GRATEFUL DEAD
Dick's Picks 31 (Grateful Dead Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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For the 31st installment in the Dick's Picks series, Grateful Dead Records goes back thirty years to one of the most memorable periods in the band's fabled history, and comes up with a great selection of tunes from a three day stint in what would be the band's last east coast run for two years. After hopping the Atlantic for a historic European tour and holding a couple 'farewell' events in the Bay Area, the band went on hiatus, but they left some great shows in their wake.

The first two discs in this four disc set are a melange of tunes and jams from the two Philadelphia and one Jersey City shows that took place between August 4 and 6, 1974. We don't hear a full set until disc three, but what a set! The transition from "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" to "It Must Have Been The Roses" is one of those magic moments that every Deadhead waited for at every show, and the jam that carries the band for over an hour, stretching from "He's Gone" to "Stella Blue," with several stunning side trips along the way, is the 1974 Dead at their very best, and there's a considerable body of opinion that says that means the best of all time.

The last disc offers the latter part of the first set of the run's last night, a breathtaking tour through "Eyes>Playing>Scarlet>Playing," along with the second set opener, a classic version of "Uncle John's Band."

Dick's not around to pick anymore, but I'm sure he would have been proud of this one.

Track Lists:

Disc One: Playing In The Band * Scarlet Begonias * Jack Straw * Peggy-0 * Me & Bobby McGee * China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider * Around And Around

Disc Two: Ship Of Fools * Loose Lucy * Weather Report Suite>Jam>Wharf Rat>U.S. Blues * Sugar Magnolia * Casey Jones

Disc Three: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo>It Must Have Been The Roses * Big River * He's Gone>Truckin'>Jam>Other One Jam>Space>Stella Blue * One More Saturday Night

Disc Four: Eyes Of The World * Playing In The Band>Scarlet Begonias>Playing In The Band * Uncle John's Band

[Pick this up at gdstore.com.]

© 2004 - Shaun Dale