winterland121072
02-10-2006, 03:31 PM
Band/Artist: Grateful Dead
Date: May 8th, 1979
Venue: Rec Hall, Penn State U
Location: State College, PA
Source: Audience Recording
Lineage: NAK CM700, Sony 158SD
Taped by: Barry Glassberg
6th Show Of 1979 Spring Tour
http://www.psilo.com/dead/images/tickets/t790508.jpg
Coming off the heals of the bands first exceptional show with Brent Mydland, hopes likely were high for another exceptional performance. Again, the band was performing at an east coast school – this time at one with many more students.
The Promised Land opener was 1979’s first non-exceptional opener – with Brent. Jerry’s guitar solo was very bland, and Mydland’s keys solo started slowly and gained little. The finale had some surges but nothing too impressive.
Similarly, They Love Each Other suffers from non-flavored and bland soloing and the overall pacing seemed sluggish.
Mama Tried was next. Jerry’s solo seemed disjointed as the notes didn’t seem to fit into layered progressions. Jerry sounded distracted. The song portion was well done, however.
Mexicali Blues flowed out of Mama. Again, the song portion was solid, but Jerry’s solos were not flavored and sounded disjointed.
After four songs, the band sounded quite different from the 5.7.1979 show after four songs. Perhaps Brent was being introduced to the infamous Grateful Dead hangover show.
Jerry next chose Brown Eyed Women. This was an improvement over the previous songs. The song portion was snappy and timed quickly, and Jerry’s solo slowly gained in tension and complexity. While not quite exceptional as a whole, this version was definitely above average.
Next was a very solid reading of All Over Now. Weir’s presentation was crazed anger with a passion. Jerry’s guitar solo was slowly delivered but had numerous bendings and sprints so as to be considered quite flavorful. Mydland’s solo was improved over the Promised and TLEO solos. Jerry took over after Mydland’s solo and generated a slow solo that increased in pace and tension and was loaded flavored progressions. Indeed, this was the first exceptional tune of the night.
Continuing with the exceptional trend, Jerry next eased the band into Row Jimmy. This version proved that the band and, in particular, Jerry were now in the zone. Jerry’s first solo was sweeping with an unnerving echo while it soared with flavor. During the main jam, Weir started with a very sinister but well taken slide solo. Jerry followed with another sweeping and soaring guitar solo that had increased pace and tension. The vocal finale was a near perfect shuffle. Indeed, Jerry was quite in the zone.
Opting to not increase the overall pace, Weir next rode in with El Paso. This version lacked a lot of Jerry flavor. Weir’s delivery was passionate enough, but Jerry’s soloing through the song seemed either forced or non-present.
Jerry next brought out Stagger Lee for the second night in a row. This version was a bit blander than the 5.7.1979 version. Indeed, the 5.7.1979 version may have been one of their finest ever. This version didn’t have the passionate delivery of vocals from Jerry. The guitar solo from Jerry was well done but had little flavoring. The finale solo gained some steam, but Weir’s slide delivery wasn’t nailed the way it was on 5.7.1979, and Jerry’s rhythm seemed a bit complacent.
Lazy Lightning was next. The song portion was quite strained as the band sounded rusty. Jerry’s in song guitar solo hit numerous incorrect note changes, and the song itself had some flubs. On the bright side, Weir provided some very in tune and hair rising screams during the vocal finale countered by out of tune harmony from Mydland. On 5.4.1979 the band provided an exceptional reading of Lazy Supplication.
The transition to Supplication started slowly as Jerry seemed incapable of finding a progression to ride. Eventually the band and Jerry mustered an approach for heading into Supplication. Jerry did locate some flavored riffs here and there, but mostly this was a pretty bland transition space. The actual transition to the Supplication song portion was awkward. The song portion was strongly delivered from Weir, and the outgoing Jerry solo was blisteringly hot. As such, despite the poor transition space, this version was above average.
Jerry ended this up and down first set with Deal. The solo portion had some nice soloing from Jerry but nothing too impressive as their was little tension built in. The song ended with an extended vocal finale which was perhaps a bit too long but sounded improved with the Mydland harmony.
The second set started with Scarlet Begonias. The band sounded very in synch during the song portion, but Jerry’s in song guitar solo failed to gain any steam, momentum or intensity (e.g., it sounded like most 1978 Scarlets). The transition out of Scarlet equally suffered from a lack of tension filled themes. Jerry’s progressions were interesting, but not overly interesting, because the band and him didn’t create zenith moments. Jerry sounded as if he had trouble actually entering Fire On The Mountain.
The first jam on Fire On The Mountain was very well done. Jerry began it with extended note bendings which cascaded into a tumbling Fire jam that was highly flavored. Unfortunately, however, the intro jam, and 2nd and 3rd jams were very standard with little peaks.
Weir next provided Sampson’n Delilah. This was a standard version except for Jerry’s second guitar solo which ended with an interesting note fanning.
Terrapin was flawless, but the spacey mid-verse section didn’t get too deep and the structured instrumental conclusion was not too intense.
Playin’ In The Band (note this was Brent’s first 1979 Terrapin Playin) had some very deep improvising from Jerry that at times was quite complicated. But, the band didn’t seem to be on the same level and the overall feel was a bit sleepy. It certainly wasn’t compelling.
After the drums, the new space segment sounded quite interesting. Jerry provided some aggressive guitar riffs with the remaining band being about as weird as possible. There even was a motorcycle revving for a while. This, however, was a short space because it quickly evolved into an Other One space.
The Other One was slow to develop. Jerry’s progressions lacked enthusiasm or tension. The rise into the Other One was not too convincing as it didn’t seem as though the band was too interested (as opposed to, for example, 1.20.1979 and 10.27.1979). Eventually Lesh erupted with a bass roll, but the ensuing jam was weakly led by Jerry, and Weir’s entrance into the first verse seemed out of time with Jerry and Lesh. The post verse one jam was also weakly led by Jerry and wasn’t in synch with the band. No genuine peaks were reached or moments of ire. The post second verse transition was interesting as Jerry did a nice job of blending out of the Other One and into a zone of transition. This led into China Doll.
China Doll was surprisingly flat. The band’s rhythm was virtually non-existent and Jerry’s singing rather dull (nearly the opposite of the 5.19.1977 version of China Doll which was dripping with passion). The outward jam was also a bit flat. This version was flawless, but lacked passion or tension or flavor.
Jerry wandered China back into Playin’ In The Band. But, unlike the Playin’ resurfaces from, e.g., 11.17.1973 and 5.19.1977, the 5.8.1977 version was flat and short and had little flavored jamming from Jerry. The song portion of the Playin’ reprise actually had a lot of spunk. Jerry did a great job of ending the tune with flavored riffs.
Instead of ending the show and gearing up for the next night in Binghampton, Weir started Good Lovin. This version was well sung by Weir and had nice pacing. But, Jerry’s guitar solo in the middle had little flavor. The song ended with well-done Weir screams.
Interestingly, the band encored Shakedown. The band came out strong for the encore. The pacing of the song is a slow and consistent march and is performed flawlessly. The jam segment had deep progressions from Jerry that were quite flavored at times. However, there was no explosive element that was evident the night before (5.7.1979). Additionally, the transition from the jam into the song’s conclusion was a bit awkward. Still, Jerry’s guitar playing during the main jam elevates this to above average.
Overall, this was mostly an average performance. The highlights were the All Over Now and Row Jimmy from the first set and the Space and Shakedown Street from the second set. Indeed, Mydland had now been introduced to the bittersweet charm of the day after an exceptional show.
Set 1: 7.35
Set 2.1: 7.25
Set 2.2: 7.525
Set 2sum: 7.38
Show: 7.37
Promised 7.5
TLEO 7.1
Mama Tried 6.8
Mexicali 6.8
BE Women 7.7
All Over Now 8
Row Jimmy 8.15
El Paso 7.25
Stagger 7.25
Lazy Lightning 6.85
Supplication 7.5
Deal 7.35
Scarlet 7
Fire 7.2
Sampson 7.45
Terrapin 7.35
Playin’ In The Band 7.25
Space 8.25
The Other One 7.25
China Doll 7
PITB 7.45
Good Lovin 7.35
Shakedown 7.85
Date: May 8th, 1979
Venue: Rec Hall, Penn State U
Location: State College, PA
Source: Audience Recording
Lineage: NAK CM700, Sony 158SD
Taped by: Barry Glassberg
6th Show Of 1979 Spring Tour
http://www.psilo.com/dead/images/tickets/t790508.jpg
Coming off the heals of the bands first exceptional show with Brent Mydland, hopes likely were high for another exceptional performance. Again, the band was performing at an east coast school – this time at one with many more students.
The Promised Land opener was 1979’s first non-exceptional opener – with Brent. Jerry’s guitar solo was very bland, and Mydland’s keys solo started slowly and gained little. The finale had some surges but nothing too impressive.
Similarly, They Love Each Other suffers from non-flavored and bland soloing and the overall pacing seemed sluggish.
Mama Tried was next. Jerry’s solo seemed disjointed as the notes didn’t seem to fit into layered progressions. Jerry sounded distracted. The song portion was well done, however.
Mexicali Blues flowed out of Mama. Again, the song portion was solid, but Jerry’s solos were not flavored and sounded disjointed.
After four songs, the band sounded quite different from the 5.7.1979 show after four songs. Perhaps Brent was being introduced to the infamous Grateful Dead hangover show.
Jerry next chose Brown Eyed Women. This was an improvement over the previous songs. The song portion was snappy and timed quickly, and Jerry’s solo slowly gained in tension and complexity. While not quite exceptional as a whole, this version was definitely above average.
Next was a very solid reading of All Over Now. Weir’s presentation was crazed anger with a passion. Jerry’s guitar solo was slowly delivered but had numerous bendings and sprints so as to be considered quite flavorful. Mydland’s solo was improved over the Promised and TLEO solos. Jerry took over after Mydland’s solo and generated a slow solo that increased in pace and tension and was loaded flavored progressions. Indeed, this was the first exceptional tune of the night.
Continuing with the exceptional trend, Jerry next eased the band into Row Jimmy. This version proved that the band and, in particular, Jerry were now in the zone. Jerry’s first solo was sweeping with an unnerving echo while it soared with flavor. During the main jam, Weir started with a very sinister but well taken slide solo. Jerry followed with another sweeping and soaring guitar solo that had increased pace and tension. The vocal finale was a near perfect shuffle. Indeed, Jerry was quite in the zone.
Opting to not increase the overall pace, Weir next rode in with El Paso. This version lacked a lot of Jerry flavor. Weir’s delivery was passionate enough, but Jerry’s soloing through the song seemed either forced or non-present.
Jerry next brought out Stagger Lee for the second night in a row. This version was a bit blander than the 5.7.1979 version. Indeed, the 5.7.1979 version may have been one of their finest ever. This version didn’t have the passionate delivery of vocals from Jerry. The guitar solo from Jerry was well done but had little flavoring. The finale solo gained some steam, but Weir’s slide delivery wasn’t nailed the way it was on 5.7.1979, and Jerry’s rhythm seemed a bit complacent.
Lazy Lightning was next. The song portion was quite strained as the band sounded rusty. Jerry’s in song guitar solo hit numerous incorrect note changes, and the song itself had some flubs. On the bright side, Weir provided some very in tune and hair rising screams during the vocal finale countered by out of tune harmony from Mydland. On 5.4.1979 the band provided an exceptional reading of Lazy Supplication.
The transition to Supplication started slowly as Jerry seemed incapable of finding a progression to ride. Eventually the band and Jerry mustered an approach for heading into Supplication. Jerry did locate some flavored riffs here and there, but mostly this was a pretty bland transition space. The actual transition to the Supplication song portion was awkward. The song portion was strongly delivered from Weir, and the outgoing Jerry solo was blisteringly hot. As such, despite the poor transition space, this version was above average.
Jerry ended this up and down first set with Deal. The solo portion had some nice soloing from Jerry but nothing too impressive as their was little tension built in. The song ended with an extended vocal finale which was perhaps a bit too long but sounded improved with the Mydland harmony.
The second set started with Scarlet Begonias. The band sounded very in synch during the song portion, but Jerry’s in song guitar solo failed to gain any steam, momentum or intensity (e.g., it sounded like most 1978 Scarlets). The transition out of Scarlet equally suffered from a lack of tension filled themes. Jerry’s progressions were interesting, but not overly interesting, because the band and him didn’t create zenith moments. Jerry sounded as if he had trouble actually entering Fire On The Mountain.
The first jam on Fire On The Mountain was very well done. Jerry began it with extended note bendings which cascaded into a tumbling Fire jam that was highly flavored. Unfortunately, however, the intro jam, and 2nd and 3rd jams were very standard with little peaks.
Weir next provided Sampson’n Delilah. This was a standard version except for Jerry’s second guitar solo which ended with an interesting note fanning.
Terrapin was flawless, but the spacey mid-verse section didn’t get too deep and the structured instrumental conclusion was not too intense.
Playin’ In The Band (note this was Brent’s first 1979 Terrapin Playin) had some very deep improvising from Jerry that at times was quite complicated. But, the band didn’t seem to be on the same level and the overall feel was a bit sleepy. It certainly wasn’t compelling.
After the drums, the new space segment sounded quite interesting. Jerry provided some aggressive guitar riffs with the remaining band being about as weird as possible. There even was a motorcycle revving for a while. This, however, was a short space because it quickly evolved into an Other One space.
The Other One was slow to develop. Jerry’s progressions lacked enthusiasm or tension. The rise into the Other One was not too convincing as it didn’t seem as though the band was too interested (as opposed to, for example, 1.20.1979 and 10.27.1979). Eventually Lesh erupted with a bass roll, but the ensuing jam was weakly led by Jerry, and Weir’s entrance into the first verse seemed out of time with Jerry and Lesh. The post verse one jam was also weakly led by Jerry and wasn’t in synch with the band. No genuine peaks were reached or moments of ire. The post second verse transition was interesting as Jerry did a nice job of blending out of the Other One and into a zone of transition. This led into China Doll.
China Doll was surprisingly flat. The band’s rhythm was virtually non-existent and Jerry’s singing rather dull (nearly the opposite of the 5.19.1977 version of China Doll which was dripping with passion). The outward jam was also a bit flat. This version was flawless, but lacked passion or tension or flavor.
Jerry wandered China back into Playin’ In The Band. But, unlike the Playin’ resurfaces from, e.g., 11.17.1973 and 5.19.1977, the 5.8.1977 version was flat and short and had little flavored jamming from Jerry. The song portion of the Playin’ reprise actually had a lot of spunk. Jerry did a great job of ending the tune with flavored riffs.
Instead of ending the show and gearing up for the next night in Binghampton, Weir started Good Lovin. This version was well sung by Weir and had nice pacing. But, Jerry’s guitar solo in the middle had little flavor. The song ended with well-done Weir screams.
Interestingly, the band encored Shakedown. The band came out strong for the encore. The pacing of the song is a slow and consistent march and is performed flawlessly. The jam segment had deep progressions from Jerry that were quite flavored at times. However, there was no explosive element that was evident the night before (5.7.1979). Additionally, the transition from the jam into the song’s conclusion was a bit awkward. Still, Jerry’s guitar playing during the main jam elevates this to above average.
Overall, this was mostly an average performance. The highlights were the All Over Now and Row Jimmy from the first set and the Space and Shakedown Street from the second set. Indeed, Mydland had now been introduced to the bittersweet charm of the day after an exceptional show.
Set 1: 7.35
Set 2.1: 7.25
Set 2.2: 7.525
Set 2sum: 7.38
Show: 7.37
Promised 7.5
TLEO 7.1
Mama Tried 6.8
Mexicali 6.8
BE Women 7.7
All Over Now 8
Row Jimmy 8.15
El Paso 7.25
Stagger 7.25
Lazy Lightning 6.85
Supplication 7.5
Deal 7.35
Scarlet 7
Fire 7.2
Sampson 7.45
Terrapin 7.35
Playin’ In The Band 7.25
Space 8.25
The Other One 7.25
China Doll 7
PITB 7.45
Good Lovin 7.35
Shakedown 7.85