The Grateful Dead remained an experimental band to the end. This mix arranges portions of 1995 “Spaces” from 11 cities/runs, February through May, into several listening arcs, totaling two hours.
In 1995, certain themes recurred regularly in the open improv sections of shows, arguably making them a jam or jams that ought to be named. You’ll hear them in the “Philadelphia Suite” that leads this mix, and then more insistently and extensively in the “Thematic Suite” that follows.
I’ve also assembled a different flavor of improvisation into a “Melancholy Suite,” which highlights a quest for strange, gentle beauty. This portion of the mix sometimes aligns with the decade-spanning Save Your Face compilation “Chamber Music.”
And lastly, there are several great outliers from the above categories, with which I’ve concluded the mix.
Lesh said the Dead were always playing “Dark Star,” even when they weren’t. This is that music in 1995.
1h 50m mp3 mix zipped up here (dates/cities included in song titles)
Philadelphia Suite (18 minutes)
- Three nights edited into a single track. It was a run packed with notable passages, which I’ve melded together.
Thematic Suite (49 minutes)
- Nine segments from various shows, indexed as separate tracks
Melancholy Suite (31 minutes)
- Eight segments from various shows, indexed as separate tracks
Outliers (13 minutes)
- Three segments from three shows
Cover art: Detail from “Bed” by Robert Rauschenberg