| J-Card Comment | To borrow a line from an OLD 7-Up commercial: "Crisp and clean... no caffiene"!
Well, this show didn't need any caffiene to boost it's energy level, it's lighthearted nature, all the little jokes and comments you hear Jerry and Bob make either directly into their mikes, or turned to another band member and saying something. Just listen to the closing of Set I, after Jerry tells the audience about their between show break... Weir starts talking about "the monkeys"... good stuff! The band was right on the money for this show. It was upbeat, full of jams, Phil going WAY off on tangents during Dark Star, and much more. A "complete" Dead show, in every sense.
And the sound is SO CRISP, it's like you were right at the mixer, hearing every single thing going on... from B&J's string plucking, to B&M's sticks hitting each other on purpose (for effect), to Pig's just touching the keys to his Hammond (and you get the little "click" right before the note starts)... even down to where you can hear a corroded plug/jack pair making noise on the right channel at one point. The last item only occurred once, during a between song lull, and you can hear the engineer's making the connection more secure during the opening of the following song.
This is a show where you hear everything! From when Bob and Jerry hit their FX pedals to the mikes being turned on and off during songs... and ESPECIALLY during Set II, you hear how Weir plays his electric off of Jerry's acoustic during Mountains Of The Moon. Words can't describe how well they played together when the moods were just so right. Didn't happen every show; sometimes they were just totally "opposite" in their playing, most shows showed their synergy and their complimentary and syncopation playing, and then you have shows like this, where they are just so in tune with each other.
I have to thank Phil for re-mixing this show down in 1991, in a very good and "uncluttered with stoners" studio environment. And rather than using the digital safety copies of the show to do the remix, he felt it would be better to utilize the original reels, just to give this show the highest quality sound. There was going to be a commercial release of many of the late 60's shows for a 3-disc box set, but that never was finished.
This is NOT the "completed Phil re-mix", but the final track mixdown, with some "rough edits" which still needed to be eliminated. There were several "gaps" during several of the songs in Set II, where you could hear the RTR decks stop, but the processes Phil had already programmed into the mixing console busses continue (such as the reverb & delay, and some of the peak limiting, but no compression) continued on for a second or two. These gaps were cross-faded, which eliminated a total of 27 seconds from all of Set II.
This shows' Dark Star and Saint Stephen were originally used for their "Live Dead" commercial recording, hence the faster speed for the venue's RTR decks (there were 2 Scully decks at the venue so nothing would be missed due to reel changes, etc.). And for those of you who own(ed) the original vinyl release version of this album, you know how well the 'energy and sound quality" was transferred from the 16 track masters to the LP. I still have my copy, worn out from the countless numbers if times I'd played it... the CD release does NOT let the sound quality and warmth of the original reels come through.
There are some very slight volume changes which occurred during the tuning before Cryptical, when they switched to a different deck... I left it in, as that's how it was originally recorded; the same thing occurred during MOTM, when they again switched decks mid-song, and the hiss levels came up about 2 dB (then the engineers adjusted the decks' recording bias to make the sound "equal" again). I also did not perform ANY noise reduction, due to the fact that the sound was so pristine, that ANY changes made to reduce the hiss would change and eliminate, ever so slightly, the quality and the richness of the sound; some of the very subtle things (like the way Mickey was doing some drum hits to "alter the sound" to get a good effect) could have been eliminated or reduced in level as a bi-product of the NR. I'm sure that none of you are going to object to the very minor hiss which is only heard during lulls/between songs/super quiet passages... so just enjoy how clean this show is.
Sometimes, things are better left untouched!
Sorry to go on and on about the clarity, but this is one of the really rare shows where everything is heard. And with the fact that this comes straight from the original reels, mixed onto digital media through ANALOG equipment (again, to keep the sound as natural as possible; 24/96 equipment was still a pipe dream for most studios, and even for the Dead, in 1991), and being fed into a 2" 16 track Studer Revox analog RTR mastering deck for future work. This digital copy was taken from the control room feed, which was 2-track.
You can tell the Garcia was not only a very talented musician, but he also knew how to change instruments quickly and without people really "hearing it happen" (if they weren't physically at the show watching him do it)... this is the case during the transition at the end of Mountains as it went into Dark Star. One minute you're hearing Jerry plucking the strings of his old acoustic, the next you hear him on the electric for the Dark Star opening notes. Again, it's subtle, and you can just barely hear him resting his acoustic back in it's holder, and the SBD people turning off the mike which was used as an adjunct, picking up the audio from the sound hole of his acoustic. You can really sit back with this show, close your eyes, and mentally project yourself right up front against the railing by the stage, watching the band performing.
There's nothing I can say about the songs or the set list, outside of the fact that most of the segues were on target, and the choices of the songs were "right" for the time period and their small song repertoire in early '67. This show is only good for "quiet listening" or playing totally cranked up at a party. There's no "in between". It either has to be listened to "personally", or playing for a bunch of your friends, passing the smoke and the wine around!
The jams inside of TOO and Cryptical's Reprise are long, good, and range from full-blown "smokin' the speakers" all the way down to very quiet passages which just fit in right. Not only does this demonstrate the amount of dynamic headroom of the music (approx. 70 dB!!!), but also shows how the Boyz were able to just follow small cues and leads by one or more of the band members (usually Jerry or Phil).
And with Phil at the controls for this mixdown, you can be assured that even though the final editing isn't finished, the mixing of the instruments, the channel panning and separation, and such, are set up to give the listener the sense of soundstaging, open space, and being able to almost "pinpoint in your mind" where the musicians were standing! Lesh and Hart are known for their attention to details, and I try to do the same when it comes to shows I work on. It's the minor details, subtle aspects, and such, which can make or break the enjoyment factor for shows.
I respect Phil and Mickey, not only for their musical abilities, but for their insights into music... their technical as well as aesthetic knowledge of how sound and audio works together... and their dedication to their fans (and the "end listeners).
I want to again thank Phil for working on this show, as well as my MCS for obtaining this almost totally unknown version of this Fillmore show. I would say that this version is one you should have in your collection. If not for trading, vining, etc., then for your own personal pleasure.
Please try to pass it along to people. I am sure they will be glad you did!
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