Dave's Picks Volume 34 - Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami, FL - 6/23/74 (With Bonus CD!)

I added the CD to my collection.

Great show! Fast shipping and great packaging.

"..if they are not the best from their respective years of performance, they are certainly unique." Lemieux from the liner notes.This is a very good show from a pretty good year-1974--and is at least worth four "stars" and more for the best performances here. The usual tunes are here--"Ramble On Rose", "Row Jimmy", "Jack Straw", "Big River",--and others from this era. Also here are great versions of "Weather Report Suite>China Doll", "Black Peter", "Dark Star Jam>Spanish Jam>U.S. Blues", plus nice versions of "Uncle John's Band" and "Casey Jones" among other songs. Be aware that this was the period when Ned Lagin was doing his musical thing with "Seastones" and is heard playing his music for almost ten minutes. For me his approach is definitely an acquired taste. But again, to each his own if you like what he does.The Bonus Disc (from 6/22/74) has an almost thirty minute version of "Playing In The Band", plus great versions of "China>I Know You", and "Eyes Of>Wharf>Sugar". All these versions are well worth having and make a great extra disc from this period.The band was really together over this set of shows. Garcia seemed to be all over this music along with some tasty stuff from Lesh's bass. This was the era of Donna Jean Godchaux who was (to me) hit or miss on the vocal front--and here she's not too bad. But to each his own. The vocals from both Garcia and Weir are pretty strong and add a lot to these performances. Bottom line--if you're into this era of the Dead, this is a very worthwhile addition to your shelf of live Dead.The music was recorded by Dead crew member Kidd Candelario and has a very open, airy feel to the music. Of course the mastering by Jeffrey Norman has a great deal to do with what we're hearing, but the sound has that Bear influence all through it. There's no true booklet--just a two-sided folded page with an essay from Lemieux and a track list on one side, and newspaper clippings about the band and music from the show (s), a piece on the band's sound system, and a few color photos from the show (s). The discs snap into trays in the four-fold cardboard package (which has color photos on the inside panels), with a pocket for the liner notes. The artwork highlights the exciting game of Jai Alai played at the Fronton Palace.

I've been a fan of this show for many decades dating back to when I first heard copies of Jerry Moore's wonderful audience recording. The cover is a reference to this being close to the Bermuda Triangle as you could get, location wise. It must have had an influence of the band as the set list is a slightly different from the norm at the time. The Dark Star Jam->Spanish Jam->U.S. Blues was mostly released on the So Many Roads box set back in 1999. The only GD version of Let It Rock played here ended up on the expanded version of From The Mars Hotel released in 2004.I pretty much love this show from beginning to end even if there are some technical issues with the Wall Of Sound. For me, there's just so much great stuff here from songs like Black-Throated Wind, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Row Jimmy, Jack Straw, To Lay Me Down (despite a brief off key vocal by Jerry), Let It Rock, Weather Report Suite->China Doll, a great Jam->Ship Of Fools and the Dark Star Jam->Spanish Jam->U.S. Blues. This show also contained the first Seastones. If you subscribed like I did, then you also have a bonus disc which includes highlights from the Saturday show also at the same venue (the set list for that disc is: Playing In The Band, China Cat->Rider, Eyes of the World->Wharf Rat->Sugar Magnolia).

A really good show. The recording is spectacularly well mixed.

Good concert