The Deadhead's Taping Compendium:  An In-Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape

The Deadhead's Taping Compendium: An In-Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape

The Compendium's do great analysis on each year of the Grateful Dead. Then, for each entry they review the show and include details such as the date, location, the songs played, the existing tapes and lineage, concert highlights, and a comments section. Dozens of great  photographs throughout the book give the pages a visual appeal enhancing it immensely. 

There has been a lot of new information since the Deadhead's Taping Compendium's were released, but they are still an essential resource an guide. 

Vol. 1: 1959-1974 or hardcover
This volume includes rare and exclusive interviews with legendary early Dead soundman Oswley ("Bear") Stanley and Dick Latvala, the official archivist of the Grateful Dead.

Vol. 2: 1975-1985
This volume includes rare and exclusive interviews with Better Cantor Jackson, one of the Grateful Dead's primary recordist from 1967 - 1985.

Vol. 3: 1986-1995
This volume includes rare and exclusive interviews with Jeffrey Norman, Grateful Dead sound engineer that plays an integral part of vault releases.

Addendum: Career spanning
Here is an excerpt from a The Tapers Addendum Press Release: "This final addition specifically addresses the onslaught of newly circulating music that has surfaced since our last publication, and is an essential companion to the first three volumes, containing a wealth of information and new data for both new tapers and old school veterans alike." 
The complete press release

Praise for the Tapers Compendium's
"The Taper's Compendium provides a valuable resource to all Grateful Dead tape traders. The research is first-rate, and the descriptive analysis of tapes in circulation allows tapers to compile a wish-list of shows they can herein ascertain exist on tape." 
--DAVID LEMIEUX, Grateful Dead Vault Archivist 
"This guide ... is a wealth of information for Deadheads. ... the interviews with fans ... are the most interesting. The lengths these folks went to in order to record the Dead were sometimes astonishing, and the stories surrounding these escapades make for fascinating reading. ... The reviews included in this book are an excellent and exhaustive exploration of the changes the Dead's music went through over the years. ... For Deadheads ... this book is a treasure ... an invaluable resource." 
--BILLBOARD
"These books can be read on any one of several levels: If you're a Dead fan, it's a chronicle of the band's career. If you're not a Dead fan, it's a clear-eyed chronicle of a band's life during the late 20th century. The reportage is meticulous, the writing graceful. Any way you cut it, it's a journalistic and artistic accomplishment." 
--TIM KISKA, Detroit News
"Since I've been doing my Dead Air radio program here in Eugene, OR for more than 15 years, it was a welcome event when the Taping Compendiums were published. These Compendiums are a great resource for me when puzzling over what show or song might be best to play on the air. It's a thorough and comprehensive effort. And it's fun to see what shows have 'the best' versions. It's always good to discover (or rediscover) a great tune that may have slipped my mind. Nice to see the lovely photos sprinkled throughout as well. The Deadhead's Taping Compendium ... big as the Bible and just as righteous."
--DOWNTOWN DEB TRIST, host of Dead Air in Eugene (KLCC 89.7 FM www.klcc.org)
"The sheer enthusiasm and sense of wonderment reflected in these reviews is enough to send any serious tape collector on a hunting expedition pronto... All told, the enthusiasm these tape enthusiasts bring to their reviews, along with the occasional personal adventure tossed in for good measure, make these shows as much fun to read about as they undoubtedly are to hear." 
--RELIX
"The Deadhead's Taping Compendium series is a Godsend to  Deadheads and anyone who loves music. Nowhere else is the Grateful Dead's performing career meticulously documented and critically evaluated with such car and precision. The authors and compilers of these volumes have done a great service to the Deadhead community and have assured us that the band's music WILL NEVER be forgotten." 
--ROBERT WEINER Editor of the Perspectives on the Grateful Dead: Critical Writings Co-Author of The Grateful Dead and the Deadheads: An Annotated Bibliography Founder of the Grateful Dead annual academic mini-conference.
"The few people in the world who care about the music of the Grateful Dead care about it very deeply and passionately. This appreciation comes from many different angles, musically and culturally, giving Deadheads plenty to talk about. The recorded legacy of the Dead can be a daunting heap of CDs and tapes; the Compendium, created by a group of articulate and committed music lovers, will direct the new listener to the best of the best, and give everyone more to argue about for years to come." 
--DAVID GANS, host of the nationally syndicated "Grateful Dead Hour" radio show.
"Even a casual Deadhead should get some flashbacks thumbing through these pages." 
--L.A. TIMES
" ... the Getz and Dwork volumes are indispensable sources, being the definitive discographies-tapeographies, actually - of the Dead's concert life. ... Reading this book, or whatever you can do with an encyclopedia, puts us at the pulsing microchip of Dead central. ...There is so much music to know and so much information to compile, and Getz and Dwork are at the cutting edge." 
--BUFFALO NEWS
"The multi-volume Deadhead's Taping Compendium is a milestone of scholarship, an intricate map of a vast territory drawn by those who made it their home. Much of the joy in being a Deadhead is in tipping your friends off to revelatory moments captured somewhere in the thousands of miles of tape that is the band's legacy. Conversations like this wove the fabric of the Deadhead community while the band was still touring; and as a tapestry of informed opinions, valuable historical data, amusing gossip, and unabashed passion, the Compendium will be employed by Deadheads long into the future to find their way through the vast landscape the band explored, night after night, for thirty years. As much as it's a tribute to a unique band, it's also a tribute to the smartest, craziest, most inspired and diverse group of faces that ever hit the American road in search of delight, interesting surprises, and the occasional glimpse of a benevolent order in the Universe that defies description. By recognizing that order, we open doors in our own hearts to bringing it forth into the world. The Compendium points the way." 
--STEVE SILBERMAN, Co-Author of Skeleton Key: A Dictionary For Deadheads (with David Shenk) and Co-Producer of So Many Roads (1965-1995) box set. 
"For anyone who has ever wondered how the Grateful Dead bridged the generations and clumsily trucked into mainstream popularity, The Deadhead's Taping Compendium explain it all. ... The massive book is colorfully written ... The book does a great job of explaining how, without Top 40 hits or platinum record sales, the Dead has done so well for so long. ...It is an invaluable resource for those who revere the Grateful Dead experience." 
--CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
"The Taper's Compendium is the connective tissue that holds your Grateful Dead collection together." 
--DWIGHT HOLMES, Deadhead
"Noteworthy among this fine references other contents are interviews with famous Deadheads (find out what Owsley was really like-yow!" 
--BOOKLIST
"This is an absolute treasure for Deadheads."
-- SPRINGFIELD NEWS LEADER
"... this series is a goldmine of information for any Grateful Dead fan."
-- LIBRARY JOURNAL
"The Deadhead's Taping Compendium is like a lost treasure from the ancient library of Alexandria-a modern day Rosetta Stone that provides glorious translations of the Grateful Dead X-Factor into practical reviews that novices and seasoned Deadheads alike will benefit from for years to come." 
--GREG POULOS, Deadhead
"The Taping Compendiums have been an invaluable resource for Dead enthusiasts everywhere. The author's exhaustive research and objectivity with the subject matter is exceptional, and I am thoroughly impressed wit their proficiency at capturing the "joie de vivre" and dynamic complexities of the Dead's music. Fortunately for all of us, a cornucopia of newly surfaced recordings has necessitated this Addendum which brings the reader up-to-date on all the new tapes swirling about.  This eagerly awaited new volume sustains the high standards established by the previous three and is an essential reference for all serious collectors." 
--GREG SHAW, Rock and Roll author
"Finally, something that puts it all together!"
--HARVEY LUBAR, member of the Hell's Honkies Tape Club
"The authors have spent years creating the ultimate Deadhead guide to tapes. They have taken the tape collecting idea from its earliest days in  1971 when The First Free Underground Grateful Dead Tape Exchange was created by myself and my friends. We had little loose-leaf books with complete information on every tape. Who recorded it? How was it recorded? When was it recorded? What's on it? What equipment was used? Etc. The Tape Exchange never kept that information, but the authors here did the ultimate job in recreating over 30 years of History. Their work is to be commended. They definitely earned a PHD in Tapeology!" 
--LESLIE D. KIPPEL 
Founder, The First Free Underground GD Tape Exchange 
Founder, Relix Magazine
Founder, Relix Records
"An in-depth academic/scholastic treatment to the musical work of the Dead, with an intense passion that pours from each review. This is serious stuff, written by serious people just crazy enough to be way into this kind of thing. As I read more, I can't help being caught up in that passion myself."
-- NOAH WEINER, Deadhead (and Aud fanatic)
"all the punctuation confuses me but I read the Compendium every day cuz there is nuthin in the bathroom cept the Compendium here at Lone Star Dead Radio."
--ERIC SCHWARTZ, host of Lone Star Dead in Dallas, TX (89.3 FM www.knon.org)
"Be there then! The Compendium is a must for anyone serious (or even a little interested) in Grateful Dead tape collecting. If you don't have these books, you're not really collecting. Now, if only someone would do the same for the Duke Ellington Band ..." 
--OLIVER TRAGER, author of The American Book of the Dead-The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia
"Why do some people have hundreds, if not thousands, of Grateful Dead concerts on CD? Not only is every concert unique, but careful listening will reveal, from the best of the best nights, amazing examples of group improvisation, as well as a plethora of musical influences that span the history of American music. Few people have listened more intently to more Grateful Dead music than the band of music scholars, musicians, and merry pranksters that form the brain trust that has produced the three volumes of the Taper's Compendium series."
--MICHAEL PARRISH, Writer for the Chicago Tribune, Paleontologist
"The most invaluable tool for Deadheads since the roach clip." 
-STU SCHIMMEL, co-host of WBAI's Morning Dew radio show in NYC.

The Deadhead's Taping Addendum
by Michael Getz, John Dwork and  Brian Dyke

The following is a press release from the authors:
Orders are now being accepted for The Deadhead's Taping Addendum, the final installment of the critically acclaimed, award winning series, The Deadhead's Taping Compendium (Vols. 1-3). This final addition specifically addresses the onslaught of newly circulating music that has surfaced since our last publication, and is an essential companion to the first three volumes, containing a wealth of information and new data for both new tapers and old school veterans alike. It also stands quite tall as an enjoyable read by itself.

The Addendum will include in-depth reviews and analysis of over 175 newly circulating performances. The majority of these shows are derived from the highly sought after pre-1975 period of the Grateful Dead's career, an are all reported on by the community's most prized writers and scholars. 

Additionally, the Addendum will include an interview and step by step historical recounting with the Legendary Marty Weinberg. After being reported MIA for the past 25 years, Marty recently resurfaced after reading about himself and his legendary status in Volume 1. Marty shares the remarkable stories of his East Coast taping experiences from 1969-1971 in great, glorious detail. You'll be amazed to hear the lengths that this pioneer of our community went to capture this experience and preserve it for all of us. Of course, also included will be the long awaited definitive listing of Marty's Master Reels, thus allowing tapers and traders alike to correctly identify the source of their until now questionable audience recordings. 

Didn't bid high enough on eBay? Well, here's the next best thing. Join us while we take a tour of the Grateful Dead's Vault with Jeffrey Norman. Come walk through the fabled Vault with us while Jeffrey shares his knowledge of each historical section, down every eye-popping aisle. Very rare photographs, by Eliza Bundledee, provide a sumptuous background to Jeffrey's illuminating interview.  

The Addendum also features a very special Tribute To Dick Latvala. Long known as the Taper's Best Friend, Dick is given the red carpet treatment he deserves here. Heartfelt recollections, amusing stories and touching insights permeate each recollection from those that knew Dick best: Robert Hunter, Mickey Hart, Dennis McNally, Steve Silberman, Nathan Wolfson, Pat Lee, Eddie Claridge, Carol Latvala, Rich Latvala, Kevin Shapiro (Archivist for Phish), Rob Bertrando, Kirk West (Archivist for The Allman Brothers Band), Harvey Lubar, Jeffrey Norman, Dr. Bob Wagner, Kidd Candelario, and Christi Lamb Vogel. 

Ever wonder exactly what Dick felt were THE hottest, most interesting songs and jams? Culled from Dick's own well-worn Deadbases, J-cards and notebooks, here is a list of what Dick felt were the Dead's most distinguished song versions and exciting, unique instrumental passages 

Have you ever wondered how the Vault Archivist himself notated his recordings? You'll find many examples of exactly how Dick marked and measured a show's performance with this sampling from his own private collection. You won't help but be moved by the illustration of passion captured in these rare reproductions.  

Due to the influx of new data since Volume 1's publication in 1998, we have carefully updated and corrected all of the first three volumes, bringing the entire series up to date in one chapter enclosed here in our Addendum. 

Curious about where Dick might be these days? Then check out "Dick's Jam In The Afterlife" and read about how Dick goes toe to toe with an afterlife guardian in this provocative, humorous and touching what-if fable 

Of course, the Addendum wouldn't be complete without the inclusion of ticket stubs, rare photographs, and the updated Resources section. 

Vol. 2  

Vol. 3  

Addendum