Penultimate show of farewell run. Almost half of
Steal Your Face used this show, as does a majority of tracks on the
Movie Soundtrack box. It's not the best show of the run (that would be the 17th) but it has a few highly regarded highlights. The shows were notoriously hot (as in a San Fran heatwave) which might be why the playing was better in August and September.
First Set. Average to above average through
Beat it on Down-13½ (is it 13? 14?) and into
El Paso (at the time they played it every night, but at least Jer knew where to grab ahold). Donna is in her element on
Scarlet and the end jam signals a change in the set leading into what is one of the band's most-remarked
Eyes. This may be the quintessential example of the '74 (or even pre-hiatus) Eyes. The whole thing just cruises. It appears in full on
So Many Roads but the version on
Movie edits out the first solo and the second verse/chorus (2:20 - 5:20), and then edits part of the jam (12:05-14:25)!
China Doll is out of tune (as it was on
SYF) though
Big River ain't half bad.
Second Set.
Big Railroad has Jer doing the rare train-whistle chords.
The Race is On is one of only nine in '74 and
Tomorrow is the ONLY one of '74 (and the last ever) - clearly a concession to Donna's potentially last-ever pick. I like this
Mexicali. It's uptempo and just unique enough - with Jer wrapping riffs around and colliding into Bobby and Keith.
Dire Wolf is slow and a little funky but
He's Gone is just clunky.
Truckin' doesn't take, devolving instead to a
Caution (ish) jam. Then comes one of the rare pre-hiatus
Drums>Space (with Billy staying on). The
Truckin' that comes back is almost never this perfect.
Black Peter is likewise tight and has the year's best Peter-jam. The hot
U.S. Blues is the version used for
SYF.
1st Set: C
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 3½ Stars (3 stars plus half just for the Eyes)
Highlights:
Eyes of the World - considered one of the classic versions
Truckin'>Black Peter - played for life, best of '74s
U.S. Blues - familiar version from SYF
SOURCES: There's a miller but the
finney.228 has a better image. The problem is it's
pitched too fast and variably. It mostly
needs -2% speed correction but Mama Tried (and possibly others) need -3%.
Boswell-smith.11634 on the other hand (like most sources from this run) is pitched too slow! Use the finney if you repitch, or use the miller. Parts appear on 3 albums (
Steal Your Face,
So Many Roads,
Movie Soundtrack).