Imagine the frontline of the 1973 Miles Davis band as several violinists playing a frantic bop homage to Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
Then listen to this pitch-and-tempo shifted, re-EQ’ed performance of “Turnaround Phrase” from London on 11/19/73.
The balance on this show’s soundboard is really off, which I think is what allowed me to achieve this weird effect.
The Miles Davis band’s July 20, 1973 performance at the Antibes Jazz Festival in in Juan-les-Pins, France, is off the charts.
Unfortunately, the sound board recording of the show leaves Miles’ trumpet almost entirely out of the mix. He's extremely quiet compared to all the other players. You can successfully lock your ears on him and enjoy the whole show - on headphones, paying attention - but the mix doesn’t work for general listening enjoyment.
What this Save Your Face mix does is edit several performances down to shorter tracks that are dominated by fantastic solos by Dave Liebman (sax, flute) and guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas.
Cosey’s soloing is berserk and amazing – think Fred Frith or Snakefinger. This short edit of “Turnaround Phrase” is probably the most punk rock Miles I've heard.
27-minute mp3 file zipped up here
Musicians: Miles Davis (tp, org); Dave Liebman (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, pc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Forman (cga, pc)
The Grateful Dead played only one run in October 1987. This 100-minute highlights mix pulls from those three Mountainview California shows on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the month.
Most of the selections come from the first two shows, which have really nicely mixed soundboards that highlight the quality singing and the exquisite musical detailing. 1987 seems to be a notable year for performances that could sell anyone on songs they've never heard in any other version.
If you enjoyed the Save Your Face September '87 mix that focused on great versions with killer Garcia vocals, you'll enjoy many of these tracks on the same terms.
102-minute mp3 mix zipped up here (dates included in song title tags)
Edit notes:
I edited “Rider” to an instrumental because there were crackly defects on the source. It’s a hard edit (I’ve done it a few times), and this one isn’t perfect, but there’s always something to be said for not having to listen to “Rider” in order to enjoy the “China Cat” jam.
If you don’t already think of 1987 as one of those years in which the Grateful Dead often played their original compositions perfectly, then you’re in for a happy surprise. Following his 1986 illness, Garcia repossessed his catalogue of songs with massive joy and a voice that was mightier than it had been in years.
This is a very narrow mix of Garcia singing his heart out on classic Hunter/Garcia compositions (plus “Dew”) in September 1987. I selected from soundboards with mixes that make his voice the center of the performances. The cities are Providence, Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia.
Two-hour+ mp3 mix zipped up here (3 LPs or two discs, as you wish. Dates and cities included in mp3 title tags.)
Side One:
Side Two:
Side Three:
Side Four:
Side Five:
Side Six (Encore w/different sound board balance):
CURATORIAL/EDITORIAL CAVEATS:
This is a 3-hour mix of highlights from the Grateful Dead’s three-show, June 1993 run at Deer Creek in Noblesville, IN. It is pulled from matching SBD sources, except for “Loser” and “High Time,” where the audience recording worked better.
The band was crackling on a lot of first set tunes during this run, particularly in the good times and old-timey zones, with a heavy Garcia-song tilt. Twangy, funky. Some of it has a light touch, but much of it is surprisingly fierce, given the songs. The first disc of this mix pulls that kind of material together into a really fun, unconventional first set. No jam necessary.
The second and third discs collect the big numbers, which have a nice dynamic range. There’s plenty of intense exploration in the 24-minute “Terrapin,” and the first two-thirds of “Fire” are fiery. In contrast, there’s a chill, focused vibe to much of the rest of the improvisation – “Scarlet,” “Dark Star,” “Eternity,” and “Victim.” (I edited the latter two songs to instrumentals specifically to nestle them up alongside this short-but-sweet “Dark Star.”)
“High Time” was played very rarely after 1991; this is the sixth from last. “Dark Star” is the fifth from last. This mix doesn’t include Drums>Space highlights, which I’m reserving for a future mix dedicated to only that stuff. Caveat: The first few minutes of "Terrapin's" sung parts are rough, but the performance gains steam as the song progresses, flowing into a great jam, so I didn't edit it down.
Disc One (70 minutes)
Disc Two (49 minutes)
Disc Three (53 minutes)
This eight minute Grateful Dead improvisation is one of half-a-dozen from 1972-1974 that turned me into a fanatical early-‘70s tape-head in the late 1980s. It is still one of my favorite passages, and I still haven’t encountered anything quite like it.
It is unreleased, and not previously isolated on a Save Your Face blog mixtape. When did they play it, and who’s with me?
This mix collects Grateful Dead improvisations that have something in common with “Fire on the Mountain.” It also includes a live Diga Rhythm Band performance with Garcia, and an early studio take of a vocal “Fire on the Mountain” by The Marin County Collective, which featured Hart and Garcia.
NOTE: This is a much-expanded revision of an earlier mix. I have simply revised the original blogpost and linked to the expanded file. Apologies to those who grabbed the first one, but comments on that one got me to this one, so there you go. Special thanks to @MrCompletely, @DeadsoundApp, and @MarkRichardson, without whom…
83-minute mp3 mix zipped up here
Firelike ’68 (10/10/68, Hartbeats) (10:59)
Firelike ’68 (12/16/68, Hartbeats w/David Getz) (9:17)
Firelike ’71 (8/21/71, Mickey’s Barn) (12:08)
Firelike ’73 (7/27/73, Watkins Glen Jam pt. 2) (5:12)
Firelike ’75 (Blues for Allah rehearsal) (14:04)
Happiness is Drumming ’76 (6/28/76, Chicago) (6:31)
Happiness is Drumming ’76 (6/22/76, Philadelphia) (1:57)
Firelike ’79 (4/16/79, Brent Mydland rehearsal)
Happiness is Drumming ’75 (5/30/75, Diga Rhythm Band w/Garcia) (10:56)
Fire on the Mountain 1972-1973 (Melton, Garcia, Hart, Freiberg) (5:09)
This mix compiles 25 performances (two hours) of the “Tighten Up Jam” by the Grateful Dead, including several adjacent “Feelin’ Groovy Jams.” The jam typically appeared in the variable middle of “Dark Star” and as a side-trip prior to the final chorus of “Dancin’ in the Streets.”
The Dead’s “Tighten Up” is named for its plausible derivation from the song of the same name by Archie Bell and the Drells (1968). “Soulful Strut” by Young Holt Unlimited (1968) has also been suggested as an influence.
“Tighten Up” could be languid and sweet or fast and fierce. It’s one of the very special, pliable, thematic sub-plots in Dead history. Aside from a 1971 outlier, it was only played during a 14-month period from late summer 1969 to fall 1970.
While being distinctive musically, “Tighten Up” was also just a short reach from other comfortable 1969-1970 zones. The band could jump or creep into it from “Dark Star’s” theme, in the middle of a “Dancin’” jam, out of “Feelin’ Groovy,” or from more open spaces in the music.
Yet, while being very much an expression of that moment’s band, the “Tighten Up Jam” also tilts forward toward things to come.
It is the era’s “Eyes of the World,” allowing the band to explore jazzy rhythms and chords to a greater extent than nearly anything else they were playing at the time. Though in a different key, it gets very close to “Eyes” at numerous points on these recordings. If the band hadn’t had other ideas about the 1973-1974 “Eyes” jam, you could easily imagine set lists containing “Eyes > Tighten Up,” and vice versa.
Some other points of future-song interest:
The first 20 tracks on the mix are the highest-fidelity recordings, sequenced to provide both continuity and variation. The final five tracks are exciting performances that only circulate on lo-fi-but-listenable audience tapes (e.g., Portchester, 6/24/70).
There are no jump cuts or edited segues on this mix; I just managed start and end points for each performance.
111-minute mp3 mix zipped up here, which looks like this:
A note of thanks to my masked collaborator:
This mix would not have been possible without this amazing guide to where to find “Tighten Up” in the Dead’s recordings. I don’t know who “enjoy every (dead) sandwich” is, but they are awesome.
This mix compiles 47 performances of the Grateful Dead’s “Spanish Jam” – which may be every recorded version. Lasting 4.25 hours, the mix stretches from January 1968 to June 1995, nearly the band’s whole career.
The performances are divided into five “discs” of various lengths, which align with the band’s discontinuous engagement with the theme. All performances have been volume equalized and edited to have ear-friendly start and end points.
The disc/track indexing is strictly chronological, except for the 1973-1974 disc, which is sequenced for a better-than-chronological listening experience. If you don’t like that, the song title tags are formatted to enable a full chronological sort.
Multiple members of the Dead have credited Miles Davis’ “Sketches of Spain” album as the band’s source/inspiration. Drop the needle on the song “Solea” around the 9:30 mark to hear why that makes sense.
"Solea" and “Spanish Jam” may share an origin in the widely-recorded composition “Malagueña” by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona. Here’s Lecuona playing it in 1954. Here’s Chet Atkins playing it in 1956. Here’s the Stan Kenton big band playing it circa 1961.
You can follow Dead-scholar trails about the song here, among other places.
The mp3 mix has been divided into four separate downloads, so that you don't have to deal with a single, gigantic file. The two 1980s discs are combined into a single file for downloading.
Disc One: 1968-1970 (download)
Disc Two: 1973-1974 + 1976 (download)
Disc Three: 1981 (download)
Disc Four: 1982-1987 (included with 1981 download)
Disc Five: 1992-1995 (download)
This mix compiles 18 versions of the Grateful Dead’s “Mind Left Body” jam from 1972-1974 – plus an appendix of 12 later manifestations (1975-1993). These eras are presented as separate mixes.
(This is version two of the mix, including volume and EQ improvements on four tracks.)
1972-1974 MLB MVP goes to Billy. If you could isolate his drums, you would find so many killer samples.
All performances are provided complete. I created jump cuts in some places, but those are at or after the moment when the theme vanished from the jam. (Preferable to constantly fading out as some other theme begins.)
I created sequences for each disc that help create a listening experience with some coherence and flow. Every MLB had its own tempo, vibe, and attack - bursting or emerging out of somewhere else, on its way to somewhere else.
You can also sort all tracks chronologically. The song title format of the mp3 files is: “MLB (YY/MM/DD).” Chronological isn't an ideal, continuous listening experience, IMO, but it enables you to use the mix as an audio reference work.
The standard written reference work on “Mind Left Body” is here. Worth reading all the way to the bottom! I believe I checked out every version noted in the post, and I only omitted the ones that are barely there.
While it is true that most of the post-1974 performances aren’t full MLB Jams, by early Seventies standards, they also have the benefit of doing different things with those four chords. The 12/30/83 > 10/20/84 > 11/29/81 sequence combines into a pretty thrilling jam, for any era, with MLB cropping up in interesting ways.
Two-hour mp3 mix zipped up here
Disc One: 1972-1974 (63 minutes)
Disc Two: 1975-1993 (44 minutes)