) Garcia in top form as he was this whole era. Lesh bass and Kreutzmann drums and Godcheaux are basically at the peak of their powers now. Weir now becoming a master of the unique support rhythm guitar style he developed. And Keith Godcheaux's wife Donna Godcheax just along for the ride to be a tolerable to godawful backing vocalist and have affairs with Weir. They continued to size up in venues (a few larger stadiums trickling starting to enter the schedule) and build up their Deadhead core which also came along with the scaling up of their whole paid touring entourage and d*** use. they played the least amount of concerts since 1965 related to all of this increased scale too. a mere 72 which was almost half of the insane peak of the 139 shows they somehow did in 1970. their beloved original leader Pigpen who left in 1972 died in March 1973 which added to everything, Garcia said his death marked the end of the true original Grateful Dead

peak songwriting era still going with a bunch of new classics introduced. Biggest one being Eyes of the World which would be a staple for the rest of their career and featured their jazziest jams. Stella Blue a classic Garcia ballad. Weather Report Suite arguably Bob Weir's opus and it was only played in its full sequence for a short time. The shorter rock and roll/country type songs/covers continue to be good this year and retain the intensity and bounciness they had in 1972. The songs that were already centerpieces in 1972 like Dark Star, Playing in the Band, The Other One remained equally monstrous and the medium length ones like China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider and Bird Song got a bit looser and more adventurous. If you can stomach it I'd definitely recommend a few entire shows just to get some more context for the sequencing and balancing between all the songs. Basically any show you pick at random from 1973 is likely to have some mammoth 1hr sequence played a bit different than it ever would be again

Also had to throw some Jerry Garcia solo on the end of the playlist. He wasn't content with just leading a peak band so he had to do side projects and play with a band in smaller venues thats basically Jerry Garcia Band in all but name. apparently he did like 100 non Grateful Dead concerts in 1973. the Live at Keystone album was released in 1973 so its his next canonical solo release after 1972's Garcia. they mostly did covers that the Dead didnt do. He sings Positively 4th Street cover really well

open.spotify.com/playlist/4noEy8nlkEQsIFdWch38zV?si=bbe72ba7d9b94048

definitely a clear change you can tell with the 1970 studio albums to Wake of the Flood too. I don't really think it's better than American Beauty but they're blending everything together more instead of just singling out 1 or 2 aspects to make the album. never been a Row Jimmy fan, way too slow, although it can have a decent jam sometimes

Garcia did 47 concerts with his bluegrass group Old and in the Way I haven't even heard any of this stuff but seems pretty comfy. this Wild Horses bluegrass cover really isnt too shabby

they made a 1LP live album of these recordings and released it in 1975 and it was apparently the highest selling bluegrass album for decades to come

they had that white boy guitarist in there at this time too, also credited with some lead guitar and rhythm. not sure which parts are which

he was credited as "polyester soul-powered token white devil" on standing on the verge

reminds me I should buy that P-Funk book that came out last year

hah yeah I was gonna say that live bonus track version of Eyes Of The World is definitely the tricksiest playing ive heard from them so far. thanks for the context and playlist sensei

big year for Lou @Drogon_

and do you have any neglected Dylan gems for '73?

So how long is it gonna take yall to get to 2024

30 years

sudden Ratched Happy Birthday at 4:44

at least 15 years but this is one of those "its about the journey not the destination" things

Nope.

Didn't they bring out a new deluxe boxset recently with his concerts with the band during this era?

yeah yet another Bootleg Series for 1974 iirc

this is really nice but I cant help but imagine how mega it could be if Sinclair was on it

looks like he got back into the fold late into the recording of the album and is on the next one too hes so much better than Steve Miller and John Parry

Which Sinclair

But yeah this one is a minor stunner for me. Don't think they quite returned to the magic of the best 2 albums but this one could be #3 for me

@op passage on the Dead (specifically Truckin) that Bob Dylan wrote in his 2022 book

"The Grateful Dead are not your usual rock and roll band. They’re essentially a dance band. They have more in common with Artie Shaw and bebop than they do with the Byrds or the Stones. Whirling dervish dancers are as much a part of their music as anything else. There is a big difference in the types of women that you see from the stage when you are with the Stones compared to the Dead. With the Stones it’s like being at a p***o convention. With the Dead, it’s more like the women you see by the river in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? Free floating, snaky and slithering like in a typical daydream. Thousands of them. With most bands the audience participates like in a spectator sport. They just stand there and watch. They keep a distance. With the Dead, the audience is part of the band—they might as well be on the stage.

The Dead are from a different world than their contemporaries. Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother, all of them together wouldn’t even make a part of the Dead. What makes them essentially a dance band probably begins with the jazz classical bassist, Phil Lesh, and the Elvin Jones–influenced Bill Kreutzmann. Lesh is one of the most skilled bassists you’ll ever hear in subtlety and invention. And combined with Kreutzmann, this rhythm section is hard to beat. That rhythm section along with elements of traditional rock and roll and American folk music is what makes the Dead unsurpassable. Combined with their audience, it’s like one big free-floating ballet. Three main singers, two drummers and triple harmonies make this band difficult to compete with. A postmodern jazz musical rock and roll dynamo.

Then there’s Bob Weir. A very unorthodox rhythm player. Has his own style, not unlike Joni Mitchell but from a different place. Plays strange, augmented chords and half chords at unpredictable intervals that somehow match up with Jerry Garcia—who plays like Charlie Christian and Doc Watson at the same time. All that and an in-house writer-poet, Robert Hunter, with a wide range of influences—everyone from Kerouac to Rilke—and steeped in the songs of Stephen Foster. This creates a wide range of opportunities for the Dead to play almost any kind of music and make it their own.

“Truckin'” is one of their signature songs and lyrically it combines the goings-on of a wild and wide world. The Doo Dah man even appears in this song. 'I came down south with my hat caved in.' This could easily be a Dead song from one hundred years earlier.

When you go to a Dead concert you are right there in Pirate Alley on the Barbary Coast, right there by the San Francisco Bay. At any time you could drop through a trapdoor into a rowboat and be shanghaied to China and not even know it. This song, even though it lists some cities, has very little to do with Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land,” Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street,” or even Hank Snow’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.” This song is all on the same street. Chicago, New York, Detroit, New Orleans, Houston, Buffalo. It’s all the same main street. Long before America had actually transformed itself into the same sprawling mall.

This song is medium tempo, but it seems to just keep picking up speed. It’s got a fantastic first verse, which doesn’t let up or fizzle out, and every verse that follows could actually be a first verse. Arrows of neon, flashing marquees, Dallas and a soft machine, Sweet Jane, vitamin C, Bourbon Street, bowling pins, hotel windows, and the classic line, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” A thought that anybody can relate to. Cards that ain’t worth a dime. All in the same town. But you’re moving anyway. The lyrics just pile up on top of each other. But the meaning is understandable and clear. The song also changes pace and changes back and the chorus has got that triple harmony again. 'Truckin’'—it conjures up something different from traveling. It’s arduous. But the Dead are a swinging dance band so it doesn’t seem like hard work to go with them.

The guy singing the song acts and talks like who he is, and not the way others would want him to talk and act."

Ngl I have this book but do not remember this shameless stannery

goat recognizing goat

Wasn't really feeling the vocal performance on the version of Truckin off your playlist

they probably have mid vocals on Truckin more often than not. f***ing up the verse order, Weir doing his ugly shouting thing, Lesh generally struggling, etc.

but did you peep that jam sequence that came afterward? psych jam with brief other one into stella blue

In the middle of it rn

Did you check out Steeleye Span yet

Hot Tuna got another great guitar album this year too

not yet