Between this and the other fragments through to 3/31/68
I get a feel of the Lucy in the sky of the time.
Garcia shreds the peel off New Potato..

5

nuf sed.

Here we are folks, the Carousel Ballroom March 29, 30 and 31. This is where the bulk of "Anthem of the Sun" came from.

Remove thy shoes from thy feet, for this is hallowed ground!

This one's a beauty! They bring Death Don't Have No Mercy back into the set (and it is smokin') and play a vicious New Potato. What's not to like? Great recording and mix.

Two From The Vault and Carousel 2/14/68 are masterpieces, no question about it. But Garcia's soloing on this version is one of the top guitar solos of all time, not just 1968. He gets a little sloppy at one point but it's a good sloppiness. You can tell he's having fun. Howling! The rest of the show is ok. I've heard better versions of Lovelight though I could swear that, during Bobby's vocal solo, I could hear Pigpen cursing his organ.

After Morning Dew an announcer comes on, tries to rally applause for the Dead, and then starts to talk about the area's fine dining options. Dead were headliners over 2 other acts, so maybe they took a set break?

One of my favorite posters ever at http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680329.html

Peace, Bob

superb!! a moving "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and getting to hear Jerry really explore "Dark Star" is great. I have recently started listening to the dead's recordings from the 60's and this is the best one I've heard so far.

I have always felt that the old Duke/Vernon remaster sounded more like a soundboard than an audience recording. It's actually an early attempt at a band created soundboard/stage mic matrix and Charlies remaster is a significant upgrade sonically.

3/30 seems to garner more accolades, but 3/29 is a better performance. It really swings and in spite of some distracting crowd chatter, the sound quality may be superior as well.

This performance of New Potato Caboose could be a best ever rendition. Garcia's soloing is simply sublime and seems to go on and on. I much prefer this outro style to the Thirteen Jam style conclusion of the renditons from the latter part of 1968.

I'm not convinced that the first four tracks, previously and erroneously credited to 3/26 are really part of this performance. The sonic signature of these four songs is entirely different. My guess is Latvala was wrong and these four songs belong to 3/31. But who can say for sure.

In any case, this music swings like January/February '68, and the uber lively sound quality of this remaster suits it just fine. (97 pts)

This is a stellar '68 show no question but what got me so involved was the beautiful sound. To me, this wasn't just 'another' beautiful Charlie Miller master. The sound has this sort of open feel to it that makes you feel like you're there... even if you weren't born yet. This quality has it's best effect on the more 'spacey' tunes like Dark Star and NPC but it lends a mournful sound to Death Don't.
Thanks for this gift.

Sounds like the New Potato from Anthem - how could this be less than 5 stars? It's just too bad Born Cross Eyed, one of my all-time favorite songs, is cut.

Not that this sounds bad but I question the claim that it's a soundboard. There's significant hall echo and you can hear conversations very clearly during song breaks. During one break you can even hear a friend of the person making the recording advising them to keep the tape rolling - "there's nothing happening now but you can keep it going". Something like that.

It's a pretty good recording. Nice to experience what it was like to be at one of the SF ballroom shows.

I, like many others, have become obsessed with all the transfers from Charlie Miller. As somebody else stated, he is the Owsley of The Archive Dead shows. I have been listening to them as I work endless hours designing bus routes for the upcoming school year and hearing people scream and whine in my ear all day long. The Grateful Dead is the only thing that has kept my fragile sanity intact. These 1968 shows happened when I was only two and I am amazed at the clarity of them. I don't know who Charlie's dealer is but keep the stash coming! We are forever in your debt and also this amazing website which keeps alive the spirit of trading tapes (which of course have evolved to digital format now). I only wish I had time to learn how to download all these shows he has posted. For now, I will just enjoy streaming them. The Good Moning Little School Girl is especially tasty on this one. I also loved hearing the scratchboard so crystal clear on Dark Star. Not sure who does it but for some reason I envision Pigpen up there getting into a groove. The announcer is funny after Morning Dew too as he it seems he needs to encourage the audience or something. God bless The Grateful Dead, Charlie Miller, and The Archive!