Pacific Northwest '73-74 Complete Recordings

I got the Grateful Dead's Pacific Northwest '73-'74 Complete Recordings  box set because I love the time period for the Dead ('73-74) and I also live in the Pacific Northwest.

The box set includes the following shows:

6/22/73 Vancouver
6/24/73 Portland
6/26/73 Seattle

5/17/74 Vancouver
5/19/74 Portland
5/21/74 Seattle

The box and artwork for the Complete Recordings are truly spectacular and a joy to have in the living room if you're into the native Pacific Northwest artwork. Great job First Nations artist Roy Henry Vickers!

 The included essay in the box set doesn't have much of anything that interesting that an avid fan wouldn't already know, but worth a read for a few more details that might have slipped by. I still am wondering why, if they were hauling the expensive-to-haul Wall of Sound using multiple 18-wheelers during a time with increasing gas prices, they played in the following order (Vancouver-Portland-Seattle). Both in '73 and '74. Seems inefficient and I was hoping that somebody in the included booklet essay would shed light on that poor logistics decision (made twice). But alas...

I also got the Complete Recordings because I already had the 5/19/74 Portland and the 6/22/73 Vancouver shows easily in my top 50 of Dead shows that I have heard through the archive.org open access recordings, and it's nice to have these 2 shows on a hard copy in their re-mastered glory. Both of these shows shine with wonderful energy from start to finish and should be in the Dead canon forever. 

For me the whole show is a highlight, but others have mentioned highlights from the '73 Vancouver show, like the "Bird Song"--a mellow, meditative, jazzy, vampy 14-minute beauty. Not my favorite version (prefer 8/27/72 or 9/21/72), but the jazz-y meditative version here is different and a pleasure to hear in its remastered glory and certainly a top 5 version and a must-listen for fans of the era and song and jazzy Dead.

I play "Black Peter" on my mandolin and playing/singing it has made me realize that it's one of Garcia-Hunter's best songs ever written. The chord progressions, the lyrics, the way it flows and comes together are some of the best things Garcia-Hunter ever did. The C chords in the bridge hit like a gut shot. It’s so suggestive, tailor-made for Garcia and his voice, and feels prophetic, yet can be interpreted in a number of ways. The “Black Peters” from this era (late ’72-early ’73) are spectacular and this version is no exception. Love it!!! I also love that when you listen with headphones, you can hear the crowd loudly proclaim “Long Live the Grateful Dead” as the song is beginning—a little detail that makes me giggle with glee.

The 18-minute Playin' is really good, too. Several commenters have noted that the Dead tease, hint at, or foreshadow "Fire on the Mountain," a song that they wouldn't officially write/record for another few years, at around the 7-minute mark in the jam. Yes, the jam goes to many worlds, even to songs they hadn't written yet.

Also from this show is a wonderful 60-minute marathon medley starting with He’s Gone > Truckin’> The Other One>Wharf Rat. The long, spacey sandwich of this medley in between Truckin’ and The Other One goes through some insanely spectacular worlds and spaces, starting with a Phil solo that molds into a groove established with Billy and then once the rest of the band coalesces around this groove, it goes further and further out there. Quintessential ’73 Dead Space Jazz. Once we get to the Wharf Rat, we’ve achieved nirvana. As a jazzer and for all those others who love the ’73 Dead Space Jazz sound, this is wonderful stuff! It doesn’t get too dark and hairy (a brief minute or two) and that dark hairiness only makes the transcendence better, right?

The ’74 Portland show shines with that sunny Dead energy from start to finish. It includes a top 5 “Truckin’” for me and the 10-minute jam after it truly goes to wild places. A must-listen for any head. The “China Cat” and its transition into “I Know You Rider” are certainly required listening, too. One of my top 5 renditions of this one-two punch. Unfortunately, we lose the vocals on 4 songs from the first set. Sound problems that were not uncommon from recordings from ’74.  But other highlights include a nice “Mississippi…” opener, a beautiful “Peggy-O,” and a loose “Loose Lucy.” This “Loose Lucy” is my favorite version. Though I can’t call myself a “Loose Lucy” scholar, it’s  the second loosest of all the versions I’ve heard with the 11/11/73 taking the prize.

Okay, but what about the other shows? I wouldn’t call the other shows in the Complete Recordings A+ material like the ’73 Vancouver and ’74 Portland shows, but if you’re a deadicated head, you might want to consider the following:

The ’73 Portland show is another sunny energy show with minimal flaws. Nobody mentions the “Dark Star,” but I will. It’s a 27-minute Dark Star “Lite” which is actually quite pleasant. Definitely worth a listen. It exits into a nice “Eyes.” This sequence isn’t as good as the 11/11/73 “Dark Star”> “Eyes,” my favorite Dark Star>Eyes. But the Portland version here is nothing to sneeze at.

The 6-26-73 Seattle show has what I’d call a very mediocre first set (C- at best). It’s mediocre for the energy and sound quality. During this time period, it feels like they were a little lazy monitoring levels (this ain’t a Betty Board, folks), especially in the first sets. It also sounds like Jerry’s amp is tired. Either Jerry’s asleep or his amp isn’t sounding right or something…But then we get to the “Playing In The Band” to close the first set. If you are a Phil fan, this Playin' is required listening. He goes bananas and carries the band. You can literally hear a woman in the first row having a “music-gasm”—she is screaming with joy, going nuts on the landing after a spectacular Phil jam. And rightfully so. Like this screaming woman, I was quite pleased.

There’s an oft repeated refrain that the Dead’s first sets were just warm-up sets,  not as important as the second sets, where all the magic happens, and I find this maxim especially true in '73. And this Seattle show is a clear example. (I can see why partisan of late 80s shows have their reasons for preferring that time period as both sets could be both important and good.)

But the second set of this 6-26-73 Seattle show really makes up for the lackluster first set. If Jerry was asleep in the first set, somebody fixed his amp and passed him some kind, kind stuff and he is firing on all cylinders. Right out of the gate, Bertha> Promised Land shreds. They Love Each Other is the bounciest version I’ve ever heard—Jerry slays vocally, too. The Big River, like most from this era, is just a Garcia-Weir guitar clinic on how to play honky tonk country guitar. The interplay between them and Billy’s perfect shuffle is just off the charts here for those who love Country Dead. Billy has got to be one of the most underrated and subtle jazz drummers.

The “Here Comes Sunshine” isn’t as good as the Vancouver show or nearly as good as the 12-19-73 version (the greatest “Sunshine” ever), but it’s still worth a listen. The meat of the set “He’s Gone”>Truckin’>The Other One (sandwiched by Me and Bobby McGee) isn’t as long as other marathon medleys but makes up for it in inventiveness. Starting with a satisfying “He’s Gone”—if  it were any more laid back, they’d fall over, it turns on a dime to “Truckin’,” a reminder that my favorite era of Jerry’s guitars was the Alligator era—his ’57 Fender Strat just has a smooth country honky tonk blues feel with a knife edge to the belly when he needed it. “The Other One” is very much another space jazz version, very jazzy at the beginning and then goes to deep, disturbing and scary space at the end of the reprise—last couple of minutes, almost too out there, Phil, dude, relax.

Let’s move on to the other ’74 shows. The 5/17/74 Vancouver show overall is a C effort. I think the band is still getting used to the power of the Wall of Sound. You can feel its power and potential, but they haven’t learned to wield the power of the Wall of Sound yet. (I have a long-winded description of the Wall of Sound here.) 

If 5/17/74 is lackluster, there are still 2 noteworthy songs from the show. For me, I prefer ’72 and ’73 versions of the Playin' in the Band—it just doesn’t get much better than that. But the Playin' here is just pure psychedelia. Phil is having so much fun exploring and you can hear it. This is my favorite Playin' from ’74 and nobody mentions it. So I will. It’s a thousand times better than the Seattle 46-minute version from a few days later that is frequently cited. Which in my mind is a complete waste. The 46-minute Playin' from Seattle is a clear example of longest version does not = best version—the band is meandering and lost through a good portion of those 46 minutes. Believe me, I love long, meandering jams that teeter into being lost, but the 46-minute Seattle Playin' isn’t a thousandth as good as this 5/17 Vancouver Playin', which should be required listening for Phil Phans! The other must-listen from Vancouver ’74 is the Eyes of the World. It's difficult to find bad versions of Eyes in the '73-'74 glory years, and this version is nice and crisp with great energy.

Vancouver

That being said, the 5/21/74 Seattle show, like the second set of the 6/26/73 Seattle show is an underrated gem with the exception of the meandering Playin', which really should be listened to once for fans of the era and the song.  Overall show is a solid B+ and the “Weather Report Suite,” (this tune, like Eyes, was always a gem in the era), might even have something more, even better than other ’74 versions, and might be my new favorite version. Peak song in a peak era, and this Seattle version is very tasty. Other highlights include “Brown-Eyed Women,” and a nice “Stella Blue.” The “Row Jimmy” is nice, too—it’s just such a mellow, laid-back, subtle song. Overall, good show.

In general, I find the ’73 shows on this collection more satisfying than the ’74 shows. 5/19/74 is beautiful and if there weren't 4 songs with missing vocals, I'd deem it perfect. But all three ’73 shows have their merits—6/22/73 is canonical, 6/24/73 is a perfect selection for a mellow sunny day and the second set of 6/26/73 is a scorcher.

In ’74, they spent the beginning of the year (these shows, really) learning to wield the power of the Wall of Sound. And the latter part of year being burnt out by the Wall. The sweet spot happens in the middle of the year with 6/26 and 6/28/74, captured on Dick’s Picks 12, my personal favorite recording from this year.  Best “China Cat Sunflower”> “I Know You Rider,” a deep spacey “Spanish Jam,” and a 28-minute jam out of “Weather Report Suite” that might be some of the finest live improvisational music ever recorded. We get the potential for that sort of playing with 5/19/74, the jam out of “Truckin’” is something else entirely and also otherworldly good. How they were feeling and playing so tight is beyond me.

Phil, throughout this Pacific Northwest collection, is 5 stars. This is a time when Phil is just so excited about the sounds he’s getting through the sound system and the avant garde space jazz the Dead were leaning to at this time fits him perfectly. His sounds blurs between a deep, woody jazz bass and what I call a stretchy “bubble  yum” bass. Listen to it—it’s like he’s stretching a piece of bubble yum bubble gum with his bass—truly one of the more original rock n’ roll bass players and my personal favorite. 

Phil is my gateway to the Grateful Dead and if you're a fan of his playing, this box set is for you. At 16, I was playing baritone sax in the high school jazz band, but I was wishing I were playing the bass. A bass player like a combination of Jimmy Garrison (John Coltrane Quartet), Geddy Lee (Rush), and Les Claypool (Primus). I also didn't realize it but I was a country folky in the making, so when I heard Phil (my jazz roots) and Bobby and Jerry (my budding country interest) play together in the Dead I knew I had found my band.

Keith has a lot of 5 star moments and this collection is a reminder of how good he was and how much he defined the sound of all ‘70s Dead. His move to different sounds with the Rhodes keyboard changed the sound of the band.

Ensemble playing, which is what it’s all really about, really only reaches 5 stars on the 6/22/73 Vancouver show, the 5/19/74 Portland show, and maybe the second set of 6/26/73 Seattle, a scorcher at times.

The entire band is in such a creative peak, starting in late '69 with their work on Workingman's Dead and American Beauty and this peak continues through about m late '74. Garcia and Hunter were peaking so hard that they had a hard time getting all of the music they were writing recorded in a studio. There is an album's worth of classics that only appear in concerts--the band was too busy playing live and being on the road.

Phil, in particular, begins quite a peak in October '71 when Keith joined the band. I just recently listened to The Other One on 10-22-71 and you can tell that Phil is so happy to have a jazzy piano player with tremendous chops. It's just Keith's third show, but the chemistry is there. We reach Phil's peak of peaks in this time slot represented in this box set between these '73 shows and the end of '74.Phil's the one leading the charges on the jams. In '72 and '77, it was Jerry leading the majority of the jams, which may or may not be why '72 and '77 may or may not be the Dead's best years by a nose (I love all of these years, so I can't say). Either way, the band is at its true best when it's the ensemble leading the charges in the jams, and this happens on the A+ shows here, particularly 6/22/73 and 5/19/74.

So, overall, I give the Complete Recordings a 4 stars. A solid B+. Another reason to not give 5 stars is the sound. There is a sound to all Dead recordings from ’73 and ’74 that is a tad bothersome to me. I’ll try to explain…don’t get me wrong, I love this era and the clarity and the separation of each instrument is beyond belief, especially for the ’74 shows, and for jazzers like me, I can’t get enough of the music and the sound from this era, but as others have noted, the vocals have a weak, tinny sound in comparison. It’s just the way the shows were originally recorded. The recordings from this era can also be on the sterile side. While I was going through the box set, I re-visited a show from the Complete Europe ’72 box set and Betty and the Wizard just did a just exactly perfect recording of these ’72 shows—they just feel alive, they’re big and airy, and you feel like you’re on the stage right behind Weir. Truly my favorite box set. These ’73-74 recordings sound a tad sterile in comparison. The re-mastery here on these Pac Northwest discs is great, though. Like I would say…that if you like ’73, go listen to 11-11-73 or 12-19-73, both of which are canonical musically speaking, but the Dick’s Picks 1 on which you can find 12-19-73 released commercially, has poor re-mastery and it’s just kinda weak in sound with a fair amount of hiss and dead air. In my dream of dreams, they’d do a re-mastery of 12-19-73 or officially release the night before 12-18-73 (Dave Lemieux, you listening?), which is almost as good as 12-19-73.

'74 Wall of Sound. Vancouver.