Grateful Dead
Uptown Theatre
Chicago, IL
February 27, 1981

Jerry Garcia - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Mickey Hart - Drums
Bill Kreutzmann - Drums
Phil Lesh - Electric Bass, Vocals
Brent Mydland - Keyboards, Vocals
Bob Weir - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals



*Matrix*



-----------------------------------------------------------------
SBD (shnid=4598):

Source Info:
SBD > Cassette master > DAT(0) (Cassette>DAT transfer by Dick)

DAT(1) > ZA2> Soundforge (15db sampled tape hiss noise reduction filter)> CD Architect > Master CDR (by Jim Wise)

CDR Master > EAC in secure mode (see below) > Soundforge (minor editing and crossfading) > CDWAV > SHNv3 w/seek tables appended (by Jamie Lutch)

Known Flaws:
reel flip in Wharf Rat> Sugar Magnolia segue, crossfaded slightly
All other edits and crossfades were between songs with no music disturbed
[Brief cut in Drums. Missing Don't Ease Me In]

[4/10/01]

-----------------------------------------------------------------
AUD (shnid=128712):

"Mason B. Taylor was a taper from Chicago that recorded concerts by many bands in the Chicagoland area and on Dead tours. He used a Nakamichi 550 with Nakamichi 300 mics with shotgun capsules for most of his earlier recordings. In later years he used Sony D-5 and Sony D-3 cassette recorders with Nakamichi 300 mics.

Mason captured spectacular musical moments and loved to share them with his closest friends. In honor of Mason and all the love he put into his recordings we are now able to share these moments with those who can appreciate them most.

As the shows get uploaded we would love for you to share your stories about the epic times the music evokes so we can all dial back into that moment when the magic was happening.

Thanks to Mason'Â’s family and his Chicago and Cleveland friends for opening up Mason'Â’s Jar"

Recorded By Mason Taylor on a Nakamichi 550 Cassette Deck,
on chrome tapes, with Nakamichi microphones.

Transferred on Mason's restored Nak550 properly.

[Barry Glassberg's AUD (SHNID=20344) patches brief cuts in Estimated and Drums, and the second half of Sugar Magnolia.]

[5/17/14]

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you to Dick Latvala, Jim Wise, and Jamie Lutch for the SBD transfer,
to Mason B. Taylor and Barry Glassberg for recording the show,
to Joe B. Jones and Rob Bertrando for help with pitch correction,
and to Jamie Waddell for critical feedback.

Matrix by Hunter Seamons using Final Cut Pro (SHN & FLAC > AIFF > Final Cut w/EQ work > AIFF CD tracking via Audacity > FLAC16 via xACT w/meta-tagging)
Summer Solstice, 2014



Set I
-----
d1t01 - Alabama Getaway ->
d1t02 - Promised Land
d1t03 - Friend of the Devil
d1t04 - Cassidy
d1t05 - Loser
d1t06 - C.C. Rider
d1t07 - It Must Have Been the Roses
d1t08 - Minglewood Blues

Set II
-----
d2t01 - Scarlet Begonias ->
d2t02 - Fire on the Mountain ->
d2t03 - Estimated Prophet ->
d2t04 - Eyes of the World ->
d3t01 - Drums ->
d3t02 - Space ->
d3t03 - Not Fade Away ->
d3t04 - Wharf Rat ->
d3t05 - Sugar Magnolia

Encore
------
d3t06 - Don't Ease Me In



Notes:

When I first started listening to matrixes in 2006, it was specifically with volume two of Chris Chappell's masterwork Sick Bits series, which was the entire three-night stand at the Uptown Theatre in 1981. As a long-time Chicagoan, and because these were incidentally the first concerts the Dead played after I was born in January, I was naturally drawn to listening to these recordings. Not surprisingly, I have read different reviews of these shows where each performance has been lauded as the "best night" of the run, which speaks to the high praise of this Uptown trifecta as a whole and why Chris decided to include them all in one volume to begin with, and so early in the series. The Dead were obviously on fire right out of the gates in 1981, and the very impressive spring '81 tour is where this incendiary new energy was headed. This was the last time the Dead would play at the Uptown due to it becoming heavily flooded later that winter from water pipes bursting during a deep freeze, making it beyond immediate repair. The venue still exists today in a dilapidated state, with hopes of it one day being restored - after 33 years.

I lived within walking distance from the Uptown. It has always been a kind of mythical place in the Dead's concert history for me, particularly because of the consistently amazing shows that were played there and the very ornate architecture of the theatre, which was built in 1925 as the largest movie palace in America with "an acre of seats" - 4,381 (imagine seeing the latest Chaplin film with that many people). Also true among Dead lore is that it was a great sounding venue, and the audience tapes consistently convey this. The Uptown always seems to exude a sonorous and intimate sonic energy that pulls the audience in for an especially magical evening.

Of course I thought it would be awesome to matrix these shows, but I never considered it worthwhile since Chris's matrixes were already of such fantastic quality. Then, until only recently, new tapes of this run emerged out of the woodwork by prolific Chicago taper, Mason B. Taylor (a great photo of him just so happens to appear on page one of "The Official Book of the Dead Heads"), which provide a new aural landscape of these historic concerts when compared to Barry Glassberg's tapes that Chris used. While perhaps not as clear and defined as Barry's recordings, Mason's cassettes more so capture an airy spaciousness and raw, electrified energy that works well with the crispy yet flat soundboard tapes. Jerry's guitar also resounds more prominently in Mason's pull, which always seems to makes things sound nicer.

With some excellent new sources in the trading pool, there was no resisting giving at least one of these Uptown shows a shot. This matrix of the 27th is my first foray into this run, seeing that it's the best sounding audience tape of the three nights Mason captured. The 28th is the second best sounding recording, while the 26th is more muffled and boomy sounding due to a different microphone placement. So here is the cream of the crop from the '81 Uptown run, Mason Taylor style (and Dan Healy style, of course). I hope matrix listeners will find this to be a pleasurable new experience of a very fine night in Grateful Dead history, which features a Scarlet Fire of blinding brilliance amidst a non-stop second set. If you've been searching for the sound, you might find some of it here.


Hunter


Set 1 was matrixed in Chicago, Illinois, one mile west of the Uptown Theatre.
Set 2 was matrixed in Santa Fe, New Mexico.




    length     expanded size    cdr  WAVE problems  fmt   ratio  filename
     4:26.39       47014172 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.6471  gd81-02-27d1t01.flac
     4:12.51       44572796 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.6558  gd81-02-27d1t02.flac
     9:37.62      101928668 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5656  gd81-02-27d1t03.flac
     6:11.54       65571452 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.6170  gd81-02-27d1t04.flac
     9:30.33      100625660 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5666  gd81-02-27d1t05.flac
     9:04.45       96067484 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5744  gd81-02-27d1t06.flac
     5:59.70       63492284 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5514  gd81-02-27d1t07.flac
     7:26.09       78695612 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.6145  gd81-02-27d1t08.flac
    13:04.61      138441116 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5868  gd81-02-27d2t01.flac
    12:08.10      128442764 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.6105  gd81-02-27d2t02.flac
    11:19.29      119843852 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5699  gd81-02-27d2t03.flac
     9:57.02      105315548 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5865  gd81-02-27d2t04.flac
    12:50.48      135940940 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5003  gd81-02-27d3t01.flac
     8:09.34       86339612 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.4826  gd81-02-27d3t02.flac
     9:07.45       96596684 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5800  gd81-02-27d3t03.flac
    11:05.49      117421292 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5540  gd81-02-27d3t04.flac
     9:50.53      104200700 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.6070  gd81-02-27d3t05.flac
     3:38.06       38469356 B   ---   --   ---xx   flac  0.5758  gd81-02-27d3t06.flac
   157:41.25     1668979992 B                            0.5747  (18 files)

gd81-02-27d1t01.flac:587c53c6ef03be9adb445b2ec7e17807
gd81-02-27d1t02.flac:11fdade729077772b4307fc9f06d3c93
gd81-02-27d1t03.flac:eafdbb8b57593bf82bf6c89dc573bba2
gd81-02-27d1t04.flac:e0f12b0afd3b7d5e44685ef9105d9247
gd81-02-27d1t05.flac:2501c6ebeef9766815454890f059b7e7
gd81-02-27d1t06.flac:ad5f31e57cec06774d6ebaa4f48d93f1
gd81-02-27d1t07.flac:1fd5e1da85e2ac3b8e2ede3498ae46dd
gd81-02-27d1t08.flac:aea0f690c9aa1a9db5d316d73434b9b6
gd81-02-27d2t01.flac:dfd9488823432dee963e9395f8cc9fda
gd81-02-27d2t02.flac:9eef5648ff8a50d5157aad2597956a24
gd81-02-27d2t03.flac:c251a959de2f1f77307960510500c8a8
gd81-02-27d2t04.flac:89ccf910e6d62efbe731cb22eced341f
gd81-02-27d3t01.flac:d2686c36f7e40c8740e7cd5fc8af7da6
gd81-02-27d3t02.flac:acae41ea00f5911c0743854b57916fb3
gd81-02-27d3t03.flac:cc0d8336cbf5875c7e148efa5a42b279
gd81-02-27d3t04.flac:b0a580ef18865f822fa1217993a1791d
gd81-02-27d3t05.flac:d30fcbf10db4c5faddb4d35b14b8b2eb
gd81-02-27d3t06.flac:4d8ff899d7d7bef2d458220c1274080c

f0fe4c29c226e216dcac030e9eb8f328 *gd81-02-27d1t01.flac
21a7f89c686c330babe1cdf42711143b *gd81-02-27d1t02.flac
d9d860f5b012a8764b726efefc35410f *gd81-02-27d1t03.flac
c0ae60c4fa01f4b0eca4eec76b8ca859 *gd81-02-27d1t04.flac
f8ac0b74123ae0f5190511746386dd46 *gd81-02-27d1t05.flac
343cb00774ee92fb10875c1e826b8c48 *gd81-02-27d1t06.flac
7cb55d6da4762ddee4a03a6665516dd7 *gd81-02-27d1t07.flac
ae21e0dc73ef66d5d00e1a1cb9e78411 *gd81-02-27d1t08.flac
eec8a160a096423ca82e3ccdb8b90c26 *gd81-02-27d2t01.flac
201d42724098c00e127f60c48f8891eb *gd81-02-27d2t02.flac
a0e95c5ace7ef7bfcb09643ff378b087 *gd81-02-27d2t03.flac
5d3f075b3dd9e2e09bfba20f94690fc2 *gd81-02-27d2t04.flac
e682dc483902fda346e6427d0938099f *gd81-02-27d3t01.flac
c00d0fcf39fb84a3821c9004e5512307 *gd81-02-27d3t02.flac
cba17779d2f61c3ba66faf3fdf7a83e7 *gd81-02-27d3t03.flac
3d224917746336c2b1e6e94a6be1c6b5 *gd81-02-27d3t04.flac
580d831e11468b91c60c3b3b3e2516c5 *gd81-02-27d3t05.flac
daf8a592fdb120433f08e5fa38954c54 *gd81-02-27d3t06.flac