This mix curates material from the two Paris shows of the Dead’s seven-show trip to England, Germany, and France in September 1974. The Paris shows were the last before the band's famous October run of "farewell shows" at Winterland.
The three London shows were generously sampled on the official release “Dick’s Picks, Vol. 7,” which is augmented by this Save Your Face mix. The Dijon, France show was included in the “30 Trips Around the Sun” box set.
The unreleased shows are therefore Munich (9/14) and the two Paris shows sampled here.
The problem with the Paris tapes is that the soundboard mix doesn’t include Weir’s guitar. They are excellent performances, and the soundboards are otherwise quite nice… but most of the music just doesn’t make any sense without Weir’s rhythm, harmonics, and occasional featured-player passages.
On the other hand, there’s also quite a bit of music that does deliver a robust, complete-feeling listening experience – the 1974 magic arriving nearly intact to surprise and delight.
Weir’s guitar does show up here and there, most importantly on this great “Scarlet.”
I’ve edited the lesser of the two “Eyes” to the final section of the jam, when the band had come to a full stop, then worked their way back into the jam. The “Uncle John’s” vocals were harsh, but the music cooked, so that’s presented as an instrumental. This is a notable Seastones for becoming a full band performance along the way. The few fake segues that were required worked out well.
September 20: 70-minute mp3 mix zipped up here
- Scarlet Begonias
- Weather Report >
- Let It Grow >
- Stella Blue
- Truckin’
- Eyes of the World Jam >
- Not Fade Away >
- Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad
September 21: 90-minute mp3 mix zipped up here
- Uncle John’s Band (instrumental edit)
- Eyes of the World >
- China Doll
- Seastones > Full Band Freakout >
- Playin’ in the Band
- Morning Dew