Bring out more Dead!
May 19, 2020 8:11 PM Subscribe
A tremendous collection of Grateful Dead tapes at the Internet Archive. It might go without saying that there are five more recordings added since the headline.
"Given the commitment of their loyal fanbase, the Deadheads have been scouring the archives to find rare recordings for years. Now though, the Internet Archive has managed to collect 14,566 bootlegs into one convenient location. The Internet Archive, a non-profit internet library that has been plugging away since 1996 in an attempt to make “Universal Access to All Knowledge” through its website, has been collecting books, magazines, television programmes and culturally relevant films with prolific accuracy."
"Given the commitment of their loyal fanbase, the Deadheads have been scouring the archives to find rare recordings for years. Now though, the Internet Archive has managed to collect 14,566 bootlegs into one convenient location. The Internet Archive, a non-profit internet library that has been plugging away since 1996 in an attempt to make “Universal Access to All Knowledge” through its website, has been collecting books, magazines, television programmes and culturally relevant films with prolific accuracy."
I love looking through the Archive to find shows I attended, ones I read about and ones with songs that are rare. The shows with guest artists are a treasure too. There really are no bad Dead shows, just some are better than others. I prefer certain years. '72 and '73 are great sounding shows. Jerry is in his prime. '77 Wake of the Flood shows are terrific. Franklin's, Eyes, Estimated, etc. Of course, I love a good Wharf Rat.
posted by AugustWest at 8:43 PM on May 19, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by AugustWest at 8:43 PM on May 19, 2020 [6 favorites]
cross reference with: Grateful Dead Archive Online at UC Santa Cruz.
posted by niicholas at 9:25 PM on May 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by niicholas at 9:25 PM on May 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
It might go without saying that there are five more recordings added since the headline.
Only five?
posted by Paul Slade at 10:03 PM on May 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
Only five?
posted by Paul Slade at 10:03 PM on May 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
I know which one has the best Supplication Jam...but I'm not sayin'.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:07 PM on May 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 10:07 PM on May 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
My regular trawls through Archive have not only broadened my appreciation for this amazing band's music, they have introduced me to the taper community in far more depth than my mid-90s usenet dalliances could've imagined. Archive -> etree > bliss.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 10:42 PM on May 19, 2020
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 10:42 PM on May 19, 2020
I Miss Jerry :(
posted by mikelieman at 1:38 AM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 1:38 AM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
Archive -> etree > bliss.
etree.org Community Bittorrent Tracker There's a lot of David Bromberg on the first page...
posted by mikelieman at 1:42 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
etree.org Community Bittorrent Tracker There's a lot of David Bromberg on the first page...
posted by mikelieman at 1:42 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
dimeadozen.org also have a few hundred dead shows at any one time, often in high quality. Dime is a torrent site but they (very strictly) only host legal content.
It's worth noting that the Grateful Dead only played 2300 concerts, so the archive has quite a few duplicates.
posted by Lanark at 3:12 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's worth noting that the Grateful Dead only played 2300 concerts, so the archive has quite a few duplicates.
posted by Lanark at 3:12 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
My friends started a jam and jelly business. For a long time, I tried getting them to call it "Grateful Bread: A Jam Brand" but failed :(
posted by kolendra at 5:22 AM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by kolendra at 5:22 AM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
AugustWest said: "Of course, I love a good Wharf Rat."Username checks out. Thanks for sharing your story with us, old man.
posted by headnsouth at 5:46 AM on May 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
... the Grateful Dead only played 2300 concerts..."only"
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 6:27 AM on May 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
etree.org Community Bittorrent Tracker There's a lot of David Bromberg on the first page...
It also has buttons to exclude the Dead or Phish or both, if you're looking for something else.
posted by tommasz at 7:34 AM on May 20, 2020
It also has buttons to exclude the Dead or Phish or both, if you're looking for something else.
posted by tommasz at 7:34 AM on May 20, 2020
The best way to power through recordings on the Live Music Archive--whether the Dead, Fugazi, Andrew Bird, My Morning Jacket, etc--is by using Relisten.net. It's not the slickest UX, but markedly improves the browsing and sampling of shows and sources.
posted by prinado at 8:07 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by prinado at 8:07 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
I've been a longtime fan and supporter of the Internet Archive in general and the Live Music Archive more specifically. It is an amazing resource. (btw, if you're an Android user, the Deadhead Archives app is the best substitute for Relisten)
So here's a thing that I find so weird and interesting about the Grateful Dead, a band seemingly full of contradiction and paradox: they were famously all about the live experience, and finding that special moment where the band and the crowd came together. They talked a lot about this - Garcia was horrified by the Watts Towers - the idea that you'd spend your life creating an artifact that would live on after your death appalled him. He was more interested in being in the moment.
And yet, they recorded many of their early performances (thanks to Bear's obsessiveness) - initially to evaluate their performance, then out of inertia. And they started letting others record, either by bringing their own gear or by plugging into the soundboard. And they let people freely trade these shows - in their words, they could be musicians or cops, and they didn't want to be cops. (plus, what better way to build word of mouth for a band that never plays the same concert twice?)
And yet also, they never released an actual full recording of any of their concerts during their career. Europe '72, Live/Dead, Reckoning, Dead Set, etc - they're all compilations, mostly leaving out the big jams. (that's partly due to the time limitations of vinyl ...)
And yet finally, now, 25 years after Garcia's death, they have dozens of releases of live recordings and thousands of concert recordings freely available. Cornell 5/8/77 is in the Library of Congress. The band that was so focused on creating that singular moment is the most recorded band ever, with a vast, free archive that draws fans born after Jerry died...
posted by chbrooks at 3:27 PM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
So here's a thing that I find so weird and interesting about the Grateful Dead, a band seemingly full of contradiction and paradox: they were famously all about the live experience, and finding that special moment where the band and the crowd came together. They talked a lot about this - Garcia was horrified by the Watts Towers - the idea that you'd spend your life creating an artifact that would live on after your death appalled him. He was more interested in being in the moment.
And yet, they recorded many of their early performances (thanks to Bear's obsessiveness) - initially to evaluate their performance, then out of inertia. And they started letting others record, either by bringing their own gear or by plugging into the soundboard. And they let people freely trade these shows - in their words, they could be musicians or cops, and they didn't want to be cops. (plus, what better way to build word of mouth for a band that never plays the same concert twice?)
And yet also, they never released an actual full recording of any of their concerts during their career. Europe '72, Live/Dead, Reckoning, Dead Set, etc - they're all compilations, mostly leaving out the big jams. (that's partly due to the time limitations of vinyl ...)
And yet finally, now, 25 years after Garcia's death, they have dozens of releases of live recordings and thousands of concert recordings freely available. Cornell 5/8/77 is in the Library of Congress. The band that was so focused on creating that singular moment is the most recorded band ever, with a vast, free archive that draws fans born after Jerry died...
posted by chbrooks at 3:27 PM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
I haven't listened to that many Dead concerts, but I do know that a live recording can capture that moment where everything comes into synch. It's not something you achieve with casual listening, or only very rarely. It's something that comes with actually listening to the show and participating in the flow and the "story' of the show in the same way the band and the audience did. I have a bootleg of a show U2 did in Phoenix in late 2001 and it was nearly a worship service devoted to healing the souls of everyone present post 9/11. Entirely different from the Elevation Tour DVD that had documented earlier legs of the tour. The crowd connection that night was really strong, and it comes through in the recording.
I'm sure there are a lot more Dead shows like that than from any other band simply because they kept going out and trying over and over and over.
posted by hippybear at 9:12 PM on May 20, 2020
I'm sure there are a lot more Dead shows like that than from any other band simply because they kept going out and trying over and over and over.
posted by hippybear at 9:12 PM on May 20, 2020
10/15/83
posted by hypnogogue at 10:10 PM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by hypnogogue at 10:10 PM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
10/15/83
There's like 3 dozen recordings of this show available at the Archive.org and I'll try to figure out which one to get. The waveforms presented in the search are fascinating. I don't know if I want one that has a lot of up and down or one that is a giant wall of sound.
I do love me a good Dead show, and this is a recommendation I'll explore.
posted by hippybear at 10:33 PM on May 20, 2020
There's like 3 dozen recordings of this show available at the Archive.org and I'll try to figure out which one to get. The waveforms presented in the search are fascinating. I don't know if I want one that has a lot of up and down or one that is a giant wall of sound.
I do love me a good Dead show, and this is a recommendation I'll explore.
posted by hippybear at 10:33 PM on May 20, 2020
There's like 3 dozen recordings of this show available at the Archive.org and I'll try to figure out which one to get. The waveforms presented in the search are fascinating. I don't know if I want one that has a lot of up and down or one that is a giant wall of sound.
I sorted the list by views, and while that's not definitive, it's a fair starting point.
Consider these 4 recordings, in no particular order
Audience - Front of (sound)Board, with Beyer Dynamic hypercardioid mics.
Soundboard/Audience "matrix", FOB Sennheiser 441 mics
Audience, FOB Senn. 441 mics ( This is just the audience recording used in the matrix above )
Audience, FOB Nak 700 Cardiod condensers ( FWIW, this is my personal preference )
(I recommend a good set of headphones or a REALLY good stereo/small PA system, and loud enough so you can get close to the show's actual dynamics, which is required for the finest flashbacks. For the audience tapes, dial it in by listening to the people around you talking, singing, etc, so when the guy next to the taper goes "YEAH!", it sounds about right. In Raleigh at a Widespread Panic show, this guy comes over after the set, looks up at my mics, and screams "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY!", which I use to calibration that tape now.
posted by mikelieman at 4:12 AM on May 21, 2020
I sorted the list by views, and while that's not definitive, it's a fair starting point.
Consider these 4 recordings, in no particular order
Audience - Front of (sound)Board, with Beyer Dynamic hypercardioid mics.
Soundboard/Audience "matrix", FOB Sennheiser 441 mics
Audience, FOB Senn. 441 mics ( This is just the audience recording used in the matrix above )
Audience, FOB Nak 700 Cardiod condensers ( FWIW, this is my personal preference )
(I recommend a good set of headphones or a REALLY good stereo/small PA system, and loud enough so you can get close to the show's actual dynamics, which is required for the finest flashbacks. For the audience tapes, dial it in by listening to the people around you talking, singing, etc, so when the guy next to the taper goes "YEAH!", it sounds about right. In Raleigh at a Widespread Panic show, this guy comes over after the set, looks up at my mics, and screams "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY!", which I use to calibration that tape now.
posted by mikelieman at 4:12 AM on May 21, 2020
For anyone that is digging through sources on any given show and trying to pick one, a good rule of thumb is to look for Charlie Miller's name! He's been remastering recordings for a long time now and is generally regarded in the taper community as an expert in these matters.
posted by stinkfoot at 10:13 AM on May 21, 2020
posted by stinkfoot at 10:13 AM on May 21, 2020
Also, for anyone that's looking for recommendations, check out these scans from Deadbase (a taper and setlist resource that was published through the 80s and 90s). They show the popular tapes from each year (by number of respondents listing that tape in their possession).
Favorite tapes 65-85
Favorite tapes 86-95
73-74 is my personal favorite era, peak country psychedelic americana
77 is considered a high-water mark by almost everyone, Jerry's chops are insane
81-85 there were just mountains of coke being processed into blistering rock & roll
89-90 is the last "peak" of the band (although imo there are still plenty of good shows into the 90s)
posted by stinkfoot at 10:23 AM on May 21, 2020
Favorite tapes 65-85
Favorite tapes 86-95
73-74 is my personal favorite era, peak country psychedelic americana
77 is considered a high-water mark by almost everyone, Jerry's chops are insane
81-85 there were just mountains of coke being processed into blistering rock & roll
89-90 is the last "peak" of the band (although imo there are still plenty of good shows into the 90s)
posted by stinkfoot at 10:23 AM on May 21, 2020
This post gives me a **very** good feeling for our universe, so rare in this timeline
posted by goinWhereTheClimateSuitsMyClothes at 8:25 PM on May 21, 2020
posted by goinWhereTheClimateSuitsMyClothes at 8:25 PM on May 21, 2020
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