Final show of probably the best-known run at the Fillmore West. The start of the run is best and this show is the lesser night, but still with a couple classics. The very next show, also at Fill W, is missing. The official multi-disc versions are mixed light on Bobby's guitar [or missing] compared to "SBDs" (Healey mixdown) or Live/Dead.

First Set. It's Constanten that adds fresh sounds to this Dark Star. It's interesting that they opened with it, but they had already captured the big one three nights earlier and here it's like they needed to get it out of the way. The Eleven is a classic. The entry jam is rich and the rest is an oiled camshaft, slowing then revving. Love Light was also played each night, with 2/28 being the big one; this version is mostly vamping. The SBDs have a cut for reel flip @5:46. The OFF instead has a 27sec edit @5:28 plus the cut.

Second Set. Doin' That Rag is lysergic enough, but not the tightest song of the run. That's it for the Other One suite has many kewl parts. For the final Cryptical, Jer starts to push it and it gets wild. This Death Don't Have No Mercy is very familiar, but notice how much of it is Constanten (well, depending which of the four mixes). Morning Dew is pretty standard, but still nice. This is a 36min Alligator suite (and quantity over quality). Still, if not a stand-out for the era, it's GOGD. The post-drums jam section of Alligator has a reel flip @3:03 on the SBD. The OFF has the flip in the same place, but removes 13 more secs before the cut. There's a Goodnight Jam @5:15, a section with just Jer & Drums, as well as one with Phil & Drums. All sources have several bad pitch fluctuations, running wildly fast in places. Approximate times on the OFF: 0>2:35 needs -1% pitch correction; 2:35>3:05 needs -4% ; 3:05>4:45 -2% ; 4:45>5:42 -3% ; 5:42>6:48 -4% ; 6:48>7:32 mostly -5% ; 7:32>8:23 -6% ; 8:23>8:33 -7% ; 8:30>8:40 -6% ; 8:40>9:02 -5% ; 9:02>9:12 -3% ; 9:12>9:22 -1% ; 9:55>10:30 -1% ; 10:50>11:15 -1% ; 12:00>13:10 -1% ; 17:12>17:45 -1% ; 22:30>22:50 -1% ; 23:18>24:05 +1%. SBDs have different speed wavers. The 132581_sbd needs: 2:33>4:03 mostly -1% ; 4:03>4:45 -2% ; 4:45>5:20 -3% ; 5:20>6:35 -4% ; 6:35>7:15 -3% ; 7:15>7:30 -5% ; 7:30>8:07 -6 % ; 8:07>8:22 -5% ; 8:22>8:40 -7% ; 8:40>9:03 -5% ; 9:03>9:20 -3% ; 11:30>12:00 -1% ; 16:00>16:50 -1% ; 21:30>22:48 -1%. Caution isn't one of the era's best but the tape starts settling down (the OFF needs mostly -1% 0>5:00 ; the SBD needs -1% 0:50>5:40). The last two are familiar from Live/Dead.

1st Set:  C+
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3 stars

Highlights:
The Eleven – like an oiled camshaft spinning and working and revving
That's it for the Other One – several cool parts and gets wild

SOURCES: The kaplan_3344 is too quiet. The bertha-ashley_7345 has been EQd but has also been levelled, and is the most dynamic. It has the same cuts as other "SBDs", plus the end of aWBYG is cut. The 132581_sbd_16track_healy-latvala-wise is the cleanest transfer, though the channels are switched. These are not true SBDs, but rather multi-track mixdowns (separate from the OFFs), and all have speed wavers. Live/Dead has Death Don't, Feedback and an edited aWBYG. Fillmore West Complete has the whole show, with edits in Love Light, & Alligator. The 3-disc version of Fillmore West 1969 has TiftOO Suite, Alligator Suite, Caution, and weirdly the already-available Feedback & AWByG. The "SBDs" and the three OFF sources all have different mixes, with different musicians prominent (post-2001 Live/Dead copies are a remix).

Ok, so. Yeah, the Primal. But that Dark Star tho! The awesome separation of the instruments on this near-perfect recording really brings out the interplay between Jerry and TC. That’s my two cents—everything else has been rightly said.

This is 1969 Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West What more needs to be said.

Check out 5:10 through 7:00 of the PRIMAL and contemplate the evolution of the PRIMAL into what they kept and still used till Garcia moved on... How our mind wanders during the PRIMAL...

And the missing piece from my other favorite of this run at the Fillmore. Excellent! One thing I forgot to say in my review of the other show was that I wish we could hear the Pentangle's set too! Not many people know about them, but they're my other favorite band. This was about 4 months before I was born, but it would have been musically the high point of my life to see these shows: some of the best the Dead ever played as well as the Pentangle at their peak, live in San Francisco.

This is off the chats just look at who recorded it and who posted it. Can not go wrong. Am into primal jam now and blown away. sounds better then many other shows
5 Stars FUVE STARS AND 5 STARS

primal