some '67

Hike at dawn. About an hour and a half.

Grateful Dead:

possibly 2-12-67 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco
Smokestack Lightning ->
King Bee

11-14-67 American Studios, North Hollyweird
Born Cross-Eyed
Dark Star

9-15-67 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
Bill Graham Presents "The San Francisco Scene in Los Angeles"
Viola Lee Blues
Cold Rain & Snow
Beat It On Down The Line
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Morning Dew
Alligator ->
Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks) ->
Feedback
Vaudeville Chorus

It's awesome to be expanding my live GD listening thanks to various downloading websites plus my Mp3 player. Why I waited so long I just don't know. Unfortunately, all that is in circulation for the Hollywood Bowl date is a mildly bad Audience recording. Nice little show but the quality is lacking.

Nice hike, though!

Here's what I wrote for the show at Archive.org (which apparently hasn't been posted):

I have always been on the liberal side of grading shows, never nitpicking on this & that regarding sound quality. Often what's considered a pitiful Audience copy, I can get into.

That being said, the quality of 9-15-67 at the Hollywood Bowl is truly borderline horrible. Just because it's '67, that doesn't automatically make it an enjoyable listen. I had a difficult time enjoying this because of hiss and dropouts and what, at times, sounded like a bathroom renovation that the mics were patched into.

On a beautifully quiet and peaceful hike I took this show . . . but instead of really getting into the tunes, it merely became decent background music to deeper thoughts like -- what would life be like if the Earth was made of marshmallow? And terrorists, rather than kill people with explosives, what if they just made people listen to Clay Aiken?

It's heartbreaking enough to read over and over "None in Circulation" regarding '67 shows . . . rather than make the pain in my heart any better, this terrible copy of a show just seems to throw salt into the wound. What a shame.

4 stars for the music
1.5 to 2 stars for quality of recording