4CPcomics

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@stevesilberman When there's the appearance of corruption, it is corruption. Thomas makes it absurdly easy to see, but it's true for any politician whose election funding and policy initiatives imply that they are employed by and beholden to private industry. It's not hard to identify the stooges, because they don't try to prove that they aren't stooges.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @bourgwick But is a SBD tape of the time really capturing "an acoustic space," or is it just capturing the band's performative response to an acoustic space/scene/scope, whose ambiences and circumstances are not captured in the sonic journal? On site, Weir might have felt he needed to yell; on tape, you wonder, why is Weir yelling.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @bourgwick I think we're agreeing. In a more intimate space, everyone is likely to be more subtle and to be able to blend in real time more accurately. (I feel like Garcia never has any trouble in any circumstance, which is confounding.)

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely This convo is reminding me that the first 2-3 years of my GD mixtaping was largely a quest to isolate 1972-1974 tracks that didn't include any sonically painful elements, which often meant the vocals. People misunderstood and thought I was judging what I excluded as poorly played.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely Very true. I've crowd-sourced "great versions," and people will recommend versions where the vocals are terrible, the lyrics are all screwed up, etc. I can handle some of that slop for a Shakedown or Eyes, but if it's a non-jam song, I draw the line at the song being effed up. Don't tell me to listen to a Jack-a-Roe if a whole verse is screwed up - that's a BAD version.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely I feel this way about Help on the Way, too. No room for vocal errors.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely 6/22/73 Here Comes Sunshine: Garcia's completely lost on the words/verses from beginning to end, but the playing between the verses is exceptional.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @the_dude_abided @ScottM I may be wrong, but I'm inclined to say that Garcia narrated Bertha best in the early '70s. It's an underrated Dead 1st person narrative, undersold when being delivered as a rote/flattened rave up.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @the_dude_abided @ScottM In the spirit of your Frankensteined Help > Slip > Franklin's comment, I think there are probably many amazing '80s Fires you could create, if you curated/edited-together the best intros, middle-jams, and closing jams. But also, 1981 is pretty on-target for whole versions.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @ScottM @the_dude_abided I've never had a definitive Franklin's pick. It's kind of a Truckin' to me - a lengthy, structured rave up. When Franklin's is thump-a-thump-a-thump, it's skippable. When it's sprightly and full of shimmering syncopation, it's a delight. Speaks to mix/recording-quality as much as performance.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @shlenny @the_dude_abided @ScottM I'll happily revise to the position that taped vocals were routinely excellent (selling the songs themselves) across 1976-1977.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @the_dude_abided @ScottM I have no take on April '78 and will have to look into it. I do think the "singing with care" thing is real. My experience with 1990s performances is that anytime he found his voice was in good form, he went out of his way to leverage that, sculpting tunes quite dramatically - sometimes almost definitively.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

@mrcompletely @shlenny @the_dude_abided @ScottM Really, all Donna haters should be directed to 1976. And there's even that document of Garcia insisting that Donna finally be able to hear herself clearly, the first requirement for any electrified singer to sing as they intend.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @the_dude_abided @ScottM The official April '78 canon, for your commentary.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@shlenny @mrcompletely @the_dude_abided @ScottM Agreed. I do not often listen to 1976. I've peeled off some material that I find great - tangible reasons to value the year/evolution - but I rarely consider 1976 when seeking a show I've never heard. I may be wrong, but nobody's told me that, so far.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@chopaganda @mrcompletely @ScottM @the_dude_abided Bart telling Grandpa Simpson that his take ignores a lot of context - and Grandpa Simpson bailing, because he only has a reply-guy take.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@chopaganda @mrcompletely @ScottM @the_dude_abided I'm not averse to meeting someone who loves every Franklins. It's a take.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @chopaganda @ScottM @the_dude_abided "It was a dance tune" is a legit qualification.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @chopaganda @ScottM @the_dude_abided Unless it was in the same set as Women Are Smarter. Or maybe that's fine in retrospect, because thee band was mining a vein that was hot that night, but as a show-goer, watching song-slots go by, that doubling up upset me.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @chopaganda @ScottM @the_dude_abided Fair. I saw 1-of-the-18 and misremembered a two-show run as having both in the same show (because they filled slots that could have held something more magnificent that I was desperate to hear at the time).

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely @chopaganda @ScottM @the_dude_abided Getting across the divide between our perspective when seeing shows and the evidence of the tapes is the grace we all need to have good takes.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@mrcompletely Maybe you're the person to make a 2LP/100m song-based 1976 album that features just the tunes that 1976 did particularly well. Even apart from versions, I'd be curious to know what compositions you'd unhesitatingly put on that.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@the_dude_abided @mrcompletely What counts as a Dead ballad? I'm certainly up for anything that shines a light on a particular aspect of the music.

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@the_dude_abided @mrcompletely This Sept. 1987 mix captures about 10 "ballads" in really fine form (Garcia in great voice and band snug).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4azHsKwHpfA&t=10s

4CPcomics, 10 months ago

@the_dude_abided @mrcompletely I don't think I know Spring '87! My only mixes are from Fall shows. Point me a great set!