If I’m going to be obsessed with a musical artist, they have to have an extensive back catalog. I love how I stumble upon Smashing Pumpkins songs I’ve never heard before because that guy wrote like 800 songs. This happened the other day with a track from an album nobody listened to.
However, no one has a more extensive back catalog than the Grateful Dead, because they let people tape the thousands of shows they played, and they all stream for free on archive.org (or whichever app you use that scrapes the archive). I have been obsessively digging through all of these since I was 14.
I follow a number of “today in Dead history” things on social media, so I can see if there are any good shows I haven’t heard.
Imagine my delight when I discovered there is a top-rated show on May 20th, 1973, my favorite year in Dead tape history. So, I go and give it a spin.
Holy fuck, man!
After over 20 years of obsession, I find a new tape that is up there with the best I’ve ever heard… now that is a pleasant surprise one could write a blog about. It’s got everything: the songs are played at the tempo I like them (songs went through a lot of changes over the course of the 30-year Dead touring career). Fast “The Love Each Other” (with the extra verse), slow and relaxed “Eyes of the World,” “Brown Eyed Women” in that beautiful ’73 tempo… man, it sounds good. Even Donna sounds good at the end of an epic “Playing in the Band.” Also, my friends know that any appearance of “Here Comes Sunshine” is welcome, as that might be my favorite live Dead song (as if I could choose). The show is fucking stellar, both sets are tip-top, even if Jerry messes up the lyrics to “Bertha.”
The source is the soundboard, so it’s so clean in my headphones, and I can hear everyone.
To me, finding amazing music I’ve never heard from my favorite artists is one of the coolest things that can happen on a given day.
If you like the Grateful Dead, throw this on today and you’ll be pleasantly surprised
oh yeah i should include the pumpkins song i was talking about (i love it):
And the link of links, of course
