Want some Jam?

Here's one that a commenter around here asked for a.k.a. another request fulfilled. I can't always get a request up quickly but I'll certainly work on it! Always happy to help out... and happy when it's something like this that I haven't heard in like a gazillion years or so. Holy moly, this brings me back. I found this tape in a friend's tape case once upon a time, a long, long time ago back in Missoula, Montana. What a score. My copy off his was just fine at the time, hissier than this here in the digital age, but it was the PERFECT tape to pop in and play on a warm summer night with steaks on the grill, dogs in the yard, a nice breeze a-blowin' through the trees and a Pete's Wicked Ale in hand. Sittin' on the porch in the summertime, watchin' life go by back in western Montana... man.... that was Heaven on a Stick, Mick, it didn't get much better than that. Work hard, relax mightily. We were often as broke as a son-of-a-bitch but the steaks they were always prime and the beer was never Bud, bud. When possible it was nice to splurge a little to make life a little bit sweeter. Summertime in Montana with the Good Ol' Grateful Dead jamming in the background while watching the late night summer sun dip below the horizon after steaks cooked on the grill... ahhhhhh...

Mickey & The Hartbeats October 30, 1968 - The Matrix San Francisco

Dark Star Jam-» Death Letter Blues, Other One Jam// St. Stephen Jam//
... Jam (Other One-esque)-» Turn On Your Lovelight Jam-» Jam-»
The Eleven Jam-» Death Don't Have No Mercy-» Jam, Blues Jam*,
Prisoner Blues*, Jam, (another) Dark Star Jam
·
* with Elvin Bishop; Bobby & Pigpen were not present

There's nothing for me to say about this except that it is exceptional beyond a shadow of a doubt. Why do I go for so long without playing tunes like this? Criminal!

transcribed from: The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, Volume 1: An In-Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape, 1959-1974 by Michael Getz and John Dwork [out of print] The opener is a mellow, stratospheric "Dark Star" jam that meanders into an amorphous portion that is mostly extended Lesh improvisation. Ultimately, Garcia cranks up a nasty, fuzzy tone on his guitar, building a blues jam that flows into a short, speedy version of Son House's "Death Letter Blues." After a bit of tuning, Lesh cranks out his patented "Other One" introductory riff to herald a long, intricate "Other One" jam. This abruptly changes into a loud, syncopated improvisation on the instrumental break in "Saint Stephen," and wraps up with a frenetic instrumental "Turn On Your Lovelight." After another lengthy pause, the Hartbeats groove into a slow, sensuous instrumental rendition of "Clementine" that shows how marvelous the melodic skeleton of this song really is, particularly the middle passage's insistent, repetitive bass figure. A sweet, low-key version of "The Eleven" gives way to an impassioned, set-closing "Death Don't Have No Mercy." The second half of the show begins with Elvin Bishop on second guitar sitting in on a bittersweet, late-night improvisational jam that moves into conventional twelve-bar blues, during which Bishop and Garcia trade some remarkable leads. The dueling guitars continue into the next number, an energized version of "Baby Please Come Back to Me," which Bishop played on October 8. After Bishop's exit, the Hartbeats play around on another improvisation based on the middle of "Clementine." At the end of this, Garcia dismisses the audience's applause saying, " That isn't necessary. We're here primarily to screw around, so don't expect anything that isn't screwing around. We will be screwing around, unless otherwise stated in advance." The last piece of music on this tape is another "Dark Star" jam, which cuts abruptly after about thirty minutes. by MICHAEL PARRISH

10/30/68 @ the Internet Archive: the soundboard for Listening Only

Download The Show Here Source: shnid=1205 Audio Quality: Lineage: Digitized from First Generation Reels Analog To Digital using a Revox A-77 Reel 2 Reel > Alesis Masterlink ML-9600 (24 bit sampled @ 96k) > 16 bit @ 44.1k downsample to CD>EAC>SHN Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3

mp3 320 kbps SBD + setlist (no lossless FLAC) 10-30-68 aka 10-30-68 aka 10/30/68 aka 10/30/68 aka 68-10-30