17-11-2011, 17:59
Regarding the Grateful Dead, I tend to think the experience is by far the best on their live albums. If ever there was a band that changed their setlist more or less every night, and then hardly ever played a song the same way twice, it has to be the Dead. They improvised extensively, and although none of them were ever very strong vocally, the way they played together was something special.
There are a number of live albums in their standard output, but their archive recording output has really kicked into overdrive over the last couple of decades:
- The Dick's Picks series consists of 36 volumes, mostly over 3 or 4 discs.
- The Vault series is only three volumes
- The Europe '72 series originated as a 72-disc limited edition box set containing every gig they played on their 1972 European tour. These are now being released by individual shows.
- There are also about 25 further live box sets
As far as I'm aware, all the above are taken from individual gigs, with many being complete recordings of the gigs. But there's also:
- The Road Trips series, which I believe compile live tracks from different dates on specific tours. There's 17 volumes of these.
Obviously there's a huge number of these I haven't heard, but I can honestly say that of the fifteen live box sets I have, there's not a mediocre one amongst them.
As Gater says, the Europe '72 material is very highly regarded.
The acoustic set Reckoning (recorded 1980) is a favourite of mine, along with So Many Roads (5-discs, which samples their entire live career), Nightfall of Diamonds (Recorded 1989), The Closing of Winterland (1978 recording), Dick's Picks Vol 4 (1970 recording), Dick's Picks Vol 29 (1977 recording), Ladies & Gentlemen: Live at Fillmore East (1971 recording), & Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings (1973 recording...Doh !!) are all excellent sets.
There are a number of live albums in their standard output, but their archive recording output has really kicked into overdrive over the last couple of decades:
- The Dick's Picks series consists of 36 volumes, mostly over 3 or 4 discs.
- The Vault series is only three volumes
- The Europe '72 series originated as a 72-disc limited edition box set containing every gig they played on their 1972 European tour. These are now being released by individual shows.
- There are also about 25 further live box sets
As far as I'm aware, all the above are taken from individual gigs, with many being complete recordings of the gigs. But there's also:
- The Road Trips series, which I believe compile live tracks from different dates on specific tours. There's 17 volumes of these.
Obviously there's a huge number of these I haven't heard, but I can honestly say that of the fifteen live box sets I have, there's not a mediocre one amongst them.
As Gater says, the Europe '72 material is very highly regarded.
The acoustic set Reckoning (recorded 1980) is a favourite of mine, along with So Many Roads (5-discs, which samples their entire live career), Nightfall of Diamonds (Recorded 1989), The Closing of Winterland (1978 recording), Dick's Picks Vol 4 (1970 recording), Dick's Picks Vol 29 (1977 recording), Ladies & Gentlemen: Live at Fillmore East (1971 recording), & Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings (1973 recording...Doh !!) are all excellent sets.
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
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