Friday, March 27, 2009

It's not all Barbed Wire & Peanut Butter

I tell ya, I try to put shows up regularly but sometimes it just doesn't work out how I'd like it to. This little thing called life often gets in the way. Oh well, what am I gonna do? This show I originally wanted to post like a week ago but wasn't able to. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it so much. Sugarmag and I would love to regularly get stuff up but it's just not always so easy. Check back, though, ya know, 'cause ya just never know when something'll get posted! And hey, if this is Volume 30 and we've only had 87 days in the year so far, well, you do the math but that's about, on average, 1 every 3 days. That ain't bad, is it?

plain Steal Your Face -- I love you, Sugarmag!Grateful Dead -- March 21, 1972
The Academy Of Music
New York City
Steal Your Face -- I love you, Sugarmag!



1st Set: Bertha, Black-Throated Wind, Sugaree, Chinatown Shuffle,
Greatest Story Ever Told, Loser, Mr. Charlie, Looks Like Rain,
Tennessee Jed, Playing In The Band, You Win Again, Cumberland Blues,
Next Time You See Me, El Paso, Good Lovin', Casey Jones


Set 2: Truckin'-» Drums The Other One Wharf Rat, Sugar Magnolia,
The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion), Ramble On Rose,
Me & My Uncle, Big Railroad Blues, Not Fade Away

Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad One More Saturday Night

Not the greatest soundboard but it's not bad. Several songs in, some people will think giving this any less than A+ is a crime. Overall it's not quite but it's darn good.

I'm fairly certain that this show wasn't even around in the analog age. It's new to us here in the 21st Century Digital Age of the Dead. There is some hiss during quieter moments and the mix for the first few minutes of Bertha is a little ugly. There's also some minor distortion present at times as well as a light buzz here and there. Thankfully, a minor miracle occurs in the first minute of Chinatown Shuffle when the sound improves dramatically. The result is a delicious crispyness. The buzz is more noticeable (still faint and not distracting) but it disappears eventually. Problems there be but overall it's really a pretty decent recording.

The Dead were on their way to Europe when they stopped in New York, New York to play a pretty significant stand of shows at the Academy Of Music, a theater on E. 14th Street, not too far from where they'd played so often, the Fillmore East. That legendary establishment closed up the summer before so they needed somewhere new to hang their hat for awhile. And the Academy would be their home before heading overseas.

That tour of Europe in '72 gave Deadheads what would be a premier live Dead album for so many years... then years and years later came Without A Net and From The Vault and Dick's Picks and the tide was turning. Volume 30 in the DP series released to the masses one of the nights from these seven shows in eight nights run, the 28th, the last show before leaving the continent for awhile. In addition to that whole show, the release feature some of the music from the 25th with Bo Diddley. This here, the 21st, is the first night and only the third Dead show of 1972.

Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks 30: Academy Of Music, New York City, March 25 & 28, 1972Basically this is a flawlessly played show. First Set highlights for me are the third-ever Chinatown Shuffle, the gorgeous Loser, and the ultra-mega-mesmerizing Looks Like Rain. What make this version unbelievably outstanding to me is Jerry on pedal steel. Holy crap.

Playin' in these days wasn't quite the mammoth it became but at around 9 minutes it gives the band its first chance to get a little psychedelic. It's fascinating how that vehicle for finding the spacey jamming places is wedged in there and the next number is the bluesy You Win Again. To almost end the set Good Lovin' is wonderful. They have so much room to let Pig do his thing while musically they do their to back him up. Just awesome.

The fire continues into Set 2 with such a strong Truckin'. I'm really blown away more by Bob's rhythm work than anything else here. Jerry's beautifully Jerry and Phil's pounding away but why does it seem like it's Bob who's holding it all together here? So cool.

It didn't seem like Phil was entirely on during the first set. Maybe it's just the mix. Occasionally he's heard loud and clear, entering a song with power just when you want him to. But overall he wasn't there a lot and the same is true with Keith on piano. Set 2 for Phil is another story. He's all throughout this Truckin'! Phil's also all throughout (even dominating at times) The Other One. I think he woke up for Set 2! The band again has a lot of room to play here. Such a stark contrast from the mostly lickety split numbers of the first set (and what would occur later in the this set.) Before they get there, a gorgeous Wharf Rat is played. It barely gets any better. So nice! But the truest treat of the set for me is the World Premiere of Pigpen's The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion.) Man, what a show! What a great song. Why'd it go away when Pig did? This would've been OUTSTANDING by Jerry or maybe even Phil or perhaps Robert Hunter in his shows. What a tribute that woulda been. What a shame. Instead of being down about its disappearance, I guess it would be good to be thankful for its oh-so-brief appearance in a dozen shows in the first half of '72. Mmm. Pig is at the top of his game vocals-wise but it's also great to hear some of his harmonica in Big Railroad. Lastly (almost) I really dig the move into Saturday Night. Almost such a smooth transition. How cool that woulda been. Oh well. Pretty fun way to end a great show, though!

ARCHIVE HEADPHONES3/21/72 @ the Internet Archive:
the Soundboard for Listening Only
ARCHIVE HEADPHONES
TINY STEAL YOUR FACE Download The Show Here TINY STEAL YOUR FACE

Source: shnid=92395 Audio Quality: SBD
Lineage: Soundboard Master Reel DAT FLAC
3/21/72 - NYC - Part 1
Part 2 - NYC - 3/21/72
Part 3 - Academy Of Music - New York City
3-21-72 aka 03-21-72 aka 3/21/72 aka 03/21/72 aka 03-21-72 after the demise of The Fillmore East, the Dead hung here once -- Academy of Music later The Palladium

10 comments:

Adam said...

I am gonna bet this is a super hot post. A few weeks ago, I came by a copy of part of the 3/22 show and commented here about how much different the Playing on that show is when compared to the 3/27 and 3/28 versions (no Donna versus with Donna) and I am completely stoked to hear this version as well. Keep picking the good stuff Zoooma Boooma and SugarMags! It sure is doing wonders for me here in the weather-plagued tundra of North Dakota.
Thanks again,
Adam

TheNWRA said...

Thanks as always. Another great show to hear.

henryband said...

Once again, many many thanks for the hot '72 shows!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the show - I'm really looking forward to listening to it

keith h said...

Zoooma,

Thanks for another great rarity. I just listened to most of this show and really loved the truckin'>Drums>other one. Awesome!!!

Thanks!

Unknown said...

Thanks for all the fun and best wishes from Würzburg, Germany - the capital of Franconian wine. Hope you tasted it - if not, let me know
Ringo

Anonymous said...

Grate show!! Many thanks. I do have a request, maybe 11-19-66 or any Mickey and the Hartbeats shows. While I absolutely LOVE 70s Dead, I've been diggin' on the early stuff lately. Been jonesin' for the 60s! Anyways, thank you again! ~Dave~

Anonymous said...

WORHT every MOMENT of the download ,A+++ SMOKIN SHOW!
1972 what a yr for the G.D. :)-
the guy from INDY,In.

Zoooma said...

Adam,
TheNWRA,
henryband,
anonymous,
keith h,
Hans-Joachim (Ringo)
~Dave~,
guy in Indy ...

Hey Now! Good to hear from ya's! As always, everyone's always welcome for the tunes!

Nice to have a couple Europeans in the mix and one new guy: Hans-Joachim. I haven't had Franconian wine but Sugarmag might've. Her grandparents have lived in Germany (Nürnberg) for a long time and she gets over there every so often including an upcoming trip this summer.

Adam, I'm wishin' the best for everyone up there dealing with the cold and the flooding. Terrible crap.

~Dave~, semi-new guy, hey! I've been meaning to get back to my 1966 project (posting up the Dead chronologically) and so, well, if I continued it with a show a week you'd have to wait a couple months for 11/19/66 but I'll see what I can do for ya.

Anyway, thanks again, everyone, for comments... Pints on me one of these days! Enjoy the tunes!

Anonymous said...

Hey Zoooma, no rush at all. Keep up the 'grate'-ness!
~Dave~

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
Calvin and Hobbes in the snow -- animated