@4CPcomics@heads.social
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4CPcomics

@4CPcomics@heads.social

Mastodon outpost for the Save Your Face mixtape blog.
Notes and mp3s: https://saveyourface.posthaven.com/
Streams of most of the Grateful Dead mixes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8yyM8q9j5gYkJCSTEeciFyUItDQjFxcK

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

4CPcomics, to jazz
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The new Summer 1973 Grateful Dead boxed set brushes up against the brief flourishing of what's come to be known as "The Phil Jazz Jam." It's probably as close as the band ever came to an organized approach to a Davis/Coltrane zone. This is my favorite version (6/24/73 Portland).

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely I've been listening to the new box in my car during extended solo round-trips. The experiential divide between yowling, disorganized vocal tracks and this wild mercury music is being reinforced, rather than diminished (though the remastering makes the vocals easier to take, for sure).

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely I agree and am curious about why. I read once that the Wall of Sound setup (partial/complete) didn't capture the low end of vocals, which would explain why Weir's voice becomes so stabby for a while (but not always?!). And there's the separate issue of mixes that do not blend group vocals in any way. 3-5 people singing at once, sounding like 3-5 separate parts, rather than lead + harmonies.. Very distracting.

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely I also recall reading that singers had to be really close up to the double-mics in order to achieve the vocal-minus-background-noise clarity, which might also be a factor in every voice sounding like it's trying to be the lead voice.

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely @bourgwick If you isolate the Fall '73 shows/tapes you feel sound good, vocally, does it align at all with the size of the venue? The summer shows were mostly in big, wide-open spaces. I don't recall the 11/73 Winterland tapes making me wince.

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely Our 11/73 Winterland appreciations crossed in the mail!

4CPcomics,
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@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,
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@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,
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@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,
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@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,
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@mrcompletely I feel this way about Help on the Way, too. No room for vocal errors.

4CPcomics,
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@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,
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@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,
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@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,
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@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,
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@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,
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@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, (edited )
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@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.

mrcompletely, to books
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Well. I've been reading a lot as usual and there have been some good in there and some of the nonfiction has been excellent. But I haven't had a home run read in awhile and so it's time to dip back into the masterpiece rereads stack. I'm not quite in a Pynchon mood so tonight I'm starting Soldier of the Mist, one of Gene Wolfe's finest works, which by definition puts it on the all time short list of greatest genre novels.
🧵
https://bookshop.org/p/books/latro-in-the-mist-soldier-of-the-mist-and-soldier-of-arete-gene-wolfe/7252330

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely "memory and its deceits" - so breathtakingly, disorientingly handled in Wolfe's "The Fifth Head of Cerberus."

taylorlorenz, to random
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Agree with this piece on IG’s Threads and why it can never truly replicate the magic Twitter once had https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/06/threads-wont-be-fun-but-it-will-give-brands-a-home-away-from-twitter/?guccounter=1

image/png

4CPcomics,
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@taylorlorenz haven't noticed changes in my twitter experience that aren't primarily about:

  1. Seeing more stuff that I didn't used to - IF I view "for you" - but which I can easily avoid/mute as desired.

  2. People I enjoyed have left twitter, creating the erosion they lamented when exiting. Protesting "new twitter" by leaving has at least in part contributed to the creation of new twitter.

But I'm not struggling to make twitter give me the perspectives/pleasure that I'm looking for.

4CPcomics, to random
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A short Grateful Dead performance, presented without identification. What's your quality rating, 1-to-10, and why?

4CPcomics,
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@SourceRolls I'm always intrigued by what turn-offs are for Dead fans. Weir's sonic variations have never impeded my love of his playing, and I find all the MIDI simulations delightful - a welcome ingredient. I'm most curious about your "Jerry is sluggish" comment. He strikes me as hitting exactly the way he wants - almost pin-prick-playing - deliberately occupying a space just a hair away the easiest place to put notes - adding a slight tension I want to call jazz-like.

4CPcomics,
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@SourceRolls I'm not knocking your response AT ALL. The continuing allure of 30 years of Dead depends on our divergent tastes and delights.

4CPcomics, to music
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Hello , , fans. Thanks for the warm welcome. I don’t know a lot of you.

I curate Grateful Dead and other music (mostly unreleased) into unique listening experiences.

I write them up and provide mp3s on the Save Your Face blog. Check out the 65 tags menu on the left to quickly explore the range of mixes. Note the “not the Grateful Dead” filter (PiL, Miles Davis, etc.).
https://saveyourface.posthaven.com/

Most of the Dead mixes also stream on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8yyM8q9j5gYkJCSTEeciFyUItDQjFxcK

4CPcomics,
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@mrcompletely Wow, thanks for sharing this. Until Cory (Hank's Old Man) started posting mixes on Youtube, I really couldn't tell how many people actually listened to/loved them, because feedback on the blog and twitter is pretty rare.

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