have only spent an hour listening to Dick's Picks Volume 7 (selections from 9/9-11) but can feel the power emanating around the not fade away jams. Sure they might have lost some energy in between a few songs; jet-lag sucks. But, they make up for it while being unequivocally dialed-in to the songs they really feel out.

Why I love '74; Billy's arrangements on the kit is articulate beyond comprehension. He just seems like vibrations, percussive demonstrations...while Jerry noodles 'into nirvana' Bob comes out to really shine. I think, they became a wholistic view of an idea...I mean, this is only speculation...I wasn't there.

But from what I can hear, they sound joyful. Exuberant. Lost in their fascination...of course, when that happens you can become disillusioned fast. Almost hysterical without reason. Which is probably why they took the break they did...well, from the Grateful Dead, that is.

Regardless, the music here is strong, detailed, and empty. It leaves me truly wondering about how effortless they played through the nights. My only wish now is to create something similar in my own life - capture that same magic for myself. It's not complex, you just go out and do it. The universe will follow close behind sampling the ground for new dimensions...how simple! After all. Early dead peaked into the psychedelic fabric, enticing minds turning them into demons, but as those prevailed drunken youths like pictures of old battles. The galleries turned to ash, chemicals dissolve. Luckily there are tapes which preserve some form of integrity...but who can say what exactly what those days sounded like. Did they really happen? Or are they still becoming, in a vast impression. Through your mind's eye and mine. I love the Grateful Dead for those reasons enough...it's enough to get me thinking, in a world that tries to take your mind. Sharpen your sword on this alone.

Peace be with you * Nick 2/16/2023

This is the middle show of the run, and of quality. Though the next night is the "the" Ally Pally show, and an all-time classic, this is also a must-hear. Unlike the previous night, where the Dead played one set following Traffic, this show has two complete sets. And we finally (finally!) have the complete show including the middle performance by/of Seastones (Lagin & Phil). One person taped (AUD), more recently rescued, so we have complete set lists and patches. All sources run fast; some super fast, most with varying pitch.

First Set. Around & Around is wacky on the SBD, so you need the AUD (listed as 135654_mtx, and speedy). They are still working out a few kinks for Mississippi Half-Step, but it soon soars. After a Beat it on Down the Line-5 is the 1st Euro Peggy-O. These are all average '74, but there's a dip for Black Throated Wind. Neither tight nor terrible, on the OFF it weirdly switches places with Miss Half-Step. Setlists used to show a Tennessee Jed & Mexicali next, but these are neither on the SBD nor the AUD (complete all three nights). Plus, they were both played the night before. At this point the excitement knobs are turned up. Jer is in a different mood for China Cat, playing against the measures and, rather than running up the neck, playing more arpeggios, which makes it unique. Bobby is brilliant, Billy crisp. As is par for '74, there is a seamless Feelin' Groovy jam going into I Know You Rider, the effortless companion. A good tempo puts Loser across (Phil is great here), and then comes a monster of a Weather Report Suite. The intros are downtempo, though smooth, and not indicative of what's coming with Let it Grow. When the solo comes you realize Jer was champing at the bit. At 18½mins, it's about the longest, and one of the most deliriously exciting. For example, listen to how Phil forces a key change @10:50 and how they fall in. Jer's superbly-toned bent notes @13:45 are (...stop, before I write 100 words). Stella is sort of a weird pick for the end of the 1st set. Maybe somebody had to take a break before the real break. [Oddly, a brief Billy tuning from the end of Dire Wolf is moved to after Stella on the OFF].

Second Set. The breathless Me & My Uncle is one of the best. Prepare for a trainwreck. Dire Wolf sounds like a drunken rehearsal. Usually the longer versions of Not Fade are full of vamp, but this goes from jam to jam. A glitch at the beginning of Ramble On Rose is edited by ~5secs on most sources. It's an ebullient edifying edition, and this time they rob your change. Big River is all smiles with a sidewinding Jer and great Keith & Bobby. This is the only Dark Star for the Euro tour. The star was fading. There are only six in '74, none of which match previous years. You could argue that there are no bad Dark Stars – it is what it is when they tap into it. But this is perhaps the least of the six, all searching and no finding until 19mins, when they come upon a slow R&B riff, briefly, leading directly back to a theme identifiable as main theme adjacent. This sets up for the verse, 22mins in. Before that, Phil tries a jam @6:45, but immediately abandons it to follow Jer. He tries again @12:15, where it sounds like Son of Elastic Jam (from '72/'73). Dicks 7 calls the last 7mins "Spam Jam". This is a large Morning Dew; very dynamic, superb. Sugar Mag adds little, but they inject big energy into U.S. Blues, leaving Englishmen exhausted as they search for a way home with a closed Tube (and Keith is brilliant).

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: B
Overall = 3¾ stars

Highlights:
China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider – Jer unique, Bobby brilliant, Billy crisp
Weather Report Suite – lengthy version superbly toned
Me & My Uncle – breathless
Ramble On Rose – won't really rob yr change
Big River – sidewinding
Morning Dew – loud/quiet extremes
U.S. Blues – entwines enough energy

SOURCES: The 135699_sbd_new is the upgraded SBD. It needs BAL and VOL intervention and has a glitch near the beginning of NFA. It also runs too fast, needing -1.5% pitch correction except: Around & Around and the patches in Rider & Sugar Mag need -2.5% (-2.25% for the patch in Ramble); Peggy-O needs -2%. The135654_mtx_powell is an AUD/SBD composite, NOT a matrix. It has the AUD announcements and intro, but other tunings are cut, it has bizarre 6sec tracks, the edited Ramble, and pitch issues. It mostly runs wildly fast, needing -4% pitch correction for Intro, Around I & II, BitoDtL & China>Rider; -1% for Miss Half Step, B-TW, Loser, WRS & Stella. The second set needs -1.5%, except: -3.5% for Big River & Ramble (-2.5% for the patch); -2.5% for Sugar Mag (-1.5% for the patch). Older SBD sources have those same speed errors and have edits to remove glitches (like the beginning of Ramble). Dicks #7 has four from the 1st set and five from the 2nd set. All run fast, needing -1.5% pitch correction.

Night 2 from September '74 run at Alexandra Palace in London. From set 1 we get the Black-Throated Wind and Half-Step making the Dick's cut (disc 1), in addition to the set-closing Weather Report Suite->Stella Blue (disc 2). All of disc 3 highlights this show's second set, most notably of course is the stand-out Dark Star->Morning Dew.

This is the same SQ as Dick's Picks 7, but with some additional tracks that didn't make it on to that release. As noted, the missing SBD segments have been patched with AUD. There's one issue also, NFA here has a glitch at 0:28 that doesn't exist on DP7. Overall really nice to have the additional tracks, thanks for sharing!