Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}

×

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}

Close

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.22 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 484 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 98 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2005 Rhino / GDP | 8122-73193-2
Rock / Psychedelic Rock

The 1969 double album Live/Dead holds a special place in the Deadhead universe; indeed, many band members and their inner circle consider it to be the band’s best overall collection as well. This expanded, three-CD edition is culled from the same February/March ’69 shows at the Dead’s de facto live home, San Francisco’s Fillmore West. What’s documented here are not only some of the greatest performances of the band’s early era, but the still-evolving template for much of the band’s later flights of improvisation. The first, blues-dominated disc pays tribute to a band that a couple years earlier had been but an ambitious bar covers ban! d, while the second chronicles the Dead’s expansive "Dark Star/St. Stephen/The Eleven" triptych wed to a cover of the Rev. Gary Davis’ "Death Don’t Have No Mercy," 2/28/69 performances that turn on the freeform interplay that would become their trademark for decades to follow.

The set’s final disc is highlighted by a vigorous, nearly hour-long workout that jams its way through the band’s early "Alligator," "Caution" and the obligatory drum break to the traditional closer, "We Bid You Goodnight." Said to be the first 16-track live recording, the epochal performances here are burnished to near sonic perfection via HDCD mastering, a heady, if ironic wedding of technology and the band’s rootsy, musical humanity.

×

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}

Close

This is a triple-disc distillation of the limited-edition ten-CD Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings box set. The material was taken from the Grateful Dead's run of eight shows over four nights (February 27 through March 2, 1969) at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. These were the same concerts that yielded most of the definitive Live/Dead (1969). By the spring of 1969, the ever-evolving personnel had grown to include Mickey Hart (percussion) – whose contributions began in September of 1967 – and six months later, Tom Constanten (keyboards). They joined co-founders Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (vocals/organ/harmonica), Bill Kreutzmann (percussion), Phil Lesh (bass/vocals), and Bob Weir (guitar/vocals). Collectively they created an incendiary ensemble embracing R&B with the same passion and sense of intrepid experimentation as they did their own unique imprint of sonic psychedelia. And nowhere is that seemingly odd amalgam as evident as it is here. According to Dennis McNally's liner essay, Live/Dead was "the first live 16-track album ever made." Three and a half decades later those tapes were revisited and revitalized by longtime Grateful Dead producer Jeffrey Norman. He has done a yeoman's effort, drawing out the warmth and subtle interplay occurring deep within not only the lengthy acidic "That's It for the Other One" suite, but the exhaustively jammed covers of "Good Morning Little School Girl," "Turn on Your Lovelight," and "Morning Dew" as well. Somewhat darker yet no less intense is the edgy update of blues staple "King Bee" and the sanctified "Death Don't Have No Mercy."

×

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}

Close

The latter was one of several Rev. Gary Davis compositions that the Dead worked into their repertoire over the years. Although it hadn't even been released at the time, Aoxomoxoa (1969) produced a sizable number of selections here. Notable among them are "Doin' That Rag," "Cosmic Charlie," "Saint Stephen," and "Dupree's Diamond Blues" – a tune twisted out of the traditional ballad "Betty & Dupree." Another title that surfaced on Aoxomoxoa was the stylish, acoustic-based "Mountains of the Moon." The combo took full advantage of the song's meditative ending to segue into the lysergic-influenced exploratory anthem "Dark Star." As alluded to above, the audio remastering is virtually perfect. One major caveat can be heard during the nearly half-hour instrumental "Jam" on disc three. According to Norman, the master tape ran out and "the only thing we had as a patch was a cassette…mix from the show. So when I edit in the cassette piece…the end result is like a big ol' audio band-aid." While that isn't the sole place that similar problems had to be addressed, it is the most noticeable. That said, the drastic change in sound quality is a small price to pay in order to hear the performance in its entirety.

×

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}

Close

×

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 1969 (2005) [3CD Deluxe Edition] {Rhino}

Close