This mix presents heavily edited versions of five long, exploratory, thematic grooves from the Grateful Dead’s 1975 Blues for Allah sessions at Bob Weir’s studio (Ace’s):
- Groove #1
- Groove #2
- Distorto
- Proto 18 Proper
- Blue Noodle Soup
(This is the second installment of Save Your Face mixtapes based on “The Complete Circulating 1975 Ace’s Sessions (2026).” You’ll find the first one here.)
In the edits presented on this mix, I have condensed the full recordings by removing the less interesting parts throughout each track. The original combined length was about 60 minutes, while these edits total about 40 minutes.
The objective was to tighten these often exciting but loose performances into thrilling, streamlined “jams” with no slack. In pursuit of that, I have removed many passages of music, ranging from nine seconds to more than a minute.
I cut the places where Jerry was between guitar solo ideas. I shortened passages where the band settled into a pattern for longer than made sense for a composition or a listener. I removed places where the band returned to the theme’s base for a while, before taking the next leap into its elaboration. These grooves adhere to fixed patterns, so removing pieces doesn’t break the flow. It just enables an editor to create gentle corners and a forward velocity that the full-length recordings lack.
Comprised of only the most interesting passages, these edits create the illusion of performances that sound more like… well… performances. Baggy explorations now come across more like tracks for a rock/funk/fusion LP. I’ve known these recordings for many years, and even I was shocked and delighted by the transformations.
41 minute mp3 mix zipped up here. All tracks sourced/edited from the lossless “Complete Circulating 1975 Ace’s Sessions (2026).”
- Groove #2 Condensed (2/28/75, 5:17) - originally 10:07
- Proto 18 Proper Condensed (2/28/75, 7:18) - originally 11:36
- Blue Noodle Soup Development Condensed (4/2/75, 2:36) - originally 5:06
- Blue Noodle Soup Condensed (3/11/75, 9:58) - originally 16:46
- Groove #1 Condensed (2/28/75, 10:11) - originally 14:14
- Distorto Condensed (2/28/75, 6:13) - originally 8:07
Some additional notes:
- Distorto gradually developed into Crazy Fingers. Both Blue Noodle Soup and Proto 18 Proper received more organized treatments elsewhere in the sessions. However, those takes don’t have the fire of exploration.
- The remarkably prolific 2/28/75 session also included the long/earliest performances of a protean King Solomon’s Marbles and the EAC Jam changes (which developed into The Music Never Stopped). Neither of those contained enough meat to be worth carving into a shorter event.
- The file set you’ll download carries the album title “Sand Castles: 1975 Ace's Selections 5 - Grooves Regrooved (SYF mix).” This ties it to the previous SYF Ace’s curations and disambiguates it from other presentations of this material.
Cover image: John Hilgart, based on his photograph of an ice cream cone melting down a sidewalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.