19deac92
You are a meathead.
Currently listening to the Grateful Dead's American Beauty album. Timeless.
Interesting question with a lot to unpack. How'd you guys land on those two shows (as opposed to maybe a Europe '72 show, closer in time to the Fillmore East show)?
What are some of the arguments thus far? I'm not even sure where to start on this one so curious to know what your friends are saying.
The argument started as a comparison between the two bands in general, but because the Dead's output is so much bigger someone proposed those two were among or broadly considered each band's "best" shows. Throwing out whether that's true or not, and I tend to think maybe not, especially for the Dead, we got into it.
The original 1971 Allmans release is just 7 songs, and Cornell '77 is a full 2 set show, which is another thing that makes it hard to compare so you have to pick favorites and least favorites from each and go from there.
You get into the flow of what makes a Dead show special with the Cornell recording, but also there are some slower parts like the end of the first set before Dancing in the Street. 69-72 is my favorite era of Dead and I'd prefer to compare that era to the same time for the Allmans so we can pick apart the individual players too, but 77 is an evolution in the sound of the Dead for sure. By 1977 they could be as tight as they wanted on any given night, but often opted to be more experimental and spacy, so it was kinda up to the vibe of Jerry what you were gonna get, and Cornell is a great example of staying hot from start to finish but still getting weird in a few spots.
Allmans across the board tighter musicians and wrote tighter compositions. Better singers, maybe better performers, and reached higher highs than the Dead almost every single show. They aren't really experimenting as much though, they're just jamming out some early southern rock and blues numbers.
An outcome that surprised me was that I ended up saying if I had to choose only one band to listen to for the rest of my life, I'd choose the Dead because of the massive number of shows you could pick, but that picking a single Brothers recording, you were more likely to get a hit than you were in the Dead catalog.
That's sort of where we are this morning.
Speaking of Europe 72 I preordered the 50th anniversary multicolor edition and am hoping to pick up the London show RSD release next weekend. Also an Allman Brothers 2003 live compilation I’m eyeing.
I missed the Paris show last year so will grab London though truth be told I wish there was a different era represented and the Paris set list is a better show IMO. I mainly want that and the aforementioned ABB since I love that era so much and saw them often. Will try for the Jerry acoustic and maybe a few others. Pearl Jam Live on Ten Legs is an RSD release coking out in June I want.I pre-ordered Europe 72 as well. I picked up the May show from Paris last year, so I'm going to pass on the London show. I feel like I've got a nice representation of early Dead in my collection and now I need to prioritize getting some of the later stuff. Overall this RSD list is a under whelming for me; nothing I'm going to get up and wait in line for at this point, but I'll try to swing by after my kid's soccer game and try to pick up a few things if they are still on the shelf.
Show #6 last night - IDLES
Energy was through the roof; that will be a top 3 show for me this year because of the power and stage presence of the band. Best crowd I’ve seen in a long time - virtually no talking once the band came out and the pit was insane. The pit became its own living entity last night which was fun to watch.
The Marshall Tucker Band - The Marshall Tucker Band (1973)