Set Lists

Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 3: Summer '71 

From the Grateful Dead website
Road Trips Vol. 1 Number 3
More Lost and Found From the Hot, Hot Summer of’71 on this Two-Disc Set!

If you’re up on your Dick’s Picks releases—and we know you are—you’ll recall that Dick’s Picks 35, released in 2005, featured some smokin’ performances from the summer of 1971. The master reels from which it was culled, long believed to have been lost, had turned up miraculously on a houseboat owned by the parents of former GD keyboardist Keith Godchaux, discovered more than 30 years later by Keith’s brother, Brian, and son, Zion. And Keith had these masters because the band wanted him to be able to hear their most recent tour in preparation for his taking the piano seat that fall. It was quite a find, to say the least—the Grateful Dead world equivalent of uncovering a new royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

So imagine our surprise when two years later, under completely different circumstances, even more great, previously uncirculated master tapes from the summer of ’71 turned up unexpectedly. Surely that was a sign, too, that this music needed to come out and be shared with all of you. Which brings us, happily, to Road Trips Volume One, Number 3. This release offers up the brightest of these recently discovered gems: Disc One is taken from the famous show at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, July 31, 1971, anchored around an out-of-this-world “Dark Star” and a version of “Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down the Road” that also includes a short “Darkness, Darkness” jam. Hot stuff!

The material on Disc Two is from the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago about three weeks later—8/23/71 (the following night, 8/24, was spotlighted on DP35)—and its big highlight is probably the very jammed out version of “That’s It for the Other One,” which in my humble opinion stands with the best they ever played (yes, even ones from the Fillmore West box). Spread across the discs you’ll also find outstanding versions of “China Cat > Rider,” “Uncle John’s Band > Johnny B. Goode,” “Wharf Rat,” “Sugar Magnolia” and lots more. Like the DP35 performances, these are a Phil-lover’s-delight, with massive bass on almost every track—careful if you’re driving or operating heavy machinery when you crank up these CDs!

As is customary, too, for the proverbial “limited time only,” when you buy Road Trips #3, you’ll also receive a bonus disc with still more rarities from that ’71 tour. Check it out: The first few newly unearthed tracks are more from the 8/6/71 Hollywood Palladium show (featured on DP35), including the justifiably legendary, consensus-best-ever version of “Hard to Handle,” heard in pristine soundboard form for the first time. It will knock your tie-dye socks off! There are also more fine tracks from Yale Bowl, but the heart of this disc was plucked from the 8/4/71 show at Terminal Island correctional facility in Southern California, where Grateful Dead sound guru Owsley Stanley was incarcerated at the time. This show doesn’t even circulate as an audience recording! (What—a venue the tapers couldn’t crack? No way!) We think you’ll agree that all of this is GD of the highest order! As usual, these master soundboard recordings have been mastered in HDCD, and each package includes a cool booklet with an essay about the music (by yours truly in this case) and plenty o’ rare photos from the period.

by Barry Small
Grade N/A

Order: GDM

Editors comment
I haven't yet heard the release. While this comment has nothing to do with the release, it may have interest to some from a historical sense. Plus there are some links to some fine music. During 1971, Garcia was busy playing a lot of steel guitar and worked with the New Riders of the Purple Sage both live and in the studio.

During the July 2, 1971 Fillmore West - San Francisco, CA, not only did Jerry sit in with the New Riders, a common occurrence, but also with the Rowan Brothers. A busy man. 

Grateful Dead
Source - Deadlists 
Set One - Bertha [5:47] ; Me And Bobby McGee [5:38] ; Next Time You See Me [3:50] ; China Cat Sunflower [4:50] > I Know You Rider [5:47] ; Playing In The Band [4:54] ; Loser [6:33] ; The Rub [3:34] ; Me And My Uncle [3:10] ; Big Railroad Blues [3:35] ; Hard To Handle [7:19] ; Deal [6:13] ; The Promised Land [2:46] ; Good Lovin' [17:16] 

Set Two - Sugar Magnolia [6:41] ; Sing Me Back Home [9:48] ; Mama Tried [2:47] ; Cryptical Envelopment [2:02] > Drums [5:16] > The Other One [15:40] ; Big Boss Man [5:18] ; Casey Jones [5:36] ; Not Fade Away [3:49] > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad [7:22] > Jam [1:09] > Not Fade Away [3:35] 

Encore Johnny B. Goode [3:43] 

New Riders of the Purple Sage
source. Archive.org
John Dawson - rhythm guitar, vocals
David Nelson - lead guitar, vocals
David Torbert - bass, vocals
Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar
Spencer Dryden - drums

tuning & Bill Graham intro
Workingman's Blues
Superman
I Don't Know You
Down In The Boondocks
Dirty Business
Glendale Train
Portland Women
Henry
Sailin'
Last Lonely Eagle
Louisiana Lady
Honky Tonk Women
The Weight

The Rowan Brothers
Source Wolfgang's vault

Chris Rowan - guitar, piano, vocals
Lorin Rowan - guitar, mandolin, vocals
Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar
David Grisman - mandolin, piano
Bill Wolf - bass
Bill Kruetzman - drums

At the time of this performance, the Rowan Brothers had yet to release an album. Signed to Columbia under the instruction of Clive Davis after a bidding war with Asylum Records' David Geffen in which Columbia doubled Geffen's offer, they would soon become the focus of an overhyped campaign that they could never live up to. They recorded their first LP with their older brother Peter's bandmate, David Grisman, producing. A few members of the Grateful Dead also lend a hand to the sessions. When the album was released, the brother's faces were prominently displayed on a Sunset Boulevard billboard and they were profiled in Rolling Stone. An offhand comment made by Jerry Garcia in a Rolling Stone interview that said "They could be like the Beatles, they're that good," was taken out of context and subsequently plastered on all the promotion for the album. In the wake of this promotional blitz, the group's management advised them not to tour and to simply wait for the album to explode. The album failed to take off and the Garcia quote, combined with Columbia's firing of Clive Davis, proved the kiss of death for the group. The Rowan Brothers were dropped from the label before they could complete a second album.

This third night of the Fillmore West closing week festivities opened with the Rowan Brothers giving their one and only appearance at the Fillmore and one of only a handful promoting their first album. Mandolin virtuoso David Grisman, in addition to Jerry Garcia and Bill Kruetzman, help provide backing throughout the set. This was a marathon night for Garcia, who played on every song by all three groups.

The Rowan Brother's breezy harmonies and pastoral, feel-good songs go over well with the Fillmore audience. Surprisingly, they only perform three songs from their debut LP - "Hickory Day," "Mama Don't You Cry," and "Move On Down" - but the rest of the material is similar in feel. Though these songs can sound somewhat naïve and dated they do offer a true reflection of that short idyllic time period when many of the San Francisco bands had relocated to Marin County and were living free and easy. The brothers themselves had recently relocated from Boston to Stinson Beach, and this radical change in surroundings, coupled with a certain popularity among leading San Francisco music figures, infused their songwriting. Guardian angels, mountain climbing and running free are common lyrical themes here, some with uplifting spiritual overtones.

One notable exception is "Better Off Dead," one of the more enjoyable lost songs. It's a shame that it was not recorded for their first album, as it would have given it some humorous balance as a potential sing-a-long anthem. Garcia's pedal steel is particularly fitting on this take. The legendary artist's presence, along with the nature of the event itself, allows the song to resonate on a number of levels.

Released - May. 2008
Mastering - Jeffrey Norman 
Booklet essay - Blair Jackson

The third release in a new series, Road Trips.