Shortlist: Radical Edit of 11/14/73 - San Diego

This is a radical edit to highlight an extraordinary stretch of playing in this show. 

  • Truckin’ (intro and jam) > (8:52)
  • The Other One > Space > Big River Tease > The Other One > (24:18)
  • Eyes of the World (instrumental) > (7:46)
  • The Other One. (4:23)

It’s really all about “The Other One” in this night's second set, and it’s a doozy. It emerges slowly and organically from a strong “Truckin’” jam, then explores a lot of territory up to the first verse – after which it dismantles itself elegantly into a spare, expressive “Space.” “Big River” provides a dramatic running start back into some more sublime “The Other One” exploration, which eventually finds a reasonable path to “Eyes of the World.” But the second verse of “The Other One” is still hanging, so “Eyes” detours around its usual synchronized jam sequence and instead finds its way back to “The Other One,” which has its grand finale. 

The purpose of this “radical edit” was to keep this whole sequence intact, but to eliminate the actual songs, “Truckin’,” “Big River,” and “Eyes of the World,” none of which are outstanding in performance or soundboard mix.

Five pieces were sliced out, and the breaches healed, so that it sounds approximately like The Dead played it this way:

  • “Truckin’” and “Big River”: One cut each, eliminating everything from the first sung word to the last sung word. 
  • “Eyes of the World”: All three verse/chorus segments removed, but the instrumental passages between them preserved and segued together into a single big instrumental “Eyes.”

It sounds crazy, but the result is a quite wonderful 45 minutes of high-end Grateful Dead instrumental, improvisational adventure through the riffs and changes of several songs, without singing any of them except "The Other One." 

11 responses
I'm in Japan for the weekend, and as I trudge along down the street in the humidity, I've been listening to your Oct and Nov 73 edits, and the new 94 stuff. I'm trying not to over-spam your pages, but just so you know, the smells and heat of Fukuoka are from now on going to sound like a big purple Saul and a maroon Latvala. I've only got through your 72 and now almost all your 73 stuff, but I'm holding off on 74 because I'm pacing myself and trying to let these months/tours seep in. I've been listening to this band for a long f'in time, but besides a few writers and reviewers, these curations have been the go-to I didn't know I needed. Actually I kinda knew I needed them. So keep at it! We're listening. https://imgur.com/a/gU8lBc2
Oops. I just realized a month later those dates are wrong. Anyway, I tried to keep your art where appropriate. I'll go fix them now.
Alec, I love that cover formula and all the associations - Japan, heat, colors. By all means replace my cover art with what is right to you; the spirit of my endeavor is choose your own adventure.
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