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I have been racing to write what I can to get caught up to real-time in my commentary.  I still have a few observations I wanted to capture for myself regarding some of my early reactions and favorites, but I noticed some things this afternoon that I want to record while they’re fresh.

I have been trying to play shows all the way through rather than just cherry-picking my favorite tunes.  This has yielded some nice finds for me.  Normally, a tune like Row Jimmy can just be too dirge-like and unvarying to look forward to, and the temptation is to skip to the next track.  But “eating my Oatmeal” can be good for me.

The stately nature of Row Jimmy allows for some things to happen which you normally don’t have the patience for in rock and roll.  From these positive experiences, I am coming to trust the band a bit more when it decides to stretch out on something that seems intentionally dull musically (or melodically, I’m a big melody fan).

I have obtained way more music than I can reasonably digest right now, in the eras 71-73, 77 and 69 and have listened intently the past two days to Denver Coliseum 1973-11-20.  It has wonderfully clear sound.

The performance has contrasts with the shows I have already become familiar with.  Jerry’s playing seems a little off, and even more interesting to me, there are some indications to my ears that he was trying to shape the band’s performance in some ways I found unusual.  Of course, I could be totally off-base, but I am happy to be familiar enough to at least form a opinion on a “new” show, regardless of how wrong it might be.  Maybe the difference is between 1971 and 1973 — in retrospect, they seem quite contemporaneous with each other but we all know ‘73 was a long ways from ‘71 musically, socially and politically. I will pay more attention to 1973 shows as being distinct from the ‘71 and ‘72 shows in the future.

On Mississippi Half-Step it sounds like Jerry is trying to shape and organize the vocal harmonies on my favorite Rio Grand-eo part.  Unfortunately, his playing lacks some of the carefree spirit of other versions of these songs.  All in all, I would guess that Mr. Garcia was a bit off his game for some reason.  No biggie when you do so many shows of such length.

And Garcia’s solo in the later-show Bertha utterly lacks the total joy of the lead-off version from Gaelic Park (1971-8-26).  That version of Bertha symbolizes the live show experience.  The band gets its legs chugging underneath it for 3 1/2 minutes before Jerry tees off with that high-starting solo that immediately sets the crowd off into ecstasy.  It screams “Jerry is on today and it’s gonna be a good one.”  Indeed the whole Gaelic Park show is fabulous beginning to end.

On the other hand, in the Denver 1973 show I felt like Bob was in good form, and I absolutely have fallen in love with the WRS Prelude from this listening to this Denver 1973 show.  I must have heard it a few times before over many years of radio listening and hanging out with friends, but I never knew exactly what it was.  It’s ike the return of a forgotten long-lost friend.  The part that goes:

Winter gray and falling rain
We’ll see summer come again
Darkness fall and seasons change
(Gonna happen every time)
Same old friends the wind and rain
(We’ll see summer by and by)
Winter gray and falling rain
(Summers fade and roses die)
We’ll see summer come again
(Like a song that’s born to soar the sky)

is sublime and gives me goosebumps.  I can’t wait to focus in on this confusing WRS (with its Prelude and Part 1 and Let it Flow) as I devour more shows.  At least I know now that it has nothing to do with the jazz band Weather Report.

And I may have experienced my first “Phil bomb” at the start of this The Other One — had it not been so clearly recorded it would definitely have blown out my car stereo woofers.  Cool.  Gotta be more careful in the future.  Off to research the Weather Report Suite.