Published on Jul 15, 2002
These days, it’s nearly impossible for a true Deadhead to keep
up to date with all things revolving around the Grateful Dead –
never mind the band hasn’t existed since Jerry Garcia’s death in
1995. New releases from the band’s vaults keep coming out, as
regular as clockwork. The discovery of “FurthurNet,” a kind of
Napster for Deadheads (all live shows), makes keeping up that much
more difficult.
Then there is the “Dick’s Picks” series, now 25 volumes into its
history. I’m so far behind with these that I finally just got
around to listening to
Dick’s Picks Volume Six, which was mass-released by Arista a
few years ago for a limited time. (The set is still available at
the Dead’s official Web site.)
The first of these volumes to touch on the ’80s version of the
Dead, this concert from Hartford, Connecticut back on 10/14/83 is
an interesting choice. It was a time when Garcia’s drug use was
rumored to be on the increase, and was just four years before the
band would earn their first top 10 hit. Add to this the fact that
Garcia blows a verse in the concert’s opening song “Alabama
Getaway,” and one may start getting bad karma from this show.
Fortunately, all these worries are quickly flushed out of the
system. Garcia’s singing and playing turn out to be strong efforts,
and the Dead show that while they might not have been pop stars,
they still knew how to blow the doors off of any arena they
played.
Take, for example, “Althea”. I absolutely hate this song, and
tend to cringe when it comes time for it to appear in a concert.
Yet Garcia’s heartfelt singing and playing help to keep me
interested in this particular rendition, and makes me think that
the song could well hold out hope for me in the end.
The first disc (comprising the whole first set of the Hartford
show) is noteworthy for the first appearance of “Keep Your Day Job”
on any commercially-released Grateful Dead album. One listen to
this, and you have to wonder why it never quite made the cut on any
studio effort. It’s a little tentative, but seems to have the
potential to be a real barn-burner due to the energy and fun spirit
it has.
The second set, though, is where the magic comes into play. Disc
two features a mere four songs, but the hour of music created is
some of the best work the Dead did for that time in their history.
The absolutely electrifying versions of “Scarlet Begonias” and
“Fire On The Mountain” could well rank as one of the best
performances of this song duet, thanks in no small part to the
keyboard work of Brent Mydland. Listen to the effects Mydland
throws in (including synthesized xylophone) and you’ll realize that
Mydland may well have been the least appreciated member of the Dead
in their history, and with no disrespect meant towards Vince
Welnick or Bruce Hornsby, Mydland was sorely missed after his death
in 1990.
My only complaint about this particular suite of music – this
version of “Eyes Of The World” feels a bit rushed. And, yeah, when
percussionists Mickey Hart and Bll Kreutzmann sound this good, I do
wish that “Drums” had been longer than five minutes. But “Spinach
Jam” gives the group a chance to rhythmically stretch their legs,
and might have been even more enjoyable than “Space” (which gets
the night off in this concert). As always, it’s great to hear “U.S.
Blues,” even if it appears as the encore song.
At one time, I had the tapes to this particular concert, but
somehow misplaced them in one of the many moves I’ve undertaken
over the past 10 years.
Dick’s Picks Volume Six helps to remind me how good those
tapes were, and is one of the best releases so far in this
series.