Save Your Face

Jesse Jarnow pointed out that Phil Lesh takes over the Grateful Dead for six, extended, abstract bass adventures during the December 1973 shows.

Here are those passages, in chronological order, gently segued, totaling 39 minutes. The first one gives you a couple of minutes to orient yourself before Godzilla reaches the power station.

These are not bass solos (other players present), but Phil steps beyond the normal zones of 1973-1974 collective abstraction to establish his own soundscape plots - dropping bombs, embracing distortion, shifting an octave, firing off drones and tones. The band generally steps back to give him a canvas, with much of the accompaniment minimal and often gentle. It is paradoxically violent and soothing music.

39-minute mp3 mix zipped up here (dates/cities included in song titles)

Cover art: Howard V. Brown for the May 1934 issue of Astounding Stories. It reminds me a little bit of the cover of Neil Young’s abstract distortion album “Arc,” while also inviting you to hear this music in color.

This post offers a three-piece, chronological survey of improvisational Grateful Dead performances from their first seven shows of 1973 – February 9th to 24th – none of which have been officially released. Highlights of the last two shows of the month (2/26 & 2/28) were released as “Dick’s Picks, Vol. 28” (2003).

These are older Save Your Face mixes, but I am taking the opportunity to re-share them now that streaming options are available, in addition to the blog's traditional mp3 downloads.

February 1973 was rough going for nearly all the many new songs the band was learning on-stage that month, and old standards weren’t often particularly tight or exciting, compared to late 1972 or later 1973.

However, the improvisational band leapt into 1973 with a big grin on its face – continuing its rapid expansion into the spaces opened up by Pigpen’s departure from the stage in mid-1972. (He died in March 1973). “Like a steam locomotive, rolling down the track,” the Dead were constantly departing and arriving in this period. 

This mix is a dense collection of February’s more exploratory passages. I included full (sung) songs and made instrumental edits as I saw fit, in order to avoid anything that got in the way of the overall momentum and quality.

The two new-for-1973 songs that were on target, right out of the gate, were “Eyes of the World” and “China Doll.” Both are extensively documented on the mix. With “Eyes,” you can hear the band figuring out how to put the pieces together to create the the structured ’73-’74 jam. There’s no good execution of “Here Comes Sunshine” in the first seven shows of the year, but they nailed it musically once, and that performance flowed seamlessly into “China Cat,” so I took out the sung parts of “Sunshine.” (You’re welcome!)

February 9, 1973: Palo Alto CA (56 minutes)

• PA: Wavy Gravy
• China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider
• Uncle John’s Band (instr. edit)
• Playin’ in the Band (instr. edit)
• Eyes of the World (1st time played) >
• China Doll (1st time played)

Stream on Youtube

Stream on Archive

Read the original post and download here

February 15-19, 1973: Madison WI, St. Paul MN, Chicago IL (107 minutes)

• Bertha (2/15)
• Here Comes Sunshine (instr. edit) > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (2/17)
• Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down the Road > Not Fade Away (2/17)
• Dark Star (2/15)
• He’s Gone (2/19)
• The Other One  > Bass & Drums (edit 2/19)
• Playin’ in the Band (2/15>2/17) > China Doll (2/15)
• Birdsong (instr. edit 2/17)

Stream on Youtube

Stream on Archive

Read the original post and download here

February 21-24, 1973: Champaign Urbana IL, Iowa City IA (86 minutes)

• Truckin’ > Bass & Drums (2/21) > 
• Eyes of the World (2/21 > 2/22) >
• China Doll (2/22)
• Playin’ in the Band (2/22)
• Dark Star (2/22) >
• Space (2/22) >
• Bass > Feelin’ Groovy Jam (2/24) >
• Sugar Magnolia (2/24) 

Stream on Youtube

Stream on Archive

Read the original post and download here

This mix brings together most of the September-December 1973 Dead performances that have been released exclusively via “30 Days of Dead” (2010-2021), as of January 2022.

Official Dead curator Dave Lemieux has used the annual, November event to pluck extraordinary, individual Dead performances from shows the haven’t been released in full and perhaps never will be. 

The Fall ’73 selections combine into a mighty set.

105-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

• Weather Report Suite (11/23/73)
• Let Me Sing Your Blues Away (9/17/73)
• China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (9/24/73)
• Playin’ in the Band (11/25/73)
• Dark Star > Mind Left Body > Dark Star >
• Feedback Chaos > 
• Eyes of the World > 
• Stella Blue (10/25/73)
• Ramble of Rose (12/19/73)

What was omitted:

• Tracks that were subsequently released on whole-show/road trip/etc. albums (as of January 2022).
• The 12/8/73 “Weather Report,” cut in favor of this 11/23/73 version, which is sonically-beefy on the bottom end and has extremely well-performed and mixed vocals.
• The 10/23/73 “Black Throated Wind,” which has a weird mix that highlights Keith’s exciting keyboard part, but which isn’t repeat-listen/album-worthy as a recording.

Cover art: Leo Morey

What is possibly the most catastrophically-sung HCS of all time is also one of the all-time greats, musically. At no point is Garcia certain about the lyrics, starting with the song’s first line. Perhaps this is why the band leaps into every jammy section with extreme excitement. 

I made this edit in the early days of Save Your Face. This version duplicates that edit using the “Pacific Northwest” boxed set version. 

You're welcome.

320mbps mp3 here

Here Comes Sunshine (instr. edit – 6/22/73) (8:17)

On the 45th anniversary summer of these performances, a mix ideally suited to any Deadhead’s summer listening. 

The Grateful Dead played live only sporadically in the spring and summer of 1973 – just 15 shows over five months, at only 10 venues. The Dead haven’t officially released anything from this period, that I am aware of, except the spectacular “Watkins Glen Jam.” (Update: The "Pacific Northwest, 1973-1974" official release includes three summer '73 shows.)

“The Watkins Glen Jam” is relevant here, because this mix is also an improbably long stretch of Summer '73 improvisation without more than a passing reference to identifiable songs. 

That summer, an improvisational theme in 6/8 that had been kicking around since late 1972 suddenly became the Dead’s regularly recurring jam, only to die out again in the early fall. It’s almost an extra Grateful Dead song from the period, sort of a relaxed version of Phil’s 1973-1974 “Eyes of the World” riff, leaning forward toward 1975’s “Stronger Than Dirt.” 

For more scholarship on this and other Dead themes, go here.

The accepted name for this theme seems to be “The Phil Jazz Jam,” and I’ve woven together five full-blown summer ’73 performances of it with other outstanding, non-song-based improvisation from that summer. 

It’s an outdoor, afternoon-into-sunset show in a meadow that you never heard about. It’s the unjustifiably neglected Summer of 1973 Grateful Dead, sending you a postcard from a wonderful place – a place that is not 1972, Spring 1973, Fall 1973, or 1974. 

67-minute mp3 mix here (with all relevant information included in mp3 tags)

• Phil Jazz Jam (6/24/73)
• Jam (7/1/73)
• Jam with Phil Jazz Jam moments (5/13/73)
• Phil Jazz Jam (7/1/73)
• Jam (6/9/73)
• Phil Jazz Jam > (6/29/73)
• Jam (6/29/73)
• Jam (6/30/73)
• Jam > (6/22/73)
• Phil Jazz Jam (6/22/73)
• Space (6/10/73)
• Quiet Improvisation (7/1/73)
• Quiet Improvisation (8/1/73)
• Jam (6/10/73)
• Jam (6/23/73)
• Phil Jazz Jam (5/20/73)

If you want more all-out playing from summer 1973, go here.

Cover art by M. DeNoor 

Cover illustration by Luigi Serafini, from "Storie Naturali"

The Dead played this show on my birthday, an easy drive from where I lived at the time. Unfortunately, I was turning eight years old and wasn’t paying attention. But that’s okay, because the gift waited patiently for me to finally unwrap it.

Although this show has escaped The Dead’s generous approach to releasing Fall 1973 recordings, it has as much superb material in it as nearly any of them. 

My curation is built around two uninterrupted pieces of the second set. My arrangement of other songs around those pieces follows The Dead’s lead, when they decided to play a couple of first set songs in the middle of a fantastic second set “Playin’” jam. 

Parts of this show only circulate as audience recordings. The soundboard of everything else captures a rather wonderful mix, but for some reason the frequency spread of the circulating soundboard is all out of whack. It comes across as brittle, shrill, sterile, stabby, insubstantial, etc. I don’t know if this is a feature of the master tape or of a transferring snafu somewhere down the line.

But fear not! I obtained a FLAC file and gave it enough of a re-EQ to turn down the stabby and to bring up the warmth and depth, until it became a fully immersive Fall 1973 experience. Happy birthday.

90-minute 320kbps mp3 mix here

• Beat It On Down the Line
• Me and Bobby McGee
• China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider
• Greatest Story Ever Told
• Playin’ in the Band >
• Mississippi Half-Step >
• Big River >
• Playin’ in the Band
• They Love Each Other
• He’s Gone Jam >
• Truckin’ >
• Nobody’s Fault Jam
• Loose Lucy

Here are 70 minutes of highlights from an unreleased show, captured in a well-balanced SBD mix. Detailed comments under the track list.

This is the next-to-last show of the March tour of the Northeast, which began mid-month in Uniondale, NY. The March 24 show in Philadelphia was released as "Dave's Picks #32," and final show of the tour – April 2, Boston - was released as “Dave’s Picks” #21.

There are some obvious flaws in the material I’ve judged best from this show but it’s not for lack of The Dead trying and generally succeeding wonderfully. The sound of the mix/tape is great for instruments and not too hard on group vocals. 

70-minute mp3 mix here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/khddft26pjbfem7/GD%20shortlist%2073-03-31.zip?dl=0

• Bertha >
• Greatest Story Ever Told
• The Race is On
• They Love Each Other
• Mississippi Half-Step (instrumental edit)
• He’s Gone >
• Truckin’ (instrumental edit) >
• Drums >
• The Other One > Spanish Jam > The Other One >
• Space >
• Jam > I Know You Rider
• Casey Jones

Points of interest:

This is the only instance of “I Know You Rider” NOT following “China Cat Sunflower” between late 1971 and late 1985. The performance of the song itself isn’t fantastic, but the three minutes between the end of “Space” and the first word of “Rider” are noteworthy. They begin a free-form jam (which an audience member recognizes and gets vocally excited about) that morphs into the “Feelin’ Groovy” jam, leading to “Rider.” 

The band was clearly into messing around with the “China > Rider” continuum in early ’73. On 2/24, they jammed into the transitional “Feelin’ Groovy” jam out of a bass solo, then brought it down to quiet before launching “Sugar Magnolia.” On 2/17, they jammed out of “Here Comes Sunshine” into “China Cat Sunflower.” There may be other mutations in March that I’ve never heard.

“The Other One” is strong out of the gate, flags for a couple of minutes, then builds wonderfully through the second half, including a dance with “The Spanish Jam” that has some great moments. 

This is the sixteenth performance of “They Love Each Other,” and it’s clicking well.

“Mississippi Half-Step”: Sooner or later, I will make an instrumental edit of every Dead song, just to hear what it sounds like and to see how long it turns out to be. 

Most “Casey Jones” are too thumpy and stabby for me, but I really like this crisp, swinging performance. 

Cover art: Detail from Max Weber, “New York at Night”

For their first tour of 1973, The Dead were in the Midwest from the middle to the end of February. After two weeks off, they toured the Northeast from the middle of March through April 2.

The tour started with three shows at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on the 15th, 16th, and 19th, excerpts from which are combined here. These shows remain unreleased.

This run, and the 16th in particular, has numerous excellent “smaller songs,” but the mix posted here is a continuation of the jammy mashups I posted of the February shows. 

Aside from the edits that are obvious from the track list, the only things I’ve cut out that interrupt continuous Dead performances are two noodly-to-shrieky spaces that offered nothing special and broke the momentum. 

A pretty “Dark Star” that’s not sure how solid it wants to get nonetheless comes to a swelling climax, then gives way to an autonomous six-minute jam, which then slides back into a perfectly executed “Dark Star” verse. Several minutes of unorthodox, wandering around jamming ensues, leading into “Truckin.”

This is one of the earliest performances of “Truckin’” transitioning into the “Nobody’s Fault” jam. 

This 3/15 “Eyes” jam was the sonic rescue mission of this mix. It is easily one of the most involving and successful (and yet unique) of the early performances, but the soundboard of it has many dramatic volume fluctuations. I’ve fixed those pretty well and want to advise you that the performance overwhelms the sonic gremlins that remain. 

The other two 3/15 songs are likewise exceptional. “China Doll” has many exquisite details. “The Other One” is aggressively adventurous and almost becomes a separate jam. The 3/15 soundboard has the drums mixed way too loud, but on “The Other One” and the “Eyes” jam, this is a plus, and it doesn’t impact “China Doll.” 

77-minute mp3 mix here

• Dark Star (3/16) >
• Jam (3/16) >
• Dark Star (3/16) >
• Jamming Around (3/16) >
• Truckin’ > Nobody’s Fault Jam (3/16 > 3/19) > 
• Drums (3/19) >
• The Other One (3/15) >
• Eyes of the World (intro & jam 3/15) >
• China Doll (3/15)
• Morning Dew (3/16)

This post completes my jam-centric reduction of February 1973 Dead shows. Boy, they were playing great. 

I posted highlights of Palo Alto (2/9) here.

I posted a mashup of Madison, St. Paul, and Chicago (2/15, 2/17, 2/19) here.

This third installment presents material from Champaign-Urbana, IL (2/21 & 2/22) and Iowa City (2/24). 

The next two shows, the last of the February tour, are documented on Dick’s Picks #28 (Lincoln, NB & Salt Lake City on the 26th and 28th).

86-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

• Truckin’ > Bass & Drums (2/21) > 
• Eyes of the World (2/21 > 2/22) >
• China Doll (2/22)
• Playin’ in the Band (2/22)
• Dark Star (2/22) >
• Space (2/22) >
• Bass > Feelin’ Groovy Jam (2/24) >
• Sugar Magnolia (2/24) 

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This mix combines performances from The Dead’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th shows of 1973, in Madison, WI, St. Paul, MN, and Chicago. If I do say so myself, the result is mighty. "Bertha" starts smoldering around :38 and ignites at 1:20. It doesn't let up after that for more than 100 minutes. 

After five weeks off, The Dead started 1973 with a stand-alone show in Palo Alto, CA on February 9th. On the 15th, they began an eight-show tour with concerts in the wintery, upper Midwest. Nothing from this tour earlier than the 26th, in Lincoln, Nebraska, seems to have been released.

From a historical documentary POV, these early ’73 shows look exciting because they unleash a bunch of new Hunter/Garcia songs and a fun cover sung by Donna. From an aesthetic POV, not many performances of those new songs are worth hearing repeatedly. The really amazing parts of these shows are elsewhere. If you look in the right places, the band was extremely hot out of the gate in '73.

107-minute mix here (source dates included in mp3 tags). 

• Bertha (5:22)
• Here Comes Sunshine (instr.) > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (16:45)
• Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down the Road > Not Fade Away (14:06)
• Dark Star (11:42)
• He’s Gone (14:11)
• The Other One (18:55)
• Playin’ in the Band > China Doll (20:35)
• Birdsong (instr. 6:24)

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