I am suddenly addicted to live Grateful Dead music.

[KDinsmore]

I was an anti-Dead snob(more like ignoramus) in the late 60's and through the 70's to my loss. I've owned some Dead after but all of a sudden I'm live Dead crazy. Man the recordings for the most part are fabulous. Just loving this. I've picked up eleven multi-disc sets in the past few months.

[wgscott]

Welcome.

 

After almost 20 years of giving me a huge pile of shit about it, I finally dragged my wife to the 50th reunion concert in Santa Clara last year, and she grudgingly liked it. We went back and saw Dead & Co (arguable better) last Saturday.

[Jivatma]

Nothing like a live Dead album. It has a way of pulling you into the music and not letting you go.

[wgscott]

Google MK Ultra and Robert Hunter.

[duxservit]

I was an anti-Dead snob(more like ignoramus) in the late 60's and through the 70's to my loss. I've owned some Dead after but all of a sudden I'm live Dead crazy. Man the recordings for the most part are fabulous. Just loving this. I've picked up eleven multi-disc sets in the past few months.

 

+1

 

I re-discovered Grateful Dead (and appreciated their music more) due to my improved audio gear. As I was growing up, the Deads were always "background music" that my older siblings were listening to -- but over a crappy AM radio receiver :-)

 

In the Bob Weir documentary on Netflix, he says that they beat any other band in total number of live gigs (something like 6000 gigs).

[gldgate]

It seems like a lot of people get into the Dead later in life. I did not get into them in a big way until I was in my mid 40's due to curiosity of all the posts on the Steve Hoffman site. 6-7 years later I've accumulated Europe'72 (individual cd's over time), about 2/3rds of Dicks Picks, all of Dave's, 73 & 77 Winterland, Spring '90 Too and the 30-Trips Porch Crusher (among others). Unlike a lot of groups, my interest in the Dead has not waned. It's grown exponentially. If you don't have it I strongly recommend the complete annotated Grateful Dead lyrics. IMO Hunter and Barlow deserve even more credit than they are given in helping to develop the GD mythos.

[Priaptor]

I was an anti-Dead snob(more like ignoramus) in the late 60's and through the 70's to my loss. I've owned some Dead after but all of a sudden I'm live Dead crazy. Man the recordings for the most part are fabulous. Just loving this. I've picked up eleven multi-disc sets in the past few months.

 

Yeah I agree. Growing up we had these imbecilic "rules", you either loved the Allman Brothers OR The Dead. It kind of reminded me of only allowing to like Willie Mays OR Mickey Mantle but not both. I was in the Allman Brothers camp but didn't tell my pals I secretly listened to The Dead and saw them 4 times in concert. I told my dad I like Mays the best (to make him happy) but really like Mantle better.

 

Today, I listen to lots of Dead recordings and rarely listen to the Allman Brothers. Riding and hiking throught Glacier National Park it is the The Dead and Dire Straits/Knopfler I listen to. They were an amazing group and we are really lucky they allowed so many recordings of their concerts. The single best concert I ever went to, and right in the front, was Watkins Glen with The Band, Allman Brothers and The Dead

[KDinsmore]

Same here with "music friends" on "rules" during college. We were into Allman's and ELP, Yes, Jazz but you were an outcast if you liked the Dead. The misconception was all they played was "Uncle John's Band" type music. Too bad I passed on so many shows.

And noot just judgement from "friends" with music taste but equipment, cars, and of course....women. How stupid was all of that?

Watkins Glen. Wow! That must have been it.

[AnotherSpin]

I have several official GD live shows sets mentioned above, nevertheless what I listen very often beside those are tapers recordings which are available to download freely from certain websites, such as bt dot etree dot org. I believe I should have 500 or 600 tapers recordings and many of them have very acceptable sound quality.

[Priaptor]

Same here with "music friends" on "rules" during college. We were into Allman's and ELP, Yes, Jazz but you were an outcast if you liked the Dead. The misconception was all they played was "Uncle John's Band" type music. Too bad I passed on so many shows.

And noot just judgement from "friends" with music taste but equipment, cars, and of course....women. How stupid was all of that?

Watkins Glen. Wow! That must have been it.

 

Well the good news is I went to some amazing concerts. The bad news is I was so wasted at most I hardly remember them. That one however was amazing. And my girl friend from Syracuse was "well connected" so it was a blast

[duxservit]

The two hi-res GD albums on HDtracks are worth getting. Certainly sounded much crisper on my audio chain than CD version.

[AnotherSpin]

The two hi-res GD albums on HDtracks are worth getting. Certainly sounded much crisper on my audio chain than CD version.

There are more than dozen GD items on HDtracks, some of them large collections. Which two deserved your favor?

[BillJuv]

For anyone wanting to check out Dead and Company recordings, YouTube has entire concerts available to view and Hi-Rez (and MP3) downloads of their concerts are available at livedead.co the day after the concerts. I've only downloaded the 24/96 versions… Quite good!

 

John Mayer is not Jerry Garcia, but can have that job as long as he wants it! The Dead legacy continues...

[duxservit]

There are more than dozen GD items on HDtracks, some of them large collections. Which two deserved your favor?

 

oh, I got Workingmsn's a Dead and American Beauty. These are their first two studio albums -- when they started actually making money (according to Bob Weir in the Netflix doc).

[AnotherSpin]

oh, I got Workingmsn's a Dead and American Beauty. These are their first two studio albums -- when they started actually making money (according to Bob Weir in the Netflix doc).

These are their fourth and fifth studio albums... sorry for being too accurate. My CD copies of both albums sounded not too much exciting, if memory serves me well. Do not keep CDs anymore.

[wwaldmanfan]

These are their fourth and fifth studio albums... sorry for being too accurate. My CD copies of both albums sounded not too much exciting, if memory serves me well. Do not keep CDs anymore.

 

Those two albums are the essential foundation of any Dead collection. I wore out several vinyl copies of each back in the day. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think any of their other recordings that I've heard are that special, and I would be content if these were the only two that I owned.

The hi-def Rhino remasters from 2012, available from HDTracks, sound excellent, and they are on sale right now for $15.95 (24/96).

[Priaptor]

Those two albums are the essential foundation of any Dead collection. I wore out several vinyl copies of each back in the day. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think any of their other recordings that I've heard are that special, and I would be content if these were the only two that I owned.

The hi-def Rhino remasters from 2012, available from HDTracks, sound excellent, and they are on sale right now for $15.95 (24/96).

 

They were at their best in concert not in the studio, with few exceptions. Luckily we have tons of recordings of their concerts.

[Jud]

Those two albums are the essential foundation of any Dead collection. I wore out several vinyl copies of each back in the day. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think any of their other recordings that I've heard are that special, and I would be content if these were the only two that I owned.

The hi-def Rhino remasters from 2012, available from HDTracks, sound excellent, and they are on sale right now for $15.95 (24/96).

 

I'd love to see Europe '72 available.

 

Agree that the HDTracks versions of WD and AB (Mickey Hart mastered, I believe) sound very good, as do the SACD versions (from the original masterings?).

 

Hard to say any two albums are essential with thousands of good quality live recordings available (my stepson used to have hundreds of tapes; now he mostly listens to streams).

[wwaldmanfan]

I'd love to see Europe '72 available.

 

Agree that the HDTracks versions of WD and AB (Mickey Hart mastered, I believe) sound very good, as do the SACD versions (from the original masterings?).

 

Hard to say any two albums are essential with thousands of good quality live recordings available (my stepson used to have hundreds of tapes; now he mostly listens to streams).

 

I know that the studio albums have been remastered multiple times in recent years. I'm not sure who is responsible for the Rhino versions currently on HDTracks, or if the individual albums are from the same masters as those in the big, expensive studio box set. However these two albums were remixed in 2001 by Mickey Hart and released on DVD-A. American Beauty, in particular, sounds quite different from the "original" version. Garcia's lead guitar lines are much more prominent, the mix of the vocal harmonies are altered, and the some of the song endings were changed. I don't think the remixes are substitutes for the original versions, but they are very interesting alternates.

[wgscott]

The Mickey Hart remastered, 24/96 of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty sound far richer than the originals. It would be a good lesson in how to remaster the right way. I've personally always thought WD >> Am. B.

 

Speaking of sound quality, this is possibly the best I have heard:

 

http://www.dead.net/store/1990s/wake-find-out-nassau-coliseum-32990-3-cd?intcmp=store/smallbanner4

 

Amongst other things, it features Branford Marsalis.

 

 

It is one concert from a whole bunch that are prepared at very high quality.

 

I'm trying to get up the fortitude to cough up the bucks for the whole box set (in digital):

 

 

Anyone have that whole set in high-res? How do you like it?

[AnotherSpin]

Those two albums are the essential foundation of any Dead collection. I wore out several vinyl copies of each back in the day. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think any of their other recordings that I've heard are that special, and I would be content if these were the only two that I owned.

I also had both albums on vinyl many years ago, and I still like original sound best, even more than new 24/96 or 24/192 remasters. And, CDs versions were not good at all, WD slightly preferable than AB to my ears. I also believe these two albums are exceptional. Still I love dearly Terrapin Station, which was first Dead's LP ever I had back in 70s. Also I had Blues For Allah, Mars Hotel, Flood on LPs back then, and I still listen these albums with a soft heart. But, as many of GD followers I do prefer their live shows, and here I have very special feelings about tapers archive, at least this is what I listen most of the time.

[chilledbongo]

I'm still trying to get the Dead. So far,no cigar ?

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[wwaldmanfan]

I'm still trying to get the Dead. So far,no cigar 

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

There's a big disparity between their studio and live recordings. I don't know how you can appreciate their live albums if you had never seen them perform in person. They are legendary for these experiences. Of course, it probably helped if you were tripping ;>)

 

I saw them twice in the 1970's, when I was in college in Boston. I remember the first show because I was fixed up on a blind date with a very hot blonde. The Dead showed up two hours late, and my date fell asleep in her seat, missed the whole show, and that was that for the night. So, I have mixed feelings about that concert.

I have little recollection of the second concert. Of the hundreds of concerts I've attended, that one was not particularly memorable.

 

I have a friend in his late '50's who still sees them religiously. I don't really get it, either, now with John Mayer instead of Jerry Garcia and Pigpen. For me, that would be like seeing the Rolling Stones play with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry filling in for Mick and Keith.

[Jud]

I also had both albums on vinyl many years ago, and I still like original sound best, even more than new 24/96 or 24/192 remasters. And, CDs versions were not good at all, WD slightly preferable than AB to my ears. I also believe these two albums are exceptional. Still I love dearly Terrapin Station, which was first Dead's LP ever I had back in 70s. Also I had Blues For Allah, Mars Hotel, Flood on LPs back then, and I still listen these albums with a soft heart. But, as many of GD followers I do prefer their live shows, and here I have very special feelings about tapers archive, at least this is what I listen most of the time.

 

Have and like all the LPs you name, except Terrapin, which was just too slick. Some roughness and spontaneity is a central part of the GD experience for me.

[Jud]

By the way, for live Dead concert fans, a very well recorded live concert by another artist you might like is Hot Tuna live in Bearsville. I think it is still available at Cookie Marenco's Downloads Now! site.